Camp Greilick open house showcases new public park features

Families can already walk the trails, play the free 18-hole disc golf course and spend time at Camp Greilick, the 196-acre county park just south of Traverse City that was once a closed Boy Scout camp. Friday’s open house gave residents their clearest look yet at what Grand Traverse County has turned on since opening the property to the public in December.

The event marked the first major showcase for the park, now described by the county as its ninth and newest park. Visitors tried out the human foosball court, the orienteering course and the disc golf layout, while county staff used the day to show how much of the former camp is already usable after the county bought the property for $3 million in August 2024.

For now, the public can use the disc golf course, hiking trails, story walk, pavilion, group day-use space and overnight cabins that county updates list as available. The park also has frontage on Spider Lake, Bass Lake and Rennie Lake, but Rennie Lake is the only one with true access from inside the trail system. County rules also prohibit launching outside watercraft from county property, which means Camp Greilick is not yet a full lake-access destination even though it sits on shoreline.

That limitation is part of the larger question now facing taxpayers: how much more spending will be needed before the property functions like a complete public asset, not just a newly opened park with a few finished amenities. The county says the reopening is part of a phased rollout tied to a broader master plan, and its March 13 update said work was about to begin on the Dan Beard shower house and restrooms and on Besser Lodge. Officials have also said they hope to add paddlecraft rentals someday.

The site’s public future has been shaped by more than county money alone. The Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy has said a conservation easement is meant to balance public access with natural-resource protection, while the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation says it is stewarding an existing Greilick endowment of about $150,000 and working to grow it to at least $1.5 million for long-term care and maintenance.

Camp Greilick also carries a long local history. The Rotary Club of Traverse City created it in 1923 as an outdoor education site, and it later became a Boy Scout camp before closing to scouts after the 2016 season. A public visioning session in 2024 drew nearly 150 people, many of them neighbors and former Scouts, showing how closely the property was watched long before the county opened the gates.

This summer, the practical test is simple: residents can see whether a county purchase made with public dollars has already become part of daily life in East Bay Township, or whether the park still needs more work, more money and more policy decisions before it delivers the full return that supporters promised.