1
Grass River Natural Area
Nature preserve
601 acres5 mi of trail
Rail Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Helena
Helena, MI parks, trails & bike paths
About 5.7% of Helena is conserved land, roughly 834 acres. There are about 13 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Grass River Natural Area (5 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Helena, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Helena outdoors
Conserved land
5.7%
834 of 14,661 acres
Trails
13 mi
0.5 mi per sq mi · 6 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
4
745 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
Helena Township Park
Managed by Helena Township
5 acres
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
Alden Depot Park
Park
3 acres
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Tennis Court Park
Managed by Antrim County
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Things to do
Beaches, playgrounds, falls & more
Pick a kind of place for the list, directions, or pins on the map above.
Beaches in Helena
Archie Valleau Landing
Public Access
Public Access
Public Access
Public Access
Unnamed beach in Helena Township Park
Trails
Named trails
Unpaved 8.3 mi
- Rail Trail0.4 mi
Water
Lakes & rivers
Tap a name for directions.
Who protects the land
834 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 77 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
- Beach volleyball1
- Basketball1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Public lands
The biggest protected places in Helena
From USGS PAD-US: who manages each one and whether visitors are welcome.
Local Conservation Area 754 acUnknown Easement 74 acLocal Park 3 acConservation Easement 2 ac
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grass River Natural AreaLocal Conservation Area | Land trusts & nonprofits | 754 | Closed |
| Alden Beach ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
| Helena Township ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
History
Historic places to visit
Alden LighthouseMonument
Veterans MemorialIn Alden Depot Park · War memorial
Helena Township CemeteryCemetery
Nearby
Helena and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helena | 5.7% | 12.5 mi | 4 |
| Forest Home | 5.4% | 43.2 mi | 7 |
| Milton | 1% | 16.8 mi | 8 |
| Custer | 4.2% | 40.6 mi | 5 |
| Clearwater | 11.9% | 27.4 mi | 5 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Helena'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.