Six years have passed since I last trekked the trails of Draper Twin Lake Park, a 90 acre wildland and wetland gem, located at 1015 Inwood Road in Oakland Township. It was time for a return visit, and the words of Henry David Thoreau came to mind. “Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” That memorable quote of Thoreau applied perfectly last week on a bright sunny morning. A few days later snow blanketed the ground.

The language on the park’s entrance sign is worth noting. “Established so others may enjoy the beauty and nature of the farm loved by Elmer Lee and Birter Susan Draper.” The park is maintained by Oakland Township Parks and Recreation and park passes are not needed. If you walk slowly, stop often, and look and listen, the subtle beauty of nature will come alive even as winter settles in.

I knew it would be good adventure the moment I arrived at the park and saw a Bald Eagle soaring overhead.

I followed the well-maintained limestone path down to the lake and noticed the eye-catching trees including a very large sugar maple and towering white pines. The paths are easy to follow and along the way, I saw a kayak launch site at the lake, assuring a return visit with my kayak in the spring.

At the east section of the park, the habitat is extremely different but equally appealing. When the prairie comes to life in spring, you will note spectacular wildflowers, dragonflies, damselflies, butterflies and songbirds everywhere. Evidence of wildlife, including coyotes, told me I was not hiking alone.

The bluebird boxes along the trails revealed the park is ideal for bluebirds and I’ll be looking for them as well in the spring. The park was once a 20-acre field which was restored back to native prairie habitat by the department’s land stewardship team with the financial help of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant.

My return visits in spring will bring the music of songbirds and will likely include sightings of tree swallows, great blue herons, great egrets, belted kingfishers, and numerous species of warblers, making the park an excellent site for birders. Leopard frogs leap about meadows on moist summer mornings and sometimes a Blanding’s turtle may be spotted sunning on a partially submerged log all but hidden amidst shoreline vegetation. 

I’m an unabashed fan of the wisdom of Aldo Leopold, author of Sand County Almanac and I’ll wrap up my trek at Draper Twin Lake with his words. “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”

And I will wrap up this blog for Oakland County Government with these words, “Winter is never a time to for humans to hibernate, it’s a time to live in each season as it passes and celebrate the influence of the earth with an adventuresome hike on the wilder side of Oakland County.” See you on the trails and stay safe my friends.

Jonathan Schechter is the Nature Education Writer for Oakland County Government and blogs about nature’s way, trails and wildlife on the Wilder Side of Oakland County.

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