We biked directly from our camp site at Fort Custer State Recreation Area to the Battle Creek…read moreLinear Park (aka trail). The trail largely runs along the Kalamazoo River which provides some nice scenery. The trail passes through the Leila Arboretum. My favorite spot was the Verona Dam, which has a nice deck with picnic tables and a great view of the water. The dam is like a man made waterfall. The trail runs through the campus of the Kellog Community College and through downtown Battle Creek right past the gorgeous old train station. There's a significant monument to the Underground Railroad near downtown. The sights along the trail are all pretty great! The trail itself is unfortunately poorly maintained. It's the roughest trail surface I've ever ridden in several spots. Not being from the area we found the trail poorly marked and we missed a number of turns and had to stop to search for where does the trail go in several areas. Navigation challenges for us included Bedford Rd Bridge, 20th St, and Washington Ave near Washington School. The trail makes several unconventional street crossings in mid-block such as along Capitol Ave near Bailey Park. Capitol is a busy 4 lane road so we chose to cross at the stop light rather than the marked crossing mid-block.

I ride the Battle Creek Linear Park Trail quite regularly. Usually several times a week. There are…read moreseveral different legs of the trail, but my favorite is the stretch along the river from Bailey Park to River Road. The scenery along this stretch is very nice and I usually see a variety of wildlife. My reason for only a 3 star rating is the condition of the trail. Many areas are very bumpy from tree root damage and the amount of glass on the trail is the most I've seen on any linear trail or rail trail. They have a clean up every year where locals volunteer to pick up various trash along the trail and river, but unfortunately, this does not include a thorough sweeping of the glass. If the city would just repair a few of the worst rough areas and run a lawn tractor with a sweeper down the trail just once a month, this trail could be a 5 star trail. It could also use a few more bathroom areas and watering areas along the route. There is a port a potty at Bailey Park and another at the boat launch near Helmer Road. But areas to get a drink or refill a water bottle are scarce. There is a water fountain near Claras downtown, but for some reason the last couple of years, the city has not turned the water back on in the spring, so it's useless. The city is always wanting to add more parks and facilities around the city, but they really need to maintain what they already have now. Kalamazoo River Valey Trail has 90% less glass and less chance of a flat, for cyclists.

I've been so impressed to see how much this cool local non-profit has been able to accomplish in…read moreour area. What started out as a two-person operation out of Kalamazoo College has expanded to provide tons of activities, training, cycling opportunities, bike repair instruction, community events and more. Kids can earn a bike by participating in an after-school program that teaches social skills as well as bicycle repair skills, and there's also a fix-a-palooza program that helps area youth learn how to maintain their cycles. Their big bike-a-palooza fundraiser at the 2017 Kalamazoo Bike Week raised over $15,000 for this awesome community-empowering program. It's a great place to donate your old bike, or your bucks or your time!

Definitely no rain check as it rained after we had been there a few hours. I felt water could have…read morebeen cleaner. You have to pay for all the extras. There are only 2 slides. Extremely frustrating that they send kids down in no life jackets with no one catching them at the bottom. I am surprised no one has drowned because of this. Probably won't go back. With covid still felt like there was to many people. Figured they were all about the money and not safety of customers.

I go to full blast to get away from everyone! It is a good day to play in the water or just lay in…read morethe sun !the snack bar is fun too!

The park is under some construction through September which is a bummer but from what they've dug…read moreup, it looks like there will be some great improvements. The ball field will go away but they're putting in new playground equipment, new pavilion, new basketball courts and updated restrooms. In the meanwhile, the parking lot is still there, the river is still there (note the warning about eating the fish) and it's a nice, peaceful spot. [Review 11208 overall, 984 of 2019.]

