A great rec area with so many trails to explore about. It's definitely got more elevation gains and…read morefalls that make it a bit more challenging than other hikes, but it's highly enjoyable. My favorite trail here is the Haven Hill Loop via the Blue Trail which clocks in at about 4 and a half miles. It's great year round, but in the spring it is particularly muddy. It can get a little challenging at times here because the park isn't as well kept and well marked as I'm used to at other Michigan state parks and rec areas, but nonetheless, it's a great time! I do find the hike gets a bit monotonous at points because the scenery doesn't change a lot, but then you get onto a boardwalk and it looks SO cool! Love it!

Beautiful views. The…read moresounds of the birds is so relaxing. Get out and move. It's free with you Michigan plate if you upgrade. You'll come back again.

Great paved walking trails. Lots of wooded area. Perfect place to take your dog. Poop bags are…read moreavailable on location.

It's no Stony Creek, River Bends or Polly Ann Trail but then I guess it's no joke like Harrington…read moreTrails Park either. A heavily wooded, overgrown plot of land I'd driven by a couple times and vaguely noticed as some sort of nature park, I then saw Wilcox-Warnes reviewed right here on Yelp and made it a point to turn into its little blink-and-you-miss-it lot. I was kind of up that way for my cousin's graduation party anyway. I had to duck under some low hanging branches, likely from a tree felled in one of the intense storms we've had here in Michigan this summer. The planks which alternated with plain ol dirt for the trail came in handy but in a few places the path was very nearly lost in foliage. But with no machete I still managed to make my way through. It really was like a whole little other world as soon as I crossed that first trail blockage. The trails here aren't the longest but I wasn't really expecting them to be either. I got in a nice little hike right before the sunset with the only other nature goers leaving just as I set off. These woods seem like they'd be loaded with mosquitoes but i just roll with a bottle of Off! in my glove compartment these days so I emerged from my trail walk bite free. There's a little bridge in one place but what looked to be a creek bed was nothing but mud. Odd since we've gotten loads of rain recently in southeast Michigan. Someone build a dam near here or something? The laminated sign reading TRAIL ENDS was also odd in a way that was both hilarious and disappointing. There's room here to just have a trail that loops around instead of just abruptly ceasing so you have to double back but whatever I guess. There's one nice little meadow but other than that Wilcox-Warnes is heavily wooded. And you can hear noise from the road in places but it is a nice little respite from outer suburbia. Truthfully, it's nothing too special and I wouldn't go too far out of my way for this nature reserve with the superior options listed at the beginning of the review but Wilcox-Warnes does offer something pretty rustic if basic. I thought about three stars, but given that this land could easily be eaten up by brown and beige McMansions, condos, strip malls or other insidious, encroaching developments, I'll give WW a four.

Awesome hiking area. Saw the best views and the terrain was definitely a wonderful challenge. Went…read moreas a group but was able to break off on an individual hike and was definitely worth it to burn more calories and increase my pace. Love all of the hidden gyms in Michigan and this one is definitely one of them. I took mostly videos so the pic I have isn't that great

Large beach in a large park…read more Great place to meet up with a large group of friends or family! In the summer months (pre-Labor Day) they have an inflatable obstacle course courtesy of Warrior Island great for teens and adults I have seen dogs on this beach (and in the water) multiple times so clearly the NO ANIMALS sign is often ignored The changing rooms are interesting... no doors necessary since they're around a corner The singular outdoor shower is not private There's goose poop everywhere Biggest perk is how far you can go while it's still shallow

Simply incredible, honestly one of the most peaceful trails in the area, if you're thinking about…read morevisiting, just do it

A nice trail you can ride in full in one trip. I did in in two, but on the first day I also pedaled…read morethe adjacent Clinton River Trail to its Pontiac terminus and on the second I also did a mile or two of the Michigan Air Line Trail til I got to one of its trailheads that just couldn't be on the end of the trail. So, yeah, a lot of these trails just kind of bleed into each other which is awesome for a big interconnected trail system where people can just cycle across the whole state but it can be tricky if you're sitting down to write a Yelp review and figure out where the arbitrary boundaries are. The WBT is crushed limestone which isn't buttery smooth like it's paved neighbor the Michigan Air Line Trail but it only offers moderately more resistance to a good mountain bike and Joni Mitchell won't be singing any songs about them ruining nature with it. You get two parks intersecting this trail. The West Bloomfield Nature Preserve is the larger and where I parked on both my trips here. It looks like there's some pretty good hiking, non-pedal-friendly trails there and I did walk a bit of one but the rigors of my bike ride that day kept me from getting too far. Like the Michigan Air Line Trail, it's another Yelp review for another day after I've racked up more experience. But it is an added bonus. The other park is some rinky dink city park with kids playground equipment but it does have a little shelter with a picnic table or two, perfect for a little snack, water, what have you break. There's also a couple tunnels, a couple lakes, or maybe ponds, it's pretty borderline there and a long photogenic boardwalk looking bridge near the west end of the trail. One downside of this trail is it criss-crosses Orchard Lake road again and again and traffic can be pretty heavy. There's a couple buttons on crossings giving us cyclists the awesome power of unleashing traffic signals to bring those multi-ton polluters to a grinding halt, but there's also a couple times they leave us to twist in the wind, fending for our fragile two-wheeled existence against the uncaring commuters. One is near not one but two curves in the winding road so it's a dicey proposition that can leave you waiting in frustration for moments that turn to minutes and more minutes. I could almost go four stars here but can't quite commit to it. I'll call WBT a 3.5 even if that's not a thing on Yelp.

