Yesterday I ran at Sleepy Hollow State Park. It seems like at some point the DNR wanted state parks just outside of each metro area in Michigan. So for Lansing area people, Sleepy Hollow is our State Park. It also seems like at some point God decided to make the geology of west Michigan from Kzoo to GR and north as well as the east side surrounding the Detroit area very interesting with hills, glacial lakes and rivers flowing into the great lakes. He decided to make the middle of Michigan a flat boring swamp that got turned into farmland. So Sleepy Hollow, which surrounds the man-made Lake Ovid is not a great State Park but it’s the one we have. It’s really trying its best with out much help from the last Ice Age.
The best thing about the trail around the park is that it’s almost exactly a half marathon if you do the little Island loop, making it the longest single track in the area by far. The other thing that’s great is that since it’s not that great, no one is ever there. It’s not very hilly. It’s like a big Burchfield.
Historical Note: A decade ago I built a sail canoe out of a regular canoe (The Dawn Treader) and I sailed it across lake Ovid. My friend Clay sailed it about 100 yards into the lake, tipped it over and treaded 50 degree April water for about 15 minutes before a boat came through and towed him and the sail canoe to shore. He lost his shoes and I lost confidence in the sail canoe and deconstructed it with never realized plans to turn it into a rowing canoe. (It is currently just a regular canoe)
Yesterday’s run was uneventful and pretty quick considering I did 20 miles the day before as I gear up for Pictured Rocks. I saw turkeys, partridges, a toad and no humans on the 13 mile loop. The trail is mostly wooded but the clouds were so pretty that I took a picture of a part of the trail that is in a meadow. The humidity took a day off too which was a pleasant change!
MI Trail Challenge 