WALKER, Mich. — I always thought Millennium Park was a warm-weather destination. Wrong.
Years ago, when my family was considering moving to West Michigan – and yes, I still have that hat from our house-hunting days – we were thrilled to learn that winters here meant real snow. (We lived in an area that got freezing cold but not much snow.) What I didn't know until this week was that you could embrace that snow at one of our neighborhoods' most beloved parks.
"This is a four-season park," says Jessica Siemen, the park manager. "It's not just the beach, it's not just the boat rentals. Come out, get outside, get off your couch."
After all, the couch will still be there when you get back.
Millennium Park offers nearly 18 miles of trails, each appropriate for different winter activities. Some trails are left untouched for fat-tire biking. Others are plowed for walkers and runners who refuse to let winter slow them down.
And ... "We groom some for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing," Siemen explains. The grooming process uses a Yamaha Rhino on tracks pulling a specialized trail groomer that packs down snow and creates ridges in the middle for skate skiing and snowshoeing, plus classic tracks for traditional cross-country skiing.
I tested those classic tracks myself, and they were absolutely perfect.
Of course, this winter paradise doesn't happen overnight. The park is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to sunset, but grooming only occurs weekdays. When snow falls, parks workers can't get to grooming trails right away. "We do snow plow for Kent County, so we have to get that plowing done first," Siemen notes. "Then we plow the parks parking lots, and then we can get to grooming."
There's one notable exception to activities Millennium Park offers: ice skating.
The lakes are spring-fed and any ice is too thin to use. And too thin for ice fishing.
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