Trail Information & Map

Enjoy easy to moderate walking as you explore the Nature Center along our network of trails. Our trails are open to the public year-round from dawn to dark.

Trail Conditions

For the safety and enjoyment of all of our visitors and wildlife, CNC does not allow bikes, ORVs, dogs, smoking, fires, alcohol, picking or collecting.

  • Arbury Trail: 0.4 mile paved loop. See four ecosystems and how they have been managed on one of our shortest trails. Enjoy an overlook of the Pine River.

  • River Trail: 2.7 mile loop. Walk our longest trail along the rivers, through the Beech-Maple Woods, Oxbow Woods and wetland, and over old river beds.

  • Homestead Trail: 0.6 mile trail. Walk through the Homestead Farm, then hike along upland fields and woodlands to reach the Oxbow.

  • Wetlands Trail: Drive 2 minutes to this 1.7 mile loop. Explore all our wetland types, including our biggest marshes. Trail includes docks and a boardwalk.

  • River Point Trails: Drive 3 minutes to 2 miles of trail loops. Walk through a hemlock and birch woodland and see the River Point Pond and Chippewa River.

  • Ridge Trail: Drive 3 minutes to this 1.5 mile loop. Follow a sand beach ridge of an ancient lake and see where fields are turning into young woodlands.

Chippewa Trail: Walk, bike or in-line skate to downtown Midland on this 3.5 mile, non-motorized paved pathway. Interpretive stops along the route tell the exciting story of this unique landscape. This is the only Chippewa Nature Center trail where bikes are allowed.

For the safety and enjoyment of all of our visitors and wildlife, CNC does not allow bikes, ORVs, dogs, smoking, fires, alcohol, picking or collecting. Pets are not allowed on Chippewa Nature Center property.

Chippewa Trail Facts

  • The trail is ADA accessible.
  • Interpretive signage along the trail describes the significant historical, cultural and natural features.
  • There are benches and resting areas along the trail.
  • Dogs are not allowed the trail on CNC land, but are allowed on the land owned by the city.
  • The trail is located on property owned by the City of Midland (from the Tridge through the softball complex), land donated to Chippewa Nature Center by The Dow Chemical Company (from the edge of the softball complex to Patterson Rd), and other land owned by Chippewa Nature Center (from Patterson Rd. to the Visitor's Center).

In 2006, Chippewa Nature Center was awarded third place at the NAI Interpretive Media Awards, Wayside Exhibit category held in Albuquerque, NM, as part of the National Interpreter’s Workshop, for the interpretive panels along the Chippewa Trail. The Interpretive Media Awards Competition is brought to you by the National Association for Interpretation and its Visual Communications Section to promote excellence in the delivery of natural, cultural, and historical non-personal interpretive services. The purpose of the Chippewa Trail wayside exhibits at Chippewa Nature Center is to highlight and explore how the landscape they are passing through has changed through the millennia, by both natural and human actions. Chippewa Nature Center staff worked with Rosene Creative Services of Jasper, GA to design, fabricate and install the wayside exhibits.