Last week, I felt very stressed, so I decided to go to a place where I could really relax, the Lloyd A. Stage Nature Center, located at 6685 Coolidge. Troy is getting so built up, that it’s nice to find some woods in the middle of an increasingly populous area.
The trails are open only during the day, between the hours of 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5 pm on Sunday. But within those hours visitors can stay as long as they wish, hiking trails of various lengths for only one dollar, a great bargain! I love to go out in the woods, and so does the rest of my family, although I have to admit we always take the shortest trail! I’ve read that many children are “nature deprived” because of our increasingly sedentary lifestyle, and this is a good way to correct the balance.
If hiking isn’t your style, the Nature Center has immaculate, rustic headquarters. In it, there’s reading room with books on nature. The main room boasts numerous live animal exhibits, such as different kinds of frogs, in neatly kept aquariums. The Cattail Cove Nature Shop is located next to the main room. Everything is moderately priced, and the gift shop is full of nature-based gifts, educational and just plain fun, for all ages. My personal favorite is the delicious maple syrup made from trees right there in the Nature Center!
The 100-acre Nature Center goes beyond offering trails and gifts. It also provides many programs for the public of all ages—residents of Troy or not. They have one-time programs, and then they have programs that continue through the year. The programs are really inexpensive for what they offer, because it’s run by the city, and I think it’s a great way to spend our tax dollars.
For more information, call 248-524-3567 or go to https://www.troymi.gov/ParksRec/NatureCenter/
Karen Hunt lives in Oakland County with her wonderful husband and two children. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Karen has been a stockbroker, freelance writer and substitute teacher. A lifelong Michigander, her French roots in Detroit go back three hundred years. This combination of education, work experience and being an expert about the Detroit area has made her savvy to having fun and style with her family on a budget in Oakland County.
