The Waterloo-Pinckney Trail is a 38-mile-long
hiking
A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time.
"Hi ...
trail which runs through
Waterloo State Recreation Area
Waterloo State Recreation Area is the third-largest park in Michigan, encompassing over of forest, lakes and wetlands. Located in northeast Jackson County and parts of Washtenaw County, the park is the largest in the Lower Peninsula of Michig ...
and
Pinckney Recreation Area in southeastern
Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
, United States. Part of the trail also passes through Park Lyndon County Park. The trail travels through glacial features such as
esker
An esker, eskar, eschar, or os, sometimes called an ''asar'', ''osar'', or ''serpent kame'', is a long, winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel, examples of which occur in glaciated and formerly glaciated regions of Europe and North Amer ...
s and
kettle lake
A kettle (also known as a kettle hole, kettlehole, or pothole) is a depression or hole in an outwash plain formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters. The kettles are formed as a result of blocks of dead ice left behind by retreating ...
s as well as swamps and open meadows remaining from abandoned farmlands. Forest types include oak and pine. The trail tops out at on Sackrider Hill, above surroundings, the largest elevation gain. Other hills and ridges give rises. The trail is blazed with blue triangles and at some points shares trails with the
Potawatomi Trail and the nature trails around the
Eddy Discovery Center
Waterloo State Recreation Area is the third-largest park in Michigan, encompassing over of forest, lakes and wetlands. Located in northeast Jackson County, Michigan, Jackson County and parts of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County, the ...
. Part of the trail is open to mountain biking and horseriding and hunting is allowed in most areas along the trail. The trail has several nearby campgrounds allowing it to be hiked as a 2, 3 or 4 day trip. Side trails to the campgrounds make the entire trip .
Backpacking in Michigan
Jim DuFresne, University of Michigan Press, 2007
The trail was first developed in the 1960s and the last link across the county park was completed in 1986.
References
External links
Waterloo map sectionPinckney map section
{{Coord, 42.40066, -84.04223, type:landmark_region:US-MI, display=title
Hiking trails in Michigan
Long-distance trails in the United States