Island Lake Recreation Area — Attraction in Green Oak Charter Township

This is a State Park across the street from the slightly better Kensington Metropark. Both of these places are awesome and worth going to many times.

So, if you enjoy hiking, bike riding, or swimming, then this is the place for you. There are numerous beaches for beach goers, one at the Island Lake Picnic Area by the Heavner Canoe Rental. You can easily have a family get together here and rent canoes and boat around the beautiful and PFAS-polluted Kent Lake. You can swim in this lake without any adverse health reactions, but they advise against eating any fish out of this lake or the Huron River. The pollution has been here for decades, and people have been eating these fish forever, but now the pollution will surely kill you...because there's a sign now.

If you want to go on a mile hike through the woods, then you'll be pleasantly surprised by a nice little jewel called Trout Lake. This lake has a ton of tiny sand beaches and features a trail that circumnavigates the lake. That means there are going to be joggers and swimmers who frequent this area. Especially swimmers...those annoying, pesky swimmers...having so much fun...makes me so MAD! Anyway...

There is also the Huron River fishing access site, which is an exraordinarily nice U bend of the Huron River, which is probably more popular for canoeing than fishing, to be honest. People swim here too...because they physically can. You'll quickly discover that there are few places that people won't swim in. Again, don't eat the fish or you will most certainly die immediately thereafter.

Perhaps the best place in this park to visit is the oddly perfect Spring Mill Pond. This place has water so clear that you want to drink it...but don't because amoeba dysentary is real. Nevertheless, it is a fantastic spot for swimming, and the swimmers will annoyingly swim all over the whole pond outside of the beach area, which makes fishing there an endurance test of anger management skills. The swim area is very nice though, the beach is the best in the park, and there are public bathrooms and even a vending machine here. Come back here in September for the nerdgasmic Meteors n Smores event that the DNR puts on and features amateur astronomers with their workers comp settlement - funded gigantic telescopes where you can see some incredible stuff out in space. Oh, and scuba divers like to scuba dive here. Apparently, there are some interesting things to look at on the bottom of the 60 ft deep pond. Maybe Jimmy Hoffa? ...nah.

Lots of fun to be had here. Two thumbs up. And a finger to...

Island Lake Recreation Area waz once da summer camp of Michiganz national guard ,it waz here in 1898 da 31th,32th,33th,34th, n 35th Michigan infantry regimentz which wer recruited in da state durin da war wit spain wer organized. da 34th n 33th infantry regimentz saw action in june n july of 1898 in cuba in da fightin roun Santiago of da nearly 6700 men who served in deez regimentz 250 wer fatalitiez mostly from disease.b4 da site waz turned in2a park it waz a quarry den became a state park now known az Island lake state park which iz a 4000-acre park in Livingston County, Michigan. It’z billed az a place wer familiez can have an “up north” experience without leavin southeast Michigan. daTerrain iz a mixture of open brush land to mature hardwood forest, wit sum open meadowz mixed in, Island Lake iz da only hot-air balloon port in da state park system. About 540 acrez of da park comprisez da abandoned gravel quarry, Wen dey closed down, da minin company left behind old spoil pilez n minin debriz 4 taxpayerz 2 clean up But state officialz found a way 2 avoid dat taxpayer expense. Az a result of a mineral lease signed with Spring Mill Reclamation, LLC on May 10, 2018, the Michigan Department of Natural Resourcez (DNR) can move forward on a long-awaited effort to improve n restore dat significant portion of Island Lake State Recreation Area. Spring Mill Reclamation will re-mine da gravel, but do so in a way that leavez da entire area in a restored condition. da project includez da removal of mining debriz, sand and gravel to make way for the ultimate restoration of a mix of hilly n flat terrain, primarily planted for native prairie. under da lease, it iz anticipated dat Spring Mill Reclamation, LLC will mine nearly 10 million tonz of aggregate from da Island Lake site. Also in august 2017 da park claimed itz 1st known fatality wen a teenager seen floatin on a raft outside da marked swimmin area@ a family gatherin fell off hiz raft n slipped off into da water @da millpond wer der iz no lifeguard on duty, da teen waz nit wearin a life jacket n couldnt swim, da Livingston county dive team discovered da 18yr ol 24feet underwater n 35 yardz from shore wer he waz pronounced dead, be careful out der n never go witout a life jacket if u don...

I am a 64 year old single female from Toledo, Ohio who, four months ago, has finally met the man of her dreams, and guess what his favorite pastime is…Trap/Skeet/Sporting Clays! Well, seven weeks ago, he took me to shoot skeet with one of his friends. I did not shoot a full round. However, I did shoot enough to know that I enjoyed the sport; I even hit a few birds! Well, I have been asking to go again, but my man has not yet been able to work it into his schedule, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. Earlier this afternoon, I picked my sister up from Detroit Metro airport, and after dropping her off at her daughters, I decided to take a trap lesson at Island Lake Shooting Center before driving back to Toledo. I rented a shotgun and got two boxes of shells. James, my instructor, was knowledgeable, patient, and supportive. I started off poorly. I think I missed the first six. He worked with me, tweaked my skills, got me to focus on the bird NOT the gun, and I began to sizzle! Excluding the first six misses and shooting from the sixteen yard line, I was successful at breaking approximately 75-80% of my “quarry”. James started me off by shooting directly from the top of the trap house. Afterwards, we moved halfway back to the trap line. He kept having me take two steps to the left and shoot, then two more steps to the left and shoot….5-6 times. From these different positions, I was able to shoot the birds from a different angle. I’m already making plans to go back next week to do it all over again! I highly recommend Island Lake...