I will have to come back in the spring/summer to update my review, since I visited this park for…read morethe first time on a super cold day in January! Nate and I were exploring in the area and wanted to get some fresh air. According to the Kent County Parks website (https://kentcountyparks.org/parks-trails/dwight-lydell-park/), this park is 39 acres and has two playgrounds, rentable picnic shelters, and a paved trail. We walked along the trail and saw some ducks in the creek. I liked reading about the saw mill. There is a public parking lot across the street, and I think the park has its own parking nearby as well. This was a nice place to stretch our legs and move around a bit! I'll be back.

This place was not very good when I was growing up in the 90s, now the lawns are all manicured and…read morethe trail is very nice. It's great to see so many people taking their health seriously by jogging, walking, or biking on the trail. There are playgrounds for children and several different fields for various sports like baseball and soccer.

If you are looking for a conveniently located park walking distance from downtown, I would…read morerecommend Riverside Park. This is a nice little park to walk around. They have a play gym where little kids can play around. There are little ponds that surround the paved pathway where geese and ducks flock around. The pavement was nice - no complaints! There were also cute cute bridges you would walk over. I went on a Thursday early afternoon in the winter and there weren't many people walk around it. There are many trees outlining alongside the paved pathway, so I can only imagine how beautiful this park is during early fall and spring! I enjoyed the river alongside the pathway as well. Cute park to take your kids and of dogs, go running, or just for a nice walk!

Waterfront Park ⁣ ⁣…read moreIf you know, you know. This park is one of our oh-so-favorites in the summertime, and it's a popular place on a Friday night. ⁣ ⁣ I absolutely love walking around downtown EGR, and one of my favorite places to walk is Waterfront Park. If you follow the path to water, there is a beautiful lookout of Reeds Lake. You can admire the sun shining on the water or you can have a seat and read a book! In the summer, I love to grab ice cream at Jersey Junction and walk to this lookout. ⁣ ⁣ It's a great place to take kids, as there is always plenty of fish, tadpoles, frogs, and turtles to see! It's a great area to walk and run! You can often find people fishing at the end of the dock too! ⁣

I found this when looking for something free to do. It's a really beautiful setting wrapped…read morearound Reeds Lake. You can walk all the way around the lake or venture into the adjoining Hodenpyl Woods. There are some nice floating boardwalks, wild flowers and birds.

This is a great park with a really nice beach and swimming area. There are two playgrounds, picnic…read moreshelters, and clean restrooms. We went with some friends recently to check out the beach and I was surprised at how nice it was. The beach is not huge, but it's a good sandy area and the water is pretty shallow for quite a ways, so it's great for kids and the water was quite warm. The bathrooms were clean and conveniently located for the beach. The parking area is a little small, not sure what you'd do if it was really busy. We saw people in kayaks out on the lake and fishing is allowed. There were employees riding around in a golf cart keeping an eye on things but there is no lifeguard at the beach. We don't live super close to this park but when we visit our friends we will definitely be back.

Very nice, calming afternoon trail to walk. Has a couple options for trail routes, all around one…read moremile long. Big steep hills and rooty paths some spots. Fun, and nice park.

Everyone is flocking to the more well-known parks during the government mandated stay at home…read moreorder, as we can still leave our homes to go outside and hike, exercise, bike, walk, etc. However, it's not always easy to maintain social distance at a packed park! The City of Grand Rapids is recommending you try another park if the parking lot is half full or more in order to safely social distance. My boyfriend and I checked out Aman Park the other night right before sunset as the park closes at sundown. There are a few separate parking areas leading into the park, but the one closest to the yellow gate is the closest to the trailhead. There are several different loops, but we chose the shortest one as we didn't want to be wandering around in an unknown area after dark. The whole area is wooded and I felt very secluded in nature, which was nice. We only saw one other family walking around the trails while we were there, making social distancing easy. The terrain was pretty flat and easy for me to walk. The trails are marked which makes it nice to navigate. I would highly recommend checking out this park if you'd like to be in nature while maintaining social distance.

Ken-O-Sha Park is one of the best trails in Grand Rapids for runners. It goes on for awhile passing…read morea creek and little wooded trails. It's also shaded! Park in the spacious parking lot and just run...after you wear mosquito spray to fight off its many bugs. There are stops along the trail like a cone to sit in and enjoy the sounds of nature.

This is a beautiful place, although I didn't stay for more than one mile. It looks like there's a…read morelot of nice hills in here. I had to leave because I forgot my OFF and the mosquitos were horrendous!!! Stopping to take a photo or anything resulted in a swarm of them landing on me. Got bitten straight through my long pants even. Also I've never seen these where I live, but it was raining oak leaf rollers as well. Little worm-like bugs which float down on a silk, looks like a spider web coming down. Too much physical interaction with the insects for me. But I think this would be a great place to go if you can handle the excessive amount of bugs

This is a beautiful park. I came out here with a group of friends and fell in love. The trail…read moreallows for you to choose how far/hard you want to go, which accommodates for different hiking levels. There are portions in the trail that open up, but most of it is surrounded with trees and has a woodsy feel.

I don't really disc golf but I do like going to check out the parks and walk around while Nate and…read moreour friends play. We went to Garfield park on a sunny and breezy day recently. The park is huge! There are at least two different parking lots for the park - one is close to the first disc golf hole, and one is not. Guess which one we picked, haha. We trekked over to the first hole and started our journey. I noticed one bathroom -not sure if there were more than one but the park is so big it could maybe use a second. The Garfield Park neighborhood association office is located in the park, and there's a nice free library outside it - The Black Book Exchange Box. I loved the diversity of the titles and authors inside (I did not take any books). Parts of the park looked a little "under construction" when we were there - they are redoing the splash pad but the playground is open. The tennis courts didn't have any nets up and they were overgrown with weeds. There are shuffleboard courts but they didn't look usable. The bathroom was pretty clean and stocked with toilet paper. There are picnic tables, benches, and picnic pavilions. It was nice to see people out enjoying this neighborhood park while we were there. Parts of the park are very close to neighbors' homes, so be sure to be aware of the park boundaries. I'd say half of the disc golf course was in the shade and the rest was in full sun, so bring sunscreen and water. There are a couple of holes that are very close to the street - a few discs actually went into the street and one all the way across the road! Be careful out there. Overall it was a nice way to spend a couple hours on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

The disc golf course is incredible, arguably one of the best in the city. However, as a teen who…read morebikes here a lot, I have gotten some weird and downright inappropriate things shouted at me from strangers, this area is severely underrated but going at certain times of the day can be very sketchy.