Find the top rated bike trails in Wanatah, whether you're looking for an easy short bike trail or a long bike trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a bike trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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They started paving last fall. From County line rd heading West there is about 2-3 miles paved to Lake Shore County rd.
Straight flat the mile markers are off by 1.5 miles. The pavement is not smooth enough to skate on with ease. But for biking its fine. 80% friendly people to people of color.
We started in Akron and rode about 18 miles north. Loved it!!!
The Granger Path is nice for running or walking. It's wide and relatively flat with only 40ft elevation change. The path follows and crosses several busy roads - so be watchful. Also watch for the multitude of golf carts and scooters driven by adolescents (mainly on weekends and after school hours). Additionally, none of the bicycle riders (or golf cart drivers) notify you as they approach from behind so best to run without tunes.
I rode the Panhandle Pathway from the Kenneth trailhead to Winimac and back. Overall, it is a good trail for those who are wanting to get away from the crowds and do some riding. There is nothing specific to to tell about the trail except that the Tippecanoe River bridge is very well done. The trail is flat and easy to ride. The Winimac trailhead area is nice because there are public restrooms directly adjacent to the trail. Conversely, the Panhandle is experiencing the inevitable problem that comes with time. There are several areas that have tree roots heaving and then cracking the trail surface.
Rode the OST today. Well marked, flat and paved. A few tree roots but not significant. The trail goes through neighborhoods, parks and open land. Shaded most of the way. Overall a good 20 mile RT ride.
On 8/27/24, the National Park Service issued a solicitation for bids to improve the Marquette Trail within its boundaries as part of the overall Marquette Greenway project. Approximately 2.5 miles of the existing trail will become a 10-foot wide asphalt multi-use trail with 2-foot gravel shoulders, and include a new bridge. It looks like completion will be in 2026. Other segments of the Marquette Greenway are complete around Burns Harbor and Michigan City, and more will open by Fall 2024.
We ( recumbent trike & e-bike) headed West from the Kiwanis park. Turned around after 9km as the surface was really tough on the trike. There’s 2 good wheel tracks for bikes, but the trike had to ride partially in the coarse trail ballast. Scenic area with farm views and a huge windmill farm in the distance.
Go here to sit and observe, to meditate. It’s so close but a world away. Leave the city white noise behind. Watch the water fowl. I stop here at the end of my lakefront bike rides.
We began our ride on the far north end, at the Plym Park trailhead in Niles. Parking is more than adequate and very safe. However, as with the entire trail, there are no modern bathrooms. Simply a porta-potty every now and then. Plym Park seems like such a nice place and we were pretty surprised at the lack of facilities there.
The first 2.5 miles is probably not our favorite that we've ever done, and that's trying very hard to be diplomatic. The signage was non-existent, the crossings were poorly marked (especially the first major crossings at Wayne St and M-139. No buttons to push for crossing at a very dangerous and partially obstructed intersection. At worst, they need a push-button flashing yellow, probably a Hawk light. Either way, we made it past there to the riverfront part of the trail. Again, lots of beauty here, but it was hard to take your eyes off of the trail in front of you because the roots that have undergrown this part of the trail have caused massive bumps and ruts. This continued for the entirety of the Niles (city) part of the trail until we reached Fort Street, a little over 2 miles in to the journey. We had decided to ride the hybrids today and not the road bikes. We were very glad we had made that decision.
Once we crossed over Fort Street, we rode along a fairly new section of the trail alongside 3rd Street. This was MUCH better pavement conditions. However, about a half mile down, you are required to cross this very busy street with (again) no lights, no flashers, etc., just on your own with some white paint on the road. Crossing over, you ride a circular trail cut through a nature park, which is nice because it takes you away from this very busy street. (It was our bad luck that a very large tree had come down overnight and forced us to "portage" over this tree! Never had that experience before.) Once back to 3rd St., you hit US12, which is a major road. Fortunately, there are very good pedestrian crossing signals here, and we didn't have any issues in either direction. Crossing this, you are dead-straight North/South for the next 3.5 miles until you are almost on Notre Dame's campus. This is a very nice ride with the exception that there are probably seven or eight cross streets so a lot of stops. Not dangerous crossings, but ones that prevent you from going a nice distance to stretch your legs out.
Once you reach Douglas Road and Business US 31, you are on the NW tip of the campus. Lots of great places to ride there which are not part of this trail, so I won't talk about them here.
Overall, it's a decent trail and the City of Niles is actively working on it, patching many of the bad spots with new pavement, as well as clearing brush and trees that are encroaching, so props to them for their efforts. Unfortunately, there are just SO many place that need fixing, they are fighting a losing battle against those tree roots. We're glad we got to finally experience this trail. Unfortunately, its lack of facilities and poor pavement quality make it a three-star at best, and that's only to the south of Niles. North of Fort St, no more than two.
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