Big Tree and West Loops

While standing on a bridge in Fred Russ Forest Park, my son and I saw a small ring suddenly appear on the surface of a stream . . . and then another and another and another. Michael instinctively glanced at the sky, but there were no clouds, so it couldn’t be rain. At that point he turned to me with a puzzled look. “Trout,” I said quietly. “They’re feeding on insects floating along on the creek.” My five-year-old thought this was rather remarkable, that something he could only imagine happening to his worm and hook when fishing in a lake, he now could clearly see: fish feeding. What was really remarkable wasn’t so much the trout but where they were rising. We were neither on the AuSable River nor even in northern Michigan, but in Cass County, about as far south as you can drive in this state. Located on a rural road between Dowagiac and Marcellus, Fred Russ is a 10-acre Cass County park surrounded by Michigan State University’s 580-acre Russ Forest Research Station. The entire area is laced by more than 4 miles of foot trails, while gently flowing through the middle of it is Dowagiac Creek, a stream highly regarded among anglers for brown trout. By combining Big Tree Loop and West Loop, you can enjoy a moderately easy walk of 3.2 miles that includes seeing the remnants of a giant tulip tree and, depending on the season, possibly even a trout or two rising to an insect hatch. You can shorten the hike to just 1.6 miles by hiking only Big Tree Loop or West Loop.