Hidden Lake Gardens

Hidden Lake Gardens is Lenawee County’s Hidden Gem! There is so much to see and explore. Definitely need a full day to enjoy it all. Will visit again in the fall for round two lol.

We went for the first time during the flower festival. It was pretty! The AA Botanical Gardens are more expanded but the outdoor hiking and sky bridge at Hidden Gardens were absolutely breathtaking and Mathai Botanical Gardens in AA though more curated doesn’t offer nearly the plethora of gorgeous hiking trails and views. It cost more than I’d have expected, as you pay per person vs per vehicle but membership is very reasonable so we plan to purchase a family membership.

I’m living only 100 miles away from this gem and I did not know it existed! Beautiful garden! Let me share my experience of the trip.
So we went in April when only a few plants / flowers are blowing outside. Ticket at the gate provides a day pass so you are able to leave and come back, just make sure to show them the receipt.
Walk to the Sky Walk bridge is relatively long but interesting with informative posters along the way. Walk on the bridge is short but interesting. Park member greets everyone (counts too haha) and offering to take a picture, that’s awesome bonus!
Conservatory was amazing but bonsai garden was not out yet. All plants are in outstanding condition! Motivation to get to that point with my home plants one day haha.
Ohh, trails, so many hiking and walking paths and I was soo unprepared for that! Make sure to have good walking shoes, water, and sun sprays bug sprays with you, would help a lot to stay for longer!
The last but not the least – food! Take food, snacks, water. I didn’t find food sold there or at least in April. So we had to leave to buy lunch and come back, but somehow forgot to do carry out, to have lunch at one of the picnic tables at the park.
So I would suggest plan to spend a few hours there as it a lot to see!

So I went for the first time and it was amazing ! First thing is I see a lot of comments about it being short or long, in my expirence here on a 90°+ day, the sky walk was the first thing we did and thank goodness because the trees made it easily 10° cooler…. the walk up is long and has a steep windy part but with someone who has trouble walking there were plenty of benches to stop at. I can see where people think it’s short but in my opinion I saw a lot of people rushing through to get to the bridge… slow down and enjoy the path there’s a lot to see on the way up too! The bridge was great in my opinion with a break spot about midway for those of you afraid of bridges … my company is afraid of bridges and everyone behind us were super nice and waited for us to cross before they did and we were not fast by any means. Everyone we met was nice and the guy at the observatory let us go look even though we only had 5 mins till close..I am super grateful because the bonsai trees were cooler than the bridge in my opinion and we were definitely there for like 10 mins not 5 so thanks for giving us the extra time to look….. we were there a little over 4 hours! And still had a ton to see!

We saw the sky bridge and and the arboretum, and everything was fabulous and gorgeous. I didn’t plan well enough for the weather and it was cold, and Stacy at the gift shop counter let me borrow a sweatshirt. She was super nice! I wouldn’t have enjoyed it nearly as much if I was cold the whole time. The only thing is that we wish there was better labeling for the trees! Some of them were too dense to get in close and read the labels, and we didn’t even see there were labels til a little while in. We were saying it would make a great senior project for some forestry majors lol. All in all AMAZING experience!! Keep up the good work!