North Shore Trail

Dogs Leashed

Features Birding · Fall Colors · Lake · Spring · Swimming · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

There are quarter mile sign posts, but this trail runs short of 5 miles and the signs are not terribly accurate. The trail begins with about .35 of paved surface, but I usually cut that part out and just start where the crushed rock portion begins. There's another road section in the middle for about .4 mile. There are port-o-potty's around that area, but no running water anywhere along the trail. The west end of the North Shore Trail connects almost perfectly to the start of the North Snowmobile Trail in MacBride SP, if you're looking to link up for a longer run.

This is a mostly flat, crushed rock trail that meanders along the shore of Lake MacBride from Solon to Lake MacBride State Park. Between the scenery and the forgiving nature of the trail, it's a great route to get some forgiving miles with an out and back logging a little over 9.5. It's also a great start to something longer, as you can connect almost directly to the start of the North Snowmobile Trail in Lake MacBride State Park, which runs almost to the spillway where you have access to all of the trails on that side of the park as well as the MacBride Nature Recreation Area (MNRA).

There's a lot to see along the lake including waterfowl, raptors and song birds of all kinds, turtles, mink, deer, etc.