Island Lake State Recreation Area is a state-run park in Green Oak Township

Green Oak Township, Michigan

Green Oak Charter Township is a charter township of Livingston County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the township population was 15,618...

, Livingston County

Livingston County, Michigan

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 156,951 people, 55,384 households, and 43,531 families residing in the county. The population density was 276 people per square mile . There were 58,919 housing units at an average density of 104 per square mile...

, near metro Detroit

Metro Detroit

The Detroit metropolitan area, often referred to as Metro Detroit, is the metropolitan area located in Southeast Michigan centered on the city of Detroit which shares an international border with Windsor, Ontario. The Detroit metropolitan area is the second largest U.S. metropolitan area...

 in Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. The 4000 acres (1,618.7 ha) park lies on the Huron River

Huron River

Huron River may refer to:*Huron River in southeast Michigan that empties into Lake Erie*Huron River or Big Huron River in the northern Upper Peninsula of Michigan that empties into Lake Superior...

 just downstream of Kensington Metropark

Kensington Metropark

Kensington Metropark is a unit of the Huron-Clinton Metroparks system in Michigan, USA. The park covers 4,481 acres . It has wooded hilly terrain and surrounds Kent Lake .. The park has an 18-hole regulation golf course, a disc golf course, toboggan hill, a nature center, a farm learning center,...

 with which it is also connected by a bike trail. It is the 3rd busiest park operated by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources

Michigan Department of Natural Resources

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is the agency of the state of Michigan charged with maintaining natural resources such as state parks, state forests, and recreation areas. It is governed by a director appointed by the Governor and accepted by the Natural Resources Commission...

 with visitation of 1.09 million in 2008. The park is easily accessed as it lies near the intersection of I-96 and M-23

M-23 (Michigan highway)

M-23 was an early designation for the east–west state trunkline highway in the southern part of the US state of Michigan that became US 112 when the US Highway system came into existence in the mid-1920s. It extended from the Michigan/Indiana state line just north of Elkhart, Indiana, going...

. The park has a group campsite and a canoe-in campsite, several miles of hiking and biking trails, a shooting range, swimming and a couple of small lakes. It is the only Michigan park to have a hot air balloon

Hot air balloon

The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air...

 launch area.

External links

• Island Lake Recreation Area, Michigan Department of Natural Resources
  Michigan Department of Natural Resources
  The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is the agency of the state of Michigan charged with maintaining natural resources such as state parks, state forests, and recreation areas. It is governed by a director appointed by the Governor and accepted by the Natural Resources Commission...
  
  
• Island Lake Recreation Area Protected Planet (World Database on Protected Areas)