Love this place!…read more Finding fun and entertaining parks for my 1 year old is so much fun. I love this one. Not only is there three plays capes, there are swings, walking trails with a big pond to watch wildlife, basketball courts, volleyball courts, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, and a gazebo area you can rent for parties if you please. Little guy never gets bored here! This will always be one of our top parks!

This park is absolutely beautiful. Honestly that's an understatement. There's so much nature,…read morepretty colors and animals to be seen! This park has been my weekly staple in my walking routine. I love walking around the pond and seeing all the ducks, geese, and squirrels. There's plenty of benches to sit and just enjoy life. No matter the time of the day or how hot or cold the weather is, there's always people here and plenty to do. A couple play grounds, basketball court, tennis courts, and baseball courts makes it a very popular place to bring the family. You can also fish in the pond. Bring your camera and take plenty of breath taking photos. Heritage Garden is a perfect spot for senior pictures, family photos and even prom photos. The park is dog friendly. Please clean up after your pet. There is literally trash cans everywhere, so also don't litter.

I thoroughly enjoyed my wanderings at River Bends Park, lots of options for your activities while…read morevisiting. I was on a limited time crunch today, so I stuck mostly to the main, paved trails (happily many sections of this path still ran through the woods); but there are hiking and/or biking trails branching off in many directions all throughout the property. Make sure to watch the trail signs, as some are for bikers only. River Bends is also a dog friendly park, note that they must remain on a maximum of a 6ft leash at all times. While I visited today with only my pupperoni, River Bends park is great for kids of all ages. There are a multitude of play areas for children, great to help wear out their energy. There is also a disc golf course that winds throughout the park, supplying players with beautiful nature views. You could also enjoy a BBQ on one of their charcoal grills, relax at a picnic table, or pavilions if you have a large group; nature watch on a nearby bench, our even try out a game of horseshoe. The park appeared well maintained, for the most part; although a few signs could use some repair. They have restroom facilities, and port-a-pottys available for use (although I did not enter them to speak of their cleanliness). You can find trash receptacles around every bend, so there's no excuse for lazy littering, and there is a main sign available showing you all of the trails and their difficulties. You can find this sign posted off to the side of the parking lot; which itself, had plenty of available spots. Definitely a favorite park to stop and enjoy, highly recommend.

When the weather gets nicer out river bends is the place to go for a good walk. There are trails…read moreand spots for good pictures too. The main trail leads you to this tunnel w graffiti. It's another cool spot for pictures and i go often. On top of the tunnel there are train tracks, I'm not sure where they lead to though.

Don't forget to stop at the nature center inside this park.This place is so underrated. So much to…read moresee . The grounds were well kept and so many different exhibits to explore. On Sundays in the summer from 1 pm-2pm they feed the animals so you can bring in your child to help with their feedings . They also have excursions for your children as well that you can sign up fo

This is such a beautiful park and I live about 6 miles away. They have annual passes and discounts…read morefor residents, seniors and military. In the summer they have concerts by the water every other Friday night from 7 to 9 PM. We came tonight for the concert and the fireworks. It's well controlled by the metro park police.

I've driven by this park quite a few times over the past year and always was impressed with how…read moreclean and cool looking it was. I finally had the time to stop in yesterday with my date and his kids to check the place out, and we both were pleasantly surprised with how much fun it was. For starters, the park is really well kept. Grass was cut, parking lot was clean and well maintained and all equipment was in good working order. After walking around for a bit, we both realized there was more to do then meets the eye from the road. There's plenty to do for both kids and adults. The one thing that drew my eye initially was the picture of the fire truck on the wall of the building they have right next to the parking lot. The park itself is named after a fire chief, thus, the fire truck theme going on here. They have tons of stuff to do here. They have a lovely covered pavilion with plenty of seating and well maintained picnic tables. They also have a play area for the kids, soccer fields, a horse shoe area, tennis courts and a sand volley ball area. They also had an area that appeared to be a Bocce Ball court, but no equipment to play the game. Also, there was a building with the fire truck painted on that I assume has bathrooms or a tribute area inside. I can't say for sure because the doors were locked and you couldn't see much through the doors. The only downfall to this park is no obvious place for bathrooms. I assume it's in the building but I cannot say for sure. I also saw a few adults walking with fishing poles and equipment. I guess you can go fishing around here as well. I believe there's hiking trails as well if your interested in that also. This park is a great addition to the community and everything about it was impressive. I am sure I will be back in the future!

