1
Avalanche Preserve Recreation Area
Park
203 acres9.6 mi of trail
Walking TrailSidewinderPine LakeBo-RidginalMorel Dilemma
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Website
Outdoors · Wilson
Wilson, MI parks, trails & bike paths
About 3.8% of Wilson is conserved land, roughly 825 acres. There are about 24 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Avalanche Preserve Recreation Area (9.6 mi), Raven Ridge Nature Preserve (1.7 mi), and Porter Creek Natural Area (1.5 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Wilson, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Wilson outdoors
Conserved land
3.8%
825 of 21,887 acres
Trails
24 mi
0.7 mi per sq mi · 12 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
8
439 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
Raven Ridge Nature Preserve
Nature preserve
144 acres1.7 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
Porter Creek Natural Area
Managed by County of Charlevoix
99 acres1.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
4
Darnton Family Nature Preserve
Nature preserve
279 acres1.2 mi of trail
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.
Peaks in Wilson
Richardson Hill1,086 ft elevation
Trails
Named trails
Open to bikes 7.2 miUnpaved 15.5 mi
- Walking Trail2.5 mi
- Sidewinder1.7 mi
- Pine Lake1.7 mi
- Bo-Ridginal1.3 mi
- Morel Dilemma0.7 mi
- Stroll the Steeps0.6 mi
- Rambler Ridge0.5 mi
- Roundhouse0.4 mi
- Rainey Hill0.3 mi
Water
Lakes & rivers
Tap a name for directions.
Who protects the land
825 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 2 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
- Avalanche Multi-Use Trail System (bike route)7.1 mi
Courts & fields
- Tennis1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Public lands
The biggest protected places in Wilson
From USGS PAD-US: who manages each one and whether visitors are welcome.
Private Conservation 270 acState Conservation Area 266 acLocal Conservation Area 197 acPrivate Forest Stewardship 88 acConservation Easement 2 ac
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Darnton FamilyState Conservation Area | Land trusts & nonprofits | 266 | Open |
| Avalanche Mountain RestrictionLocal Conservation Area | Town or city | 197 | Closed |
| Raven RidgePrivate Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 139 | Closed |
| Marvin MemorialPrivate Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 131 | Open |
| Charlevoix 2Private Forest Stewardship | Land trusts & nonprofits | 88 | Closed |
History
Historic places to visit
Knob CemeteryCemetery
Lewis CemeteryCemetery
Todds CemeteryCemetery
Nearby
Wilson and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wilson | 3.8% | 23.6 mi | 8 |
| South Arm | 2.9% | 7.3 mi | 10 |
| Boyne City | 6.4% | 7.2 mi | 13 |
| Boyne Valley | 3.9% | 33.3 mi | 7 |
| Jordan | 0.8% | 26.3 mi | 1 |
| Eveline | 1.2% | 11.7 mi | 4 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Wilson'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.