MLive says: “Right in the city of Alpena, you'll find Michigan wilderness at its best by visiting Island Park & Wildlife Sanctuary. Once you enter the park and discover its adorable covered bridge, you'll find yourself surrounded by a 500-acre wildlife refuge serving as home to animals like swans, blue heron, frogs, beavers and more. The island itself is 17 acres of diverse terrain, from sand dunes to marshy areas to meadows.”
September 27-28, 2020
After a chilly morning hike at Clear Lake State Park, warmer temperatures were welcomed in Alpena. Island Park is actually on the edge of the City of Alpena. I didn’t quite know what to expect, and was eager to explore. The entire experience was a hugely pleasant surprise - I don’t know if I’ve ever been anywhere quite like Island Park. We started our exploration on the mainland admiring native plantings all around the wetland (their importance highlighted by the pollinators frequenting them), before crossing the bridge onto the island.
Crossing the bridge onto the island itself was like walking through a portal to another place entirely: the covered bridge was beautifully maintained, and the signage that greeted us on the other side indicated the adventure we were in for: a whole variety of ecosystem types awaited us on this small tract of land.
As we walked, we passed through savannah, forest, grassland, dune, and wetland ecosystems. Every hundred yards was a transition point to something new, and it kept us entirely on our toes. We heard and saw countless birds on our walk, and couldn’t stop commenting on the diversity and uniqueness of this place.
Even with a cloudy sky, the island was stunning. We walked lightly across the land, with great admiration for the stewards of this place. All around there were small natural secrets and wonders protected with signage or actual barriers - not only did these protect the land itself, but the diverse animal life that surely frequents this sanctuary. After walking around the entirety of the island, we returned to the bridge and admired the land we just walked from the mainland.
We concluded our time at the island with much admiration, and made our way toward downtown to check into our hotel. We had a pre-birthday dinner at a Mexican restaurant with some absolutely amazing housemade salsa and VERY large well margaritas - I quite enjoyed myself, and the waitress finished our meal off with the largest serving of fried ice cream I have ever been presented with. I ate like an absolute queen on the eve of my twenty-fifth birthday, and we ended the night with a night walk out to the marina.
The following morning, we meant to visit the NOAA facility in Alpena that services the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and the many historical shipwrecks that are preserved within it. Unfortunately, all of the information we collected online wasn’t accurate, and the museum was closed because of COVID (we weren’t even surprised, honestly - it’s pretty much par for the course of traveling during COVID, even locally). Instead, we ended up taking a very rainy walk along the riverfront, and moved on to our next stop.