SPACE TO ROAM, LOTS TO SEE
The New Buffalo area’s most diverse park, Chikaming offers 263 acres of woods, prairie, wetlands, Galien River frontage, and a sweet five-acre fishing lake. Kind of a one-stop shop for most southwest Michigan landscapes, everything but the big lake and dunes.
Hike or bike the 6.6-mile MTB loop and you’ll see it all. Difficulty ranges from green to blue+, with a max elevation of 673 feet and challenging roots and drops along a narrow lake trail.
But there are plenty of short, dedicated hiking trails, too. Choose your own adventure between fields of tall grass and mustard flower, mature oak, beach, and maple forest, or airy young sassafras groves. Flat and often wide, these trails are ideal for families with little ones, or really anyone looking for a gentle ramble.
Chikaming Preserve is open sunrise to sunset, with a picnic pavilion, viewing platform, bathrooms, and plenty of parking, all free of charge.
Local Tip: CTP is at its prime in summer and especially fall, when treetop color makes for breathtaking reflections on the water below. It’s also a great spot for cross-country skiing. But be warned, the water table’s high, so warm, rainy weather makes for a muddy adventure.
word Collette DiJohn Kemper
images Jodi Bodtke, Morgan Stell
updated September 25, 2025
Contact
Chikaming Township Park & Preserve
Warren Woods Road southeast of I-94
Three Oaks, MI 49128
