"Stony Creek Ravine Nature Park is ready to welcome you with open arms." That is how Ben McLoskey, Director of Oakland Township Parks & Recreation, closed his note in the Fall 2026 newsletter. He told residents that the long-awaited access improvements would be finished this fall and asked everyone to visit once the park reopens.
The township's own birding calendar is more cautious. For the Wednesday bird walk on Sept. 23, the group was sent to Cranberry Lake Park instead, with a note that the new Stony Creek Ravine trailhead "is NOT ready." The Oct. 28 walk carries the same note. Any October walking plan has to start from that gap. This year's headline trail project is still being finished, and three other changes land in the same weeks. The parks carrying the month are the ones residents already know, and the parks department's program schedule has already shifted to them.
The Trailhead Still Under Construction
The project is worth waiting for. Stony Creek Ravine covers 268 acres along the West Branch of Stony Creek, with oak forests, prairie plantings and restored wetlands. Nearly two miles of trails run through it, and for now the township lists the park as pedestrian access only. In the director's words, it has been visited mostly "by wildlife and the few hikers willing to find their way through our mowed trails."
The new access sits on the north side of Snell Road between Sheldon and Mt. Vernon Roads. The site plans call for:
- a 0.4-mile, 8-foot-wide trail to an overlook above the West Branch
- a 0.2-mile, 6-foot-wide trail connecting to Stony Creek Metropark
- a new parking lot and trailhead off Snell Road, with a universally accessible crushed limestone surface on the overlook trail
The money behind it is a $340,100 Land and Water Conservation Fund award from Michigan's 2023 grant round. The township committed a matching $340,100 when it adopted the project resolution in September 2024. The Alan Group has been on site since early summer. The newsletter says the crew has been protecting mature trees along the construction corridor and phasing work to keep the habitat undisturbed.
The newsletter gives no reopening date, and the township's bird-walk calendar still lists the trailhead as not ready for Oct. 28. The Parks & Recreation Commission next meets Oct. 14 at Township Hall, which is the next public setting where an update could come up.
Two Days a Week, Even After It Opens
Even once the Snell Road lot opens, Stony Creek Ravine won't be an every-day park for the rest of the season. Its directory page carries a standing banner: "Park Closed During Controlled Hunts, Tuesdays & Wednesdays, October 1 through January 31." The banner doesn't list a year, but applied to this season, that window runs from Oct. 1, 2026 to Jan. 31, 2027.
The hunts come with the land. The township bought Stony Creek Ravine with help from Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grants. Those grants required controlled archery deer hunting there as part of the state DNR's program to manage deer populations in southeast Michigan. Closure signs go up at the park's entry points.
Stony Creek Ravine is the only township park in the hunt program. Marsh View Park used to host hunts, but they ended when active-recreation construction there made hunting impractical. The township says hunting isn't offered at its other parks. The detailed hunting text refers to "specific Tuesdays and Wednesdays," so not every one may be an actual hunt date. The directory still links a 2025-2026 application, though, rather than a schedule for this season. Until the township lists this season's dates, plan as if both days are off-limits.
Once the new trailhead opens, that leaves Thursday through Monday for a first look at the overlook. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the rest of the township's parks are open on their usual dawn-to-dusk schedule.
Three Bridges South of the Township
The third change is on the Paint Creek Trail, the route many residents use for longer walks and rides. Rochester Hills has posted a repair notice for bridges P10, P11 and P12 between Dutton Road and Tienken Road. It lists a projected closure date of Oct. 6, 2026 and a possible closure of three weeks.
The timing has moved before. At its March 17 meeting, the Paint Creek Trailways Commission called the work tentative for late fall, estimated it at about $500,000, and expected the segment to close for roughly a month. The city's newer notice is the better guide, and it still calls the start date "projected." If the work starts Oct. 6 and runs the full three weeks, that stretch would reopen in the last week of October. The notice gives no reopening date or detour.
