Hiawatha Sportsman's Club
Nature preserve
33,442 acres101.6 mi of trail
B TrailGreylock TrailF TrailCold Creek Trail+1
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Hiawatha Sportsman's Club 1931 Maintenance Building and Commissary · Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 4.0BOutdoors
Outdoors in Garfield Township
Garfield Township has 531 acres of parks, 403 for every 1,000 residents
201 miles of mapped trail cross Garfield Township, 1.5 per square mile of land. The biggest trail networks: Hiawatha Sportsman's Club (101.6 mi), Lake Superior State Forest - Sault Ste. Marie Unit (81.3 mi). 22% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 62% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
1%
625 acres · of 134.5 sq mi of land
Trails
201 mi
1.5 per sq mi of land
Park land
531 ac
403 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
22%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
26
5 boat launches
What kind of outdoors town is Garfield Township?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Garfield Township have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Garfield Township is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Garfield Township’s overall grade.
Conserved land1% of the land · typical MI town 5% · U.S. 4%CTrails1.5 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (201 mi) · MI 0.3 · U.S. 0.4APark land403 acres of park per 1,000 residents (531 acres) · MI 33 · U.S. 13AParks close to home22% of residents within a half mile of a park · MI 50% · U.S. 72%C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 62%
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.
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 Hiawatha Sportsman's Club, with 101.6 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Lake Superior State Forest - Sault Ste. Marie Unit
Managed by Michigan Department of Natural Resources
26,743 acres81.3 mi of trail
Sandtown Motorcycle TrailCrow Lake PathwayNewberry-Rexton Motorcycle TrailMarsh Lake Trail+1
Dogs allowed
Directionsto the parking lot
Lake Superior State Forest - Newberry Unit
Managed by Michigan Department of Natural Resources
2 acres0.1 mi of trail
County Highway 468 (Line Rd)
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
625 conserved acres
1% of Garfield Township’s land. Who manages Garfield Township’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State natural resources524 ac
Private owners73 ac
USDA easements (NRCS)21 ac
Other state land7 ac
State Conservation Area · 524 acPrivate Park · 73 acConservation Easement · 28 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 28 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural Area Crow River Mouth State Conservation Area | State natural resources | 477 | Open |
| Hiawatha Club Private Park | Private owners | 73 | Restricted |
| Newberry State Forest Area State Conservation Area | State natural resources | 27 | Open |
| Gourdreau-Big Knob-CARNEGIE 2 State Conservation Area | State natural resources | 20 | Open |
Things to do
7 places to go in Garfield Township
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Boat launches in Garfield Township
Mcalpine Pond Boat LaunchIn Lake Superior State Forest - Sault Ste. Marie Unit
DirectionsMillecoquins Lake Boat Launch
DirectionsNaubinway Marina Boat Launch
DirectionsThird Creek Trout Pond Boat LaunchIn Lake Superior State Forest - Sault Ste. Marie Unit
DirectionsUpper Millecoquin River Boat LaunchIn Lake Superior State Forest - Sault Ste. Marie Unit
DirectionsCampgrounds in Garfield Township
Big Knob State Forest CampgroundFee · In Lake Superior State Forest - Sault Ste. Marie Unit · Michigan Department of Natural Resources
DirectionsBlack River State Forest CampgroundIn Lake Superior State Forest - Sault Ste. Marie Unit
DirectionsTrails & water
20 named trails and 26 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 11.6 mi
Sandtown Motorcycle Trail10.8 mi
B Trail9.0 mi
Greylock Trail4.9 mi
F Trail3.1 mi
Cold Creek Trail2.9 mi
D Trail2.9 mi
N Trail2.8 mi
South Trail2.4 mi
Newberry-Rexton Motorcycle Trail2.4 mi
Crow Lake Pathway2.0 mi
10 more trails
P Trail
1.7 miA Trail
1.7 miC Trail
1.6 miCamp 4 Trail
1.5 miMarsh Lake Trail
1.5 miForest Trail
1.0 miJ Trail
0.6 miG Trail
0.1 miCounty Highway 468 (Line Rd)
0.1 miCarnigie Trail
0.1 miLakes & rivers tap for directions
Cranberry LakelakeCrow LakeDevine LakeDollar LakeEar LakeElbow LakelakeFinn LakeGoat LakelakeGrass LakeJocko PondKnob LakeLake LouiseLucky LakeMcalpine PondMillecoquins LakelakeMiller LakeMud LakeNelson LakelakePullup LakelakeTee LakeBlack RiverCrow RiverFurlong CreekLower Millecoquins RiverRock RiverUpper Millecoquins River
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
4Baseball
3Tennis
1Football
1Basketball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →2 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
When to get out
The best walking months in Garfield Township: May, June and 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.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.0 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 14.9 | 15.8 | 15.4 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 8.6 |
| High (°F) | 24 | 26 | 36 | 48 | 62 | 72 | 76 | 75 | 67 | 54 | 41 | 30 |
| Rain (in) | 2.1 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 2.5 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 2.9 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 2.8 | 2.4 |
February is the driest month (1.6 in) and July the warmest (highs of 76 °F). 4.1 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Garfield Township →
Next door
Garfield Township and its neighbors
Garfield Township has the most mapped trails of the 6 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Garfield Township201 miNewton Township128 miPentland Township121 miHudson Township112 miPortage Township52 miNaubinway0.3 mi
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garfield Township | 1% | 1.5 | 403 | 22% | B |
| Naubinway | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Pentland Township | 61% | 1.1 | 16,440 | 50% | A |
| Portage Township | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Newton Township | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Hudson Township | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Garfield Township
Where can I hike in Garfield Township?
The longest trail networks: Hiawatha Sportsman's Club, 101.6 miles; Lake Superior State Forest - Sault Ste. Marie Unit, 81.3 miles; Lake Superior State Forest - Newberry Unit, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Garfield 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 Garfield Township’s trails?
OpenStreetMap records dogs as welcome at Lake Superior State Forest - Sault Ste. Marie Unit. For the rest, check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Garfield Township?
90,816 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Garfield Township or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 531 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Garfield Township have?
Ahead of 62% 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 Garfield Township neighbors.
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 →