The Hudsonville Nature Center

The good thing about the Hudsonville Nature Center is that it is close to home for me, and gives me the opportunity to get in a few miles of hiking when time is limited. The bad thing is that it is tucked between downtown Hudsonville and the busy I 196 expressway. You are never out of earshot of the traffic on the highway. That doesn’t seem to bother the wildlife too much, as I have seen deer and turkeys in the park often times when I have been there. The trees along the expressway itself are a good place to look for hawks, as there are many in the area, and they perch in the trees to look for rodents in the mown grasses there.

The trails are very good, although short, and you’ll have to do a couple of laps to build up to any distance to speak of. There are a couple of creeks that flow into the park, join together, then flow on to the Grand River. What the park lacks in size, it makes up for in very good planning. The terrain is varied, with some steep hills along the creeks and in the woods, some open prairie areas that are flat, and some wetlands along the creeks. All in all, it is a very nice place to go to get in a pleasant walk in the out-of-doors.

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