A Trip to Indian Springs Metropark

Sunday was a lovely, sunny day, if a bit windy. We wanted to take a ride but I didn't know where. I didn't care!

Ironman picked out a park in the Huron-Clinton Metroparks system. I thought we'd been there before, but it turned out to be a trip of discovery.

We went to Indian Springs Metropark, in White Lake Township. It's one of the newer parks in the system. As in the other parks, there are a number of things to do — including a splash park, which naturally we skipped in this chilly time of year. Our goal was the Environmental Discovery Center, a new-looking three-story structure partly underground.

View from the upper floor.

It has exhibits about the natural habitat and man's interactions with it, as well as classrooms and a science lab for young students. But the highlight is the underground Pond Room, where you can walk under the surface of a pond stocked with bluegill and other native creatures. It was carved out of a cornfield, we learned when we ran into the surveyor whose last job before retirement was to survey the park and create its maps.

Corridor leading to the Pond Room.

Ironman shoots a fish.

Self-portrait with fish.

Look up!

Look down from the outside balcony.

We walked into the pond room and found it difficult to see much in the murky greenish water except for those fish lingering near the glass.

After that, we spent an hour and a half walking the trail to the Timberland Lake. Having been warned that massasauga rattlesnakes live in the area, I was on the lookout for one. But, I also learned at the Discovery Center that not one human death from massasauga bite has ever been reported.

Can you spot the slithery fellow in the leaves and twigs?

We did see three snakes along the trail, but they were only garter snakes, not Michigan's only venomous snake.

"Snow Fishing" allowed?

A rear view of the Discovery Center.

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