For most of the year, the Sugar Maple Loop at Stage Nature Center is a quiet 0.4-mile path through a 100-acre preserve in the middle of suburban Troy — partly paved, wheelchair accessible, and shaded by hardwoods. On the evening of Saturday, October 24, it becomes something else entirely: a trail lit by carved pumpkins.
Jack-O-Lanterns Among the Trees invites visitors to walk the Sugar Maple Loop and see their own carved pumpkin — and many others — gently illuminating the trail. The Troy Nature Society, the nonprofit that operates the nature center, lists two sessions that day, 4 to 6 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $16 for society members, $18 for teens and adult non-members, $8 for children 4 to 12, and free for children under 4. Anyone 17 or under must be accompanied by a registered adult, and as with all of the society's programming, pre-registration is required.
That the event is happening at all is a small chapter in a longer story about a park that nearly disappeared.
The land at 6685 Coolidge Highway, just south of South Boulevard, was purchased by the City of Troy in the 1970s and named the Lloyd A. Stage Nature Center. At the time, an older home on the property served as the nature center building. In 2002 that structure was demolished and replaced with the current 8,200-square-foot interpretive center, built with government grant funds, which houses classrooms, a public research library, an observation beehive, a wildlife viewing area and a nature exhibition lobby.
The preserve itself is larger than many visitors realize. The headwaters of the Rouge River flow through it, and more than 145 plant and animal species can be viewed across the grounds. Within its boundaries are over 1.5 miles of trails — the society counts just under two miles of combined paths — passing through upland forest, meadows, stream-side wetlands and a cattail marsh, with boardwalks over the wet ground. Four named trails make up the system: Sugar Maple Loop at 0.4 miles, Blackbird Loop at 0.7, Bluebird Trail at 0.13 and Fox Trail at 0.35. The Sugar Maple Loop is partially paved and ADA accessible; the rest is groomed with wood chips and navigable for visitors with good to moderate mobility.
The turning point came in 2010, when the City of Troy planned to close the nature center. A small group of citizens responded by founding the Troy Nature Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and its board immediately began raising money to support operations. The society took over operational management on July 1, 2011 and began offering educational nature and science programs for children and adults. That transition — from city government to nonprofit management and funding — is the reason the center still runs programs today, and the reason a first-time pumpkin trail is on the calendar at all.
A few other things live at Stage that are worth knowing before a nighttime visit. The center is home to rescued owls with permanent injuries that prevent their release: Arguile and Sam, both barred owls; Autumn, a great horned owl; and Rito, a screech-owl. Christina Funk, the lead naturalist and owl handler, was instrumental in bringing the birds to the center after the closure of the Organization for Bat Conservation, where they had resided. The owls now serve as ambassadors for their species in public and school programs, and the society raises money through an owl fund for their long-term care.
There is also an outdoor natural play area with climbing boulders, a native garden, and picnic tables in front of the interpretive building. Deer and wild turkeys are abundant on the grounds, and the society asks visitors not to feed wildlife — feeding deer is against state Department of Natural Resources regulations. Trail rules also prohibit pets, biking, running and skiing, and forbid collecting or foraging.
Normally, admission to the building and the trails is free, with donations appreciated, and the trails are open 365 days a year from dawn to dusk. The pumpkin walk is a ticketed program rather than a regular trail day, which is why it carries a fee and requires registration. The building is typically closed Sundays and Mondays and open Tuesday through Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., though it stays open during scheduled programs and event days. Parking on site is free and ample.
For anyone who has never been, the location is easy to miss from the road: the center sits on the west side of Coolidge Highway, south of South Boulevard and north of Square Lake Road, reachable from I-75 via the Square Lake exit or from M-59 via the Crooks exit to South Boulevard.
The appeal of the October event is fairly simple. A pumpkin on a porch is decoration; a pumpkin in the woods, with the last of the daylight going and a line of other carved faces stretching ahead along a paved path, is something closer to a community lantern walk. Doing it on the Sugar Maple Loop — the one trail designed to be accessible to wheelchairs and strollers — means the event is open to nearly everyone who registers in time.
Two sessions, two hours each, one night. After that, the loop goes back to being a quiet path through the trees, at least until next fall.