One of our favorite places to walk our dogs is MacCready Reserve in Liberty Township – just south of Jackson on Skiff Lake Rd. The 408-acre reserve is made up of forests, marshes, ponds and prairie terrain with 7 miles of trails rolling through it all. All of the trails are well marked and color-coded with a map, for those who want to know where they are going, at the meeting facility by the parking lot.
The absolute best thing about MacCready Reserve? You can take your best buddy with you! Dogs are allowed – they need to be on a leash and you need to pick up after your pup, but quite honestly you should be doing that no matter where you take your dog for a walk.
MacCready Reserve came about when the MacCready brothers, Lynn, Doug and Willis, donated the 408-acre tract of land to MSU in September of 2001 in the memory of their parents, Lynn and Thelma MacCready. The property is a research, educational and on-going restoration project of MSU, but in the summer of 2008 was opened to the public. MSU built a meeting and storage facility at the reserve to prepare it for public use – which also includes public restrooms.
Our tailwaggers enjoy nothing more than going out to MacCready for an hour or two of a nice sniffing walk. We’ve seen loads of deer, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, all sorts of birds including pileated woodpeckers – as well as wild turkeys. Our favorite trails are the yellow and blue because they are rolling up and down and twist around, but there are also more gentle trails – such as the red trail. In the fall of 2013, a 540-foot boardwalk was built to connect the 408-acre main section of the reserve to the additional 62-acre island of white pine trees – adding to the varying terrain and trails the public can use.
It is a great place to take your pup for a walk, get some fresh air or just get away for an hour or two. MacCready Reserve is located at 9243 Skiff Lake Rd and is open from dawn to dusk every day with the exception of mid-November to the beginning of December.
