Bloomer Park

Bloomer Park is the oldest and most characterful park in Rochester Hills — a big, hilly, wooded stretch along the Clinton River with real trails (paved for strollers, unpaved and genuinely hardcore for mountain bikers), CCC-built stone shelters and staircases from the 1930s, playgrounds, picnic spots, and even traces of the abandoned 1838 Clinton-Kalamazoo Canal. Its headline feature, though, is the one most locals have never actually watched in action: the International Velodrome, Michigan’s only outdoor bike-racing oval, where you can catch fast, colorful track racing on summer weekends. It’s the rare suburban park that rewards both a lazy afternoon and a genuine athletic outing, and it makes a natural pairing with a cider-and-donut run nearby. On our list as the outdoor heart of Rochester Hills — and a surprisingly good place to bring visitors who think they’ve seen everything.