1
Mackinaw State Forest - Gaylord Unit
Managed by Michigan Department of Natural Resources
78 acres0.6 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Outdoors · Custer
Custer, MI parks, trails & bike paths
About 4.2% of Custer is conserved land, roughly 944 acres. There are about 41 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Mackinaw State Forest - Gaylord Unit (0.6 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Custer, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Custer outdoors
Conserved land
4.2%
944 of 22,378 acres
Trails
41 mi
1.2 mi per sq mi · 2 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
5
892 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
Grass River Natural Area
Nature preserve
196 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
3
Simpson Road Forest Area
Managed by Antrim County
157 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Website
4
Finch Creek Nature Sanctuary
Managed by Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy
48 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Website
Who protects the land
944 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 124 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
- Tennis5
- Baseball1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Nearby
Custer and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custer | 4.2% | 40.6 mi | 5 |
| Helena | 5.7% | 12.5 mi | 4 |
| Forest Home | 5.4% | 43.2 mi | 7 |
| Rapid River | 0.5% | 75.7 mi | 3 |
| Kearney | 10.4% | 30.0 mi | 10 |
| Mancelona | 1.1% | 129.5 mi | 7 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Custer'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.