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Print Friendly MapThe Milford Trail connects the Village of Milford with the popular Kensington Metropark in Oakland County. The winding trail offers plenty of scenery as it travels through woodlands and wetlands.
In the north, the trail provides access to Milford’s YMCA and skirts the edge of Hubbell Pond. After passing over a dam, the Milford Trail parallels General Motors Road for a short distance, just east of the car company’s sprawling proving grounds. The historic site, still in use by General Motors, was the first facility dedicated to automobile testing when it opened in 1924.
At the trail’s southern endpoint, it meets the Kensington Metropark Trail, which continues into the popular park and around scenic Kent Lake.
Parking for the Milford Trail is available in Kensington Metropark on Huron River Parkway, just south of the trail's terminus at S. Milford Road.
The trail is flat and smooth, with no cracks or bumps that I remember. It’s rarely straight, being full of twists and turns.
It is *very* hilly especially near the YMCA parking lot so be ready to shift gears in a jiff.
Boardwalks and small lakes help break up the scenery a bit, and road crossings are rare.
This trail hosts mountain bike trails within its boundaries that intersect with this trail, so use cation and keep your eyes peeled.
It’s a good 8+ mile journey that I would recommend traveling to visit.
This is a nice, short connector trail between the Village of Milford and Kensington Metropark. Paved and smooth the entire way. The construction from last summer is long finished now and the trail has been restored. This trail is fairly hilly along its entire route. It will give you a pretty good workout, but at the Kensington end, you can reward yourself with a stop at the Dairy Queen! The entire route is very scenic with markers every half mile. It is mostly wooded, and passes over a dam, near a fenced dog park, and through the equestrian staging area at Kensington. Only one major road crossing. Wildlife spotting is common (deer, turkeys, hawks), especially through the Kensington portion.
Just rode this trail on 10/22/20 and it is all paved, hardly any bumps now. The only thing to watch out for are some bumps near the wooden bridges and traffic over the few road crossings- traffic does not stop.
This trail had major potential, but was a big let down. We started from Kensington Metro Park and wanted to bike out to Milford to add on an additional few miles to our ride. About 1.5 miles out, or at Dawson Road, the trail was straight up closed. We had a few warning signs before, but wanted to get as much mileage as we could. Really sad during the peak of summer that it’s closed.
I started at Milford Rd heading towards Milford. The trail is more closed than not, with heavy equipment in use at several locations. I turned back where the trail crosses GM Road, so I don't know about the north part of the trail.
I have used this trail many times to get from Kensington Metropark to Downtown Milford by bike. It is very pretty and not as heavily traveled as the park itself. Watch the bumps as you reach the boardwalks, and use caution with the one road crossing over GM Road—drivers tend to speed. Downtown Milford has several restaurants for eating and there is a Dairy Queen open seasonally by the Milford Road entrance to Kensington. This is a handy trail for me to get downtown on days that car traffic is likely to be excessive or if there are road closures (4th of July parades, Milford Memories art fair, etc).
I included this as part of a long ride from South Lyons City Trail, Huron Valley Trail, Island Lake Pathway, Kensington Metropark trail, and Milford Trail to Milford and back. Excellent trail. Good surface, nice variety, pretty scenery. On the Milford end it's difficult to find. My friend said back of the YMCA but there's lots of roads there to various parking areas and the trail is further back still.
At the other end there are a couple of Y junctions and it's not clear which to take. Even in Kensington it's not clear where to go. It's in serious need of signs. It's unfortunate because it's a great trail overall. I'm giving it a 4 for the signage problems.
My wife and I bike this trail often. We often start off in the Milford YMCA and take the Milford Trail south to Kensington Metro Park. The Milford Trail portion is short but it leads to the 9.5 mile loop at Kensington. You can connect to the Island Lake State Park Trail at the southern end of the Kensington loop. From there you can also connect to the Huron Valley Trail which goes from Wixom the South Lyon (paved Rail-to Trail) via a connecting trail along Grand River Road. So you have 4.2 miles of the Milford Trail + 9.5 miles of Kensington + 4.3 miles of Island Lake + 10.5 miles of Huron Valley + ~1.5 miles connector = ~30 miles of total trails.
The Milford Trail itself is, albeit short, scenic with nice rolling hills in the northern start of the trail. This may be a bit challenging if not in shape but is relatively easy. You have nice water views and it snakes through wooded areas which is beautiful in the fall especially. There are meadows in the southern part where you can often catch sight of whitetail deer. There are many points where you can stop and enjoy the scenery or take a break with benches scattered about by the trail. There are nice boardwalk/bridges in a couple parts too and a dam bridge over the pond. Th trail is paved and fairly wide. You will see walkers, runners, bikers and an occasional skater.
It is great to start off in the morning on this trail and the others that connect to it and then come back and enjoy a lunch in the charming downtown Milford. It really makes for an enjoyable day with a significant other.
I enjoyed biking with my daughter on the trail between Island State Park and Milford YMCA. The trail is paved, flat, smooth, well-maintained and easy for kids. The trail is also scenic: beautiful dams and beaches of Kent lake of Milford pond, open field, and woods. Only one thing I don't like is that too many people in the Kensington Metropark area.
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