Home >  Plan a trip >  Outdoors Recreation >  Bicycling >  Bicycling along Lake Michigan

Other stories in "Bicycling"

• Cycling in coulee country
  The famous Elroy-Sparta is just one of the trails in a picturesque pocket of Wisconsin.
• Bicycling in western Michigan
  In the top rail-trails state, everyone loves a ride along Lake Michigan.
• Biking in Minneapolis
  On the breathtaking Grand Rounds, bicyclists soak up the scenery.
• Tours on two wheels
  On organized weekend bike trips, it's easy to go along for the ride.
• Towns of the Fox River
  An hour west of Chicago, a scenic bicycle trail makes sightseeing easy.
• Red Cedar ride 'n' glide
  Along a popular trail in western Wisconsin, a hardy tourist can take in the sights by water and by land.
• Bicycling in Wisconsin
  The state that pioneered rail trails isn't resting on its laurels.
• The belle of bluff country
  In southeast Minnesota, tiny Lanesboro pulls in the tourists.
• Sightseeing by bicycle
  Join a rolling tour, and you'll see the best of the Upper Midwest.
• Bicycling in Minnesota
  This state's long, paved trails draw eager riders from around the region.
• Mackinac Island by bicycle
  On a scenic web of trails, visitors see another side of a celebrated spot.
• Bicycling to Lake Wobegon
  In central Minnesota, cyclists enter a storied land.
• Bicycling in Iowa
  Quietly, this low-profile but ambitious state has piled on miles of trails.
• Riding the Dakota Rail Trail
  On the edge of the Twin Cities, bicyclists breeze along the bays of Lake Minnetonka.
• Rolling through the Iron Range
  In northern Minnesota, Mesabi Trail draws bicyclists with scenery and machinery.
• Bicycling in St. Paul and beyond
  Minnesota's capital city has its own set of marquee trails on rivers and lakes.
• Mankato meander
  To see the best of this low-key river town, hop on a bike.
• Two trails from Two Rivers
  On Lake Michigan, bicyclists ride the breezes between a lighthouse and a submarine.
• On a roll in Hayward and Cable
  In a famous forest, mountain bikers navigate a singular system of singletrack.
• Bicycling in bluff country
  In southeast Minnesota, the Root River Trail brings swarms of tourists to scenic villages.
• Summer in Madison
  In warm months, head for the brewpubs and bicycle paths of this exuberant college town.
• A slice of cheese country
  On Wisconsin's Badger Trail, bicyclists bite off as much as they can chew.
• 15 great trails to ride in fall
  Here's where to get your fill of flora, fauna and fall colors.
• Riding the Glacial Drumlin
  Mementos of a distant past line a bicycle trail through Lake Mills.
• Bikes, birds and bogs
  Wisconsin's Great River Trail is a happy mix of wildlife and civilization.
• Bash on a bike trail
  In fall, kick up your wheels at a small-town festival or on a tour.
• Braking for blooms
  In late summer and early fall, you'll find the best array of wildflowers on bicycle trails.
• Bicycling through the Minneapolis suburbs
  An expanding web of trails takes bicyclists from the city into the lake-filled countryside.
• Beaches on bike trails
  After the sweating, cool off in the surf.
• 15 great trails to ride in spring
  On a bike, get out to see what's new in countryside or city.
• Bicycling the Central Lakes
  In western Minnesota, a 55-mile trail is a window onto the natural world.
• Towns of the Heartland Trail
  Bicyclists find plenty of personality along this northern Minnesota path.
• Bicycling the Bunyan
  A long trail cuts through the heart of Minnesota lakes country.
• The Fire Ride
  A bicycle trail connects two eastern Minnesota towns that share a painful past.
• Savoring the Seven Lakes
  A ride on Wisconsin's newest trail yields scenery, serenity and ice cream.
• Spin City
  On a bicycle, visitors can explore every inch of Chicago's lakefront.
• Walk 'n' roll
  Thanks to a bike trail, backtracking on the Superior Hiking Trail is a thing of the past.
• A trail for Old Abe
  On Wisconsin's Chippewa River, a bald eagle paves way for bicyclists.
• Spokes, sneakers and shops
  She likes to shop and he likes to sweat? No problem.

Bicycling along Lake Michigan

Miles of trails in Milwaukee and on Ozaukee County's Interurban Trail provide non-stop scenery.

We all know Milwaukee for its beer, bratwurst and oompah bands.

But not many people know it’s also a great place for bicycling.

Sure, there’s a constant stream of bicyclists on the lakefront stretch of the Oak Leaf Trail. From Lake Michigan, bicyclists can veer off onto a secluded stretch of the Milwaukee River or head toward Miller Park on the Hank Aaron Trail.

They can ride west almost to Madison on the Glacial Drumlin Trail. They can head north on Lake Drive and, on the edge of the city, catch the Interurban Trail, which will take them to Cedarburg, Port Washington and Belgium.

In town, more than 100 miles of paved off-road paths, parkway drives and connecting streets take bicyclists everywhere they want to go: to breweries for tours, to festivals or to the beach.

Why drive a car? It’s so much easier to bike.

Interurban Trail from Thiensville to Belgium

One June, I rode the Interurban Trail in Ozaukee County, where electric trolleys ran between Milwaukee and Sheboygan until 1948.

Today, the old railway is a 30-mile paved trail that links bicyclists and skaters from the Milwaukee suburbs to old German mill towns, a port town full of yachts and a village settled by Luxembourgers.

