Find the top rated trails in Okemos, whether you're looking an easy walking path or a long bike trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
_138800_st.jpg)
The Milford Trail connects the Village of Milford with the popular Kensington Metropark in Oakland County. The winding trail offers plenty of scenery as it travels through woodlands and...
The Lansing River Trail traces the course of three waterways for more than 25 miles across Michigan’s capital city. Visiting all four main points of the compass in Lansing, the trail provides a route...
Paved and mostly flat, the Huron Valley Trail links several suburban communities, parks, and a large recreation area while providing connections to a growing network of trails. Forming a lowercase...
The largely unimproved Fred Meijer Flat River Valley Rail Trail links the cities of Lowell, Belding and Greenville in Kent, Ionia and Montcalm counties, respectively. While plans call for the eventual...
The paved Fred Meijer Heartland Trail rolls for 42 miles through farmland and forests in central Michigan as it links a half-dozen rural towns with recreational opportunities. Its route follows the...
The Genesee Valley Trail provides a pleasant, nearly 2-mile route on the western outskirts of Flint. The paved trail runs mostly at a diagonal from just north of Genesee Valley Center to Corunna...
The Portland Riverwalk ushers visitors around the charming town of Portland on 9 miles of paved trail. Also known as the Rivertrail Linear Park, the trail connects a handful of parks, scenic views...
When complete, the Paul Henry - Thornapple Trail will be a 42-mile, multi-use recreation trail, extending from Grand Rapids to Vermontville; it eventually may be extended to Jackson. The trail is...
This trail runs from the Matthaei Botanical Gardens two miles south to Parker Mill Park. It was conceived in response to the need for a safer alternative for non-motorized travelers. Dixboro Road only...
The Sycamore Trail, which opened in October 2014, provides an important connection between two other trails in Delhi Charter Township, on the south end of Lansing. At the trail’s northern end, it...
The Fred Thwaites Grand River Trail, also known as the Ionia River Trail, travels for just over 3 miles along the edge of Grand River. The paved pathway begins at Quarry Road and travels to the Ionia...
The arrow-straight Jackson Intercity Trail follows the old rail bed of the former Michigan Central Railroad for 3.4 miles through the southwest section of Jackson. The trail provides a nice...
Tradition says that Michigan has 11,000 lakes. The eastern section of the Lakelands Trail State Park passes through a chain of them as it rolls from the town of Hamburg and Lakeland to Munith some 26...
The pleasant little Albion River Trail runs along the south bank of the Kalamazoo River through the town of Albion. The trail runs between McClure Riverfront Park on the west end and Victory Park on...
The Fred Meijer Clinton-Ionia-Shiawassee (CIS) Rail Trail stretches 41 miles between the mid-Michigan towns of Ionia and Owosso, offering a mix of pastoral and wooded landscapes. It crosses three...
The Kensington Metropark Trail forms a paved loop around Kent Lake in western Oakland County. The scenic area, which features 4,481 acres of hilly terrain around the large lake, is one of the most...
The Ram Trail is a close to 2-mile trail beginning at Holt High School where there is access to tennis courts, soccer fields, softball and baseball diamonds and playgrounds. The trail runs eastward...
_138798_sc.jpg)
The Trolley Line Trail, which opened in 2009, runs north from the City of Clio to the Saginaw County line at Willard Road in Vienna Township. It is so-named because it occupies a corridor that once...
The Battle Creek Linear Park trail encompasses nearly 26 miles of connected trails in Battle Creek. Residents use the loop trails to put some snap, crackle, and pop in their exercise routines, while...
The Falling Waters Trail is a 10.4-mile asphalt rail-trail that links the town of Concord with the city of Jackson. The trail follows the old rail bed of the former Michigan Central Railroad, and...
The Granger Meadows Park Trail forms a loop around the 76-acre park in DeWitt Township, just north of Lansing. The park was built and donated by Granger III and Associates, a local trash and recycling...
The largely unimproved Fred Meijer Flat River Valley Rail Trail links the cities of Lowell, Belding and Greenville in Kent, Ionia and Montcalm counties, respectively. While plans call for the eventual...
