Exploring Under People Power

By HOLLY MACE
News Staff Writer

Whether walking, biking, rollerblading or enjoying the outdoors in some other non-motorized fashion, both the Alpena and Rogers City areas offer paths enabling such recreation and allowing visitors to catch a glimpse of some of the cities’ highlights at the same time.
Alpena’s paved bi-path is about 12 miles long and travels through several of Alpena’s city parks and beaches, along the Thunder Bay River and Lake Huron.

“The coolest thing to me about the bi-path is that it’s really an unusual opportunity to be able to see Alpena’s parks and beaches,” said Deb Pardike, director of the Alpena Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It certainly shows off the most scenic parts of Alpena.”
The path is an excellent way to explore the city, whether by tourists or by locals, she said.

“If local people haven’t gone out to take a stroll or bike ride along the path, I think they’d be amazed at the beauty of the city that they would see,” Pardike said.

The trails allow visitors the opportunity to enjoy the fresh air, the quiet atmosphere and to explore the town at their leisure.

“It’s a quiet, peaceful, beautiful fun way to see the town,” Pardike said.

In Alpena, bike rentals will be available beginning in the summer of 2004 through Summit Sports, Pardike said.
Trails are growing in popularity throughout the state and the trail in the Rogers City area grew in the literal sense.
The Huron Sunrise Trail in Rogers City links the city’s many waterfront parks, including South Shore Park, Lakeside Park, Kiwanis Park and Seagull Point.

The segments at Lakeside Park provide access to the city’s public beach, picnic area, pavilion, playgrounds, bandshell and marina.
The trail also extends across US-23 and travels into the Herman Vogler Conservation Area, which is a 300-acre nature preserve that includes many trails of its own, wildlife viewing opportunities, hunting and fishing.

This year, work was completed on a three-mile paved extension, traveling north of Rogers City to Hoeft State Park.
Since the successful completion of that extension, there has been interest expressed in a further extension north to the Forty Mile Point Lighthouse but there are no definite plans as of yet.