Glacial Hills Pathway is one of my favorite trails in Northern Michigan. This trail is beautifully built with lots of flowy smooth single track. Glacial Hills has nearly 31 miles of trails over the 800 acres of Northern Michigan Hills.
These trails are perfect for a wide variety of skills. There are many small loops for those just getting into biking and large loops for those looking to get the miles in on these mazing Michigan trails. Every intersection has a sign with a map making it super easy to pick out your loop and where you want to go. No getting lost on these trails.
These trails are very smooth and flowy, they have close to no obstacles in the trail. Barely any roots and not a rock in sight. Maybe disappointing to those looking to sharpen their skills and hit some tough terrain but that doesn’t always mean you can’t grab some skills from these trails.
Glacial hills has four trailheads. Eckhardt Road Trailhead, Orchard Hill trail head, and two Vandermark Trailheads. The Eckhardt Road Trailhead has the biggest parking lot with new bathrooms. Vandermark has two trailheads, the southern trailhead on Vandermark Road has a bathroom whereas the northern Vandermark trail does not have a bathroom and has a smaller parking lot. Orchard Hill trailhead usually has an porta potty but with some recent Parking lot changes may not be there until next year. The Orchard Hills Parking lot is also where the large outer loop, if you’re looking to get a longer ride you can add the outer loop called Neverland to the rest of your ride.
Select trails are groomed in the winter for Fat Biking and are outlined on the Glacial Hills maps on their website.
For more information about the Glacial Hills Trails, head to their website at the link below. Their website is filled with great information and links to a maps of all the trails.
Please consider donating to Glacial Hills which allows them to keep expanding these amazing trails and keep them in great shape!
While you’re in the area don’t forget to checkout some of the best Beer and Food at Short’s Brewing in Downtown Bellaire.
Directions to the The Glacial Hills Trailhead on Eckhardt Road
Click “more options” to bring up google maps in another tab then put in your location to get directions to the trailhead.