MLive says: “If you love wildlife, check out the Rose Lake State Wildlife Area. The grassland habitat here serves as a home for pheasants. You'll also find snakes, rabbits, turkeys, deer and other creatures. There are lakes and creeks to be discovered within this expansive wildlife area that extends into Shiawassee County. This land is popular with hunters.”
August 29, 2020
That last line should have told us to stay away, but my relentless commitment to the counties project brought Bill & I there anyway after spending the morning hiking the ledges in Eaton County.
I was excited to check out Rose Lake State Wildlife Area, but upon arriving it was obvious that it wasn’t going to be a very impressive stop.
The first hint was the sign nailed to a tree announcing that an Asian man had been murdered there last year while he was hunting, and there were still looking for information. The second sign was that hardly five minutes into the hike it was obvious the entire area was all second- and third-growth forest, as there wasn’t a fully mature tree in sight. Two bad signs to start.
The third sign was the ear-splitting sound of the gun range that lies in the center of the state land. I fully and thoroughly detest gun ranges, after being dragged to them a few too many times as a child who didn’t want anything to do with firearms. It’s also really hard to deal with when you’re out in nature, trying to relax on a hike, far away from the things you have to deal with at home…Bill and I live in a community that experiences gun violence, with unfortunate increasing frequency this year. It isn’t common that anyone is injured or killed (although it definitely happens), but it is increasingly normal to hear 10+ rounds fired on random nights of the week around the neighborhood. That said, I don’t go into nature to deal with more aggressive people and their guns, and I don’t hike in hunting areas because of violent people gunning down other humans “on accident.”
Bill and I left Bela in the car, as she is very afraid of gunfire/fireworks/other things that go boom and we didn’t think she’d enjoy the hike much. When it came down to it, we didn’t enjoy it either. We turned around after making it 1 mile down the path and hiked back to the car to leave. We couldn’t get over the constant gunfire, honestly. I took a handful of photos and we took off for Old Nation Brewing on the other side of Lansing, for a growler of Boss Tweed and a takeout hot pretzel.
Bill was surprised that this was chosen for the “most beautiful place” in Clinton County, as he knows of another great spot in the county that seems much more appropriate. We didn’t visit on this day, but I’m looking forward to joining him at Michigan Wildlife Conservancy’s Bengel Wildlife Center for a hike and some lunch sometime soon, and maybe replacing this not-so-fun blog with a much more positive experience.