Trail Challenge offers prizes for visiting all 13 Huron-Clinton Metroparks

This story is part of a series exploring how parks serve as engines of exploration, education, play, and equity. It is made possible with support from Huron-Clinton Metroparks and the City of Detroit.

Since 2023, hundreds of Metro Detroiters have participated in the Huron-Clinton Metroparks’ Trail Challenge, which incentivizes participants to visit all 13 Metroparks across five Southeastern Michigan counties.

This year’s challenge, which ran May 1-Oct. 31, drew 1,114 participants, more than double the 500 who joined in during the challenge’s first year. Participants must visit a designated kiosk in each Metropark, take a selfie there, and upload it to an online leaderboard, where they earn a digital badge for each kiosk visited. Participants receive a different prize for registering each year. This year, the registration incentive was a Metroparks tumbler, which participants could also decorate with stickers received for each park visited. And those who visit all the Metroparks receive an annual park pass for the following year.

“It’s kind of that additional incentive to keep coming around, because it’s a pretty big perk at the end,” says Hilary Simmet, a marketing specialist at the Metroparks.

Simmet says the idea for the challenge arose from a community needs survey that the Metroparks conducted. Survey participants said they wanted more trail programs. Simmet says that since the Metroparks already offer a lot of guided hikes, staff decided to create a self-guided program that encouraged people to visit new parks.

This year’s challenge added five new kiosks, offering pet-friendly and accessible options for all participants. Simmet says staff have heard that many challenge participants from past years are now returning and bringing friends or family members with them.

“It’s something that they’re making part of their summer bucket list,” she says. “They’re hitting all 13 parks, spending a day in a new park, experiencing what that park has to offer, whether it’s a water facility or a different program that they probably wouldn’t have gone to if they weren’t going to that park specifically.”

A “full circle” moment at the Metroparks

For Andrea and Chris Rapelye, participating in the Trail Challenge was a way to revisit Metropark memories that stretched back to Andrea Rapelye’s childhood. She and her family visited Stony Creek Metropark often while she was growing up in Macomb Township. She fondly recalls family reunions and other outings in the park. Andrea Rapelye moved away from Michigan for several years, living in Massachusetts and Florida. But when she and Chris Rapelye decided to get married and move back to Michigan, they chose to have their wedding at Indian Springs Metropark in 2024. And last year, as they settled back into life in Michigan, they decided to explore all the Metroparks by doing the Trail Challenge, completing it at Indian Springs on their first anniversary.

“It was a nice full circle moment, especially for me,” Andrea Rapelye says. “Since I’m from Michigan originally, it felt like a nice homecoming.”

There were meaningful moments along the way. Both Rapelyes were touched by seeing sandhill cranes at Indian Springs Metropark when they first visited it while planning their wedding in 2023. Chris Rapelye grew up seeing sandhill cranes often in Florida and he was surprised to see them in Michigan as well. Andrea Rapelye says she took the sighting as a “good omen” for their wedding, because the birds mate for life. So the Rapelyes were excited to see even more sandhill cranes at Kensington Metropark while doing the Trail Challenge.

“It was cool to have almost a Florida connection here in Michigan,” Andrea Rapelye says. “It was like, ‘Oh, hey, here are these birds that you grew up calling your bird friends.'”

Andrea Rapelye says she hadn’t really known how many Metroparks there were or where they were located, so she enjoyed visiting all 13. She and her husband plan to use the park pass they won from the challenge to do it all again next year.

“We would probably get the Metropark pass anyway,” she says. “But it was a fun way to see all the different parks and then have that as a reward for seeing all of them, to be able to visit them in 2026.”

“No reason not to”

Greg and Anne Clites frequently walk the trails at the Metroparks near their home, so the Trail Challenge intrigued them when they first discovered it online.

“We like the Metroparks trails because they’re not too arduous,” Greg Clites says. “They’re fun and interesting. And we’re retired and we like anything that gets us outside walking.”

The Cliteses participated in the challenge both last year and this year. They particularly enjoyed exploring the Metroparks in Macomb County and the Downriver area, which are furthest from their home. Greg Clites says they’d “make an outing” of those trips, grabbing lunch on their way to stop by multiple parks in a day. Their favorite discovery of the challenge was the Lupine Trail at Indian Springs Metropark, where they were delighted to find many of the trail’s titular bright purple flowers in full bloom.

“We were there at the right time, but that was nice,” Anne Clites says. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many native lupine before.”

The couple also enjoyed discovering the Title IX Plaza honoring female athletes at Dexter-Huron Metropark; the woods and rescued birds of prey at Oakwoods Metropark; and the pool at Willow Metropark. Greg Clites also expresses appreciation for the behind-the-scenes work that goes into organizing the Trail Challenge itself.

“The Metroparks, I think, are incredibly cool, and not enough people take advantage of them,” Anne Clites says. “We’re really lucky to have them.”

The Cliteses say they’ve spread word of the challenge to their friends, and Anne Clites says they’ll “absolutely” do the challenge again next year.

“We’re retired,” she says. “What else have we got to do? No reason not to.”

A new park for 2026’s Trail Challenge

When the Cliteses and others join next year’s Trail Challenge, they’ll have a whole new Metropark to visit. The recently opened Huron-Clinton Metroparks Water Garden at Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park in Detroit will be added to the 2026 challenge. Simmet says additional changes, including ways to earn extra incentives, are coming with next year’s challenge. Given the challenge’s popularity so far, she anticipates it will be “around for at least another three years, if not longer.” She says feedback from this year’s challenge showed that about 80% of participants would do the challenge again.

“The value’s there,” she says. “We know that getting out to the parks is an essential part of mental health, wellness, and being healthier and staying active. So it’s an easy way for us to help contribute to that.”