Exercise Guide: Matthaei Botanical Gardens

This is NOT an in-person event.

These Exercise Guides are intended to assist and encourage exploration of parks and natural areas in the Huron Valley Group region. Please enjoy them on your own or with others.

Below are some scenes along the trails at Matthaei Botanical Gardens you might enjoy, as well as a map of routes we enjoy. We hope these encourage you to get out, to Matthaei or some other natural area, for your exercise.

If you have pictures from Matthaei, feel free to join this "outing" and post them here. Even better if they are pictures taken from a visit stimulated by this posting.

You can expect see Red-winged blackbirds at Willow Pond and might see herons, egrets or cranes. Or maybe a hooded merganser passing through (photo above). As you head up along the road and into the meadow, keep an eye out for bluebirds or maybe a red-tailed hawk. As you get closer to the farmhouse and barn, keep an eye out for turkeys, maybe you’ll see an entire flock, maybe just a couple of toms trying to impress some hens. As you come back along Fleming Creek, catch the skunk cabbage blooms in the areas of standing water on both sides of the trail. If you’re lucky, you might find a bloodroot. Deer are frequently seen throughout the entire area of the trail (as are turkeys). Muskrat can occasionally be seen swimming in Fleming Creek or snacking on greens along the bank.

Expect 2 to 4 miles of walking on easy dirt trails, depending on how many loops you walk.

NOTE: dogs are not allowed on the Nature Trails at Matthaei. Dogs are welcome on the Matthaei Garden Trail that runs south to Geddes Rd.