Grand Ledge

Joan and I walk the Ledges Trail from Fitzgerald Park to downtown Grand Ledge a couple times a year. It's a pleasant walk, and we typically wander around Second Island for a while before returning. The geese are a valuable part of the experience. This particular goose was a rather anti-social critter, and wanted nothing to do with us, or my camera. Got 'im!

2003's fall colors didn't last long in mid-Michigan: For about four days we had excellent color. Joan and I went looking for color after spending an afternoon at her parents' home. Found some, but nothing really special; finally found massed colors near GL's Second Island. The photo's a fortunate accident. The elements (besides the obvious branches in the foreground) are multi-colored trees, and their reflections in the river. The Olympus isn't real good at handling contrast, and with my poor vision (since fixed) I hadn't got much control over depth of field in complex shots. Worked out well, though....

This steel trestle--locally known as the High Bridge--was built in 1887 by predecessors of the Pere Marquette Railway Company to get the road's main line across the Grand River at Grand Ledge. This route nominally connects Detroit and Chicago, by way of Lansing and Grand Rapids. The PM was absorbed by the Chessie system about the time I was born, and the track is now owned by C&O successor CSX. These days the Soo Line (Canadian Pacific) also runs long trains on this track--they deserted Sault Ste. Marie a decade and a half ago. Sometimes I can't look at a bridge without putting things into historical context.... This photo was taken from Second Island in Grand Ledge on April 12, 2003.

Central Michigan had a glorious sunset last night. Three times I stopped on the way home from the ballyard in an effort to capture it. This photo from Nixon Road, just off Saginaw Highway (M43). If anyone actually cares....

Alley in downtown Grand Ledge, Michigan; parallel to but north of Bridge Street. The building on the right is the Log Jam; to the left are the rears of the Bridge Street shops. The brickwork is exceptional. My car's peeking out from behind the pickup truck....

GL's Second Island park, a couple autumns back.

This is the former Spotlight Theater in Fitzgerald Park, in Grand Ledge, Michigan. The Spotlight's last play was staged some time ago, but the signs at the park haven't acknowledged that. Presumably it will house some sort of theater company again. When I moved to the area, this was the Ledges Playhouse and was the summer home of Lansing's Boarshead Theater. Originally, it was the Grand Ledge Pavilion, and part of a Methodist summer camp. There are efforts underway to preserve/restore this building. And there's a more detailed history here .

We hiked the Ledges Trail in Grand Ledge this afternoon, and I took a bunch of photos. I'm sure you'll see some more. Most of our trees are now leafless. This small maple, sheltered in the valley, is just turning from green. The Grand River in the background.

The CSX (originally Pere Marquette) railroad trestle across the Grand River in Grand Ledge. I've shown you this bridge before. Among other things, it defines the boundary of GL's Fitzgerald Park. Another shot from the Ledges Trail this afternoon. Terrific light, but an ill-chosen camera setting washed out the sky. I gotta pay more attention to this stuff.

Joan captured this photo of a large, handsome goose in downtown Grand Ledge during yesterday's hike along the river. It's about the size of a small turkey. Can anyone identify it more closely than "goose?" None of our myriad of reference books seems helpful.

The band pavilion on Second Island in downtown Grand Ledge. This gazebo stands in for more elaborate structures which populated the island when it was the heart of Seven Islands Resort, a tourist destination beginning in the 1870s and continuing well into the twentieth century....

The Ledges Trail runs from Fitzgerald Park on the edge of Grand Ledge to Second Island in the center of town. This view's from the Fitzgerald Park end; that's the very end of Seventh Island in the foreground. There are Seven Islands in Grand Ledge. Or at least there used to be; I have the impression that Second and Third have run together, probably by design. (Those buildings are long gone.) Only Second and Seventh Islands have any substance, now, though this map suggests that all were larger at one time. Across the river are slight hints about the ledges which give the town, and the trail, their names.

Downtown Grand Ledge, again. The ducks have noticed that someone's feeding their friends by the bridge. Here they come! The Grand River; Second Island (Island Park) to the right. Shot from the Second Island bridge.

There are a handful of houses overlooking Island Park in Grand Ledge. I think I like this one best. Privacy looks like it might be an issue, though. Particularly when there's an event going on in the park.

Far better large. Oak Park's 70-foot rock wall, from across the river on the Ledges Trail. A mecca for local climbers , of course.

One last view of Second Island's bridge in downtown Grand Ledge. Shot from where the local kids come to feed the birds . There seem to be several generations of retaining walls holding the island together. I like that.