I started in the town park of Mequon, one of the state's earliest German settlements, and within a block was in Thiensville, where a German immigrant built a mill along a bend in the Milwaukee River.

The bike trail parallels Main Street, but I found the interesting part of town — the stone mill, a cheerful coffee shop in a Victorian house, an old-fashioned village park — off Green Bay Road, just to the east.

From Thiensville, the trail had barely left the houses behind before it entered Cedarburg, a popular getaway destination for people from Milwaukee and Chicago.

Shops and a winery fill its 1864 woolen mill and the handsome stone buildings along Washington Avenue, where crowds were shopping and stuffing themselves with brats and strawberry shortcake during Strawberry Festival.

A little trestle bridge crosses Cedar Creek in the middle of town and leads through quiet neighborhoods to Grafton, a Milwaukee River mill town that is not as carefully preserved as Cedarburg but still has many old stone buildings.

One of the prettiest spots on the trail is just north of town, where a new iron bridge crosses the river.

From there, the trail crosses over Interstate 43 and descends into Port Washington, a picturesque village with a marina full of charter fishing boats, a 1935 art deco light station and a historic downtown where Leland Stanford practiced law before he left to join the Gold Rush and become governor of California.

At the quirky Pebble House, built in 1848 of mortar and round stones collected from the Lake Michigan beach, I ran into tourism director Kathleen Tank, who said bicyclists like the short distances between towns on the Interurban Trail.

"People like it because they don't have to make a big deal about it," she said. "My daughter is 18, and sometimes she and her friends ride from Cedarburg to Port Washington for lunch and back again."

In the marina, I watched a covey of ducklings and men being photographed with large catches of salmon. Back on the trail, I passed steep wooden steps that led to the blufftop 1860 light tower and museum and the imposing St. Mary's, an 1884 Gothic Revival church.

From Port Washington, the trail to Belgium is straight and flat, perfect for in-line skating. From there, it continues across the county border to Cedar Grove, but bicyclists also can take a county road three miles east to Harrington State Park and its Lake Michigan beach.

Cedarburg makes a good base for bicyclists; for more, see Jolly Cedarburg.

Oak Leaf Trail on the Milwaukee lakefront

The Interurban was a great trail, but I found an even better one the next day, almost by accident. Riding past the Milwaukee Art Museum, I decided to take a spin on the Oak Leaf Trail, which I'd thought simply followed parkland along Lake Michigan.

Instead, I found myself riding along a hillside and into a cocoon of greenery that follows the Milwaukee River under street level, much like the Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis.

Yet, I couldn't see the river until I found my way to its banks along overgrown paths in Riverside Park, across from the Urban Ecology Center; its shores are so wooded I could spot only one building.

Pedaling north, at street level but surrounded by trees, I had no idea where I was until the trail dumped me out onto a street. Another cyclist said I was in the suburb of Whitefish Bay.

Following his advice, I rode Hampton Avenue east to Lake Michigan, where Lake Drive took me past a string of baronial manors that made those on Summit Avenue look like starter houses.

Trying to catch a view of the lake, I got my wish in Atwater Park, a blufftop garden with a sweeping panorama and paved trails that wind down to a wide, sandy beach.

Just over the city's border with Shorewood, I rejoined the Oak Leaf Trail in Lake Park and swooped down to the lakefront, watching a freighter on the lake as I rode back to the art museum and downtown.

The next day, I went to the visitors center to beg for a bike map and found out the Oak Leaf Trail actually has 48 miles of paved off-road paths, 31 miles of parkway drives and 27 miles of connecting streets that eventually will be converted to off-road paths.

Like Minneapolis' Grand Rounds, the trail circles the city on parkways, following Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee, Menomonee and Root rivers; on its north edge, only two miles of city streets separate it from the Interurban Trail.

Milwaukee is amazingly low-key and easy to navigate on a bicycle. I like to stay at Marquette University’s Straz Tower (for more, see Cheap stays), where I take my bike up to my room on the elevator.

From Marquette, it's a straight shot down Wisconsin Avenue to the lakefront.

One July, I rode to Maier Festival Park and the nearby Lakeshore State Park, where you can camp if you've got your own boat. 

The white 1926 Breakwater Light sits at the harbor entrance, and it was a short ride to the 1907 cylindrical red Pierhead Lighthouse on the Hank Aaron State Trail, which connects the Oak Leaf Trail to Miller Park and the county line.

Riding the Oak Leaf Trail on the bluff over newly spiffed-up Bradford Beach, I passed the recently restored 1887 North Point Lighthouse; it’s now open Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m. Who knew Milwaukee had so many classic lighthouses?

On the west bluff of the Milwaukee River north of downtown, I rode through the new Kilbourn Reservoir Park, created after the removal of a 135-year-old underground reservoir.  It has a great view of downtown.

I crossed the Milwaukee River on the Marsupial Bridge, a pedestrian/biking bridge that hangs from the Holton Street Viaduct like a baby kangaroo.

It connects the Lakefront Brewery and Beerline B neighborhood to Brady Street and the Riverwalk.

Then it was a quick spin to the Cathedral Square neighborhood and the Bastille Days festival, where I parked my bike near a miniature Eiffel Tower.

For more on Milwaukee in summer, see Party in Milwaukee and other Milwaukee stories.

For more trails near Milwaukee, see Bicycling in Wisconsin.

Last updated on June 5, 2013