The Valhalla Trail runs for just over a mile in Delhi Charter Township, a southern suburb of Lansing. Its northern half is wooded and winds through Valhalla Park, which offers a swimming beach,...
The Kensington Metropark Trail forms a paved loop around Kent Lake in western Oakland County. The scenic area, which features 4,481 acres of hilly terrain around the large lake, is one of the most...
_138800_sc.jpg)
The Flint River Trail begins near downtown at the University of Michigan-Flint campus and heads north along both sides of the Flint River to Bluebell Beach on the reservoir. Another segment takes you...
The George Atkin Jr. Recreational Trail winds along scenic Pine Run Creek in the City of Clio. From a hub downtown at Clio Park, the paved trail branches out through the city, providing access to a...
The Trolley Line Trail, which opened in 2009, runs north from the City of Clio to the Saginaw County line at Willard Road in Vienna Township. It is so-named because it occupies a corridor that once...
The Falling Waters Trail is a 10.4-mile asphalt rail-trail that links the town of Concord with the city of Jackson. The trail follows the old rail bed of the former Michigan Central Railroad, and...
The Northern Tier Trail winds through East Lansing on the outskirts of Michigan's capital, offering miles of paved pathway through tree-lined areas and wetlands. The 10-foot-wide trail connects...
The Lansing River Trail traces the course of three waterways for more than 25 miles across Michigan’s capital city. Visiting all four main points of the compass in Lansing, the trail provides a route...
The Fred Thwaites Grand River Trail, also known as the Ionia River Trail, travels for just over 3 miles along the edge of Grand River. The paved pathway begins at Quarry Road and travels to the Ionia...
The Thomas Township Trail provides a paved, north-south route of just over 2 miles through this Michigan community. It begins at a connection with the popular Saginaw Valley Rail Trail, which heads...
The Island Lake Pathway runs east–west through the densely-wooded landscape of the Island Lake Recreation Area southeast of Brighton. Although relatively short, the paved trail may prove a challenge...
The Ram Trail is a close to 2-mile trail beginning at Holt High School where there is access to tennis courts, soccer fields, softball and baseball diamonds and playgrounds. The trail runs eastward...
The arrow-straight Jackson Intercity Trail follows the old rail bed of the former Michigan Central Railroad for 3.4 miles through the southwest section of Jackson. The trail provides a nice...
The paved Fred Meijer Heartland Trail rolls for 42 miles through farmland and forests in central Michigan as it links a half-dozen rural towns with recreational opportunities. Its route follows the...
The Fred Meijer Clinton-Ionia-Shiawassee (CIS) Rail Trail stretches 41 miles between the mid-Michigan towns of Ionia and Owosso, offering a mix of pastoral and wooded landscapes. It crosses three...
The Battle Creek Linear Park trail encompasses nearly 26 miles of connected trails in Battle Creek. Residents use the loop trails to put some snap, crackle, and pop in their exercise routines, while...
The Sycamore Trail, which opened in October 2014, provides an important connection between two other trails in Delhi Charter Township, on the south end of Lansing. At the trail’s northern end, it...
The Milford Trail connects the Village of Milford with the popular Kensington Metropark in Oakland County. The winding trail offers plenty of scenery as it travels through woodlands and...
The Black Creek Nature Trail begins at the Davison Township Municipal Center and winds its way to the trail system in the City of Davison’s Jack Abernathy Regional Park. Travelers on the trail will...
The Milford Trail connects the Village of Milford with the popular Kensington Metropark in Oakland County. The winding trail offers plenty of scenery as it travels through woodlands and...
The Trolley Line Trail, which opened in 2009, runs north from the City of Clio to the Saginaw County line at Willard Road in Vienna Township. It is so-named because it occupies a corridor that once...
When complete, the Paul Henry - Thornapple Trail will be a 42-mile, multi-use recreation trail, extending from Grand Rapids to Vermontville; it eventually may be extended to Jackson. The trail is...
