3.3 miles
Distance
321 ft
Climb
-325 ft
Descent
00:27:39
Avg time
Supporters, Builders, Maintainers & Land Managers of Sugar Loop Trail
  • past supporters

Sugar Loop Details

  • Activities
    • Mountain Bike
    • Hike
    • Trail Running
  • Riding Area
    DTE Energy Foundation Trail
    Chelsea, Michigan
  • Difficulty Rating
    Black Diamond rate
  • Voted Difficulty
    Black Diamond (1 vote)
  • Hiking SAC Scale
    T1 Hiking
  • Trail Type
    Singletrack
  • Bike Type
    DH, AM, XC, DJ, Fat, Adaptive MTB, CX, Gravel
  • Direction
    Both Directions
  • Climb Difficulty
    Blue
  • Physical Rating
    Moderate
  • Trail Visibility
    Always easy to follow
  • Dogs Allowed
    Yes
  • eBike Allowed
    No
  • TTFs on Trail
    Berm, Jump, Gap Jump, Rock Garden
  • Global Ranking
    #2140 in Mountain Biking [+]
    • #54819 in Trail Running
    • #84250 in Hiking
  • Local Popularity
    100 in Mountain Biking [+]
    • 95 in Trail Running
    • 90 in Hiking
  • Year Opened
    2019
  • Land Owner
    Michigan DNR

The newest loop is the 4.0 mile Sugar Loop. The most technical of the four loops, over 25 tons of quarried rock was brought in to structure many features, including “Natural Selection”, a three-line structured rock feature, “Big Rock Candy Mountain”, a large armored berm switching up and down Sugarloaf Hill, “Pop Rocks”, a series of rock “diving board” jumps/drops, and “The Upside Down”, a winding bermed descent/climb with optional jumps.

Access Info

All trail loops are directional based on day of the week. On Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays bikes travel clockwise on all loops, with foot traffic going counterclockwise. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, these directions are reversed for the respective users. In winter, parts of the trail system are groomed for “floatation use only” – fat tires, xc skis or snowshoes. Check the Facebook page for latest updates.

Disclaimer

This trail closes during wet/erosive conditions. Check the DTE Facebook page linked below for current conditions.

Local Trail Association
Traditionally Indigenous Territory
More Stats for Sugar Loop mountain bike trail trail
  • Altitude change
    -3 ft
  • Altitude min
    973 ft
  • Altitude max
    1,100 ft
  • Altitude start
    1,033 ft
  • Altitude end
    1,030 ft
  • Grade
    -0%
  • Grade max
    -23.1%
  • Grade min
    21%
  • Distance climb
    1 mile
  • Distance down
    1 mile
  • Distance flat
    3,501 ft
  • Avg time
    00:27:39
  • Avg reverse time
    00:28:38
  • view trail stats
Status:
on Dec 20, 2022
Ideal
Avg: 4.9 (16 votes)
Your vote: 0

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  • Basemap 
  • Trail Style 
    • ?
  • Activity Type  
3D
Trail Conditions
  • Unknown
  • Snow Groomed
  • Snow Packed
  • Snow Covered
  • Snow Cover Inadequate
  • Freeze/thaw Cycle
  • Icy
  • Prevalent Mud
  • Wet
  • Variable
  • Ideal
  • Dry
  • Very Dry
Trail Flow (Ridden Direction)
Trailforks scans users ridelogs to determine the most popular direction each trail is ridden. A good flowing trail network will have most trails flowing in a single direction according to their intension.
The colour categories are based on what percentage of riders are riding a trail in its intended direction.
  • > 96%
  • > 90%
  • > 80%
  • > 70%
  • > 50%
  • < 50%
  • bi-directional trail
  • no data
Trail Last Ridden
Trailforks scans ridelogs to determine the last time a trail was ridden.
  • < 2 days
  • < 1 week
  • < 2 weeks
  • < 1 month
  • < 6 months
  • > 6 months
Trail Ridden Direction
The intended direction a trail should be ridden.
  • Downhill Only
  • Downhill Primary
  • Both Directions
  • Uphill Primary
  • Uphill Only
  • One Direction
Contribute Details
Colors indicate trail is missing specified detail.
  • Description
  • Photos
  • Description & Photos
  • Videos
Trail Popularity ?
Trailforks scans ridelogs to determine which trails are ridden the most in the last 9 months. Trails are compared with nearby trails in the same city region with a possible 25 colour shades. Think of this as a heatmap, more rides = more kinetic energy = warmer colors.
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  • popular
  • less popular
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ATV/ORV/OHV Filter
Max Vehicle Width
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Radar Time
x Activity Recordings
Trailforks users anonymized public ridelogs from the past 6 months.
  • mountain biking recent
  • mountain biking (>6 month)
  • hiking (1 year)
  • moto (1 year)
Activity Recordings
Trailforks users anonymized public skilogs from the past 12 months.
  • Downhill Ski
  • Backcountry Ski
  • Nordic Ski
  • Snowmobile
Jump Magnitude Heatmap
Heatmap of where riders jump on trails. Zoom in to see individual jumps, click circles to view jump details.
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      Directions to sugar-loop-220397 trailhead (42.344560, -84.100210)
      update trails status or condition

