Interim trail closure
To help improve muddy trails Ann Arbor park staff will be wood chipping the trail at Gallup Park today, Monday, March 11, from the boat launch parking lot, across the islands towards the youth fishing pond. Chips will be put down from 8 a.m.-1:30 p.m. and the trail may be required to be closed Tuesday, March 12 as well. This page and social media will be updated when it reopens.
Gallup Bridge closure
While the old vehicle bridge has been demolished, Gallup Park is still open to vehicles and pedestrians. Vehicle access and limited parking is available off the main park entrance at Fuller Road, as well as the parking lot off of Geddes Rd. near the boat launch. Pedestrian access is available from Geddes Avenue at Devonshire Park, as well as the along the Border to Border trail from the east near the Dixboro dam and from the West from Mitchell Field. The Border to Border Trail is open and there is a short detour around the construction site for the new bridge.
Gallup Park is a 69-acre park and is Ann Arbor’s most popular recreation area. It is located along the Huron River and Geddes Pond with scenic walkways that traverse small islands with pedestrian bridges that form a loop. View the
Ann Arbor Parks and Nature Areas map for location context. There are concessions, coffee, riverside seating and free WIFI located at the boat rental office. The park contains three playgrounds,
canoe, kayak, and paddleboat rentals, picnic areas and grills scattered throughout the park, two picnic shelters, open field for play, and over three miles of asphalt trails that are popular for biking, rollerblading, walking and running. Gallup Park is an important connector on the
Border-to-Border Trail. Two drinking fountains and many benches allow the park user to take respite from their recreational activities. In 2017, the
Rotary Centennial Universal Access Playground opened and offers a universally accessible play area. Gallup Park is the down river destination for paddling trips- see
Canoe Liveries Map for launch locations or visit
www.a2gov.org/tube for information on tubing to Gallup. You might hear the term “Canoe Livery” which refers to the place where you can rent a canoe, kayak, tube, stand up paddle board, or a paddleboat where trip transportation is also offered. The Gallup Park boat rental dock has an
accessible dock for people of all ages and abilities. And there is a public
boat launch for those with their own watercraft. Visit
park rentals for information on hosting an event or renting a shelter at Gallup Park.
Winter at Gallup
Year round, heated restroom facilities are attached to the canoe rental building. The Gallup paved pathways are scheduled for clearing when it snows. For more information on walking in winter or which parks are on the path clearing routes, visit Parks in the Wintertime. If you are a bird watcher, Gallup Park really shines in winter. The open water that is often present at Geddes Pond in the early winter can be an ideal place to view wintering ducks and other waterfowl. Rafts of Common Mergansers, with their green or rusty red head-feathers, make Geddes Pond their temporary home. Other diving ducks, such as Canvasback, Redhead, Scaup and Bufflehead, can be seen searching the waters for fish and invertebrates. Often a raptor, such as a Merlin or Cooper’s Hawk, will make its winter home here too, feeding on the bounty of small songbirds that shelter in the berry bushes at Gallup. These birds and others are highlighted in a 2019 Natural Area Preservation newsletter feature entitled, A Treasure for Birds: Gallup Park by NAP ornithologist Juliet Berger.
This park is also a
pickup location for a sand/salt mixture to help residents treat sidewalks.