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.
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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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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...
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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...
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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 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 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 Litchfield Nature Trail meanders through scenic property owned by the City of Litchfield, in some places adjacent to the St. Joseph (St. Joe) River. At one point, the trail passes through...
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 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 Grand River Valley Rail Trail is one component of a network of trails in mid-west Michigan that, when complete, will stretch 125 miles from Alma to Owosso. The trails are named after...
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 Litchfield Nature Trail meanders through scenic property owned by the City of Litchfield, in some places adjacent to the St. Joseph (St. Joe) River. At one point, the trail passes through...
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 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 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 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 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 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 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...
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 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 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...
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 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 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...
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 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 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 Saginaw Valley Rail Trail offers a year-round rural retreat from the urban confines of Saginaw. Rolling through a continuous woodsy border past farms, fields, and game areas for 11 miles, the...
The Fred Meijer Grand River Valley Rail Trail is one component of a network of trails in mid-west Michigan that, when complete, will stretch 125 miles from Alma to Owosso. The trails are named after...
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 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 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...
If you’re looking for a rustic escape form the din of everyday life, consider the Calhoun County Trailway. The Trailway weaves through three of the county’s four parks. The 5.3-mile trail kicks off...
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 Saginaw Valley Rail Trail offers a year-round rural retreat from the urban confines of Saginaw. Rolling through a continuous woodsy border past farms, fields, and game areas for 11 miles, the...
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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...
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.
I ride trails a lot and will ride trails close to my home over and over because they are close. I ride trails as I travel and there are many that I will ride again if I'm in the area. Battle Creek Linear Park is NOT on my list of "ride again". I thought the trail was very rough in spots, it is not always well marked. This trail is in need of maintenance - low, overhanging branches, twigs, rocks, sand, etc on the trail. There are remote trails that I am not afraid to ride alone, but I sure was glad my husband was with me on this one. He even said he did not feel safe at times.
Despite parking in a lovely parking lot at the farmers market, the trail is currently closed (it is June 18 2017) and the neighboring areas are NOT safe. The city is a bit disheveled and the trails leading to the main (closed trail) were in disrepair and not well marked. Scenes of barbed wire and trash lined river beds were all we got to see before we turned around and headed home quickly.
I am giving this a 3 because most of the trail we rode from Crego Park to the downtown was in very poor condition. Scenery etc. was great, just has to pay attention and be ready for lots of bumps. For us that takes the pleasure out of the ride. There are signs that improvement will be coming but not sure when. South of Crego Park a bit to Hawk Island Park was a new lovely path through a wooded area that we enjoyed and would give a 5 star to.
I use the trail mostly West of Stockbridge, but I am a hiker. I do think that there needs to be some rules set for the horse people. They need to stay either on the left or right side, but stay out of the center for the bike people. It is no secret the horses tear up the trail, and in wet weather it is much worse. This is a multi purpose trail, and the horse people have a right to ride on it, but must respect the rights of others as well. As a hiker it makes little difference to me, but I know that many cyclist claim that the trail is not usable, after horses have used the trail. A little consideration on all sides would make the trail much more enjoyable for all.
They have started to clear and improve the trail from Munith to Jackson. It is my understanding they will connect with Jackson Intercity Trail, sometime in 2018. I would guess that the surface will be crushed lime stone. It should be a great additional resource.
Very nice and well cared for trail. It is flat and blacktop and a nice family ride. Riding past the lakes is very nice and you can see a nice display of wildlife. A mix of runners, bikers, inline and walkers use the trail.
Rode the trail from Jackson to Concord back and had a great experience. It was Memorial Day weekend, and there were many people out. Trail was in great condition and the wildlife is beautiful.
Previous reviews have mentioned the poor condition of the asphalt trail through the parks in Ann Arbor. I was in Gallup Park May 11, 2017 and can report that the Ann Arbor Park system had just freshly replaced asphalt on the trail through that park.
Enjoy the smooth ride y'all!
We live in the Lowell area and I was excited to find this new trail for us to ride. But when we went to the beginning (corner of Grand River and Montalm Ave) all we found was an overgrown area that once was rr tracks. It was piled with loose rocks and there was no way you'd be able to ride a bike on it. We were disappointed. Hopefully it gets finished soon. The section starting in Saranac heading to Ionia good though. We ride that often.
Rode this trail on a Friday in late April. We had the trail to ourselves. Did not see another person for the first 13 miles. With the exception of when we went through the small towns we probably saw no more than ten people over 67 round trip miles. We did see deer, wild turkey, blue heron, and a snapping turtle. Trail is all paved, well maintained, flat, and pretty straight. Nice bridges. Great ride.
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