Explore the best rated trails in Elk Rapids, MI. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Boyne Valley Trailway and Betsie Valley Trail. With more than 17 trails covering 385 miles you're bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
Took the trail west about six miles into Boyne City. Very nice trail conditions with plenty of woods, scenic vistas and finally water at the BC terminal point. Enjoyed the warm fall afternoon!
This is a nice trail. The trail has been completed so that it does go all the way around Boardman Lake. It is about 4 miles, mostly shaded, and mostly paved. There are sections of boardwalk and a small section of hard packed dirt/gravel.
Rode the entire length of this trail from Gaylord to Cheboygan, then to Mackinaw City the next morning. Excellent crushed gravel surface, very easy to ride on with a mountain bike. The scenery is beautiful along the entire route and there are numerous great stops along the way. Gentle downhill all the way to Wolverine, then it was basically flat into Cheboygan and along Lake Huron to Mackinaw. We also rode the opposite way a couple days later, and the uphill climb back to Gaylord was very doable, even at the latter stages of a 50 mile ride. I highly recommend this ride.
Hi i I am partially disabled and have to use a electric assist bike to be able to ride. The past few weeks ive been able to go to Rockford and bake While there was some maintenance being done along trail, it was a awesome ride and some beautiful areas to see along the way As you get closer to Rockford is used more by both walkers and bikers Thankful for this trail
Nice ride. Well maintained asphalt trail. Fish hatchery in Paris is worth a visit.
8/28/2022. Rode trail from Mackinac City south for 10 miles and then back. It was awesome. Trail in good shape. Large trees provided shade( unlike Oklahoma). Very quiet solitary. Came around a corner and within 5 yards of a big buck. Thanks Michigan!
I've now ridden from Cadillac through Tustin, LeRoy, and Ashton to Reed City. Such a delightful trail for road bikes! I especially liked the portions north of Ashton as they were away from the road and more undeveloped (woods, hills, valleys, cool swamps, neat farms) and interesting. The condition of the pavement is very good except for two locations 1) a very short section north of Tustin where some roots are starting to undermine the asphalt, and 2) immediately north of Reed City where there are some cracks across the pavement. Enjoy this treasure of a trail!
Great ride, scenic as it rolls through vineyards and apple orchards. Not dissimilar from Tuscany. Also Sutton’s bay has plenty of restaurants including beer pubs which makes it a great halfway point.
Rode the trail from the state park into Grayling. Lots of hills but the ride was very smooth. Not the prettiest trail we’ve been. Not sure we’d go back. Lots of riding next to the road. Kind of noisy.
Enjoyed our ride on the Leelanau Trail. Took us about 5 hrs to go to Suttons Bay and back. We have rad power bikes. Stopped a few times there and back—wandered around Suttons Bay a little. Nice smooth trail
I recently moved to the Cadillac area and have had this trail in my crosshairs for quite some time. So yesterday ( 7-23-22 ) , I set out from Cadillac at 0900 and rode the trail in its entirety, arriving in Grand Rapids just before 5pm. The scenery along with small town Americana was very enjoyable.
I had visited this site several times prior to my adventure to learn of what I may have to look forward to. I would like to add a few thoughts…
First of all, I’m a mountain biker. This trail is very easy, but riding with a M.B. surely has advantages. The unpacked portion was ( for me anyway ) more to my liking. I can’t speak for others, especially you skinny tire riders, but it was my favorite section ( south of Big Rapids to Sand lake roughly ) . I passed a small group on this section but that was it and saw nobody until I picked back up with the paved section at Sand lake. The riding was easy, being hard packed gravel and dirt. I’ve rode trails all over the U.S. and there’s one thing they all have in common- the paved trails usually show signs of degrading and that makes the ride tougher on those that expect a smooth surface. It is what it is. Hence the reason I enjoy natural non paved. And like I eluded, I noticed more users on the paved portions north and south than I did on the natural mid section.
Takeaways—
There’s always someone that feels the need to litter. I don’t know how many Cliff bar wrappers I picked up, at least 6. There’s no need for it.
Those that point out every detail or flaw of this trail- y’all need to get outside more!😂. As I said earlier, skinny tire folks won’t care for the mid section probably. But the entire trail is so easy and well maintained, it’s even better than riding the local roads .
Bring your own food and water, yet there are many places to get off and replenish supplies if need be.
Overall, this was truly a great experience. My hats off to the volunteers and DNR for maintaining such a wonderful resource . I will be doing this ride again in the upcoming fall for sure.
For those that wonder, I had a ride waiting for me in GR. My girlfriend had planned it so that she would be downstate and picked me up for the trip back up north. 90 miles on a bike is enough for one day,😂
Everyone enjoy this trail and others in this great state!
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