The Northern Tier Trail winds through East Lansing on the outskirts of Michigan's capital, offering miles of paved pathway through tree-lined areas and wetlands. The 10-foot-wide trail connects...
The Falling Waters Trail is a 10.4-mile asphalt rail-trail that links the town of Concord with the city of Jackson. The trail follows the old rail bed of the former Michigan Central Railroad, and...
The Chelsea Community Wellness Path weaves through a large campus home to many of Chelsea’s amenities. Although the total length of the trail is less than 2 miles, it is divided into three separate...
Paved and mostly flat, the Huron Valley Trail links several suburban communities, parks, and a large recreation area while providing connections to a growing network of trails. Forming a lowercase...
This trail runs from the Matthaei Botanical Gardens two miles south to Parker Mill Park. It was conceived in response to the need for a safer alternative for non-motorized travelers. Dixboro Road only...
The Kensington Metropark Trail forms a paved loop around Kent Lake in western Oakland County. The scenic area, which features 4,481 acres of hilly terrain around the large lake, is one of the most...
The Border-to-Border Trail is a work in progress, which when complete, will stretch across Washtenaw County from its border with Livingston County in the northwest to Wayne County in the east. Much of...
The Flint River Trail begins near downtown at the University of Michigan-Flint campus and heads north along both sides of the Flint River to Bluebell Beach on the reservoir. Another segment takes you...
The Ram Trail is a close to 2-mile trail beginning at Holt High School where there is access to tennis courts, soccer fields, softball and baseball diamonds and playgrounds. The trail runs eastward...
The Main Trail runs for just 0.5 mile along an east–west corridor through the Whitehouse Nature Center. The trail links a series of loop trails through the nature center and begins at the visitor...
The George Atkin Jr. Recreational Trail winds along scenic Pine Run Creek in the City of Clio. From a hub downtown at Clio Park, the paved trail branches out through the city, providing access to a...
The largely unimproved Fred Meijer Flat River Valley Rail Trail links the cities of Lowell, Belding and Greenville in Kent, Ionia and Montcalm counties, respectively. While plans call for the eventual...
The Battle Creek Linear Park trail encompasses nearly 26 miles of connected trails in Battle Creek. Residents use the loop trails to put some snap, crackle, and pop in their exercise routines, while...
The new Riverbend Preserve in southern Washtenaw County features 58 acres of wetlands on both sides of the Raisin River. The area is a common resting place for migratory birds on their trek across the...
The Genesee Valley Trail provides a pleasant, nearly 2-mile route on the western outskirts of Flint. The paved trail runs mostly at a diagonal from just north of Genesee Valley Center to Corunna...
The Thomas Township Trail provides a paved, north-south route of just over 2 miles through this Michigan community. It begins at a connection with the popular Saginaw Valley Rail Trail, which heads...
I start my ride in Alma at the College. It is one of my favorite trails as I drive 37 miles just to ride it. It goes through a ghost town and you cross a few bridges along the way. My only complaint is I wish there were mile markers along the way. If your thirsty along the way stop in at the Ghost Town Saloon in Elwell!
I used to ride this trail several years ago when it was new. While the trail surroundings are interesting, the trail itself is no longer suitable for road bikes due to the poor condition of the paving. It probably wouldn't be too bad if you have lower pressure fat tire bikes.
The George Atkin Jr. Recreational Trail is a nice little trail, but as the previous two reviewers had mentioned, is quite rough. There are many cracks in the pavement that you need to be careful, throughout every portion of the trail. Most have been spray painted to alert users of the danger, but even still it's hard to see. I'd recommend the trail to cyclists, but if you are a roadie, I wouldn't necessarily bring my best bike. A hybrid or any bike with larger diameter tires is best suited to handle the terrain of the aging trail.
With the negatives out of the way, the positives are quite nice. The engineering of the trail is outstanding. There are signs at ever spur in the trail and all parts of the trails avoid roads, bypassing M-57 (Vienna Rd) and Mill St. in Clio and the railroad tracks just as it connects with the Trolley Line Rail Trail/spurs towards the Business Park off of Vienna.
