Walter J. Hayes State Park: Red Trail (Blog Hike #911)

Trail: Red Trail
Hike Location: Walter J. Hayes State Park
Geographic Location: east of Brooklyn, MI (42.06846, -84.13196)
Length: 0.9 miles
Difficulty: 1/10 (Easy)
Date Hiked: October 2022
Overview: A short campground loop through kettle and kame topography.
Park Information: https://www2.dnr.state.mi.us/ParksandTrails/Details.aspx?id=454&type=SPRK
Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=924146
Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: 

Directions to the trailhead: From the junction of SR 50 and US 12 in Brooklyn, take US 12 east 4.3 miles to SR 124 and turn left on SR 124.  Drive SR 124 north 0.7 miles to the park's campground entrance on the right.  Turn right to enter the campground, pay the entrance fee, and drive the main campground road 0.4 miles to the paved canoe launch parking lot on Round Lake.  Park here.

The hike: Located in the heart of the Irish Hills, a scenic area with low hills in southern Michigan, Walter J. Hayes State Park protects 694 acres beside two lakes: Wamplers Lake and Round Lake.  The park came to be in 1920 when the State of Michigan purchased 99 acres to go with two other land donations.  The park was originally named Cedar Hills State Park and/or Adrian State Park due to its proximity to the city of Adrian, but in 1930 Michigan State Senator Walter J. Hayes made an additional land donation.  That donation came with the stipulation that the park's name be changed to what it is today.

            From 1933 until 1935 the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked here, making improvements to the park.  The park offers several amenities, including fishing and boating on the two lakes, a swimming beach on Wamplers Lake, some picnic areas, a 185-site developed campground, and 2 cabins.  For hikers, the park offers 2 short trails around the campground: the 1 mile Red Trail and the 0.5 mile Blue Trail.  The longer of those two options is described here.

Start of Red Trail at canoe launch

            You can start the Red Trail either at the campground or at the canoe launch.  Because I did not have a camping reservation, I chose to start at the canoe launch.  Marked by small red arrows attached to wooden posts, the Red Trail heads into the woods with Round Lake to your left.  The forest here features some large maple trees, and after only a couple hundred feet you reach the best view of Round Lake on this hike.

Round Lake

            Past the lake view, the trail climbs a 40-foot bluff and curves right to start heading south.  At 0.3 miles, you dip to cross the park road that connects the two main camping areas.  The wide mowed-grass trail undulates slightly with a tiny kettle lake downhill to your left and a kame uphill to your right.  Both kettle lakes and kames were formed by retreating glaciers.  Kettle lakes formed in depressions created by blocks of ice that got buried under sediment before melting, and kames formed where melting glaciers piled up dirt and gravel.

Hiking between kettle and kame

            Just past 0.4 miles, the Blue Trail enters from the left.  Turn right as the combined Red/Blue Trail maintains a fairly level course with another tiny kettle lake to the left and the same kame to your right.  Near 0.6 miles, the Red and Blue Trails part ways.  If you wanted to extend your hike, you could turn left and add on the Blue Trail.  As directed by the colored arrows, I turned right to continue the Red Trail.

Approaching the campground

            After only a couple hundred more feet, the Red Trail ends at the campground between sites #64 and #66.  To get back to the canoe launch, turn right on the campground road, walk around the restroom building, and ignore the loop for sites #80-96 on the right.  Continuing to walk north will bring you to site #1 and the main park road, where a left turn will take you downhill to the canoe launch to complete the hike.