Potawatomi Trail – Pinckney / Waterloo Recreation Area

The Waterloo and Pinckney Recreation Areas provide a unique opportunity in Southeast Michigan.  The two areas border each other and provide over 16 miles of relatively remote hiking and biking trails, backpacking and camping.  All of this and the eastern edge is just 12 miles northwest of Ann Arbor.  The areas combine to hold numerous hiking trails.  The longest is the Waterloo-Pinckney Trail, running east-west, it spans both areas and is 36 miles long.

Having a day off from work I decided to explore the Potawatomi Trail.  It is located solely in the Pinckney Recreation Area.  I choose this 18 mile loop because it is open to mountain bikes and can be a bit “exciting” for a hiker during the summer months.  With an expected high of 51F and showers forecasted all day I wagered the mountain bike traffic would be minimal.  The Potawatomi can be started from the Pinckney Recreation Area entrance for Silver Lake.  This is also home of the areas headquarters.  The Silver Lake access site provides ample parking and marks the ending point of the Waterloo-Pinckney Trail.  The Potawatomi shares a portion of its loop with the last few miles of the Waterloo-Pinckney Trail.

I was on the trail at 7:45 a.m. hiking the loop in a counter-clockwise direction.  The weather forecast didn’t let me down and it was already raining.  Something unusual about today would be that the temperature started at 52F, marking the high for the day as it continued to fall the rest of the day.  Because of the rain I decided to leave my camera behind and rely on my cell phone for any pictures.  The Potawatomi Trail has multiple loops within the outer 18 mile loop.  I took advantage of this and eventually settled on a total of 12 miles for a single day hike.

The condition of the trail is superb.  It is obvious that it sees a lot of attention and maintenance.  I’m going to assume that the bulk of this comes from the local mountain bike club but it is only a guess.  Every wooden bridge was in excellent shape, numerous erosion controls in place and the signs were immaculate and undamaged.  I didn’t encounter a single dead fall that hadn’t been cleared.  It is obvious the trail sees heavy usage and losing the main trail would be very difficult.  There was only one head scratching moment that I can recall.

I ended up being very lucky on the weather.  I didn’t experience more than a light rain and for the vast majority of my day it was only a very light mist.  However, only twice, do I recall it stopping completely for just a few minutes.  During one of those stoppages in the rain I came across a bench and decided to stop for breakfast.  A hot cooked meal was just what I needed but it did start raining again before I managed to finish eating.

Finding water throughout the walk was easy enough.  There are three hand pumps.  If you were willing to carry enough water and take some short off trail hikes to reach the hand pumps you could avoid having to treat or filter your own water.  If you are willing to treat or filter your drinking water I observed numerous spots along the trail that would allow you to carry a light load of water and refill when necessary.

For the route I choose I came to Blind Lake Campground after hiking seven miles.  The Potawatomi Trail runs right through this walk-in campground.  The campground contains 10 sites, a water pump and a pit toilet.  I stopped here for a short lunch.  All of the sites contained a fire ring and there was at least one site that put you right on the shore of Blind Lake. 

Shortly after my lunch break I ran into my fourth and fifth trail runner I would see for the day.  I only saw one cyclist the entire day.  The last five miles I hiked seemed to contain more up and down then the beginning of the day but the ascents and descents never exceeded a continuous gradual 100′ foot change.  The last five miles contained more of these “apples” than I had ever seen before.  I fondly refer to them as ankle breakers, embarrassingly, I don’t even know what they are.

Overall, the Potawatomi is a great chance for a hiker to get several miles under their feet on a very well maintained trail system.  With the smaller loops within the larger loop 30 mile walks are not out of the question.  Your only concern might be the amount of mountain bikers you might have to dodge during fair weather days.  The walk-in Blind Lake campground allows for a nice two-day trip that I believe I will try the next time I visit.