Hidden Pond Preserve

Hope Township • Barry County • 67 acres

Hidden Pond’s big skies and sweeping vistas contrast with intimate explorations of recently restored Tyden Creek.

67 acres
Hope Township
Barry County

Hidden Pond’s big skies and sweeping vistas contrast with intimate explorations of recently restored Tyden Creek.

Quick facts

Click to quickly jump to . . .

• Maps
• Getting there
• Natural features & conservation
• Preserve history
• Photo gallery

Parking

Gravel/grass lot
12 car capacity

Trails

Length: 1.5 miles

Mowed trails go through open grassland and along forest edges, over a stream, then up a long, gradual hill to a restored prairie and pond.

Dogs

Dogs are welcome but must be kept on a 6-foot leash at all times. Dog waste must be packed out. Click to learn more.

Restrooms

None

Recreation

Cross-country skiing, fall color, hiking, scenic views, snowshoeing, summer wildflowers, trail running, wildlife viewing.

Maps

An interactive trail map that allows hikers to follow their progress through the preserve is available for free download from the Avenza Map Store!

1. Add the Avenza Maps App to your phone (available for free on iOS and Android).

2. Download the Hidden Pond Preserve Trail Map to your phone.

3. Take a hike!

Click here for interactive maps for other SWMLC preserves.

Need help? Visit the Avenza Maps Support Page.

Prefer to have a paper map?

Click on the map image for a PDF that you can print or leave open on your phone while you hike.

Getting there

Approximate street address:
4000 block of Otis Lake Rd, Hastings, MI 49058

GPS:
42.59030578513067, -85.41293473638474

From Kalamazoo:
Go north to Delton. Immediately north of Delton, turn west onto Stevens Rd., which turns into Miller Rd. Follow Miller Rd. as it winds west and then north, ending in about 2 miles at Guernsey Lake Rd. Take a short jog east onto Guernsey Lake Rd, then turn north onto Otis Lake Rd. Follow Otis Lake Rd. for about 3.4 miles (the road will turn into a dirt road at 2 miles); the preserve will be on the west side of the road. If you get to Sager Rd., you’ve gone too far.

From Hastings:
Go west on M-43/M-37 about 2 miles to where the roads divide. Continue west onto M-179 about 1.5 miles and turn south onto Gun Lake Rd. Follow Gun Lake Rd. as it winds southwest for about 3 miles, then turn south onto Otis Lake Rd. Follow Otis Lake Rd. about 2 miles, the road jogs a bit to the west as it crosses Sager Rd, and continue several hundred feet to the preserve (on west side of road).

From US-131:
Take Exit 61 (M-179 aka 129th Ave. aka Chief Noonday Rd). Follow M-179 about 13 miles east to Whitmore Rd. Turn south onto Whitmore Rd., follow it for about 3 miles, and it will then turn west. Shortly after it turns west, turn south onto Otis Lake Rd. Continue several hundred feet to the preserve (on west side of road).

Natural features

Hidden Pond Preserve’s natural feautres include an expansive and ongoing prairie and oak savannah restoration, a small forested creek with a marsh at one end, and an unexpected upland pond that bursts with plant and animal life.

As recently as 2006, this 67-acre property was planted in corn and, prior to that, used as grazing land for dairy cattle. When drainage tiles were removed in the upland area, the “hidden pond” unexpectedly appeared! What had recently been a cornfield was now a teeming wetland, miraculously filled with submerged and emergent vegetation and five kinds of frogs and toads. How they arrived is a mystery . . . perhaps a combination of long-buried seeds and duck feet?

In Summer 2020, Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy was awarded $20,000 through The Cornell Labs Land Trust Bird Conservation Initiative to incorporate bird monitoring into our grassland and savanna habitat restoration work at several of our preserves, including Hidden Pond. Field ornithologists Joanna Sblendorio and Michael Dreibelbis conducted field surveys and made some quality finds at Hidden Pond, including state-endangered Henslow’s sparrows!

The habitat restoration efforts taking place at Hidden Pond Preserve are a good example of how ‘undeveloping’ a property can provide community and natural benefits.

Nature has our backs.

Let’s return the favor.

Our public preserves remain free and open from dawn to dusk – and your support helps keep them that way!

please donate

History

Like a shelter puppy, the scruffy land that later became Hidden Pond Preserve faced an uncertain future in 2005, with plans already in place to build up to 10 houses on the worn out farm property – until Tom Groos intervened. Surrounded by the protected woods of the Barry State Game Area, Tom saw its potential and made an offer to purchase it – then he and his family turned around and donated the property to Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy.

(Read author Tom Springer’s excellent article about the Groos Family’s work to conserve natural land in Barry County, The Un-Developers: Groos Family Vision Turns Tired Farm into a Preserve.)

Since acquiring it in 2010, SWMLC has worked to restore the property’s original prairie habitat through prescribed burns, invasive vegetation removal, and seeding the broad slopes with native grasses and forbs.

Efforts are also being made to restore the property’s original hydrology. In Summer 2018, Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy began a large project to restore Tyden Creek to a more natural condition. It took a village to accomplish . . . the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Division collected baseline data before work began – and the project was designed and managed by GEI Consultants, constructed by contractor Generation III, and supported with funding from Tyden Ventures and the Barry Community Foundation.

Find out more about habitat restoration work at Hidden Pond by reading these stories on our website: Ask the Birds; One Fish, Two Fish; and Slowing Down the Water.