If you want a campground with bike trails you can ride straight from your campsite, The Oaks Campground in Munith, Michigan has about 120 acres of wooded trails open to mountain bikes on its own 155-acre property, and the DTE Energy Foundation Trail, 22 miles of purpose-built singletrack in Waterloo Recreation Area, is a short drive away. Our team has visited hundreds of campgrounds and hasn’t found another one in southern Michigan with a trail system that size on the property.
Here’s what the riding is like at The Oaks, how the DTE trail and other nearby Michigan bike trails work, the e-bike rules, and what RV and tent campers should know before they load the bikes.
Mountain biking on the trails at The Oaks
The Oaks trails are a mix of forest and grassland, with more forest than open ground, laid out in several loops. One loop runs toward the wetlands that border Haehnle Sanctuary, where sandhill cranes are a common sight. Others wind through miles of woods where you’ll see deer, which seem to know there’s no hunting on the property. The trails are shared by golf carts, hikers, dog walkers and the occasional horse, so most of the main loops are wide and rolling: a good fit for kids, cruiser bikes and anyone who wants an easy ride through the trees.
For riders who want more, there are narrower trails the golf carts don’t use. As one campground employee put it, “If you’re interested in some more extreme mountain biking action, you could take a road less traveled and go down more narrow trails.” Deep in the woods are the old mud pits from the 1990s, when the campground allowed ATVs and motorcycles; the old-timers still tell stories about them, and you have to know your way through the forest trails to find them. Motorized off-road vehicles aren’t part of the park today, which keeps the trails quiet, and the area makes for fun exploring on a mountain bike or e-bike.
A few practical notes:
- Trails are shared and aren’t marked by difficulty, so ride at a pace that lets you yield to carts, walkers and horses.
- Kids and bikes need to be back at the campsite by dusk, and the campground roads are 5 mph.
- There are no bike rentals at The Oaks; bring your own. Golf carts can be rented at the store if part of your group would rather ride the loops that way.
- The newest trail equipment on the property is a forestry mulcher, and our team has talked about building out use-specific trails (bike, horse, cart) in the future. For now everything is shared.
You can see the trailhead and the trail area on The Oaks map. Tent sites 178 and 179 sit closest to the trailhead; see our tent camping guide.
E-bikes at The Oaks and our other parks
E-bikes are allowed for adults only, and only pedal-assist models (the bike must have working pedals). Throttle-only e-bikes and e-bikes for kids aren’t part of the mix. Pedal-assist keeps speeds close to a regular bike, which keeps the shared loops relaxed for the walkers, carts, horses and kids who use them too. The same policy applies at Walnut Hills and Ridge Ranch. For riding on state land, check the Michigan DNR’s current e-bike rules for natural-surface trails before you go.
The DTE Energy Foundation Trail (the “DTE bike trail”)
The DTE Energy Foundation Trail is the main mountain-bike destination in the area and the reason many riders camp near Waterloo. The Michigan DNR describes it as 22 miles of flow-style singletrack with a mechanically cut surface, built by the Potawatomi Mountain Biking Association (PoTo) with the DNR, about seven miles north of Chelsea on M-52 and roughly 30 minutes from Ann Arbor and Jackson. It’s about a 15-minute drive from The Oaks.
| Loop | Length | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Green Lake Loop | 5.2 miles | The gentlest loop; where the DNR tells new riders to start |
| Big Kame Loop | 4.8 miles | Intermediate |
| Winn Loop | 8 miles | Longer and more technical |
| Sugar Loop | 4 miles | The most challenging section |
Things to know before you ride:
- Trailheads (all Chelsea addresses): the M-52 / Green lot at 17819 Stockbridge Chelsea Road, the Cassidy Road lot at 16500 Cassidy Road, and the McClure Road / Sugar lot at 16701 McClure Road.
- Direction of travel alternates by day. Bikes ride clockwise on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and counter-clockwise on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Hikers and runners are welcome and travel the opposite way from bikes.
- Closures happen after heavy rain and in freeze-thaw conditions. Check the trail’s Facebook page before you drive over.
- A Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry to Michigan state parks and recreation areas.
Other Michigan bicycle trails near The Oaks
- Potawatomi Trail, Pinckney Recreation Area. A 17-mile loop that is one of the best-known mountain-bike rides in southern Michigan, part of more than 40 miles of multi-use trail that start at Silver Lake Beach. Pinckney is east of Waterloo, about 35 to 40 minutes from The Oaks.
