Find the top rated dog walking trails in Lake Linden, whether you're looking for an easy short dog walking trail or a long dog walking trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a dog walking trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
Note all the other comments here are over a dozen years old.
We are lucky to have this trail! In the summer, I bicycle it at least once a week, especially on hot days when bicycling or walking under the shade of trees, along the water front is much cooler! and more quite than on the road side! It is also nice to bicycle and walk in cold weather to get out of the wind. The DNR repairs this trail after big floods, replacing culverts, digging ditches along side of the trail etc. It still needs work, but like everything else, it takes funding. If we had a trail authority including Chassell, Portage Township and the city of Houghton, they could apply for funding and really make some improvements to this trail. Chassell maintains their portion of the trail more every year. It would be nice if Portage Township would keep their portion mowed on the sides of the trail, and it would be nice if the City of Houghton replaced the deteriorating asphalt that has wide cracks and bumps and crumbled sides on the east end of their portion of trail. But overall, it is great to have this waterside rail trail available. Note, this is a non-motorized trail, ATVs and snowmobiles are not supposed to be on this trail. Homes are located very near the trail and loud ORVs and snowmobiles would make those homeowners very upset.
I ran (with a healthy dose of walking) the whole trail last weekend starting in Sidnaw. I found it to be a delightful trail, traversing many miles of northwoods with a few sections passing open farmland. I lost count of the apple trees (many with tasty apples) and grouse we spotted. There are opportunities for store stops in at least Bruce Crossing and Ewen (there's a good looking bar right on the trail in Ewen).
ORV traffic is definitely a thing, but we found people were 100% friendly and respectful to foot travelers. In fact, we were pretty sure that the word went out that we'd been on the trail all day and toward the western end people waved etc. Bring a bandana to deal with dust if it's been dry.
The surface is varied, but notably rocky in sections: wear shoes with a rock plate. I would not bike this trail on anything but a bike with 30+mm tires, and even then, it would likely be a slog. The highway is often nearby, but traffic is minimal and didn't bother me at all.
Agate Falls may be the most dramatic sight I've yet seen on a rail trail (and I have walked lots of the biggest rail trails). Absolutely stunning.
I would do this trail again (and hope to). Also note: the trail is 46mi long as measured by two Garmin GPS watches.
Rode this from ontonogon for a few Miles. It’s well maintained for Atv which use it heavily. There isn’t much of a shoulder to get over for them. I’m it sure how two atv pass one another. It’s tight. The atv I encountered were nice and slowed down to not kick up dust for us. I don’t recommend for bikes unless you have a fat tire. Some parts of this were ankle twisters, when we got off to move off trail for the atvers
Much better ATV, motorcycle, Snowmobile, cross country ski trail. Gravel was deep in places and chunky. Many potholes you have to watch out for. 2 miles south of Calumet there are 2 - 100 foot sections of water with a “wet area” sign so they must stay wet a lot. Yesterday they were 18” deep in the middle. Saw 2 ATVs which were both courteous enough to slow down around us so we wouldn’t get covered in dust. The one teenage boy on a dirt bike was stupid. I heard him coming up behind us pretty quick and thought it was another atv. We were riding side by side so I moved over to my right just as he gunned it to cut between us. Fortunately my reflexes are still good and we only brushed each other as I cut back to the left. The ride south to Hancock was so much of a grind we decided to take the US 41 shoulder for the return trip.
Mainly orv/snowmobile path. Along rivers and power lines. Be cautious of wolves in the area. Multiple small bridges over river crossings.
I enjoy this trail for the most part. It does need to be maintained better.
In your description of the trail's end in Houghton:
"The trail comes to an end at the City RV Park in Houghton, near the Raymond C. Kestner Waterfront Park, where picnic facilities, restrooms, a beach and a playground will restore your energy for the return trip."
While this may be true during snowmobile season, during the ORV season, the trail stops at the Houghton Canal road and you are not allowed to pass through the RV park to Kestner waterfront park. If you were to park and upload in Kestner waterfront park, you would have to take the road up to a dangerous section of M26 and turn at the Canal road and proceed down it to get to the trail head. I'm not even sure this would be allowed.
I parked on the side of the canal road near old Mill road to enter the trail.
Some local folks are trying to steal state land under the guise of "reclaiming". It was public knowledge that this was state land when they built across it. Shame on them.
The trail is mainly wide and flat. In town, it is paved, but changes to fine aggregate east of Michigan Tech. The aggregate surface is actually very nice; it is smooth and soft like a well-maintained cinder track. The few highway and driveway crossings are barely noticeable. From spring to fall, the trees make this a beautiful space for a run. It also connects downtown houghton with the NARA and Chassell trails. It's probably too flat and plain for mountain biking and doesn't even quailfy as trail running, but it's nicer than running on the road.
The trail is actually pleasent to ride, but very poorly maintained, the state has done very little other than lay claim to the trail.
The trail is mostly 'stamp sand' tailings from the copper mines that were prevalent in the area 100 years ago. There are spots of loose beach type sand, loose crushed rock, plain old mud and exposed/removed culverts (with two 2x6 boards as a bridge) and even grass.
Trail width varies greatly from 2 feet wide with trees and brush on both sides, to 15 feet wide with no obstructions.
This trail splits the yards of local residents, houses on one side and lake/beach access on the other. Trees, brush and grass encroach on the trail, plus many homeowners have added crushed rock, dirt, grass and other 'debris' in order to re-claim the land from the state.
During the summer of 2011 some local children dug a hole to make a motorbike jump, making pedal biking a danger in this area.
We rode this trail a couple of weeks ago and it is labeled with signs as an ATV trail. Most of it, was okay for mountain bike riding, but there was a section of it that was pretty tore up due to the ATV travel. Since the trail is along the highway, we took a side road and rode along the highway for a few miles. The trestle bridges are pretty awesome and the view of Agate Falls is great. The park at Agate Falls is a great place to take a break as there are picnic tables and a bathroom. The park is on the other side of the highway, but there is a trail that goes under the road bridge to get there. Other than the roughness of the trail and that we shared it with a few ATV's, the trail was okay overall. We'll not do it again, however as it is no fun to ride with ATV's.
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