Potawatomi Trail in Pinckney, Mi

[paulbates]

I hiked the Potawatomi Trail in Pinckney, Mi last weekend. Its located north of Ann Arbor, mi and part of the Pinckney Recreation Area. Its my go-to trail for conditioning and its 18 mile length and intermediate terrain make it challenging. Its great in the fall and spring when its cooler out.

Follow the link for the trip report, pics and stats @ gaiagps if you want to see more

https://www.gaiagps.com/public/5U7PHh20 ... yer=USTopo

[thesneakymonkey]

I like that trail a lot. It is a great one for training, new hikers, and trying out new gear. That northern gosling lake section is great for adding some miles for training, but can also be skipped if you dont want to tackle 18 miles yet. I noticed your SWD pack in the pictures . Nice choice. I am really loving my pack from them. Its first trip was actually on Poto last winter. My husband recently bought one as well. He hasn't used it yet but I am sure he will like it. Poto is especially nice in the winter time. I love hiking it then. If you dont mind me sharing Paul, I will link a trip video below showcasing that trail. To the others reading this post, go check out Paul's gaia link. That app is super cool and great for use on the island too. It bailed me out on the beaver dam right out of NlkDesor headed towards windigo. haha. Thanks for posting, Paul.

[paulbates]

Posting your video is great, it shows a lot more for others to get an idea of this trail. I'm looking at doing the High Country Pathway in late November, and this was a shakedown hike as I'll have to do a lot of miles daily to finish it in the time I'll have, and a lot less daylight by then.

Yes on SWD! We discussed and discovered SWD on the thread form Torpified from last year . I carried the 50L Long Haul on this trip fully loaded (for me) like I would for a 4 day trip. I was able to walk from silver lake, around doyle road and down to blind lake without taking it off - 11 miles... it is really comfortable. 6 miles was the best I could dowith my old pack.

Agreed on gaiagps. I picked it for Isle Royale a year ago. It worked better than expected there on an old iPhone 5s and the benefits outweigh the limitations for me.

One thing I proved for sure on this trip is that using GPS tracking will kill the battery in a day... even on a dedicated "gps phone" with airplane mode, no internet, no cell service, sim card or other apps running and only taking a few pictures. I was out 6.5 hours and was down to almost nothing. But, if tracking is not used, and set it for manually refreshing the location a few times a day when I need it, it can go for 4 or 5 days easily... even using it as a camera.

Paul

[thesneakymonkey]

Post back a trip report on the High Country Pathway. That is one I haven't done yet. I would like to hear what you think of it.

[dcclark]

Thanks for putting the Potawatomi Trail on my radar -- I don't normally think about backpacking options in the southeast corner of Michigan!

[paulbates]

Post back a trip report on the High Country Pathway. That is one I haven't done yet. I would like to hear what you think of it.

Will do

Thanks for putting the Potawatomi Trail on my radar -- I don't normally think about backpacking options in the southeast corner of Michigan!

Yep. The Potawatomi is a loop, shared with mountain bikes, and should be hiked counter-clockwise. There are some additional trails to cut the loop down and hike fewer miles. There is also the connected Waterloo-Pinckney trail that adds 46 miles but is linear. Parts of the Waterloo-Pinckney trail is also shared with horses.

http://www.michigandnr.com/Publications ... trails.pdf

Paul

[torpified]

I also frequent the Poto! This is an especially sweet time to visit, with the fall colors coming in. . . .

[thesneakymonkey]

Waterloo Pinckney is a ton of fun as well. Worth the linear miles. Just don’t go in the spring. The bugs are INSANE. We learned that lesson the hard way. The whole trail is wetlands. Mosquitos for days. If you saw the video, you know what I mean. My arms looked horrid with all the bites. The trail itself is awesome though.