Highland Recreation Area Overview


Highland Recreation Area

This is the trail everyone wants kept secret. Built by mountain bikers for mountain bikers, 16.2 miles of winding, climbing narrow single track provides an incredible aerobic and technical challenge for any rider.

You will need to work a little harder to get cooking on this trail. Your time is spent navigating rocks and roots. This technical single-track heaven has plenty of off-camber trail to keep you on your toes too. Beginners should ride this trail with other experienced riders. Most riders do A loop’s 3.8 miles, & B loop 5.9 miles for a total of 9.7 miles. Please note the recent addition of a new cut off point on B loop. Add on the C loop’s 2.7 miles, (an offshoot of B loop) or D loop 3.8 miles (offshoot of A loop). The basic A/B loop define the character of this trail, while C loop adds more rock passages. D loop is the most technical with lots of tight, off camber turns. Riding all 4 loops will require climbing approximately 2000 feet, and you should allow between 2-3 hours.

Thirty rustic campsites are available. MTB trails cross but do not share the horse trails.

Trail Status: open

Trail Miles: 16

Entry Fees: All vehicles entering the park must have a Recreation Passport.  Passports can be purchased online or at the Michigan Secretary of State offices when renewing your license plate, or at a Self-Serve Kiosk at each park entrance. 

Trail Conditions and Discussion Forum: Link

Trail Coordinators: Bob Spleet, Terry Brown, Kevin Petts

Trail Maps: Highland-MMBA.pdf

Local Weather: Weather Underground

Directions: M59 west 10 miles beyond where you turn north for Pontiac Lake. Turn left at Duck Lake Road and travel 1 mile to dirt road (Livingston Road). Turn right and head west until you see the parking area to the right. Trailhead is well marked across the road.

{google_map}2601 E Livingston Rd Highland Township, MI 48356|version:new|height:400|width:400{/google_map}

 


  • Maybury Trail Day

    Maybury Trail Day

    Please join us for a Spring Cleaning trail day at Maybury State Park this Saturday, April 27th starting at 9:00 am. We’ll be meeting at the Day Camp Shelter area (as we did last year), which is by marker 9 on this map. Please use the 8 mile parking lot and ride in along the…

  • Lakeshore Trail Day

    Lakeshore Trail Day

    We are having a trail work day at the Farm this Saturday at 9:00 AM. This is mostly going to be a cleanup type of trail day where we do some trimming, rut repair, deberming and trash cleanup. We are also going to get rid of the old bridge coming back from Swamp Loop. Lunch…

  • New bridge at Highland

    New bridge at Highland

    The DNR and MCMBA joined forces this last weekend on a project to replace an old bridge on the Highland Recreation Area trail. Bridge work this time of year is a cold, wet, messy business… but the end reward is worth it! The new completed bridge is high and dry and looks great! Thanks team!