Marquette City Multi Use Path (Michigan) Weather Forecast & Planning Guide

Marquette City Multi Use Path, Marquette County, MI, 5.81 miles

Trail Facts

Length5.8 mi

Elevation606 to 703 ft

Grade0.3% average

Shade cover28%

SurfaceAsphalt

Activities

E-bikingBikingWalkingRunningHikingBirdingFishingSwimmingCross-country skiingand more

Connects To

Iron Ore Heritage TrailNoquemanon Trail NetworkNorth Country National Scenic Trail

Managed By

City of Marquette

Trivia

Presque Isle Park at the north end is a 323 acre forested peninsula that Congress transferred to the City of Marquette in 1886.
Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. visited Presque Isle in 1891 and warned that it should not be marred by the intrusion of artificial objects, setting the park's hands-off design tradition.
The LS&I ore dock the path passes at the Upper Harbor stands 75 feet above the waterline and runs 1,200 feet into Lake Superior.
Ore trains still park on that dock and dump into roughly a hundred concrete pockets, with up to 10 million tons a year shipped out.
The path is named in part for Holly Greer, who gathered 1,500 signatures to get Marquette's first bike path built and went on to become the city's first woman mayor.
The retired Lower Harbor Ore Dock downtown, built in 1931 with 150 pockets holding 56,000 tons, loaded its first cargo, 10,103 tons of ore, in just 92 minutes; it closed in 1971.
The full Multi Use Path network connects to the Noquemanon Trail Network's South Trails Trailhead, opening onto more than 30 miles of hiking and mountain biking trails.

About This Trail

The Marquette City Multi Use Path is the paved spine of Marquette's trail network of more than 17 total miles, and this segment is its best-known stretch: about six miles of asphalt running north along the Lake Superior shoreline from downtown Marquette to Presque Isle Park. The route strings together Mattson Lower Harbor Park, McCarty's Cove, Shiras Park and Clark Lambros Beach Park, passes the LS&I ore dock at the Upper Harbor, and finishes with a loop around Presque Isle Park. The path is almost always in sight of the water as bikers, walkers, runners, and inline skaters enjoy their outings, especially on summer evenings.

RailTrailWx TIPS

Marquette City Multi Use Path

Your comfort. Prognosticated.

Winds can be especially strong along the lake, especially crosswinds from the north or northeast. Just enjoy the view and take it slower if riding.
When the winds are blowing from Lake Superior, expect temperatures to drop. Temperatures at McCarty's Cove can sit well below what inland Marquette is reporting. Even the warmest of summer days may have some reprieve as lake winds develop in the afternoon, bringing water-cooled air inland.
Late spring and early summer are the fog season on this shore. Warm air moving over a still cold Lake Superior can leave the beach parks and Presque Isle in gray while the city a few blocks inland is clear.
In winter the south portion of Peter White Drive on Presque Isle is plowed and open during park hours, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and bikes are welcome on year-round if you stay on pavement.
Head out early to enjoy a sunrise over Lake Superior.
This is a shoreline ride, not a sheltered one. Canopy averages 28 percent and 61 percent of the corridor is fully open, so you will be exposed to the sun and wind for most of the route.
Amenities are unusually good for a shoreline path: Presque Isle Park, Clark Lambros Beach Park, Shiras Park, McCarty's Cove, and Mattson Park all have parking, restrooms, and water.

-Cory

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Enjoy the Marquette City Multi Use Path!

Climate

Excellent biking days per month, 2011-2025 climatology

History

Presque Isle, the wooded peninsula anchoring the north end of this path, carries roughly 7,000 years of indigenous use before European settlement, and in 1886 Congress transferred it to the City of Marquette for a public park. Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. visited in 1891 and urged that the ground be left alone, advice the city has largely followed. What grew up along the shoreline instead was iron. The Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad ran ore down from the Marquette Range to the shores of Lake Superior, and its dock at the Upper Harbor, first built in 1911 as the railroad's terminus, still loads freighters beside the trail. The Lower Harbor dock downtown no longer ships ore and now serves as a city landmark. The path itself began in 1971 as a short strip from Fair Avenue to Presque Isle along Lakeshore Boulevard, pushed through by resident Holly Greer, who collected 1,500 signatures after nearly striking a child on a bicycle on that same road. It was later named for her. The city has since extended the network west and south to Harvey, tying it into the Iron Ore Heritage Trail and the North Country Trail. Lake Superior forced the most recent rebuild: an October 2019 storm and the surges that followed destroyed the road and multiuse path between Pine and Hawley streets, and the city moved both 300 feet inland, finishing that phase in October 2020.

Trailheads

MarquetteMILE 0Directions
Mattson ParkMILE 0.3Directions
McCarty's Cove ParkMILE 0.9Directions
Shiras ParkMILE 1.5Directions
Clark Lambros Beach ParkMILE 3.1Directions
LS&I Ore DockMILE 3.5Directions
Sunset PointMILE 5Directions
Presque Isle ParkMILE 5.8Directions

Nearby trails

Iron Ore Heritage Trail

46 mi·MI

Explore Forecast

Pere Marquette Rail Trail

30 mi·MI

RTC Hall of Fame

Explore Forecast

Elroy-Sparta State Trail

34 mi·WI

RTC Hall of Fame

Explore Forecast

RailTrailWx TIPS

Marquette City Multi Use Path

Your comfort. Prognosticated.

Winds can be especially strong along the lake, especially crosswinds from the north or northeast. Just enjoy the view and take it slower if riding.

When the winds are blowing from Lake Superior, expect temperatures to drop. Temperatures at McCarty's Cove can sit well below what inland Marquette is reporting. Even the warmest of summer days may have some reprieve as lake winds develop in the afternoon, bringing water-cooled air inland.

Late spring and early summer are the fog season on this shore. Warm air moving over a still cold Lake Superior can leave the beach parks and Presque Isle in gray while the city a few blocks inland is clear.

In winter the south portion of Peter White Drive on Presque Isle is plowed and open during park hours, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and bikes are welcome on year-round if you stay on pavement.

Head out early to enjoy a sunrise over Lake Superior.

This is a shoreline ride, not a sheltered one. Canopy averages 28 percent and 61 percent of the corridor is fully open, so you will be exposed to the sun and wind for most of the route.

Amenities are unusually good for a shoreline path: Presque Isle Park, Clark Lambros Beach Park, Shiras Park, McCarty's Cove, and Mattson Park all have parking, restrooms, and water.

-Cory