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About 20 miles northwest
of Ann Arbor, you'll find Pinckney State Recreation Area. Within this
park are 3 trails, the most famous and widely know is the Potawatomi
Trail, or "Poto". You will also find 2 shorter trails here, the Silver
Lake trail, and the Crooked Lake trail. Since all these trails are
vary similar I will describe the Potawatomi trail, since it is the
main attraction of this area.
The other 2 trails are
similar but require less endurance, and more patience. These are the
main trails for day hikers and nature watchers, so be careful not
to run them down! These are excellent trails for warm up, cool down,
or beginners.
Poto Description:
From the parking areas head back towards the entrance of the park.
The trailhead is on you right just past the parking lots. It starts
with a bang, you begin crawling up a long grinding climb with water
bars to navigate. After you reach this summit the real fun begins,
as you roll through roots, hard pack dirt. Watch for the Potawatomi
trail sign or you will end up making a short cut, or on Silver
Lake trail or just plain lost. The rolling nature of this trail makes
it truly enjoyable, and entertaining, with roots, technical climbs
and descents, and a few thick sand areas.
On Poto you will be tested 3 or 4 times on technical long climbs and
equally long and fast down hills. For the majority of the course you
can use momentum from the downhills to get up the next hill. A few
of the memorable climbs are, the trailhead, it is exactly what you
didn't want to see, and it is with cold legs. The second is a few
miles in, after you ride the boat launch road and cross a paved road.
There are actually 2 here that are unforgiving. They are both very
technical and steep. Once you reach the top of these you are rewarded
with a fast bermed down hill. The last is a few miles from the finish.
It starts as you cross a little stream, the trail curves to the right
90 Degrees, then heads up what seem lie a short climb to the pine
trees, as you crest these tree you curve up and left. Wow this is
where you begin to realize how futile your efforts to bust ass up
the preceding hill really were. The rest of this hill is not technical,
but long and grinding. You will soon reach a rolling section and another
climb which leads you to the overlook area, congratulations, this
is the last of the major climbs for the day. The rest of the trail
is mostly downhill or flat, with a fun fast downhill after the lookout.
Once you come back to the silver hill road (dirt road) a few miles
later, watch for trail signs that help lead off the trail. This is
where it is little confusing, Bikes are not allowed on the beach
area. If you miss a turn (silver lake loop) you will end up on the
beach, tun around! Find the trail which would have been on your
right (now on your left) this leads you to a dirt road, take the dirt
road (right) back to the trail head hill.
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