Terrain-wise, For those who want a good workout with elevation, the trail provides some nice little climbs, mostly heading south towards Wilson Rd. The trail is very wooded, basically like riding/walking/running on a trail through the woods. In some spots the trail is quite overgrown, but never enough to not have a path on the trail. Some of the spots on the trail are apt to be muddy or have a tiny amount of water going through it. It's never enough to make it impassible but might make you wet if your bike tire splashes it up! There is a small spot where water runs over the creek, near the Church and near Vienna Rd. Again, it's never impassible but you should probably slow down through it.
Length-wise, with the connecting Trolley Line Trail, I was able to get about 12 miles into it taking all of the spurs but, missing out on probably 3 or so miles on the Trolley due to it being closed about 1.5 miles from it's end point. (as of August 2017)
The trail has always been lightly used when I've been on it. I've never saw more than a handful of people in the numerous times I've walked or rode it.
To summarize, it's a good trail that is showing it's age. You can get a nice little workout and it gets you to most businesses and places in Clio. If you live in Mt. Morris or just outside the Downtown portion of Clio you could ride the trail into the city, to run errands as the spurs give you great access to many important portions of the city. Be safe, don't ride at extremely fast pace and keep your eyes on the trail (for the cracks) and you should have a nice time and get back in one piece.
This is NOT a rails to trails, there is NO rail grade anywhere, this shouldn't even be listed as one. This trail is far beyond need of rehabilitation, parts of the trail seem to have been ripped up making for uneven and nasty surfaces...and that was some of the better spots. 6" high "speedbumps" cover the trail where roots came up under the trail, tons of large deep cracks as well. Even watching and knowing the trail was unmarked, we had to backtrack as we missed the turn.
This is by far the worst trail I've rode in years, I will not be back and shame on RTT for even listing it.
Since I was visiting Lansing for a few days, I had the chance to go out and ride what I will call the "southern branch" of the trail system where Aurelius Road crosses over the Red Cedar River and goes over to Waverly Road. From my starting point at Municipal Park on E Michigan Avenue, it ended up being about an 18 mile round trip. The good news is that once you turn south at Aurelius Road, the trail is very Smooth over its entire length. The first 5 miles or so meander through some nice forested urban areas and parks, then it gives way to basically running down a power line corridor, which was far less scenic and pleasant.
If you're looking for a smooth trail, you'll rather enjoy this segment. Save the trail segment that runs east/west through the downtown area for a bike that handles rough trail better.
I have ridden it twice and enjoyed the natural setting, many wild flowers and butterflies, and varying terrain of this moderately curvy and hilly path. Mountain bike or at hybrid suggested due to fine gravel surface, so slow down in curves, some mildly washed out sandy areas, and on board walks when damp. The Ott Biological Preserve has separate foot trails and the North Country Trail also separates for a while, which otherwise follows the trailway. Most of the trail is wooded and shady. Historic Bridge Park at the southern end has a nice picnic area, canoe launch, and playground.
This is really a very nice urban trail, but if you have a choice, you may enjoy it more on a mountain bike or hybrid with shocks since the Lansing segment I did had a rather coarse texture over a majority of the 18 miles I did. I used a single speed track bike with fairly narrow/high pressure tires, which was okay, but I'd use a different bike next time.
The signage for the Lansing segment I rode was quite good, and meandering along the river was very nice. There are a fair number of wooded bridge decks that are fun, but a little bumpy.
The East Lansing segment that runs through the MSU campus and is much smoother, but there only seems to be pavement indicators for the bike lane/trail, and not the signs like they do in Lansing. I was probably not paying attention and meandered away from the trail a few times.
Great trail, but be sure to pick the right bike to do it.
