#MITrailsWeek: Stony Creek Metropark
Frank Sorise
| 3 min read
Another great place for hiking trails in Southeast Michigan is about an hours drive north of Detroit at Stoney Creek Metropark located at 26 Mile Road and Shelby in Shelby Township. With roughly 44 miles of trails at their park, Stony Creek is the ideal park for outdoor fitness. Stony Creek provides six different types of trails for all kinds of cardio activities. Stoney Creek Metropark provides paved, nature, in-wood, Trolly, fitness, and mountain bike trails.
The paved trail is great for biking, running, roller blading, and anything in between, (besides skateboarding which is prohibited by the park). The paved trail is roughly 6.2 miles of sun-exposed, lane-marked pathway making it is a great way to get some vitamin D and get your heart pumping.
If you’re looking for less exposure and limited traffic Stony Creek has five different nature trails: Reflection, Landscape, Habitat, East Lake and Osprey. Osprey providing the least exposure and is also not as maintained providing a serene hike or walk through roughly 1.3 miles of trail.
In addition to the nature trails, there are also three in-wood trails which are not well maintained and packed with gravel. They are also great for an undisturbed jog, hike or walk through the park. The three in-wood trails are North, South and Big Loop, ranging from two to four miles in length.
If you’re looking for a path a little more maintained, but not completely paved, the park provides Trolley trails which are a middle ground of the two. There are three Trolley trails, East, West, and Big Loop, ranging from one to two miles in distance.
The most unique of the trails has to be the Fitness Trail. It is about 1.8 miles in length and provides hikers/runners with 31 different stretching and workout stations to complete along the way, providing a healthy spin to your hike or jog. The path mixes a combination of in-wood and paved trail, finishing at the park’s beach.
And finally if you’re looking to take a challenging ride or an easy bike stroll through the park Stony Creek provides four different mountain bike trails. North Loop which is an easier course that is about 3.2 miles, South Loop, also fairly easy and only 2.2 miles, Big Loop which is a little longer but also not as challenging is 4.3 miles in length and Hard Loop which is the most difficult of the four as it spreads over difficult terrain and hilly areas is 6.2 miles in length.
So no matter what kind of jogger, hiker or biker you are, Stony Creek Metropark has you covered when it comes to getting your outdoor cardio.
