Outdoors · Independence

Independence, MI parks, trails & bike paths

About 13% of Independence is conserved land, roughly 3,104 acres. There are about 19 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Independence Oaks County Park (10.5 mi), Clintonwood Park (2.9 mi), and Bay Court Park (0.6 mi).

Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Independence, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.

At a glance

Independence outdoors

Conserved land
13%
3,104 of 23,102 acres
Trails
19 mi
0.5 mi per sq mi · 14 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
6
84 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
38.1 mi
0.0 mi lanes · 38.1 mi off-road paths

Conserved land is a share of the whole town area. Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.

Map

Conserved land, trails & bike routes

1234
Tap a number or a place below to zoom in© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk

Parks & preserves with trails

Ranked by mapped trail miles. Directions go to the nearest marked trailhead or public parking.
1

Independence Oaks County Park

Park
1,273 acres10.5 mi of trail
C - Springlake LoopD - Rockridge TrailE - Ted Gray TrailI - Oak Ridge TrailTrail Link
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
2

Clintonwood Park

Park
121 acres2.9 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3

Bay Court Park

Park
43 acres0.6 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4

Sashabaw Plains Park

Park
14 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Who protects the land

3,104 conserved acres

Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Private owners
1,412 ac
County
1,121 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits
295 ac
Town or city
275 ac
Other state land
77 ac

Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 295 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.

Biking & sports

Bike routes, courts & fields

  • Painted or protected bike lanes0.0 mi
  • Off-road bike paths38.1 mi
  • Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi

Courts & fields

  • Tennis23
  • Baseball18
  • Beach volleyball8
  • Soccer6
  • Football5
  • Pickleball4
  • Basketball3

Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.

Nearby

Independence and its neighbors

Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
TownConservedTrailsParks & preserves
Independence13.4%18.5 mi6
Waterford6.8%42.4 mi29
Springfield17.3%31.5 mi12
Orion9.2%62.5 mi24
Brandon5.8%5.5 mi6
Auburn Hills7%23.9 mi12
Trail talk

Conditions & tips from neighbors

No recent posts about Independence's trails yet. Muddy, icy, a bridge out, where to park: a quick post helps the next person.

Sources: trails, parks, preserves, courts and bike lanes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), map data as of 2026-09-28. Conserved land: USGS Gap Analysis Project, Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). Measured against the Census town boundary.

How we measure"Trails" are OpenStreetMap paths, bridleways, public tracks and unpaved footways, plus footways inside a park or preserve or on a named trail route. Sidewalks are left out. Areas are counted on a 20.1-meter grid, so overlapping parcels count once. "Conserved" includes conservation easements, which protect land from development but are usually private property. Trailheads are the nearest marked trailhead, public parking lot or information board within about 150 meters of a preserve. Dog rules come from OpenStreetMap when someone has tagged them; otherwise we show what's typical for the land manager, or say the rules aren't recorded.

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Independence

Michigan · MI · Oakland County
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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/15 · 2025-01-01