Explore the Outdoors with the 2020 Michigan Trails Week Challenge

lschultz • September 17, 2020

Do you enjoy exploring Michigan’s great outdoors? If so, take part in the 2020 Michigan Trails Week Challenge that runs from Sunday, Sept. 20- Sunday, Sept. 27. This fun challenge is open to those who enjoy the outdoors in a variety of ways, and participants can get involved by running, hiking, biking or paddling Michigan’s public land and water trails.

As Michigan boasts more than 13,000 miles of state-managed trails and thousands of more miles of trails managed at the federal, county and local levels, Trails Week is a great opportunity to get outdoors and celebrate your favorite trails. Trails week runs eight days and is hosted by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance. This year they hope to log an impressive total of 100,000 miles traveled by participants during the week.

All you need to do to participate is register and self-report your adventures on the waters and nonmotorized trails within the state, federal, county or locally-managed land you are recreating in. By reporting the miles achieved through your land and water trips, you can earn badges for different milestones. The first badge is earned when you register for the event and log at least one mile, and additional badges can be achieved when you:

Walk, run or hike for five miles.
Bike for 10 miles.
Horseback ride for five miles.
Paddle for two miles.

This is a great way to enjoy the final days of Michigan’s summer and the early days of fall while finding adventures on land and water trails new and old. If you do participate in the 2020 Trails Week Challenge, please respect fellow recreationists and your natural resources while on public land and follow state and federal public health and safety guidelines regarding COVID-19.

Stay safe and enjoy your public land!

The post Explore the Outdoors with the 2020 Michigan Trails Week Challenge appeared first on Michigan United Conservation Clubs.

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Uncommon Whitetails: Antlered Does

By Olivia Triltsch • November 20, 2025

If you have ever seen a deer with velveted antlers at strange times of the year, it may have been a rare sighting of an antlered doe. Unusual circumstances like this allow for the antlered and antlerless deer tags to still apply as imposed by the Michigan DNR deer regulations, as it can be difficult to identify a doe from a buck while in the field, aside from the presence of antlers. Often, hunters who tag an antlered doe do not find out it is a female until they go to field dress their kill.