Park at 4196 Duck Lake Road and the sign in front of you says Duck Creek Natural Area. Drive ten minutes over to the township's own parks page and you'll find a different name attached to what looks like the same ground: Duck Lake Natural Area, 304.6 acres, adjacent to a separate 6.32-acre parcel called Duck Lake Road Park. Both descriptions mention the same two creeks. Both use the same access points. At a township work session on January 12, 2026, a resident named Carlet Mitenbuler stood up and asked the board, in effect, to sort this out in the Master Plan. As of that meeting, nobody had.
This isn't a paperwork curiosity if you're the one trying to figure out where the trailhead is. It's the first thing worth knowing about the network of paths taking shape in the middle of the township, because the confusion in the name matches a broader truth about the trail itself: it's real, it's being built by hand, and it isn't finished.
Two Names For One Patch Of Woods
The Duck Creek Natural Area, per the township's own page, covers roughly 310 acres bordered by Duck Lake Road to the south and Simonelli Road to the east, with Duck Creek and Scholes Creek running through the center. The separate park-information page describes Duck Lake Road Park, at 6.32 acres, as sitting adjacent to "the 304.6 acre Duck Lake Natural Area," also divided by Duck Creek and Scholes Creek, also reached from a small parking area off Duck Lake Road. Whether these are two names for the same conservation footprint or two overlapping parcels that happen to share both creeks and both entrances, the township's own documents don't make it obvious, and a sitting resident asked for clarity on it this year.
For a walk on a Saturday morning, the practical answer is simpler than the naming problem: the trailhead off Duck Lake Road and the second one on Simonelli Road, about six-tenths of a mile south of Michillinda Road, both put you in the same woods, whatever the sign says when you get there.
Eight Miles, Built By Volunteers
None of this trail existed as a formal system until a township trustee, Terrie Hampel, raised the idea of connecting trails across Fruitland Township roughly six years before a January 2025 write-up on the project appeared in Mason County Press. Since then, a volunteer group called Friends of Fruitland Township Trails has been doing the physical work: marking routes, clearing brush, and building the crossings that let a loop actually loop. As of that January 2025 report, about eight miles of trail in various loops had been completed in the central part of the township, all through volunteer labor rather than a contracted build-out.
That's the kind of detail that changes how you think about the woods behind Duck Lake Road. This isn't a state park with a paved lot and a printed trail map at the entrance. It's a project still under construction, with the people building it living down the road from it.
Two Bridges Exist. A Third Is Still Being Funded.
Duck Creek and Scholes Creek both cut through the property, which means any trail that wants to form a full loop has to cross water twice. The first bridge and boardwalk over Duck Creek went in during 2024. A second bridge, crossing Scholes Creek, followed that fall, paid for by a donation from White Lake Area Women. Between the two, the southern section of trail now connects to the north and east sections. What's still missing is a third bridge that would let the northern loop have a separate outbound and return path instead of doubling back on itself, and as of the January 2025 reporting, the group was still collecting donations to build it.
The project hasn't stalled since then. Township work-session minutes from January 12, 2026 show Friends of Fruitland Township Trails asking the board about purchasing a commercial roller to pack down stone on the trail surface, to be stored at the township's maintenance building. It's a small, unglamorous request, and it's also proof the work is ongoing rather than finished and forgotten. Portions of the southern loop have also been getting hardened for ADA accessibility, a piece of the project that was moving forward as of early 2025.
Where To Actually Park
Two entrances get you in:
- 4196 Duck Lake Road, just east of the White Lake Fire Station, on the south side of the property.
- Simonelli Road, about six-tenths of a mile south of Michillinda Road, on the east side.
Neither lot charges a fee, and neither has restrooms. The terrain near the creeks has a little rise and fall to it, but most of the walking is flat.
What It Doesn't Connect To Yet
The stated goal of Friends of Fruitland Township Trails is a network that runs from Lake Michigan to the Berry Junction Trail, tying the township's interior loops into a broader regional system. As of last year's reporting, that east-west link across the township was still described as more of a wish than an active plan.
Part of the reason is that township attention on trail connectivity has shifted elsewhere for now. Fruitland Township and neighboring Laketon Township have been working on a separate multi-use path along Scenic Drive that would connect Muskegon State Park to Duck Lake State Park, a project that has effectively put the eastern connection on the back burner while it moves forward. If you're picturing a continuous path from the Duck Creek loops all the way to the lakeshore, that's still a future version of this trail system, not the current one.
What You Can Do There, And When To Watch For Hunters
Under the township's own rules for the natural area, permitted uses include hiking, geocaching, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing, and wheelchairs, including power-driven models, are allowed on the pedestrian trails. The property also allows deer hunting in designated sections. Archery hunting is permitted under standard Michigan DNR regulations, but hunting with firearms is restricted to the regular firearm season, which runs from November 15 through November 30 each year. If you're planning a fall walk through the woods, that two-week window in mid to late November is worth knowing about before you head out with the dog.
Make It An Afternoon
The trail sits close enough to a few other stops that a morning walk can turn into a longer visit without much extra driving.
White Duck Country Market, near Duck Lake, carries produce, dairy, and pantry basics alongside a well-regarded ice cream selection, plus sandwiches, soup, and a wine and beer selection, with outdoor seating if you want to eat where you bought it.
Marcus Park, at the west end of Duck Lake along Scenic Drive, is a small one-acre spot with a sandy beach, picnic tables, a grill, a swing set, and carry-in boat access. It sits right next to Duck Lake State Park, so the two blend into one stretch of shoreline if you're walking between them.
Michillinda Lodge, a summer resort on the Lake Michigan shoreline that traces back to 1894, is a few minutes further down Scenic Drive. The original main lodge building burned down in December 2012, and what stands today is a rebuilt property of nine buildings with 26 guest units, a pool, a miniature golf course, and a private beach. It's still a working resort, not a museum, but the history is visible in how the place is laid out.
None of this requires a plan. The trail system is close enough to the market, the park, and the lodge that a Saturday can start with a walk to the second bridge and end with ice cream on a picnic table, and that's about as much structure as the woods themselves currently offer.
If you've walked the Duck Creek loops and have questions about what's around them, from the trail system itself to the rest of Fruitland Township, Dylan Zuniga is happy to talk through it. No pressure, no pitch, just a local conversation.
