Outdoors · Sands

Sands, MI parks, trails & bike paths

There are about 156 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Escanaba River State Forest - Gwinn Unit (South) (32.5 mi).

Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Sands, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.

At a glance

Sands outdoors

Conserved land
0.3%
116 of 42,407 acres
Trails
156 mi
2.4 mi per sq mi
Parks & preserves
4
48 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
0.1 mi
0.0 mi lanes · 0.1 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

1234
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.
1

Escanaba River State Forest - Gwinn Unit (South)

Managed by Michigan Department of Natural Resources
6,636 acres32.5 mi of trail
Thunder Valley Equestrian TrailSuperior LoopWolverine LoopLighted LoopCrossroads Loop
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo Blueberry Ridge Pathway
2

Heartwood Forestland

Managed by City of Marquette
12 acres0.4 mi of trail
Raging RiverCarp River Falls
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
3

Marquette Underwater Preserve

Nature preserve
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
4

Marquette Unit

Nature preserve
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects the land

116 conserved acres

Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State natural resources
80 ac
Town or city
35 ac
Other state land
1 ac

Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 1 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 paths0.1 mi
  • Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
  • NTN Marquette South Trails (bike route)0.4 mi

Courts & fields

  • Basketball2
  • Tennis2

Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.

Nearby

Sands and its neighbors

Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
TownConservedTrailsParks & preserves
Sands0.3%156.3 mi4
Forsyth1.3%186.1 mi10
Richmond1%16.3 mi1
Marquette18.7%204.6 mi13
Chocolay2.9%53.5 mi7
Marquette3.6%78.5 mi25
Negaunee0.6%33.9 mi3
Trail talk

Conditions & tips from neighbors

No recent posts about Sands'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 27.3-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.

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Sands

Michigan · MI · Marquette County
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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/15 · 2025-01-01