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Print Friendly MapThere’s no need to hold your breath along the Bergland to Sidnaw Rail-Trail while teetering across steep land bridges or crossing the impressive trestles that tower over streams and rivers because the spectacular views will take your breath away. You will be rewarded with one such view about midway along this 43-mile trail as you overlook Agate Falls rushing down the rocky steps of the Middle Branch of the Ontonagon River.
The trail is also known as Trail 8 on Michigan snowmobile maps.
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.
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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