This is our go-to putting-in point for kayaking to Arcadia Ales (it's round about an hour's paddle…read more-- longer if you're feeling leisurely and faster if you're going for a big workout). Plenty of parking, tons of covered picnic area. We staged about 75 kayaks/paddleboards/canoes there for a recent Kanoe the Kazoo event and it didn't feel too crowded on the riverbank, which was awesome. However, you've got to be pretty strategic about how you put in (fortunately we had seasoned paddlers leading our group who gave good advice about how to put in, but those who tried to enter the river closer to the woods/fence/parking lot got caught up in some wicked current. Be sure to put in farther out toward the picnic structure and park and paddle across the river then let the current drift you across the mini-rapids. Don't forget -- it's unsafe to eat the fish from the Kalamazoo River. We saw tons of people fishing on our recent excursion and really worried about their health. A few people were sad to see a small tent city on the river's edge -- personally it made me happy that some of the homeless had found a more pleasant haven than the city parks. Just a matter of perspective, I suppose. One of the "tent cities" was also a group of 5 matching, new-looking tents so I suspect that group was a group of people kayak-camping.

Major fun! Our pilot Steve and his crew were top notch. Safe, fun, and a beautiful ride. Would…read moredefinitely do it again and recommend if you're looking for a really unique adventure.

my family was super excited to enjoy a nice evening skating at the park! When we arrived for our…read morereservation, we had to wait and an extremely long line to get skates and onto the ice. when we got to the front of the state line, they failed to mention that they were only giving out men's sizes. So, after standing in extremely long line, we were all giving incorrect sizes because we were unaware of what they had. In addition to that they did not carry large sizes so part of our party was not able to skate. very disappointed

I'm from Grand Rapids and am used to the yearly tradition of going to Rosa Parks circle for ice…read moreskating. When I found Millennium park and knew it was outdoors, I was beyond excited to keep with tradition. When we went, the weather was a bit on the warm side so there was a little ice melting but that didn't stop us from having a great time! There are concessions here as well that are decently priced. I remember seeing hot chocolate and remembering the good ol' days when it was so cold outside and when your mom told you to come in, she had a hot cup of chocolate waiting. The staff was friendly and were very informative as to the difference in skate types, figure vs. hockey. Parking was pretty accessible and there was plenty of it and free! I would love to go again, and this time, bring on the cold!

A super gem of a park located behind the Oshtemo Township building & library. I was looking for…read morethe Lillian Anderson Arboretum and missed their drive and ended up following the sign for the Oshtemo Township Park. Boy, did we make the right turn! The park has 70 acres that includes tennis courts, playground, disc golf, pavilions, and walking trails. Even though the trails were snow covered, they were easy to follow. There are a lot of signs to make sure you know where you are. The forested area of the park is beautiful with rolling hills and as an added bonus you can connect to the Lillian Anderson Arboretum trails. I'm so glad we spent a few hours on a chilly Sunday exploring this beautiful area just west of Kalamazoo.

This is really great place！！We had picnic,hiked and disk golf！！…read moreunfortunately, we couldn't across the bridge for yestea's raining.

Love Lawson Arena!! Such a great venue. Being an alumni of Western, it feels super nostalgic to go…read morethere and catch a hockey game. Super bummed that they are moving the team to the new event center that is going to be built in downtown Kzoo. If you haven't made it to a game at Lawson, I definitely recommend it before the team moves. Tickets are fairly cheap. I believe we paid $22 and were in the bleachers behind the net, 4th row. WMU is a consistently ranked team in the top 25 nationally. They are so entertaining to watch! You can even buy beer and alcohol at the games now! As for parking, the best spot to park is across the bridge by miller auditorium and walk over. It's free on the weekends.

We stopped here to do some ice skating over Christmas break. Open skating was 12-2 and only $3…read moreadmission and $1 to rent skates. Only $16 for our whole family!! We arrived at 12:15 and size selection was already somewhat limited so I certainly recommend arriving at noon. Price wise this place is less than half of he cost of other area options, so it was busy. However we paid and got skates quickly and we were off. For little ones needing some help they have some walker style push things to use. It was the first time for both my kids and they a actually did better just holding my hand. Half way through they clear the ice to run the Zamboni, only took about ten minutes and they skating was back on. It was busy but there was as still plenty of room to navigate and the kids had a great time. I'm sure we'll be back :)