Hickory Ridge Hike & Ski Trail

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Features Birding · Fall Colors · Lake · River/Creek · Spring · Swimming · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

A more challenging ravine loop will be added by spring, adding more mileage and technicality to an already enjoyable running trail.

Welcome to the Hickory Ridge Hike & Ski Trail, a project of the Friends of Island Lake. You are among the first to explore this new trail and we hope you enjoy running it as much as we enjoyed building it! By the spring of 2017, the trail will develop into an interpretive trail that will highlight the natural features and the human history of the park.

The trail begins at the west end of the Kent Lake Beach parking lot, next to the new Canoe Portage Rail and the restroom. It winds five miles through varied ecosystems, allowing the runner a broad sampling of the natural diversity within the park. It begins with a section along the beginning of the "natural rivers" section of the Huron River. It then crosses a meadow and winds through the woods before emerging at Trout Lake, which it circles before following a trail that leads away from the lake. A little way down this trail, it bears right back into a beautiful woods, through which the runner experiences subtle shifts in the ecosystem several times. After crossing the paved bike trails, it follows the contours of Kent Lake before emerging near the beach, which the visitor then follows back to the trailhead.

There are many opportunities to create a shorter route if desired, as the trail intersects the park's paved path several times, and anyone may choose to go around Trout Lake or pay it only a brief visit before dropping back into the woods.

This trail remains under development and we would appreciate your feedback and ideas, especially related to potential interpretive displays or information.

Please contact Tony Pitts at trails@islandlakefriends.org