Travel with Dom

October, 2026

A trail I decided to do, during peak fall colors, was the Manistee river trail loop in Michigan. The trail itself is 19.65 miles long with around 1,850 ft of elevation gain. There is a parking lot on the north and south side of the loop. I started on the north side. The parking areas are off of upper river road. They are free and have lots of space. The trail is split into two halves. The western side is apart of the North Country scenic trail. This trail actually goes from North Dakota all the way to Vermont. The eastern side is the Manistee river trail that goes along the rover itself the majority of the trail. I started with the North Country scenic trail side because it was the harder section of the loop.

I started early in the morning at 7am… which at this time of year, issss pitch black out. I had a power bank that is also a flash light luckily. The beginning of the trail is not bad and has some cool views of the river.

The sun started to come out at around 8:15am and it made the fall colors start to pop. It was such an amazing sight to see.

At around 1.8 miles into the trail you will come across the first of many creeks you will bump into. This is when the sun started to come out luckily.

After this creek, is when the elevation starts to kick in. There is a lot of up, down, up, down throughout this section. The views of the surrounding forest though is so rewarding. You will come across lots of campsites throughout the entire trail. You could utilize this to make it a multi-day pitch with some friends. I took advantage of them and used them to take my breaks.

The views of the trees were unreal on this side. All kinds of different fall colors it was so sweet.

At around 9.5-10 miles you will reach the south section of the loop. There is a big parking lot here with a bathroom if you need to go. I got an awesome view of some swans and herons at the bridge across the river.

Here you will start the Manistee river half of the loop. This side will have very rewarding views of the river and hills you have just conquered. The elevation gain dies down big time on this half of the loop, it is very easy from here on. A lot of the campsites are on this side too. If I’m not mistaken, there are 24 different campsites total on this side.

It was around mid day when I reached this side. I started to see people more often, but not that many. Something I like about this trail a lot, it is very well maintained. Every creek section had a wood board path across and trail markers were everywhere. You could honestly do the whole trail with just the markers. I barely had to look at my map unless I was at a fork in the road.

As you progress more and more on the Manistee river side the views just get better and better. The colors just made it look unreal.

Eventually on the eastern side you will come across a couple of small waterfalls, which were cool to see and unexpected. This trail has a little bit of everything, which is something I really like about it. It feels different at each part of the trail.

As I reached the end, I definitely started to feel it in my legs. Seeing my car in the distance after hours felt like victory. It took me around 8 hours to complete this trail, including my breaks, and I was MARCHING. I brought 2 apples, a banana, granola, energy waffle bites, and a chicken salad sandwich with cherries from a local gas station. Because it was cold, I didn’t need that much water. I still drank around 60 ml total. This trail, at this time of year with peak fall colors, has become one of my favorite trails of all time. I will be coming back for sure and camping. I could not recommend this trail more to do during the fall season.