Last Minute Trial Suggestion for Michiga n..

“Hey,

I just found out that my wife and boy are going away for the weekend in the next couple of weeks, freeing me up for a nice weekend BPing op . I tried to find something around my area within 45 mins to an hour drive from here (Metro Detroit Area), and there's nothing I can find!. Well, central lower Michigan is where I'm headed (trying to keep it in a 2 to 3 hour drive from here). Anybody have any suggestions on a place? If there is a good place south of me, my party and I will concider as well. Thanks.”

“Hoist Lakes, or Manistee River, or Nordhouse Dunes, or Jordan River are all good weekend trips, but they're all 200 miles or more from Detroit.”

“I can do that. I was looking at Hoist in my trail book, and we were concidering it. Have you been there? If so, how is it? Manistee is saved for our regular trip in late July. Really excited about that trip as I have heard nothing but great things about it. I'n taking my wife "campering" at Nordhouse for a special trip I might have to open the "trip time" to get to some place good. Shame that Michigan does not have anything good around the Metro area to overnight......”

“Have you checked out the Waterloo/pinckney trail. 36-47 miles long and its one hour from detroit. Email me for info if you want joenjoyharvey@msn.com.”

“Laqtis!

The Waterloo-Pinckney trail is about 35 miles long. It's within an hour of Detroit. The Potowatomi Trail is 17 miles long (lots of bikers on summer weekends), again within an hour.

You can also do a loop with the horse trails, a section of the Potowatomi trail and short road hike that is probably 15 miles.

There are other offshoot trails from the Waterloo-Pinckney that can be made into nice backpacks.

I've also heard of people backpacking Oak Openings Metropark west of Toledo.

And there are several metro state parks with long trail systems and rustic campgrounds that can be used for overnights.

From October 1 to April 1, you can "backcountry" camp in the state game areas. That opens a lot of possibilities in southern Michigan.

I'm going to take a look at the Miami and Erie Canal towpath on the Buckeye Trail south of Toledo. If the trail is rough, it might make for an overnight.

It's not wilderness, but often the trails are less full in the summer because everybody is up north. I figure that you probably get more solitude on most of the Waterloo-Pinckney than you get on the Manistee River Trail.

I don't think there is a real good hiking resource for SE Michigan trails. No one cares. But that's fine.

Oh, and you might consider getting a canoe. There are some canoe-accessible campsites in the area that would make for a wilderness-like experience close by.”

“Hartwick Pines!”

“No. Hartwick Pines is not a good hike.”

“Hartwick pines is a beautiful area, and a place with one of the last virgin pine stands in MI. There are a few trails, some through old growth forests, that make for great day hikes. They are flat, and provide some decent scenery.

Did the Tigers loose again Reformed Lurker, is that why you are in such a bad mood?”

“The tigers always lose. Hartwick pines is only a dayhike, if that. I'd call it more of a stop over on the way to somewhere else! I'd choose Jordan River, Hoist lakes or Waterloo-Pinkney trail. Nordhouse Dunes is beautiful but not many trails and would be much funner later in the year when it's warm enough to enjoy Lake Michigan. Jordan River is really lovely.”

“The Jordan River valley area near has some nice hiking, but it's been awhile since I've been there. It'd probably be just a shade over 3 hours from D”

“Thanks for the backup Joy. I guess I should have said Hartwick is a good day hike!”

“Thanks for the great suggestions! I ruled out the Waterloo trials because in my book, it didn't say that you could overnight/backcountry camp on the trails. I was bummed because that trial looked perfect to me, except the camping thing. If they will allow it, we're there! Nice trails and good feedback from you guys = weekend trip!

Hartwick and Hoist were conciderations because two people in our party own a cabin/land in each of those ares. One guys has his cabin just down the road from the Shore to Shore trail in Mio. My other friends cabin/land was sold to him by a relative of the Hartwick owners and is in the Hartwick area. Thanks alot for all the suggetions. We're excited and can't wait to get out on the trail. Hopefully the weather is like today's (bringht, sunny and warn, something we haven't seen in S.E. Michigan in about two/three weeks). Time for some yard work (haven't been able to do any for the last three weeks. I think the the yard cops are banging on the door).”