Bandemer Park

I accidentally discovered this park while biking from Gallup park. One day I just decided to follow the bike path and see where it went and behold, I some how ended up here. I now just park here and bike all the way to Parker Mill County Park by St. Joe Hospital.
When the weather gets warm, the park is busy, but everyone just knows the rules of the walker, biker, etc. Traffic flows smoothly… you can also see the crew members from U of M, Huron HS, Pioneer HS and others out on the pond practicing and even folks swimming. Oh, do watch out for the goose droppings :)

Bandemer Park is a gorgeous running location. On any weekend morning, you can frolic along the path, passing people walking dogs and powerwalkers. The river provides a serene landscape and distracts from the pain of being on a marathon-​training length route.
I can’t wait to enjoy the park more once the frost thaws and the leaves develop some beautiful foliage to shade the path.

I was driving in my car trying to find a place to meditate. I ended up going too far and made a right turn into this park. It almost was meant to be. Until I started walking. It was probably the University of Michigan rowing, crew team, or whatever they call it, hanging out in the shadows. All I heard was loud and lewd yelling. It sounded like a violent orgy of sorts. I heard some dude drop the F word repeatedly saying «I killed your 8 minutes!» after some other dude was yelling in his ear about rowing. This was all said on solid ground. They were prepping for going in the water on their weird boats. I was not ready for this type of disturbance. The time was balanced out when a group of wandering hippies strolled by playing disc golf. They all said hello and seemed to be passive and jolly. Maybe stoned. One of them was playing an acoustic guitar. This is the group that I would align with had their been an argument or scuffle. The dirt trail was wonderful for bird watching. A finch perched high atop a branch above me. I stopped in my tracks and marveled at its beauty. It brought a tear to my eye. Dry, dead tree leaves clung to branches. As I stood at a turning point in my life, the bushes and shrubs showed new buds and life. A change is near. The water poured from the Huron as I sat on a dead log. A loud bird kept lunging for the water and made various swoops and circles. It put on quite the production. That is, until the bastards of the row team came soldiering through and disrupted peace and serenity. I was fed up with humans disrupting nature, so I got up and walked away. The cutest squirrel saw me and scampered off. I could not figure out why. I am a peaceful, woodland brother. These Neanderthals have given humans a bad rap. I wanted to lay down by the pagan, circular rock fire pit and snuggle with the squirrels and creatures. This did not happen. A decent park to go to.

The best place to get a good 5k.
With the paths along Argo Pond, Bandemer Park is a great place to squeeze in a run, walk, or stroll along the Huron River.

The fabulousness of the Ann Arbor parks system is not that any specific park is so great (though some of them are) but the connectivity between the parks and the fact that you can walk or bike for miles and miles on trails that connect them.
Bandemer is part of this interconnected park system, and it’s on the B2B (Border to Border) bike trail that can take you from one side of Washtenaw County to the other.
Even though the park’s main asset is being part of a stellar park system, Bandemer is a nice park in and of itself. It has long, shady walking paths, one paved, and one dirt and chips. It has several shady pavilions and small sunny nooks with picnic tables. There are also benches where you can look out over the water. The day I visited recently, the lilypads were taking over that section of the Huron River, and someone had built a piled rock sculpture in the shallows near the shore. I took a photo, but sadly it turned out too blurry to post.

You can walk all the way around Argo Pond, and continue in a number of directions along very beautiful paths. The city has recently developed Bandemer Park as part of this excellent system. Some of the paths are just a narrow access way between the backs of busy office and industrial areas, making a walk or bike ride seem all the more interesting and picturesque.