Find the top rated dog walking trails in Traverse City, 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.
_133554_st.jpg){kind=spacer}
Ridden many times. This is a favorite when I’m in this area.
Starting from M-10 intersection north for about 3 miles, the trail has been paved with asphalt. As of yesterday (8/5/2018) it is still closed, but it's certainly ride-able, so I would think it will be open soon.
Trail is being graded and worked on north of Reed City.
I sure hope they are planning on paving it.
Meanwhile, the parking at Paris Park is no longer free for trail users.
Pulled in today and the Ranger stated the fee is $6 minimum for using the trail....the lot had no cars in it.
Ranger suggested another parking spot just north of Paris 1/4 mile.
Small lot...would work but the entry to the trail was gated and locked.
After many years of having to cross I-75 on a two lane highway bridge the new pedestrian only bridge was completed late last fall and is now seeing lots of usage. The trip out to Hardwick Pines State Park is now much safer and a lot more fun!
Love this trail!
HOWEVER, on Saturday mornings, there is no parking at the Gaylord trail head. The soccer activities at the park take all parking for several hours.
ALSO, the soccer participants actually park on the trail, totally blocking it.
Unfortunately, this weekend (9/23), while attempting to navigate around parked cars on the trail, I got hung up in the sand and fell. Bent my derailleur and bloodied up my leg!
I informed the police that the trail was blocked. My suspicions are it did little good.
Love this trail!!!
This is a great trail but it is really deteriorating quickly. From East Park west to Charlevoix it is so beat up that it is basically disgusting to ride on my handcycle or on any type of recumbent three wheel type of bike. The curb cuts are atrocious and if you want to bend a wheel or blow a tire this is the trail for you. Even the new extension up to Alanson which is only 3 seasons old is getting really, really bumpy due to the fact that when it was built the tree roots were not cleared deep enough. The section from downtown Petoskey to East Park is the only smooth and properly maintained part of the trail albeit it now has some tree root and cracking issues too. The section from the newly purchased $300,000.00 trail office that houses the council director who has a huge salary for what he does, north to Harbor Springs has some deterioration and curb cut issues too. All and all this could be Michigan's best trail if it had built and maintained properly. Its a shame that there are few fundraising events or even donation boxes along this very heavily used trail so money could be raised to fix the many issues. Its also unfortunate that all the chiefs on the council never answer emails or complaints relating to the many, many problems that they seem to ignore.
Now that I have done this trail two years in a row, both coincidentally on labor day weekend, I feel like I can write a real review.
110 miles on this trail in 8 hours in 2016, and 137 miles in 10 hours 2017.
I know the average trail user will likely be riding under 50 miles, this review is aimed more for crazy endurance riders.
If you are looking for an intense challenge of both mental and physical toughness, while taking in the beauty of Northern Michigan, then this network of NWST, NCST and NEST trails are a MUST ride.
As others have stated, this is NOT hard packed, the gravel is loose, so there is very little coasting. You will want to stand and pedal once in a while to get some nice momentum, and help save your butt in the long haul.
There are LONG, long, very, very mind-numbing straight stretches of trail where there is absolutely nothing but dense forest on either side of you. These are the times when you need your mental toughness, especially on the way back if you're doing a round trip...
You'll appreciate passing through Wolverine by the Sturgeon River - my favorite segment is along Mullet Lake in Tapinabee - once you reach the restroom in Cheboygan, you can choose to hop on the NEST trail 71 miles to Alpina, or continue roughly 20 miles to downtown Mackinac.
I started my trip in the Gaylord area, rode to Mackinac City, took the NWST trail 20 miles West a little past Pelliston, roughly 10 miles from Harbors Springs, before turning back and heading back towards Gaylord.
The last 30 miles of this ride were torture.. it seems no matter how great a saddle and bib, at a distance like this on gravel, on a mtb, will have you feeling like your saddle is made of shards of glass and red ants.
Best of luck to you, and be sure to allow yourself to stop at least a few times to take pictures of the scenery!
We bikepacked the trail in August 2017 with our dog Yoo-Hoo in the trailer. The trail is awesome on the paved sections and challenging on the unpaved portions. We started in Comstock Park and rode north to the Mecosta County Park in Paris. A wonderful little park! There is a great little pizza shop on the trail there. If you plan ahead you can reserve one of the little cabins in the park and forego a tent. That day we had to grind out a 29 mile stretch of gravel, sand, single track, grass and other rough conditions. There are amish buggies using the trail so watch out for them.
It starts at MM21 in Sand Lake and pavement picks up on the south side of Grand Rapids. We took almost 4 hours to do that stretch with our loaded bikes, a dog trailer and stopping for lunch. The next day we rode from Paris to Cadillac and back to our campsite. There is 10 miles of gravel from the north side of Reed City (MM64) to 3 miles south of Leroy (MM74). From Leroy to Cadillac it is beautifully paved with some very pleasant scenery which you can actually enjoy since you arent focused on the trail. If the museum in Tustin is open its worth a stop. its an old potato warehouse and the folks there were so friendly. There is an unbelievable amount of stuff in the museum. We stopped for lunch in downtown Cadillac that had sidewalk seating since we had Yoo-Hoo. We heard from some other riders that the Depot restaurant was also very nice . The third day it was back to our truck in Grand Rapids.
We had mixed feelings. We drove 5 hours to ride this trail not paying close enough attention to the description and thinking unpaved as in crushed stone. We like to ride long trails to make it worth the drive and the 93 miles was part of the attraction. We are glad we rode it but probably wont do it again unless its better surfaced. Im not sure I would recommend it to friends to drive that far. We were hoping since its a State Park it would have been a little better shape. So the beginning, middle and end of the trail is very nice but the two unpaved sections are tedious, tiring and just not a lot of fun.
My wife and I, towing our furry four legged companion, rode the trail this weekend. We stayed at TC State Park Campground and used the adjoining TART trail to access this one. On the northern end, we diverted from the trail to explore some of the beautiful wineries nearby. We had wonderful service for ourselves as well as our dog at Black Star Farms, Mawby, Big Little, Ciccone, and Willow. All are within a few (very hilly!) miles of the path, and we felt safe on the roads. Admittedly, some of the off-trail hills required us to hike-a-bike, but we anticipated this and enjoyed the chance to take in the beautiful views. We had hoped to stop at Shady Lane as well but time didn't allow. The trail was flat, exquisitely maintained, and perfectly scenic throughout. We're already planning our next up north trip to continue to explore this beautiful peninsula by bike!
TrailLink is a free service provided by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (a non-profit) and we need your support!
