Your Trail is Waiting

Great Lake to Lake Trails

As Michigan’s network of non-motorized trails has grown over the past four decades, a vision emerged of an interconnected series of trail routes linking one Great Lake to another. The vision was first realized in 2011 when the Michigan Trails and Greenway Alliance convened a meeting among a wide range of trail advocates and government officials around the state to focus on this intriguing idea. This meeting of the minds produced five potential routes, two in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and three in the Lower Peninsula – and created a name for this grand vision: The Great Lake-to-Lake Trails.

275 Miles

Route 1

South Haven to
Port Huron

210 Miles

Route 2

Muskegon to
Bay City

140 Miles

Route 3

Charlevoix to
Alpena

90 Miles

Route 4

Manistique to Marquette

100 Miles

Route 5

Escanaba to the
Porcupine Mountains

GLTL Planning

Route 1

Stretching 275 miles from South Haven to Port Huron, Route 1 was mostly built on remnants of the original Michigan Air Line Railroad. Built-in 1883, the Michigan Air Line was one of Michigan’s first major railroads, running from Port Huron to Niles, Michigan. When most of the rail corridor was abandoned in 1975, several sections were acquired by the Michigan Departments of Transportation or Natural Resources and other county and local governments.

Today, this major stretch of the Great Lake-to-Lake Trails Route 1 run from Richmond (Macomb Orchard Trail) to Concord (Falling Waters Trail) near Jackson. From the west, Route 1 follows the Kal-Haven Trail State Park on the railbed of the former Kalamazoo & South Haven Railroad from the Lake Michigan shoreline to Kalamazoo. It then continues east on the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail, the Battle Creek Linear Park, and the Calhoun County Trailway.

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