Michigan Travel · Ann Arbor
Campus to the river
The walk worth taking in Ann Arbor starts on the Diag and ends at the Huron River. Campus is the orientation. The river is the reason to keep going.
From the Diag, north is the way off the central lawn. Nichols Arboretum sits between the campus streets and the water, a wooded drop rather than another quad. Early October is a fair time for it. The leaves are turning, and the path does not depend on a shop being open.
The Huron is not a backdrop you see from a bridge and leave. Along this stretch it is a working park river: a path, a bank, and enough room to walk without a plan past the first bend. Gallup Park and the Argo stretch are further along the same water if the day is long. They are not required. The Arb to the bank is the trip.
Do not add a loop through every neighborhood on the way back. The return is the same general direction, uphill toward campus, which is how you know you came far enough. One river hour is the visit. The rest of Ann Arbor can wait for another day.