The Dragon Trail: Recreation Trail Takes Mythical Shape on Michigan's West Side

Nestled in rural Newaygo and Mecosta Counties, the Hardy Pond is a 4,000-acre reservoir on the Muskegon River. This hydroelectric source of energy was built in 1931 by Consumers Energy and is a recreation paradise with public parks, campsites, boat launches and docking facilities along the miles of undeveloped shoreline. Now, it also has its very own fiercely-named recreational trail.

Michigan’s Dragon at Hardy Dam – named so because the Hardy Pond’s natural shape closely resembles that of a Chinese Dragon – is a planned multi-use trail that encircles the reservoir for more than 40 miles and once completed, will connect parks and existing recreational infrastructure around the pond.

“This is a unique recreation opportunity that has never been done along a hydroelectric impoundment (in Michigan) in this way before,” Nick Smith, the Parks and Recreation Director for Newaygo County and Chairman of the Dragon Committee said. “The majority of the land that the trail is built on belongs to Consumers Energy and has never been developed. When users are on the trail, most of the time, they feel like they are in the wilderness.”

Smith said the idea to create a trail that wrapped around the entire reservoir began in the early 2000’s but solidified in 2015 when Newaygo and Mecosta Counties committed funding for the professional development of the trail system. This allowed the counties to complete the planning and paperwork necessary to receive approvals from Consumers Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to create the trail. Funding from other local non-profit sources allowed planning, design, maintenance and operations plans to be developed, and the first phases of construction to take place in 2019.

Currently more than 21 miles of the trail are open. This includes more than 11 miles from Big Bend Township Park to Hardy Dam County Marina in Newaygo County, and more than six miles from Brower Park to Davis Bridge Park in Mescosta County.

Michigan’s Dragon at Hardy Dam is a natural surface trail that varies in width from two feet to four feet, depending on the terrain and area it travels through. It features wooden puncheon installed over low-lying areas and pre-engineered extruded fiberglass truss bridges crossing creek beds and stream ravines.

Wright said many of the puncheon and bridge abutments had to be designed in the field, allowing the trail to follow the natural flow of the land. When building the trail, contractors used a smaller team of workers and smaller pieces of equipment to navigate the terrain and leave as much of the environment as undisturbed as possible, he said.

Since the trail is recreational multi-use, natural elements such as rock outcroppings were left in place for hikers and bikers to enjoy. The Dragon also has more than a dozen scenic overlook areas for trail users to take in the views the area offers.

Smith said as soon as additional portions of the trail are completed, they are open to the public to use, and it has drawn people in from all over.

“We regularly see people from out of state come in to use the Dragon,” he said. “It is very popular. The first year the trail was open, vehicle parking at the Hardy Dam County Marina went up over 750 percent. We’ve estimated that on weekends, up to 200 people per day use the trail.”

With more than half of the trail built now, Newaygo and Mecosta Counties have plans to complete the construction of the trail within the next two years. Spicer Group will continue assisting the counties with this project through to trail completion and ribbon cutting.

“We wanted to give the residents of Newaygo and Mecosta Counties something to be proud of and enjoy, but also something that draws visitors. Michigan’s Dragon at Hardy Dam is really hitting all these goals, and we are very happy with the project so far,” Smith said.

The trail was split into 11 different segments for construction. Smith said the construction phases were planned to be more economically feasible as funding became available and give users a chance to enjoy areas along the trail in both counties.

After the first two segments were constructed, Newaygo and Mecosta Counties both received grant funding from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grant in 2020 and hired Spicer Group to assist with grant administration and overseeing the construction of continued phases of the trail. Since then, more than half of the trail has been constructed and opened to the public for use.

Spicer’s team acted as the client representative on many portions of the project, including adjusting trail design when the terrain surrounding Hardy Pond made it necessary.

“There is nothing like this in the state of Michigan,” Joe Wright, the project manager for Spicer Group said. “Having multiple in-house experts to pull from at Spicer was an asset on this project because of the challenges that arose in the field while constructing this trail. From navigating federal and state agency permitting to developing erosion control measures for wet areas along the trail, we could do it all in-house.”