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Potawatomi trail Mountain Bike Trail
Pinckney, Michigan
MTB TRAIL STATS
Avg Rating:   |
18 trail reviews |
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Status: updated 4/24/11 by RoadWarrior |
Difficulty:  Advanced |
| Length: 24 miles | Global Rank: #353 |
| Tread: Singletrack | Configuration: Loop |
| Ridden: 85 | Wishlist: 40 |
| Avg. Speed: 9 mph | Avg. Time: 2hr 28min |
| Elevation Gain/Loss: +3,716/-3,887 ft | |
 1 trail check-ins |
Directions:
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Description: Here, 20 miles northwest of Ann Arbor, you'll find three trails: the 17-mile Potawatomi Trail, the 5.1-mile Crooked Lake Trail and the 1.9-mile Silver Lake Trail. The routes are shared with hikers. If you double the length of Pontiac Lake and replace the rocks with roots, you have Poto. Trails from 1.9 to 17.5 miles round trip. Biking season: All year (8 a.m. to 10 p.m.). Other activities include bicycling, boating, camping (reservation), canoeing, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, picnicking, swimming, water skiing, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling. Dining in Chelsea, Dexter, Pinckney. Bike shops in Chelsea (Chelsea Bike & Sports-313/475-9371), Pinckney (Village Cyclery-313/878-0117) Bike rentals: Pinckney (Village Cyclery).
added in 2003 by guest
Description: Here, 20 miles northwest of Ann Arbor, you'll find three trails: the 17-mile Potawatomi Trail, the 5.1-mile Crooked Lake Trail and the 1.9-mile Silver Lake Trail. The routes are shared with hikers. If you double the length of Pontiac Lake and replace the rocks with roots, you have Poto. Trails from 1.9 to 17.5 miles round trip. Biking season: All year (8 a.m. to 10 p.m.). Other activities include bicycling, boating, camping (reservation), canoeing, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, picnicking, swimming, water skiing, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling. Dining in Chelsea, Dexter, Pinckney. Bike shops in Chelsea (Chelsea Bike & Sports-313/475-9371), Pinckney (Village Cyclery-313/878-0117) Bike rentals: Pinckney (Village Cyclery).
added in 2003 by guest 
TRAIL REVIEWS review this trail
reviewed by Sethocaster on December 31, 2011
Potawatomi is excellent. Poto has some gnarly climbs, with the exception of a few they are nearly all short and steep, and the exposed tree roots will have you wanting to toss your bike off a cliff as they constantly snuff out your nearly successful attempt to finish a climb. And the downhills... Poto has some very fast, and often times very scary downhills. The sections with the consecutive 2 foot or so drops makes me smile from ear to ear every time. If you're in the area you MUST DO the Murray Lake and Torn Shirt trails in Brighton. It's only about half an hour away and personally I thought Murray/TS had a lot better flow than Poto, although Poto is probably more challenging.
Similar Trail: Murray Lake and or Torn Shirt in Brighton (they're only 15 miles combined. DO IT.)
reviewed by jozehn on November 13, 2011
Rode this trail for the second time yesterday; first time was in May 2011. One of the best and toughest trails I've ridden. There's a lot of up and down. Some of the climbs are fairly long and get steeper with bigger roots near the top so we ended up walking the last part of several climbs. The downhills make the climbs worth the effort; fast and winding with a lot of large root drops. In spring we took the shortcut at marker #11, the shortcut shortens the loop by 4 miles or so. This time we rode the whole loop; I recommend this since there was a lot of great terrain in that northern section.Overall great trail.
reviewed by irishpitbull on August 8, 2011
Rode this for the 1st time this weekend. It was pretty awesome. Some of the drops are pretty sweet and the climbs are lung burners. I think the serious hills on the map should be moved back a bit, the serious ones are bit further back. The trail is very wide and gives a lot of room either side. There deep sand traps out there, some right as you are bombing down steep hills. Great ride. Gave it 4 because of the sand.
reviewed by stillfat on July 17, 2011
Really fast singletrack with lots of short ups, downs and roots to keep things exciting. Very little sand for a Michigan trail - fine Midwestern riding. Don't be scared, make the trip to Hell.
* Review edited 7/17/2011
reviewed by acfair on May 26, 2011
This trail was the most exciting trail I have been on. I am new to the sport and the climbs were a bit tough for me and I had to get off the bike on a few of them. The down hill and the roots with the drop offs after them were so much fun that if I hadn't been so tired after the loop I would have rode it again. Awesome trail
reviewed by milosh_v on January 4, 2011
Awesome Trail. The best in lower Michigan PERIOD! Great views and challenging climbs. A few places only ridable by more experienced riders but don't let that stop you from experiencing this jem.
Similar Trail: Brighton Rec and Island Lake
reviewed by Dyno_Don on July 27, 2010
Cross Country Skied this in the 70's when it was ranked top 10 in N.America for XC, Mountain biked a few times in the 80's, just started MBING again last month, I do this once a week now, the Crooked Lake Trail is the shorter one, but still very tough (I think there is a shorter one, the Silver Lk trail, but most of it is hiker only), there are many short cuts on all the trails, about 30 miles in all and none easy, lots of lakes to cool off in, well water is available at Blind Lk, Crooked Lk, but better to take your own, nice after a rain, trail drains well and the sand is easier to ride when damp, these trails have everything, climbs, downhill, roots, rocks, sand, gravel, flats, you name it's there, some day I'll make it all the way up the last set of hills at Crooked Lk,,LOL
Similar Trail: Brighton
reviewed by MINIC on November 8, 2009
Perhaps southern Michigan's signature trail. Some tough climbs especially near the end there is one good long one. lots of quick downhills too. The trail is well marked and is not without many roots and rocks.
reviewed by singletrakkiller on September 6, 2009
just got done riding it for the first time and IT WAS FUN some huge up hills and a lot of fast down hills
reviewed by RoadWarrior on July 12, 2009
18 miles of mostly wide to narrow single-track, with numerous options to create a shorter ride. Parts of the trail are almost 50 yrs old so has developed some interesting root drop sections. Would not consider this an expert trail, but numerous, and sudden series of 2 foot root drops into deep sand will keep you awake. Overall a very fun trail, heavily used by bikers, hikers, and trail runners.(bikes ride clockwise, hikers counter-clockwise). Very Scenic
reviewed by kpbk09 on April 7, 2009
Frequenters of the "poto" consider it to be a expert trail. In all actuality it depends how you ride it. This is the first trail i ever rode and it continues to be an old standard that will never let me down. The trail in full is an 18 mile loop but there is a shortcut that cuts almost 2 miles out. The climbs are good, the descents are better. Very well maintained trail threw the beautiful country side of southeastern Michigan.
* Review edited 4/7/2009
Similar Trail: Torn Shirt
reviewed by skeeve on June 27, 2008
I live in Pinckney, so the Poto is the obvious choice for me, even though I am a beginner who just picked up his first decent MTB :) The trail is certainly a lot of fun. For the beginner, there are 3 or 4 steep climbs you'll end up pushing the bike ;) The work powering up the climbs is immediately rewarded by fun downhill sections.
reviewed by DjSmooth on April 13, 2008
The Poto trail is one of the best in southern Michigan, no doubt. It has great terrain, decent scenery, and is easily navigable. There are lots of roots, but that makes you better at picking good lines.
Similar Trail: Poto reminds me of the North Country Trail around Baldwin, MI.
reviewed by skiboarder119 on October 10, 2007
Gave it 5 stars because its decently difficult, and there are many miles of trail. A very good trail for practicing your avoidance of obstacles (mainly large roots) up and down hills. Surprisingly there are a few decent climbs as well.
reviewed by Jeremiah_Hoeflich on August 16, 2007
Very fun trail. Can be very challenging at times but that is probably because it was the first trail i rode... 4 hours and 20 miles later (got lost) i had an idea of what singletrack was about... Even though i got lost it is very well marked and a great ride!
reviewed by tstmarie on July 10, 2007
Great trail with great scenery. Well maintained and has satisfactory trail markings (though they could be better). It is definitely one of the better trails I have been on. The only downside is it costs about $6 to enter the park.
reviewed by Armin on October 23, 2006
My brother Marcel who won the Swiss Bike Masters 2 times and was third in the Vail Worlds loved this trail. It is definitly one of my favorites in Michigan.
reviewed by davebab on July 6, 2006
This trail is a good ride, but its a longer one. A lot of short, steep climbs. The trail could stand to be a little better marked, too.
Similar Trail: None come to mind, although I haven't been to them all in Michigan yet.
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