Pinckney State Recreation Area: Crooked Lake Trail (Blog Hike #657)

Trail: Crooked Lake Trail

Hike Location: Pinckney State Recreation Area

Geographic Location: northwest of Ann Arbor, MI (42.41713, -83.96395)

Length: 4.4 miles

Difficulty: 5/10 (Moderate)

Date Hiked: August 2017

Overview: A loose circumnavigation of Crooked Lake.

Area Information: http://www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails/Details.aspx?type=SPRK&id=484

Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=733360
Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: North of Ann Arbor, take US 23 to North Territorial Road (exit 49).  Exit and go west on North Territorial Rd.  Drive North Territorial Rd. west 10.7 miles to Dexter Townhall Road and turn right on Dexter Townhall Rd.  Drive Dexter Townhall Rd. north 1.1 miles to the recreation area entrance on the left.  Turn left to enter the recreation area, pay the entrance fee, and continue straight to enter the Silver Lake Day Use Area.  Park in the area’s second parking lot on the right near the beach area; the first parking lot is for the mountain bike trailhead.

The hike: Comprising 11,000 acres mostly of abandoned farmland, Pinckney State Recreation Area is one of several state parks in southeastern Michigan authorized by the Michigan Legislature in 1944; nearby Island Lake State Recreation Area is another.  The recreation area consists of several connected but scattered parcels of land that surround private lands.  The recreation area gets its name from the village of Pinckney located just outside of its northeast corner.

            As usual with a state recreation area (as opposed to a state park), the area’s amenities take center stage.  Pinckney State Recreation Area features a 186-site modern campground, 2 other rustic campgrounds, several lakes that offer swimming, fishing, and boating, and many miles of trails for every conceivable nonmotorized user.  The area’s two most popular trails for day hikes are the hiker-only 3.3 mile Losee Lake Trail (not described in this blog) and the 4.4 mile Crooked Lake Trail described here.  These two trails depart from the same day use area, so you could combine them to form a long 8 mile double-loop hike if desired.  Be warned that the Crooked Lake Trail is very popular with both hikers and mountain bikers, so try to plan a weekday visit to minimize the crowds.

Crooked Lake Trail trailhead

            A maize information kiosk at the far (north) end of the parking area marks the trailhead.  As usual for Michigan state parks, major trail intersections are numbered, and this trailhead is trail intersection #1.  The wide single-track dirt trail heads into the woods with Silver Lake on your right.  Very quickly you reach a wooden boardwalk that was surrounded by blue vervain in full bloom on my visit.  A nice view of Silver Lake’s backwaters opens up to the right.

Backwaters of Silver Lake

            At 0.2 miles, you reach trail intersection #2, which forms the loop portion of the Crooked Lake Trail.  To help avoid collisions, trail regulations require hikers and mountain bikers to travel opposite directions around the loop, so you need to turn right here to hike the loop counterclockwise.  After another 0.3 miles of level hiking along the backwaters of Silver Lake, the trail curves left to begin a moderate climb away from the lake.  Some waterbars built into the trail seem to be doing a good job of preventing erosion.

            0.7 miles into the hike, you cross dirt Silver Hill Road for the first of three times.  The shady mature forest you have been hiking through now gives way to younger forest featuring many red cedar trees.  The northern part of the Crooked Lake Trail’s loop also carries the nearly 20 mile long Potowatomi Trail, so you will pass many mountain bikers coming at you on this part of the trail.

Red cedar forest

            Just past 1 mile, you cross dirt Silver Hill Road for the second time.  Rustic Crooked Lake Campground lies 0.3 miles down this road to the left, which is open to vehicles.  Ironically given this trail’s name, the trail passes Silver and Pickerel Lakes, but Crooked Lake never comes into view.  Thus, you will need to take a detour down to the campground if you want to see Crooked Lake.

            At 1.2 miles, you pass under a power line at the highest elevation of this hike.  Some guidebooks and trail maps show an overlook here, but trees obstructed any view on my visit.  Next comes the longest prolonged downhill on this hike as the trail loses 100 feet of elevation to reach a feeder stream for Crooked Lake, which it crosses via a wooden footbridge.

Feeder stream for Crooked Lake

            2.2 miles into the hike, you reach trail intersection #9 where the Potowatomi Trail exits right.  Angle left to continue the Crooked Lake Trail, which will now feature much less traffic.  A nice bench also sits here and provides an opportunity to rest and have a trail snack near the midpoint of this hike.

Sandy trail surface

            The trail surface changes to sand before you cross Glenn Brook Road, which accesses some private land holdings within the recreation area.  Continuing south, at 2.5 miles a spur trail exits right to head for the recreation area’s Halfmoon Lake beach.  Keep straight to remain on the Crooked Lake Trail.

            You pass an area managed by controlled burns before curving left to begin heading east.  Soon Pickerel Lake comes into view through the trees on the right.  Unlike many of the recreation area’s other lakes, the shores of Pickerel Lake remain undeveloped.  Thus, Pickerel Lake offers a very pleasant, tranquil, and natural setting.

Pickerel Lake, as seen from footbridge

            At 3.1 miles, you reach a long wooden footbridge that crosses a marshy water channel connecting Crooked and Pickerel Lakes.  The shallow water with numerous sedges makes for good waterfowl viewing; I saw several blue herons and Canada geese while I was here.  The next mile comprises the most rugged part of the loop as you enter kettle and kame topography and its many steep ups and downs.  See my hike at Huron National Forest’s Loon Lake Day Use Area for an introduction to glacier-created kettle and kame topography.  Some black plastic mesh buried under the steepest areas of trail represents another effort at erosion control.

            Just past 3.5 miles, you reach trail intersection #3 where a spur trail exits right and connects with the Silver Lake Trail.  Continue straight to remain on the Crooked Lake Trail.  More up and down brings you to the third and final crossing of Silver Hill Road at 4.2 miles.  A final short, steep descent returns you to trail intersection #2 to close the loop.  A right turn and 0.2 miles of retracing your steps return you to the parking area to complete the hike.  If you have more time and energy, try the 3.3 mile hiker-only Losee Lake Loop Trail, which starts at trail intersection L1 on the south side of the Silver Lake Day Use Area not far from the area’s fishing pier.