Detroit Outdoor Activities

Since May 2008, Wheelhouse Detroit has been offering its customers a healthy and highly efficient new way to see Motown, with guided bike tours traversing the terrains and trails of Detroit. More than 80 bicycle tours are scheduled for the upcoming months, with new tours regularly added. On the Belle Isle tour on Saturday, May 21, pedaling explorers will cruise around Detroit's famed architectural archipelago, surveying sights such as the aquarium and Livingstone Memorial Lighthouse. Guides will discuss the history behind the area's famous statues, such as Alpheus Starkey Williams, who served as a Union general in the Civil War before tragically being turned to stone.

As planes come and go from nearby Windsor International Airport, grounded racers engage in their own form of high-speed action at Warp Drive Race Park. Strapped safely into one of four different 9-horsepower Honda-engine go-karts, helmet-clad passengers grab their steering wheels, don their racing nose plugs, and put their feet to pedals as they test the limits of speed. Up to 20 karts can take to the large 1,800-foot concrete track, currently organized into several straightaways, curves, and hairpins that drivers can take at up to 45 km/h. Little racers aged 4–10 can jump into child-sized single-pedal cars and roam around a smaller oval track, or parents and children together can strap into two-passenger cars capable of reaching 40 km/h. After the racing is over—or for quick breaks between speedy bouts—passengers can retire to one of the picnic area's 10 tables, partaking in sustenance or tall tales about close finishes.

The year was 1975, and Wayne State University's David Mackenzie House was facing imminent destruction to make way for a new sewer line. Two university students rallied their peers to halt the demolition, simultaneously planting the seed that bloomed, like a flower bulb planted in radioactive dirt, into Preservation Detroit. Over the past three decades, the architectural preservation organization has become a leading advocate for the protection and rehabilitation of Detroit's historic abodes, skyscrapers, and culturally rich sites. Preservation Detroit's staff, composed primarily of volunteers, continues to nurture their community's passion for historical treasures through lectures, seasonal newsletters, and tours.

From May to September, tour guides usher pedestrians through the bustling streets of Detroit, weaving narrative tapestries about the century-old cultural center and, on the Auto Heritage tour, Henry Ford's flagship factory, birthplace of the Model T and the concept that assembly lines are useful for more than just completing the Sunday crossword. During a special yearly boat tour, guides unravel the Detroit River's seedy past as a conduit for Prohibition-era bootlegging while passengers dig into dinner.

The sage-like city prowlers of Inside Detroit lead groups of tourists and natives through Detroit's history-rich hubs, charming watering holes, and evolving cultural centers. Walking tours bring urban nomads through the major landmarks of Detroit's downtown, such as the underground railroad's Second Baptist Church and the 40-story Guardian Building, an Aztec-inspired architectural masterpiece built during the 1920s, when it was thought to guard the city from hay fever.

Birmingham’s Uptown Film Festival honors area filmmakers reaping the benefits of the Michigan Film Incentive, which—since it was passed in 2008—has stepped to the forefront of the film industry with the creation of more than 11,000 jobs. Comedies, dramas, and documentaries from the Mitten and beyond squeeze into the projector’s cylindrical glow at the Birmingham 8 and Birmingham Palladium 12 theaters, where several films will be debuting their Michigan premieres. Festive galas and postshow parties allow cinephiles to drop spec scripts in the drinks of their favorite filmmakers, each of whom longs for an award from a discerning crew of local professionals and film critics.

Home to the state's largest freestanding bouldering island, New Jersey Rock Gym houses 12,000 square feet of vertical terrain to climb as well as 41 top roping stations. Armed with either day passes or membership, guests scamper up the gym's synthetic summits, hoping to ask questions of the learned ceiling light sequestered at the top of the mountain. While gear is included with some membership options, guests can opt to bring their own materials or rent the individual shoes ($5), harnesses ($4), or chalk bags ($2) they need from the pro shop. New Jersey Rock Gym offers a collection of educational course work in the vertical arts, teaching belay technique to beginners or advanced skills to adults. Children can also take advantage of youth climbing programs, mini camps, and birthday parties before retiring to private refreshment chambers to absorb bottles of electrolyte-infused refreshment. The nearby pro shop outfits climbers with name-brand gear for purchase, while a WiFi lounge transmits terabytes of data into nearby electronic devices or unsecured cyborg brains.