Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Coldsprings Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
BOutdoors
Outdoors in Coldsprings Township

Coldsprings Township has 43 miles of mapped trails, 1.3 for every square mile of land

113 acres are parks and preserves, 71 per 1,000 residents. The biggest trail networks: Pere Marquette State Forest - Traverse City Unit (14.6 mi). 14% of residents live within a half mile of a park.

Ahead of 57% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Conserved land
1%
293 acres · of 34.5 sq mi of land
Trails
43 mi
1.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
113 ac
71 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
14%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
13
2 beaches · 4 boat launches

What kind of outdoors town is Coldsprings Township?

Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.

Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Coldsprings Township have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Coldsprings Township is ahead of 57% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.

B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Coldsprings Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 57%
LessMore
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.

PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →

The map

Conserved land, trails & bike routes

Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.

123
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk

Pick a walk

The longest trail network is Pere Marquette State Forest - Traverse City Unit, with 14.6 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Pere Marquette State Forest - Traverse City Unit

Managed by Michigan Department of Natural Resources
4,363 acres14.6 mi of trail
Leetsville to Kalkaska MCCCTNorth Davis Road NortheastWood Road NortheastNorthwood Lane Northeast+1
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet

Mackinaw State Forest - Gaylord Unit

Managed by Michigan Department of Natural Resources
11 acres0.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗

Sands Park

Managed by Coldsprings Township
5 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Who protects it

293 conserved acres

1% of Coldsprings Township’s land. Who manages Coldsprings Township’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

Land trusts & nonprofits183 ac
Town or city110 ac
Unknown Easement · 183 acLocal Recreation Area · 104 acLocal Park · 6 ac
Good to know

Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 183 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.

The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Camp Tanuga
Local Recreation Area
Town or city104Open
Sands Park
Local Park
Town or city6Open
Things to do

8 places to go in Coldsprings Township

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Campgrounds in Coldsprings Township
Pickerel Lake (Kalkaska) State Forest CampgroundHours: Open 24 hours · In Pere Marquette State Forest - Traverse City Unit
Directions
Trails & water

20 named trails and 13 lakes & rivers

Named trails
Unpaved · 11.9 mi
Leetsville to Kalkaska MCCCT3.0 mi
Wood Road Northeast2.3 mi
North Davis Road Northeast2.1 mi
Northwood Lane Northeast1.6 mi
Partridge Road Northeast1.3 mi
Dapoki Trail Northeast1.0 mi
North County Line Road Northeast0.8 mi
Starvation Lake Road Northeast0.7 mi
Pleasant Lane Northeast0.7 mi
Hurricane Drive Northeast0.6 mi
10 more trails
McCullen Road Northeast
0.5 mi
Audubon Road Northeast
0.5 mi
Jericho Trail Northeast
0.5 mi
Northwood Trail
0.3 mi
Atlas Trail Northeast
0.3 mi
Aberdeen Trail
0.3 mi
North Country National Scenic Trail
0.2 mi
Farley Road Northeast
0.2 mi
Lumberjack Trail Northeast
0.1 mi
North Co Line Road Northeast
0.1 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports

0.0 miles of bike routes

Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.

Courts & fields
1Tennis

Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.

When to get out

The best walking months in Coldsprings Township: May to August

NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.110.411.813.414.815.615.314.012.510.99.58.8
High (°F)262939526676797770564231
Rain (in)2.41.72.03.13.43.53.13.33.74.33.12.6

February is the driest month (1.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 79 °F). 4.3 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Coldsprings Township →

Next door

Coldsprings Township and its neighbors

Tap a town to see its outdoors.

TownConserved
of land
Trail mi
per sq mi
Park acres
per 1,000
Near a park
½ mile
Outdoors
Coldsprings Township1%1.37114%B
Rapid River Townshipunder 1%2.216724%B
Blue Lake Township— not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town
Excelsior Township14%1.21,19811%A−
Mancelona Township1%1.8633%C+

The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.

Questions about parks and trails in Coldsprings Township

Where can I hike in Coldsprings Township?

The longest trail networks: Pere Marquette State Forest - Traverse City Unit, 14.6 miles; Mackinaw State Forest - Gaylord Unit, 0.4 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.

How much of Coldsprings Township is conserved land?

1% of its land, against a typical 5% for a Michigan town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.

Are dogs allowed on Coldsprings Township’s trails?

Pere Marquette State Forest - Traverse City Unit and Mackinaw State Forest - Gaylord Unit don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Is there public land near Coldsprings Township?

10,927 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Coldsprings Township or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 113 of them inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Coldsprings Township have?

Ahead of 57% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

Trail talk

Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Coldsprings Township neighbors.

Town Square →
Share a tip
Sources

Where this page comes from

Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →