Hike and Seek: Rotary Park

I mentioned in an earlier post that I have this itch to get back hiking again. With our sleds being down and their fate unsure this season, I’m anxious to find other activities to pass this cold, gloomy stretch until spring. And get out for some fresh air and exercise. I’ve been shopping for new winter boots for this initiative and finally found a pair (at Meijer, of all places) that I’m very happy with so far. Last night, my awesome husband indulged me and we went for an early evening hike out to Rotary Park in Livonia.

Livonia, like my current residence, is a suburb of Detroit and is also my hometown. I’d never been to this park, however, as it’s in the northern part of the city and my stomping grounds were on the southern border. Those who know me will not be surprised that I chose to check out this location as it’s rumored to be haunted. Hehehehe. A walk in supposedly haunted woods at dusk? Count me in!

So we bundled up, me in my new boots and both of us in our repurposed snowmobile jackets, hats and gloves. The park isn’t hard to find and we followed the signs to the back of the parking lot to the nature trails.

Leaves littered the blanket of snow that came very early this season. We were graced with 5″ to 7″ of the white stuff on Monday night, and many of the trees still held their leaves. Now as they land on top of the snow, it’s like a throwback to fall after having a bit of winter.

Rotary Park is also a popular destination for Livonia Rocks, a rock painting group. I got into it a bit a while ago and still have some rocks and painting supplies. I found several of them on our jaunt, and posted the pics to their Facebook page. Today, I’ll put them back out in the wild!

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There is a pretty complicated trail system and we met up with several people walking their dogs. I didn’t check to see if there were any maps, as I figured we wouldn’t be too long. Per the park’s website, closing time was 8pm, but when we had reached the trailhead, signs indicated closing at dusk, like most parks. Well, we’d see how far we could go before Livonia PD paid us a visit.

We walked a good bit and perused the carved graffiti on several trees. One symbol looked very much like the symbol that was captured in a YouTube video of other paranormal explorers.

Here is the photo I took.

Not sure what it means, if anything. ?? Going into the woods I started the Voice Recorder app on my phone to see if we could pick up any odd audio. Bill had the Ghost Radar app going, which actually proved to be the most accurate we’ve ever experienced. Nearing the edge of the woods, with houses in the distance (and a garage facing the woods), it read GARAGE and then PRIVATE. It also said ALASKA during our hike, which wasn’t accurate but being in the snowy woods.. ?

We kept going and in the distance, the landscaped dipped down a bit. A creek? Sure enough!

I hurried down the embankment to the water, imagining what it looked like in the summer. Paddle-able? Probably not. And no wildlife tracks that I could see. I wondered if the kids in those houses know how lucky they are to live near this!

Getting back on the trail, we decided it was time to call it a day. It was getting dark and the trail system would now prove how turned around you can get back here, especially in the dark. We crossed back over the foot bridge that took us to the river when Bill said he heard what sounded like a man’s exhale just behind him to the right. Time the for the second EVP attempt of the evening. However, after listening to it back home, it contained nothing out of the ordinary. We did stop a few times and listen to what we were pretty sure was an owl!

But the spook factor? Hahaha.. We were lost, and it was dark. I knew my MacGuyver/Boy Scout/Outdoorsman/What If Guy husband would not have come without a flashlight and he did not disappoint (he had brought several). However, this was now what the trail looked like, and the intersecting trails were very hard to see in the dark.

Finally, I consulted the almighty Google Maps (thank God we were not out in the sticks with no signal) and found where we were. Yep, we took a wrong turn somewhere along the way. We were the blue dot and the red X is where we parked.

We turned back and watched as the blue dot guided us back to the trailhead and the parking lot beyond. My feet were still unbelievably toasty warm in my new boots as I hopped into the truck, giggling. This was fun. No paranormal experiences, (except for the strange exhale) but to me there is nothing more thrilling than a walk in the woods after dark. Muahahahaha..

And we left without a trespassing ticket on the windshield! Bonus. 🙂

Where to next?