Many years ago I hosted a bridal shower here but recently I have visited to walk around the pond…read moreand explore the woods. The location is great! Right by I-75 but still wooded and the comfort of being outside. Clean bathrooms, with diaper changing table. No swimming or fishing allowed. It doesn't offer as much as other nature centers but if you know what you're getting into, it's still nice. I'm looking forward to renting the cabins in the fall.

I wanted to try a new place for hiking around me one day because I felt like I had been everywhere…read morenearby when I found Hawk Woods! It feels so close to the highway, yet also completely secluded from it as well. There was only one part of the hike where I felt like I could hear the highway sounds, but otherwise, it felt like a cool little sojourn into nature. The overall size of the park is very small, I believe the outer loop was about one mile MAX, so definitely a very quick, very easy hike you can do! You can honestly do the loop a few times if you so please as well. Very little elevation gain, perfect for all skill-levels, some variance in scenery as you go about the hike, dog-friendly, and filled with little nature, educational signs throughout. A delight and a perfect way to do a quick little getaway into nature!

This park is the best park to walk at in the area!!! There many trail for bikes and just for…read morewalking. There beautiful ponds and lakes to look at as you walk or fish at. There also amazing playgrounds. I wouldn't recommend the beach.

Beautiful park with lots of trail options and scenic views. They have a paved loop which is great…read morewith a stroller, and more rigorous unpaved trails that go around the lake. Tons of parking, and several different play structures. Can't wait to explore more of this park!

A TALE OF TWO TRAILS Really, it's kind of more like three,…read morebut there's no catchy header to be had from that, is there? And the variations between the different areas of Oakland County this epic trail cuts through aren't as night and day as the difference between Oakland and Lapeer counties here. The southern trailhead near Joslyn and Waldon is pretty inauspicious, easy to miss in fact. Good luck finding parking, too. We ended up parking in nearby condo or apartment complex. There are official Polly Ann Trail parking lots, just not anywhere near where the trail begins. Google maps took me to near one of these lots, but maybe a quarter mile away, on my first trip to the Polly Ann, rolling solo that day. I had to do a bit of detective work, finding a dirt road that intersected the main drag I was on. That was between Oxford and Leonard, which is really the trail's sweet spot. Very chill, shaded and bucolic. Horse friendly, too, as I had a couple horses with riders go clopping past me. (No galloping allowed!) I saw a turtle on that stretch, too. South of Oxford, the trail vacillates between being very suburban and non-scenic and the more natural setting you'll find past Oxford. There's even a very annoying gap in the trail in Oxford where you have to cycle a good long way through the city to find where it picks back up again. The day I went cycling with Jenna we got lost trying to reconvene with the trail proper, and had to get directions from a passer-by and double back to pick back up on the trail. Unless you're a completist itching for the day when they complete the connector that links the Polly Ann to the Paint Creek Trail I'd probably just start your journey in Oxford after that rude intermission or find that lot Google maps took a swing at and whiffed on. The stretch from Leonard to the county line is lovely, but once you cross into Lapeer that's where things get really wild and wooly. The trail is actually managed by two different entities, one for Oakland County and one for the Lapeer and you can really tell the difference. In Oakland the trail is either pavement, crushed limestone or fairly manageable dirt. In Lapeer there's a short stretch - 1800 feet I believe I read - in Imlay City that's paved but beyond that the trail is either bumpy dirt with big stones and tree branches jutting out, or just grass. It's been mowed to a reasonable length both times I've biked out there, but it's still slow going. No way would I try this part of the trail without a mountain bike. It's almost better just for walking out here, or horseback riding though I didn't see any horseback riders on the Lapeer stretch. I barely saw anyone else on the Lapeer leg of the Polly Ann either, apart from people on the more domesticated Imlay City span the day I hit the trail with Aaron. So if you want real solitude and pretty backcountry the Lapeer stretch really delivers but you really gotta work for it. In addition to the speed-sucking, sweat inducing grass there were a couple places where felled trees necessitated disembarking from the bike and sliding it under or lifting it over. There was also one area where I could hear someone's shooting practice in the distance go on at length. It's Trump country out here so use caution! But like I said, oh! the nature! Besides the aforementioned horses and turtle, I've seen plenty of rabbits, squirrels, butterflies, several deer, frogs and a blue Heron on this trail. You might come across some mosquitos, too, depending on the time of day and year, so I'd recommend packing bug spray. I've now made 4 trips to the Polly Ann trail, and still haven't covered much of the Lapeer end, missing a span between the Peg's Place bridge and Imlay City and anything north of Bowers Road where Aaron and I turned around. It's 34.2 miles and the Macomb Orchard Trail is about 10 miles shorter but I did that whole trail in 3 trips. So yeah, there's a reason most people don't continue into Lapeer as the pace slows down to that of maybe a brisk jog. There's plenty of adventure to be had here, the question is how much do you want? With other trails around southeast Michigan I might just wait til improvements are made up in Lapeer County to try and finish off this monster.

There's so much for everyone at this park in Troy; a brand new playscape with a ninja wall, covered…read morepavilion, a paved walking trail which leads to small rustic trail in the woods, a wonderful lake for fishing or kayaking, and restrooms. There's plenty of native plants and wildlife, beautiful blooming flowers in July, and a unique bamboo tunnel. Free to the public to enjoy!

Sylvan Glen Lake Park is a hidden gem right off Rochester Road…read more It is great for a walk, picnic, and fishing. The back and forth walking path is paved leading around the lake into a beautiful forest area. Only about a third of the lake is accessible since the neighboring golf course locks the northern side. The accessible lakeside is shallow. Along the lake you will find benches to rest at or fishermen young and old. The onsite restrooms and water fountain were super helpful! Sylvan Glen Lake Park is a great spot to spend for the day or even stop on the way home from work for a fresh breath of air!