<<back to belle isle

I grew up on the northwest side of Detroit and would often relax by taking the winding Outer Drive route to Rouge Park. I remember the park most vividly as a place I went to alone - usually for a bike ride or for a jog through the quiet that engulfs the place so much of the time.

Though the Rouge is Detroit's largest park with nearly 1,200 acres, it isn't as well known as many of the city's more interior parks. Located on the city's western edge, bordered by Redford and Dearborn Heights, and located generally between Plymouth Rd. and Warren Ave., Rouge Park is named for oft-polluted Rouge River whose major branch bisects the parkland north to south.

Rouge Park offers a multitude of recreational opportunities, including 26,000 feet of river frontage, an 18-hole golf course, 14 baseball diamonds, 12 playgrounds, 11 tennis courts, and three outdoor public pools- which get major use during the dog days of summer. Runners and cyclists adore Rouge too, because of the miles of trails that meander through the park's gently rolling landscape.

In my younger days, there were a number of quirky things that gave Rouge its unique standing in my parkland pantheon. For example, the Rouge quiet was sometimes broken by the "pop…pop" of target practice at Detroit Police shooting range. And in one stretch of the park there was no quiet at all with the wasp-like buzz of a half dozen model airplanes overhead. Radio pilots still use the open space "runway" on the corner of Joy Road and Spinoza Drive (http://detroitaeromodelers.home.att.net) to launch and land their crafts..

The City maintains a tree nursery at Rouge where thousands of baby trees get TLC, only to be punished the rest of their lives with ice storms, fungus, beetles and errant dog curios-dogs always love a good tree.

The serenity of the Rouge lends itself to all sorts of love - the park is known as one of the city's premier pickup spots for gay men. For me, Rouge conjures images of late night drives with my high school girlfriend for “make out” sessions, parked quietly under a willow tree during summer break. I remember driving once in circles for what seemed like a whole afternoon talking about the future and the past - in no particular rush to make the turn toward home.

You can enter Rouge Park across from the Rouge Park Golf Course at 11701 Burt Road, and at various points off of Outer Drive W., West Warren Ave., Plymouth Rd., Joy Rd., Parkland Drive and Rouge River Parkway.

<<back to archives