#TrailTuesday: Maybury State Park's Mountain Bike Trail

Dan Cooke
Aug 1, 2023
8 min read

Updated: Mar 16

Welcome back to our #TrailTuesday Series! This edition explores one of the Detroit region's most beloved MTB routes and trail running destinations: Maybury State Park's Mountain Bike Trail. Join us as we rediscover this primetime biking, running, and hiking trail!

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"Yeah. I'm the stupidest person on the trail."

I remember saying those words audibly to myself during the summer of 2008 on a blisteringly hot day. Despite living in Northville for a year, I had finally completed the half mile journey from my parents' house to Maybury State Park - an outdoor destination almost literally in our backyard that had piqued my curiosity, but had yet to inspire a visit.

Somehow I had learned that Maybury had a mountain bike trail within its confines. This was good. I lived within biking distance and therefore could avoid the hassle of squeezing my aging mountain bike into the trunk of the 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee that I was driving. I threw on some gym shorts, an old t-shirt, my running sneakers, and a flat-rimmed hat. Then I started biking towards the park.

Yes, you read that correctly. I did not wear a helmet - or any MTB-appropriate gear - which from my teenaged perspective made sense for two exceedingly stupid reasons:

1. Bike helmets weren't "cool."

2. How difficult could a mountain biking trail in Southeast Michigan really be?

Then I actually started biking Maybury State Park's mountain bike trail, and I quickly realized how foolish I was. For starters, watching expert riders burn past me on top-market bikes wearing gloves, biking shorts, and - yes - very cool helmets, reinforced that mountain biking was indeed a sport that requires dedication for mastery. Second, the trail was very challenging for a novice mountain biker. I still remember my hands slipping off of my handlebars from nervous sweat due to how vulnerable I felt without a helmet.

Last and most important, despite the palatable embarrassment and anxiety that defined my initial ride into the world of mountain biking, I'll never forget the life-altering impression that Maybury imprinted on me. The sense of wonder that such a beautiful, wild, and challenging trail had been hiding in plain sight right across Beck Road. That the park's idyllic forests, pastures, ponds, and marshes existed in the heart of a rapidly growing community. A discovery of a new refuge from the stressors, noise, and chronic distractions of modern life.

Right from the script of a Hallmark movie, I had played the bumbling fool that stumbled into love at first sight with this new outdoor destination. A passion that prompted me to buy a damn bike helmet, continue riding and running Maybury's trails, and further explore the Detroit region's most prestigious outdoor destinations. A love that steadily evolved into launching this platform last year.

It is our privilege to come full circle and reintroduce Maybury State Park now.