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Southgate Nature Center
4.3 ★★★★☆ 73 Google reviews · Running trail in Southgate, Michigan · Posted hours
Runner's snapshot
- Surface
- Mixed
- Loop distance
- Not reported
- Shape
- Loop
- Shade
- Not reported
- Access
- Posted hours
Confirmed from Southgate Nature Center's own listing, the park or land manager's website, and runner reviews. Blank cells mean we could not verify that fact — we would rather say "not reported" than invent one. There is no Easy / Moderate / Hard rating on this page on purpose: a one-word difficulty score tells you nothing about whether a trail suits your run. Surface, distance, shade and hours do.
Park offering kid-friendly hiking trails, a pond, and opportunities for bird and animal watching.
What runners say about Southgate Nature Center
“Excellent place to bring yourself to enjoy nature and birds and animals and picturesque for photography and Telescopology”
Eloquently and naturally rustic little nature reserve and watershed, turtles, lots of birds, small fishing pond, frogs, spring peepers, small jogging trails, Southgates, DNR best kept hidden secret. Great place for walking and jogging. God bless it, reminds me of some of Florida's watersheds.
Beautiful as always. Just beware the ticks are viscous spring through fall when you're off the paved trail.
I really enjoyed the walk. There were turtles frogs and I believe koi in the pond just overall really nice hidden gem. However, there are ticks! Please spray yourself and protect your pets before going in. I ended up finding 2 crawling on my daughter thankfully they didn't get to skin.
Great bike//walking loop from the start to Pennsylvania is about 0.5 miles and is a Strava biking segment. The area itself is very nice and is definitely true nature in a urban landscape.
Trail conditions & character
“Has a maybe half mile loop, part of it was supper muddy, and half is paved.”
“Excellent place to bring yourself to enjoy nature and birds and animals and picturesque for photography and Telescopology”
“Just beware the ticks are viscous spring through fall when you're off the paved trail.”
“Has a maybe half mile loop, part of it was supper muddy, and half is paved.”
Plan your run at Southgate Nature Center
The practical stuff
- AccessPosted hours — posted hours below; park gates sometimes close earlier than the listing says
- SurfaceMixed — more than one surface along the route, so check the segment you plan to run
- DistanceNot reported. Trail systems often quote total path mileage rather than a single loop, so measure the route you actually want before you drive out.
- ShadeNot reported. Assume some of it is exposed and carry water in summer.
Hours
| Monday | 7:30 am–10 pm |
| Tuesday | 7:30 am–10 pm |
| Wednesday | 7:30 am–10 pm |
| Thursday | 7:30 am–10 pm |
| Friday | 7:30 am–10 pm |
| Saturday | 7:30 am–12 pm |
| Sunday | 7:30 am–10 pm |
Running trails near Southgate
Other trails within easy driving distance — useful when this one is flooded, gated, or just not the run you had in mind today.
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