Head west from Alta Vista to the corner of Hammond and Three Mile, turn north, and in about five minutes you're at Mitchell Creek Meadows, the Don and Jerry Oleson Nature Preserve. It's 243 acres owned and managed by the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy, and it used to be a golf course.
A lot of buyers ask me what there is to do nearby that isn't a drive into town. This is the place I'd point them to first.
From fairways back to wetland
The Mitchell Creek golf course closed years ago, and the Conservancy bought the property with a gift from local residents Don and Jerry Oleson, which is why their names are on the sign. When the purchase was announced, The Ticker reported that the land includes frontage on two branches of Vanderlip Creek, which feed Mitchell Creek and then East Grand Traverse Bay.
The Conservancy's page says staff and volunteers are pulling invasive plants and putting in native perennials, trees and shrubs, and there's a separate effort underway to improve water quality across the Mitchell Creek watershed. So some of it still looks like a project. I don't mind that. You can watch a former fairway turn back into a meadow, and that's more interesting than a lawn.
The Conservancy's main office is on the property too, at 2846 3 Mile Rd N, open Monday through Friday from 9 to 5.
The trail, in plain numbers
The Conservancy lists 0.9 trail miles on the preserve. The main route is the Looyenga Family Trail, a universally accessible path of nearly three quarters of a mile, with boardwalk sections over the wetlands so nobody's tromping through the fragile parts. It starts through wetland, meadow and restoration areas, then splits at the first intersection if you want to see Glen's Grove, a dense stand of white cedar sitting on a groundwater seep. Farther on, the path crosses a stream, loops through a riparian forest, and has a spur out to an elevated viewing platform.
If walking that far is a problem, the Conservancy keeps a heavy-duty electric wheelchair for visitors. You can reserve it ahead by calling (231) 929-7911, or check it out at the front desk of the McMullen Family Conservation Center if nobody's reserved it.
It's a short trail. I think that's the appeal. It's a walk you can fit into a January afternoon before the light goes, and the boardwalk keeps you out of the mud in April.
Rules worth knowing before you go
The preserve rules are posted on the Conservancy's site. It's open dawn to dusk, year round. Dogs are welcome on a leash, always. Mountain bikes, e-bikes and drones aren't allowed. Snowshoeing is a listed activity, so the place doesn't shut down for winter.
Bow hunting for deer is allowed in designated areas, and the Conservancy says the trails don't close during hunting season. In the fall I'd skip the brown coat and wear something bright.
What the trails millage could change
When I wrote about the new path on Three Mile and Hammond in October, the later phases of the Three Mile Trail, including a stretch through this preserve, depended on funding that hadn't come through yet. One piece of that was a countywide trails millage on the November ballot.
It passed. Grand Traverse County voters approved the six-year trails millage on November 3, 2026, 58 percent to 42 percent, according to unofficial results reported by 9&10 News. On November 6, 2026, TART Trails CEO Julie Clark named the Three Mile Trail extension as one of the projects already waiting for money, in a follow-up 9&10 story.
But no projects have been picked. The same story says the county will spend the next few months writing the program's criteria, and the county commission has final say over spending. I don't know which trails get funded first or when, and nobody else does yet either. Before the vote, TART's estimate for the stretch through the preserve was 2028 to 2029. I'd still treat it as an estimate and plan around the trails that exist today.
Getting there from Hammond Road
From the Alta Vista entrance, go west on Hammond about half a mile to Three Mile, then north. The Conservancy lists parking at the preserve. Our East Bay Township page has drive times from the Lodge to the preserve, the State Park beach, the airport and downtown, all measured the same way so you can compare them.
And on the days when the boardwalk is iced over, the fitness room at the Lodge is open year round, which is a lot less scenic but a lot less slippery.
If you're looking at homes at Alta Vista and want to see how close this all is, I'm glad to drive it with you after a showing.
Checked against the sources linked above in November 2026.
If you want to see it in person, text Taylor at (231) 360-1510 or schedule a tour.