My wife and I visited Battle Creek for the first time solely to ride this trail Sunday. Even after reading some reviews and seeing "poorly marked" noted several times, we decided since it was relatively close to home (75 minutes or so) we'd give it a try. We started at Friendship Park downtown since it looked like it was smack in the middle of the trail, but when we got to the park there wasn't a trail sign or marking to be found, at least that we could see. Most of the downtown area is closed on Sunday, it was like a ghost town at noon. We drove around for 30 minutes following both Google Maps and the map found on this site, and finally figured out where the trail was (we thought). We unloaded and started riding, following what we thought was the Linear Park trail, only find that after a mile or so of turning around and riding in circles, it was not even the actual trail. Once we found the proper path, the ride was choppy in the downtown area... lots of stops for cross streets, still having to stop and check street names and such because the trail was not marked at all in town. Riding out of town we started feeling much better about it. It follows the river for a ways and the scenery is very nice. We got to a sports complex that we vaguely identified on the trail map, saw the dotted line for the trail on the map, but again there were no markings at the outer edge of the park that identified where the trail continued for us to do the entire loop. We ended up doubling back to where we started and then rode out a ways in the other direction. Again, the actual Linear Park trail veered off on a city street to loop around at the other end of town, but there were no signs at all noting that. We ended up continuing for about 3 miles on a trail that connected to someplace else and had no way of knowing how to get back to the Linear Park path without doubling back. So again, we had to double back and try to find where the turn was for the Linear Park loop. Once we found it, we again were happy with the scenery, and the trail goes through the Leila Arboretum which offers some more challenging terrain. But soon after that the trail again goes through residential areas with sidewalks in every direction at the intersections, and very little signage to indicate which direction to go to stay on the actual bike path. It's almost embarrassing to note that the perimeter loop is supposedly 10.5 miles.... with all the doubling back and circling around to try to stay on track, we rode over 25 miles. No, not kidding. No, it wasn't on purpose. No, we're not idiots, either, just determined to find the whole trail. :)
So all in all, it was a disappointment. This "trail" has some great potential, but there are a lot of things working against it, and most of those could be avoided or easily corrected. Here are some of our observations:
1) The trail is badly overgrown in most of the areas outside the downtown area.
2) There is a serious need for more signage and trail markings. Seriously. If you don't know this city, it's nearly impossible to follow the trail at times.
3) The trail crosses several busy roads with no warning signs for cars, no way to signal when you cross. It's like playing Frogger on a Trek hybrid. It's downright dangerous at 2 crossings in particular.
4) When in residential areas with sidewalks in all 4 directions at intersections, your best bet is to follow the sidewalk that is asphalt instead of the lighter colored concrete... most times that's the only indicator of which sidewalk is the actual trail.
5) At a few intersections or other transition areas, look for small, white signs that read "no motor vehicles". Most often that's the only marking for some sort of trail entrance across the street. You can't always see the path itself, so at times these signs (when they actually have them) are the only way you know there is a path across the street.
This city has put a tremendous amount of money in the downtown area. Parks everywhere, a beautiful river walk, seemingly nice restaurants (most were closed... we'd recommend Clara's on the River... very nice after our ride), etc. But once you leave the downtown area, things get pretty run down in a hurry. This could be a great trail and a destination for cyclists... but as it is it will be a one-and-done for us. No reason to ride this one again until they clean it up and get it marked a little better.
Just for note, we aren't trail snobs. We don't expect every trail we ride to be laid out, groomed, and marked perfectly. We ride a lot of rails-to-trails routes and we go looking for trails like this that potentially offer some fun off the bike kicking around in the downtown areas. Unfortunately, Battle Creek is shut down on Sundays (apparently they make extra cereal on Saturdays so the city can close up on Sunday) so we were pretty discouraged.
We came from Indiana to ride the trail had pretty nice scenery and pretty good signage but for sure needs maintenance pretty bumpy in lot of place. Parked at Moore park parking lot restrooms were locked up in the middle of of the day on a Sunday. Glad we rode the trail but wouldn't make the drive back to it to ride it again.
Drove in circles trying to find the parking spots identified on the map. Finally found the rode to the parking lot and it was closed. What we could see of the trail was pretty much like sidewalks. If I wanted to ride through neighborhoods I would have rode at home.
TrailLink is a free service provided by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (a non-profit) and we need your support!
_138798_st.jpg)
