Lake St. Clair Metropark

Since Frankie was born, my mother Mary has visited us in Syracuse every year around this time, sometimes carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating with us at Halloween.  Unfortunately, she had to have knee replacement surgery six weeks ago.  The surgery went well, and she is recovering nicely, already experiencing less pain than she did before the surgery, but it is a slow process.  Since she is still actively undergoing physical therapy and cannot drive yet, her annual fall visit was off the table this year.  However, Frankie's school was closed Thursday and Friday, so I bought tickets for the two of us to fly out to Detroit for a long weekend.  This way we wouldn't have to miss out on seeing Mary, and would get to see Keith, too.  Plus, we haven't visited Detroit in a few years and there is a whole lot to do here.  Thursday, we stopped at the Edsel Ford House on the way back from the airport, and hiked the short loop on Bird Island, and yesterday we went to the Detroit Zoo, where many animals were absent due to the cold, but we had notable encounters with an otter and a polar bear. 

We discussed many options for today, but ultimately decided on something close, for several reasons.  First of all, both our walks the two previous days had been the longest Mary has done since her surgery, and while she felt good after Edsel Ford, the zoo was too much -- it is an enormous zoo, and we didn't strategize well.  Second, Mary wanted to bake a cake with Frankie, which was terribly thrilling for him.  Finally, our flight out tomorrow is pretty early, so we were thinking we shouldn't stay up as late as we had been every other night.  Those factors led us to Lake St. Clair Metropark, which is the closest of all the Detroit-area metroparks to Keith and Mary's house.  Frankie and I had not been there before, so it was new and exciting for us.  The area was not developed like the rest of Detroit because it is so wet.  A series of berms and boardwalks provide access; benches and a portable stool provided resting opportunities. 

The trail circles around a small pond, which Frankie decided he would run around.  He wanted me to time him, but took off with no warning.  Since I don't have the stopwatch on my phone in hand at all times, he had to accept an estimate (about 2 minutes).  His orange jacket is visible in the photo below, just right of center. 

completing his lap

This map was posted at the four-way intersection just left of center.  We had started out on the M Trail from the nature center parking area, bearing right at the beginning fork, looped around the pond, and continued due west to reach the intersection.  Here, Mary had Keith set up her stool for a rest, then asked him to take Frankie and I out to the end of the S Trail and back.  When we reached the end, we paused briefly to watch some military aircraft, then turned back.  Frankie decided he was going to run all the back to Mary, and Keith and I followed at a more reasonable pace. 

running back to Grammy

Mary and Frankie are the distant specks at the intersection

Once we all re-grouped, we headed out along the P Trail together.  This is a lovely boardwalk through deep water that goes up to the lake shore.  Frankie had fun "fishing" off the boardwalk with a cattail and running around like a lunatic in the grass by the lake.  We saw a huge laker out in the shipping channel, and a few very posh looking muskrat houses in the marsh. 

We returned to the four-way intersection the same way we came, via the boardwalk; we could have returned directly to the nature center from the lake shore, through the developed part of the park, but preferred the nature trails instead.  We went partway back along the east-west berm, and then turned right, crossing a bridge into the forest, where Mary and Keith showed us the great-horned owl nest they enjoy watching when it's occupied in the late winter. 

Once we got back, we visited the nature center, where Frankie made friends with another little boy.  This was a perfect outing for us today!  MapMyHike tracked the total circuit, including both the S and P Trail out-and-backs, at 2.2 miles, with no elevation gain.  Michigan is pretty flat, especially in these deepwater swamps.  I always enjoy boardwalks, because they get us out places we couldn't otherwise go -- not easily anyway.