      Sugar Loop Trail Reports

      statusdatedescription
      Dec 20, 2022 @ 8:30am
      Dec 20, 2022
      Dec 13, 2022 @ 1:43pm
      Dec 13, 2022
      		DTE closed for freeze/thaw season as of 11/21.
      Sep 21, 2022 @ 4:38pm
      Sep 21, 2022
      		 Tree down
      Sep 14, 2022 @ 9:32am
      Sep 14, 2022
      Aug 17, 2022 @ 9:49am
      Aug 17, 2022
      view all reports »

      Recent Ridelog Activity on Trail

      Past Week
      • 0 rides
      •  
      6 Months
      • 231 rides
      • 20 miles avg distance
      All
      • 4,139 rides
      • Last: Aug 3, 2022

      Technical Trail Features (TTF)

      Photos

      more »
      446 |
      Apr 3, 2021 @ 6:25pm
      Apr 3, 2021
      502 |
      Apr 3, 2021 @ 6:25pm
      Apr 3, 2021
      415 |
      Oct 16, 2020 @ 5:22pm
      Oct 16, 2020
      518 |
      Oct 16, 2020 @ 9:26am
      Oct 16, 2020

      Routes with this trail

      titledistance
      Downcountry Enduro - Sugar Loop - 5 & 63 miles
      TTC 2020 Purple 46 Miles Clockwise race46 miles
      TTC 2020 Purple 46 Miles Counterclockwise race47 miles

      Links

      8 Reviews & Comments

      • + 0
      Painter43213 (Aug 9, 2022 at 14:25)
      Should be labeled black with blue options . Nothing difficult if you take the bypasses . Super fun both directions unlike the other trails .
      [Reply]
      • + 1
      kuehnle2 (Jan 17, 2022 at 18:11)
      most action packed loop in the area. If you are looking for an exciting, quick ride, you won't find anything better in the area. Access from McClure Rd parking lot (type McClure lot into google maps and it should come up). The trail starts a bit up the road, not right out of the parking lot. I ride a full suspension 150/140 trail bike and it works great, but you could definitely ride this on a hard tail as there aren't a whole lot of roots/rocks/chunk. The features are all man made. If you're looking for fast, natural single track in the area, check Potowatomi or Pontiac Lake
      [Reply]
      • + 0
      ivy-likes-trees-2 (Jan 18, 2021 at 0:37)
      From what I remember, I rode this trail clockwise. If you want to do the wooden features, you’ll want to ride it counter clockwise.
      [Reply]
      • + 1
      mgolabo2 (Sep 14, 2020 at 7:13)
      Fantastic loop. Rode on a Sunday (CW), felt it may have been better the other way though. I wanted to ride it again, but ran out of time and had to head home back to WI. Still super flowy like the other trails here, with some well designed bigger features strategically intertwined for the more experienced rider (easily ridden around). I would not consider this a black◆, maybe some of the features, but IMO still would consider most of them to be blue■. Oh, and drains pretty well with being mostly sand (unlike some of the WI trails)...rode the morning after a decent rain and only a few wet spots.
      [Reply]
      • + 1
      collinwheeler (Aug 21, 2020 at 10:31)
      Better flow riding clockwise or counter clockwise?
      [Reply]
      • + 1
      elduder (Jul 20, 2020 at 5:25)
      Another fun trail up here. Not that techincal just some fun rocks to ride over and up. I am pretty sure this had the most climbing but even then it isn't much since it flows so well on the climbs. This is probably my second or third favorite out of the 4 up here. Not that I don't love any of them they are all incredible.

      I did prefer the direction on Friday, Sunday more than Saturday. I felt this way for all the trails here. They are still very fun on Saturday direction but I felt it flowed a bit better the other way.
      [Reply]
      • + 0
      Kwizzle69 (Jan 24, 2020 at 6:41)
      Honestly craziest trail I've rode in michigan, "the upside down" which is part of the trail is the most insane thing I've seen, huge birms going down hill with giant jumps, my adrenaline was beating out of my heart, love this trail
      [Reply]
      • + 1
      hardwareguy75 (Sep 19, 2019 at 12:24)
      On 9/17/19 this trail was still loose in places. Hopefully it will get fully bedded-in and buffed out sometime next season. Still, plenty of fun to be had on this loop. Lots of jumps and little kickers to huck. Big Rock Candy Mountain is a super cool feature. Keep up the great work MDNR, DTE Foundation, and PotoMBA. Looking forward to what Cassidy Loop will add to the mix.
      [Reply]





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      Videos

      more »
      youtuber The Sugar Loop is Sweet • DTE Energy...
      12:49 | 1551 | Sep 16, 2019 , Chelsea
      youtuber Dirt Church! Mountain Biking at DTE/Waterloo (MI)
      4:03 | 102 | Sep 9, 2022 , Chelsea
      youtuber Flow State of Mind
      2:12 | 385 | Apr 30, 2021 , Chelsea
      youtuber SUGAR LOOP | TRAIL TOURS in 5 minutes or less!...
      7:34 | 413 | Dec 16, 2020 , Chelsea

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