The splash pad at Chief Gene Shepherd Park is beautiful. The park is beautiful and clean, updated,…read moreand filled with exciting water features for children. My family loves visiting the splash pad on hot days and I love taking them. This splash pad is perfect!

This is probably one of my absolute favorite parks! It's so large and winding, there are so many…read morepathways and things you can do here, and best of all, you can access it to and from downtown Rochester! I first started going to this park back when Pokemon Go came out all those years ago. I had no idea what this park was all about until that first day I was playing Pokemon Go and just kept following the path on the game's map and then suddenly I looked up and realized I had walked through all of the park and into downtown...all a stone's throw away from my apartment! That started my long-term love affair with this park. I have so many fond memories in here catching Pokemon, but also coming back here with friends and with my dog for walks, playing on the play structures, glancing at the tennis courts and wondering if I should play a bit, hammocking because there are so many great hammocking trees scattered throughout the park, shopping through ARTS & APPLES, ones of the greatest festivals in metro Detroit, and so much more. This park has something for everyone and is also very accessible right off of Paint Creek Trail as well. Parking around here can be interesting, but now that I no longer live at the apartments directly across the street from this park, I find that parking at the Rochester Hills Public Library in downtown Rochester is my favorite option. There is a path that leads all the way behind the library, along the creek, to Paint Creek Trail, with an offshoot to the Rochester Municipal Park, all just a 5 minute walk from the library! This is truly a wonderful park, for fun with your friends, family, and furry ones, in all four Michigan seasons, and I'll never stop enjoying it! :)

Peaceful, beautiful park with lots of trails and great restaurants in the area. Love going here…read morewith my family.

Spencer Park is a hidden gem in Rochester Hills! It's my favorite park to spend a summer day with…read morefriends/family or by myself to a walk on the hiking path. It's open for swimming Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day with Lifeguards on duty from 8am to dusk. Last year they installed a new paved walking trail that goes around the lake. It's so much nicer than the old gravel pathway! It's approximately 1 mile around Carter Lake and it's perfect for getting your steps in. However, dogs are not allowed in the park even if they are on a leash during Memorial Day to Labor Day. During off season you can bring your dog on a leash to walk if you choose. Another strict rule to note is that no floatation devices are allowed in the water for swimming. It's a popular spot to go shoreline fishing and there's a fishing dock along with canoe, Kayak and paddle board rental. In addition, there are sand volleyball courts, tennis courts, basketball courts, barbecue grills, a concession stand, and a play structure. You could easily spend the whole day here and never get bored. It basically has all the same amenities that Stoney Creek offers but smaller. It cost $5 per day if you're a Rochester Hills resident or $10 for a non resident Monday through Friday and Saturday and Sunday a few dollars more $8 for resident and $15 for a non resident). You also can buy a season pass which i do every year. The season pass gets you into Bloomer Park as well. I highly recommend this local park to anyone who loves nature and the outdoors. Great for all ages and especially families!

I've always loved this park. Great memories through the years with my kids. It's a great day with…read morethe family when you bring a picnic basket.

Bloomer Park is an excellent place for hiking and mountain biking. It's has technical mountain bike…read moretrails as well as moderate and casual. These levels are the same for hiking, so you can get a great workout regardless of experience level. There are multiple wood staircases of varying lengths, so it's great for stair climbing exercise. I've been coming here on/off for several years and have never had a bad experience. I've gone to other state parks where I've gotten swarmed by a lot of bugs, but for whatever reason, not at Bloomer. It's also great that it's located next to downtown Rochester, so food and drink after a casual stroll is accessible. I highly recommend Bloomer Park for hiking and biking activities.

My family and I went to Bloomer Park for their recent, Fossils and Riverside Campfire event (cost…read morewas $10 per person). We had a great time. It was our first visit to this city park, and I was happy to see it was nicely maintained. We only stayed and hiked through a small section of the park, but it was very clean, bathrooms were available, there was a playground for kids, small grills in sections, bike repair areas could be found, and the trails had been recently upkept. The paths we followed were simple and good for families, although I would not recommend dragging a wagon or anything like that with you. There were easy to hike sections, as well as smaller, more off-road trails perfect for those that enjoy mountain biking. There was plenty of wildlife around to view, wooden bridges for crossing streams and marshy areas, and beautiful areas to relax near the Clinton River. It was honestly a great outing, and we'll definitely be back.

