The below right image is not all that great of a picture, but it fascinated (or perplexed) me for quite a while after I took it. It was shot in October 1987, before I was spending a lot of time at the park. I could not understand how I would take a picture looking "across" the water at the fish ladder from the same side of the river. Finally, I went to the spot again, and sure enough, when the water is low, there is enough of a bend after the dam that you can stand on dry land and get this view. All of the pictures below are fall.     

The winter shots are from January 1988 through January 2005. I often joke that the best thing about Michigan winters is it keeps the bug count down for the other seasons, but I have taken a surprising number of winter photos at the park, even in my 35mm days. It is partly how I survive all the bare gray days. 

The large body of frozen surface water (below left) is an old quarry on private property. You get this view of it from the northwestern boundary of the park. The bridge (below right) goes over Sandstone Creek on the east side of the park, or according to the Eaton County website map, just outside the official park boundaries. However, that area, as well as the Ledges Trail (called The River Path from Island Park downtown) up to the train trestle, has always seemed to be a part of the park. The dam goes across the Grand River which forms the northeastern park boundary. The stream with all the rocks is Bloodwell Creek on the west side.  Except for photos of the ledges, that area is where I do most of my picture taking. 

Early spring and late winter often have that same basic bare look, except for high water when the melting snow combines with the spring rains. Eventually though, things begin to green as the new growth appears on trees, new shoots sprout up from the ground, and the early wildflowers quickly bud and blossom. 

The dandelions of spring (above right), though not always welcome in our yards, can be an awesome sight when they densely populate a field. And, their arrival also tells us that summer (below) is almost here. 

The rest of the images on this page are a mix of the remaining categories from "A Closer Look" through "Water Over the Dam." I have a few 35mm pictures set aside, which I might use in category pages, but most of the 35mm photos I decided to share with you appear on this page. I hope you enjoyed them. 

Obviously (below) he did not see the sign. And, I did not mention it. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. As I recall, though we just crossed paths on the trails that day (April 26, 2000), he seemed like a pretty nice young man. I think I might have even sent him a copy of the picture. The sign shows up in a 35mm photo back in 1998, but I just took (with my digital camera) the one I used here. I was heading out to do my cardiac walk and someone was coming across the bridge by the Nature Center on a dirt bike. Glancing down at the sign, I was reminded of the below right image and had the idea of combining the two. It is pretty rare that someone disobeys the restriction. In fact, over the years, I have bumped into the police patrolling on bikes as much as I have anyone else. Walking, jogging, and cross-country skiing are the standard fare.