- Mike Levine Lakelands Trail State Park. A rail-trail that starts in Stockbridge, just north of Munith, and runs east through Gregory and Pinckney to Hamburg Township. The western sections are crushed limestone and the eastern 10 miles are paved, so it suits families, gravel bikes and anyone who wants a flat ride rather than singletrack.
- Waterloo’s other trails. The 36-mile Waterloo-Pinckney Trail is a hiking trail, and Waterloo also has about 20 miles of equestrian trail. Mountain bikes belong on the DTE trail, not the hiking or horse trails. Our hiking and camping guide covers the foot trails.
Farther afield, Michigan’s best-known mountain-bike destinations are in the north: Copper Harbor and Marquette in the Upper Peninsula, and trail systems around Traverse City and Cadillac. They’re a five-to-nine-hour drive from southeast Michigan, which is why many riders from Detroit, Ann Arbor and Jackson make Waterloo and Pinckney their regular weekend.
RV parks with biking trails: what to check at The Oaks
The Oaks is an RV campground first, so the site details matter as much as the trails:
- Sites: Power (50 amp on short-term sites, 30 amp on seasonal) with water and a gray-water drain, plus dump stations and a honey-wagon service. There are no full-hookup (sewer) sites and no pull-throughs; short-term sites have 50 amp. If you need 50-amp full hookups, our sister park Walnut Hills in Durand has 80 of them, about an hour north, but its biking is campground-road loops plus a nearby public trail off Reed Road, not mountain-bike trails.
- Room for bikes and racks: sites run from 35 by 65 feet up to 55 by 120 feet, so there’s space to leave a loaded bike rack on the truck.
- Where to camp: sites 22 to 109 are in the quiet old-growth section nearest the trails; the north section is closer to the store, beach and playgrounds.
- After the ride: bathhouses with showers and laundry, a sand beach on the spring-fed swim lake, the Aquaglide floating water park (wristband fee) and the free Kangaroo Jumper for kids, a fishing lake with a dock, and a camp store with ice, firewood, forgotten essentials and hand-scooped ice cream.
- Rates: RV sites start around the high $40s a night and vary by date and site; tent sites are a little less. See The Oaks rates page. Rates cover 2 adults and 2 children; extra guests are $13 per adult and $9 per child (3 to 17) per night.
A bike-camping weekend at The Oaks
A typical pattern for riders: ride the DTE trail early Saturday while it’s cool, before the day-use crowd arrives, then come back to The Oaks for lunch and the beach. Late afternoon, take the kids out on the campground trails for an easy loop toward the Haehnle wetlands to look for cranes. On event weekends, a food truck handles dinner and there’s a DJ or band at the pavilion. Sunday, pick a different DTE loop or ride the Lakelands Trail from Stockbridge. As our team likes to say, you can’t do everything at The Oaks and in the surrounding area in one weekend, which is why riders come back.
Campgrounds near the trails: how the options compare
Waterloo’s own campgrounds, Portage Lake and Sugarloaf Lake, are modern state campgrounds a few minutes from the DTE trailheads and are good, no-frills bases for a riding weekend; see our Waterloo camping guide. Dedicated bike-destination campgrounds in northern Michigan put you at the foot of bigger trail systems but mean a long drive. The Oaks is the option for a mixed group: riders get the DTE trail nearby and 120 acres of trails at camp, and everyone else gets a beach, a water park, events and room to spread out. If you’re coming from the east side, our campgrounds near Ann Arbor page has directions; from the west, see campgrounds near Jackson.
Bike camping FAQ
Can kids ride bikes around the campground?
Yes. Kids ride the campground roads and trails all day, and holiday weekends include a decorated-bike contest and bike parade. Bikes are back at the site by dusk.
Is there a fee to ride the trails at The Oaks?
No. The trails are included for registered campers. Visitors register at the store and pay the day-visit rate.
Can I ride an e-bike on The Oaks trails?
Adults can ride pedal-assist e-bikes. Throttle-only e-bikes and kids on e-bikes aren’t allowed.
Where do I check DTE trail conditions?
The DNR directs riders to the DTE Energy Foundation Trail Facebook page for closures, and PoTo publishes trail maps. The DNR trail page has a printable map.
Is there mountain biking at Walnut Hills?
No. Walnut Hills biking is on the campground roads and a public nature trail off Reed Road. For trail riding, book The Oaks.
