1
Skegemog Lake Wildlife Area
Managed by Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy
3,286 acres6.6 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Outdoors · Clearwater
Clearwater, MI parks, trails & bike paths
About 12% of Clearwater is conserved land, roughly 2,553 acres. There are about 27 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Skegemog Lake Wildlife Area (6.6 mi) and Pere Marquette State Forest - Traverse City Unit (4 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Clearwater, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Clearwater outdoors
Conserved land
12%
2,553 of 21,489 acres
Trails
27 mi
0.8 mi per sq mi · 6 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
5
1,007 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
0.0 mi
0.0 mi lanes · 0.0 mi off-road paths
Conserved land is a share of the whole town area. Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number or a place below to zoom in© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Parks & preserves with trails
Ranked by mapped trail miles. Directions go to the nearest marked trailhead or public parking.
2
Pere Marquette State Forest - Traverse City Unit
Managed by Michigan Department of Natural Resources
622 acres4 mi of trail
Richardson Road NorthwestSeven Bridges Natural Area TrailTownline Road Northwest
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
Freedom Park
Park
13 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Heritage Park
Park
12 acres
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Who protects the land
2,553 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 125 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes0.0 mi
- Off-road bike paths0.0 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Courts & fields
- Baseball3
- Tennis2
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Nearby
Clearwater and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clearwater | 11.9% | 27.4 mi | 5 |
| Milton | 1% | 16.8 mi | 8 |
| Helena | 5.7% | 12.5 mi | 4 |
| Kalkaska | 0.9% | 212.0 mi | 8 |
| Rapid River | 0.5% | 75.7 mi | 3 |
| Whitewater | 1.1% | 145.0 mi | 10 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Clearwater's trails yet. Muddy, icy, a bridge out, where to park: a quick post helps the next person.
Sources: trails, parks, preserves, courts and bike lanes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), map data as of 2026-09-28. Conserved land: USGS Gap Analysis Project, Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). Measured against the Census town boundary.
How we measure
"Trails" are OpenStreetMap paths, bridleways, public tracks and unpaved footways, plus footways inside a park or preserve or on a named trail route. Sidewalks are left out. Areas are counted on a 20-meter grid, so overlapping parcels count once. "Conserved" includes conservation easements, which protect land from development but are usually private property. Trailheads are the nearest marked trailhead, public parking lot or information board within about 150 meters of a preserve. Dog rules come from OpenStreetMap when someone has tagged them; otherwise we show what's typical for the land manager, or say the rules aren't recorded.