This is the best park in my locality.I go there so many times that I never had a thouvht to add a…read morereview here until I heard from my friend not knowing about this beautiful area. Recently this park hosted Heritage festival with so many cars parked that were made from ancient years like 1935. Apart from autos they had booth for astronomy club which was my fav. This park connects to paint creek trailand clinton river trail. If u keep walki g on the trail, you reach to downtown right beside paint creek tavern. It also connects to Rochester public library. Fav part of this park is fountain, river creek, so many benches to sit upon and a tennis court near by. I love this place, when I invited one of my friend who lives 40 mims away, she loved it too and endedup coming here again with her husband. This park is awesome for photography shoot as well in fall season. I have fond memory of photoshoot of my friend with baby bump.. I highly recommend this place to stop by for evening walks

This is probably one of my absolute favorite parks! It's so large and winding, there are so many…read morepathways and things you can do here, and best of all, you can access it to and from downtown Rochester! I first started going to this park back when Pokemon Go came out all those years ago. I had no idea what this park was all about until that first day I was playing Pokemon Go and just kept following the path on the game's map and then suddenly I looked up and realized I had walked through all of the park and into downtown...all a stone's throw away from my apartment! That started my long-term love affair with this park. I have so many fond memories in here catching Pokemon, but also coming back here with friends and with my dog for walks, playing on the play structures, glancing at the tennis courts and wondering if I should play a bit, hammocking because there are so many great hammocking trees scattered throughout the park, for ARTS & APPLES, ones of the greatest festivals in metro Detroit, and so much more. This park has something for everyone and is also very accessible right off of Paint Creek Trail as well. Parking around here can be interesting, but now that I no longer live at the apartments directly across the street from this park, I find that parking at the Rochester Library in downtown is my favorite option. There is a path that leads all the way behind the library, along the creek, to Paint Creek Trail, with an offshoot to the Rochester Municipal Park! This is truly a wonderful park, for fun with your friends, family, and furry ones, in all four Michigan seasons, and I'll never stop enjoying it! :)

Easy access to Clinton river roadside park. Fishable on the river bank. Lots of car noise. Benches…read morein need of repair and clean up. Lots of poop. And strong smell of dog poop in many areas. Picnic tables and bbq's.

Really nice park in metro Detroit - there's something for everyone here. In the front, there's…read moreplenty of play structures/areas for kids of all ages. There's also a covered pavilion and lots of benches/picnic tables throughout. Dogs are allowed on leashes so you can include the whole family - even the fur baby. There is also a nice pond and water feature to walk around, and nature trails in the back. They have some fun lawn games to play near the pond too. One trail has a bridge that connects all the way to the green space on the other side of the Clinton River. My personal favorite is the pond with turtles that you can find lounging on logs on sunny days. There's even a kayak launch and other access points into the Clinton River. Tons of wildlife to view - we've seen plenty of deer, chipmunks, squirrels, turtles and cool birds. There is on-site paid parking (and free overflow across the street) but otherwise the park is free, which is really nice. I always see workers riding around in a golf cart emptying trash, making sure the park is clean. They even have bathrooms and a kona ice truck that I've seen on weekends. What more could you want?

Let's get this part out of the way - The park itself? Amazing. It is modern, has plenty of options,…read moreis well maintained, and has some great nature paths outside of the playground area. In an area that features many great playgrounds and parks to take your family to, Innovation Hills has always stood out. There is a lack of options for younger children though (no infant swings?). The three stars? One of the new features of this park is the addition of Park Mobile being introduced for the main parking lot. Signs everywhere reminding you that you better have paid your $1.50 an hour! There is of course a free dirt lot across the busy road for your convenience. Or a parking 'annual pass' you can purchase from the Rochester Hills website. Our society struggles with the concept of 'the third place'. Parks and playgrounds are a haven for families and a community builder outside of work and home. What in the world is the motivation behind suddenly charging for parking? 1 - The City of Rochester Hills wants to prioritize park access for its citizens? Charging for parking doesn't keep out non-residents and in fact just causes Rochester Hills citizens to pay more for something they are already paying for. 2 - The park is often extremely crowded so charging for parking may reduce visitor count? If this was the motivation I am confident this strategy is not working. 3 - We want to encourage more families to park in the dirt lot across the street and attempt to cross a highway? I have more faith in humanity than that. Oh, I think I got it! To quote Tim Robinson's sketch 'The Driving Crooner' - "I gotta figure out how to make money on this thing..it's simply TOO GOOD!"