MLive says: “The grounds where you'll find McCourtie Park was once private land belonging to a wealthy local businessman. While his home is no longer here, the lovely land remains and is now a public area for visitors to enjoy. While you'll have a fine time no matter what you do while here, the real attraction is 17 cement bridges found around the park. The handcrafted functional art pieces, made by George Cardosa and Ralph Corona, look like wood bridges and are each a little different. You can also play tennis, baseball, have a picnic or enjoy the view of two ponds and a river while at the park.”
June 18, 2021
The theme for this weekend’s visit was definitely local parks - and as so, I pulled up to McCourtie Park after walking about Cascade Park in Jackson County. After a brief break to inhale a delicious pasta salad for lunch (homemade, of course), I set out in search of the unique bridges described above - they weren’t hard to find. There is a small creek that runs through the center of the park, and the bridges serve as the means to get to various picnic spots and walking trails, as well as parts of the disc golf course. I found it perfectly whimsical for a short stop. The bridges were actually so wood-like, that I left totally forgetting they were made of cement and surprised myself reading the MLive description when I sat down to write this! Take a look:
I also noted the health of the stream running through the park (thanks to all of those days sampling for macroinvertebrates in my past jobs!): there was an insane diversity of dragonfly and damselfly varieties! I also noted visible snails. Outside of the macroinvertebrate categories were frogs, turtles, and fish. It was absolutely buzzing with life and vibrancy, with some really interesting plant life in some of the riparian zones.
As I walked, I noted college students studying, a small family fishing, and lots of dog-walkers: this is absolutely a well-loved park and it’s not hard to see why. I would go out of my way to experience the whimsy and isolated nature of this spot again.