The Betsie Valley Trail is 22 miles long and extends from Frankfort through Elberta and Beulah to Thompsonville

The Betsie Valley Trail is built on the bed of the former Ann Arbor Railroad. From 1892 until 1982 the freight cars were carried across Lake Michigan on car ferries to Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Passenger service was discontinued in 1951 and freight service in 1985. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) bought the rail corridor in 1998.

Benzie County and the Friends of the Betsie Valley Trail have been working with the DNR since 1992 to build the Trail.