The rest of the trail keeps its usual rules. It is closed from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The 0.3-mile Mill Race Trail still links the Goodison and Paint Creek Cider Mills, so that short loop isn't affected by work farther south.
The Calendar That Already Rerouted
The township's October programs avoid both closures. Every Wednesday bird walk this month is at a park that doesn't host hunts, and none is at Stony Creek Ravine. The "1234 Walk Hike Ruck" series finishes its four weeks at Bear Creek Nature Park and on the Paint Creek Trail. Here is the township's October and early November calendar in one place:
| Date | Event | Location | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tue., Oct. 6 | 1234 Walk Hike Ruck | Bear Creek Nature Park | 5:30–7 p.m. |
| Wed., Oct. 7 | Bird Walk | Bear Creek Nature Park | 8:30 a.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 10 | Candy Corn Slime, ages 4–9 | Paint Creek Cider Mill | 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. |
| Tue., Oct. 13 | 1234 Walk Hike Ruck | Paint Creek Trail | 5:30–7 p.m. |
| Wed., Oct. 14 | Bird Walk | Watershed Ridge Park | 8:30 a.m. |
| Fri., Oct. 16 | RETURN of the Great Pumpkin Bowl | Lost Lake Nature Park Sled Hill | 7–8:30 p.m. |
| Wed., Oct. 21 | Bird Walk | Fox Nature Preserve | 8:30 a.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 24 | Spooky Science Saturday, ages 4–9 | Paint Creek Cider Mill | 1–4 p.m. |
| Wed., Oct. 28 | Bird Walk | Cranberry Lake Park | 8:30 a.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Meander the Milky Way | Cranberry Lake Farmhouse | 7–9 p.m. |
A few details for planning. The Oct. 13 walk on the Paint Creek Trail falls inside the projected bridge closure window. If you're joining, check where the group meets before assuming your usual stretch is open. Candy Corn Slime costs $42 for township residents and $47 for nonresidents. The Great Pumpkin Bowl is on the sled hill at Lost Lake Nature Park, 846 Lost Lake Trail, and participants bring their own pumpkins. On Nov. 7, the Oakland Astronomy Club provides telescopes at Cranberry Lake Farmhouse.
Paint Creek Cider Mill at 4480 Orion Road shows up twice on that list. It now serves as the parks office, open weekdays 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The township lists its ground-floor retail space as vacant, so it doesn't currently operate as a cider-and-donut shop. For cider and donuts this month, Yates Cider Mill at 1950 Avon Road in Rochester Hills posts hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends.
Two township properties look like options on a map but aren't. Blue Heron Environmental Area has no public parking or trail access, and visits have to be arranged through the parks office. O'Connor Nature Park lists no trails or public-use facilities. On a Tuesday or Wednesday in October, the reliable choices are Bear Creek, Cranberry Lake, Marsh View, Lost Lake, Gallagher Creek, Watershed Ridge, Charles Ilsley, Draper Twin Lake and Fox Nature Preserve.
Where the Metropark Connector Leads Next
The 0.2-mile connector will change Stony Creek Ravine more than the overlook will. The site plan puts the crossing into Stony Creek Metropark at the east parking lot, across Snell Road. Under Huron-Clinton Metroparks rules, people who walk or bike in on park roads or hike-and-bike trails get in free. Only vehicles need a daily or annual pass.
Once the connector opens, a resident who parks at the Snell Road lot can walk from a township nature park into the Metropark without paying an entry fee. This October that route is still being built, and the park it starts from closes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays through January. For now, the walks run through Bear Creek, Watershed Ridge, Fox Nature Preserve and Cranberry Lake, the parks the township calendar already uses. More on the parks and trails around Oakland Township is on our Oakland Township neighborhood page.
New access points like the Snell Road trailhead tend to come up when Oakland Township homeowners start weighing their next move. If you're curious how being close to the township's parks factors into your own home's value, The McDonald Team is glad to talk it through. You can start with a free home valuation, and Donna or Bob will follow up with you directly.
