Find the top rated birding trails in Okemos, whether you're looking for an easy short birding trail or a long birding trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a birding trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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This is a fairly good trail, as long as you don't mind a mostly marsh/swamp style of scenery, with power lines also dominating. It's an enjoyable ride despite that, with a good round trip, and smooth pavement, so I would defiantly recommend if you're looking for a good trail.
It's got a mix of sun and shade, a good round trip, this is definitely worth a visit.
Walking, biking, fishing, boating, wildlife, skiing, sledding, waterpark, picnic tables everywhere. Miles and miles, plenty of bathrooms everywhere. Swans, blue Herons, Sandhills Cranes, turtles….. I could go on forever. I love it here, drive 45 min. To an hour all the time to come. It’s my haven, it’s my peace. Water everywhere, very safe, park staff, park police. Come and enjoy!!
It's a great round trip, and it can open up to the sun & wind and other times plant life closes in for some shade.
While smooth, most of the trail is ballast & crushed stone, which for me made it very hard to keep my speed up.
I might consider skipping this one and looking elsewhere.
On Saturday, May 24th, I was cycling 50 miles on the trail between Elwell and Stanton. I was on an out-and-back trip. On the trip back I saw a golden-tawny animal sitting on the trail. I stopped riding quite a distance away from it, maybe 400-500 feet away. The cougar was sitting on the trail and then leaped into the woods and away from me. I knew it was a cougar when I saw its long tail and sleek movement back into the woods. My gut said to turn around. I was far enough away on my bike to turn around and book it out of there. My goal was to get a 1 1/2 miles away and closer to Edmore where I could have help if needed. So, I decided to go around the area it was located. I took a paved road to a dirt road to loop around the woods it was in. I ended up back on the trail and had a longer ride than expected but was safe. The cougar was seen between Deja and Cedar Lake Road. Through research I've found there have been cougar sightings in Montcalm County over the years. I've reported this to the DNR and emailed the Freinds of the Heartland Trail. Overall, great ride and I was safe. The trail is fairly bumpy and root filled between Elwell and Vestaburg. Smoother sailing between Edmore and Stanton. Loved the tree canopy as it was very low and beautiful in some parts. Also, seeing the landscape change from a flatter Central Michigan to the beautiful rolling hills of Western Michigan was stunning. Road crossings became sandier as there is more sand in West Michigan. I would say this compares to the rural nature of the White Pine Trail that runs between Big Rapids and Cadillac. Road crossings between Elwell and Stanton were a breeze, quite calm, and peaceful. Now for some signage on cougars would that keep riders, walkers, and runners, safer and more aware. Just be aware, be prepared, and have protection such as bear spray, pepper spray, noise makers, etc.
An enjoyable yet short trip.
The Grand River is common sight throughout the trail and and plant is lush and abundant and otherwise there isn't anything to see here but I would recommend it.
GMPT is a enjoyable but short trail that's full of tight twists and turns to the point riding a bike might be a bit iffy.
You might want to walk this one but I do recommend it.
This is a pretty bad trail, with pavement being cracked and rutted all throughout, with some cracks being bad enough to launch me out of my seat.
There's nothing even to see except some playgrounds, as the trail is largely urban.
This trail is a very enjoyable experience despite being rather short.
Pavement is mostly smooth except by the sports fields, plant root break the surface so badly I got launched into the air an inch or two.
Definitely worth a trip.
We rode from Bailey Park west on the Linear trail to the end. While the surface was pretty good, the fact that there are several busy road crossings, no signs or maps, no water or restrooms, made this trail undesirable. What a shame that the city of Battle Creek doesn't spend a few bucks to make this trail top-notch.
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