Shingle Mill Pathway: As close as you can get to wilderness in the lower peninsula By Mike Terrell One of the great wilderness tracts in the Lower Peninsula is the 97,000-acre Pigeon River Country State Forest. Located east of I-75 and Vanderbilt, it is host to a wide variety of outdoor activities; hiking, mountain biking, trout fishing, hunting, horseback riding, and, in the winter, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and snowmobiling. While it may be a misnomer to call the state forest wilderness – most of it is accessible* – the Pigeon remains a haven of peace and wildness. It is home to the largest elk herd east of the Mississippi River, which I’ve seen while both mountain biking and cross-country skiing. There are also lots of deer, black bear, bobcat and snowshoe hare. You see massive beaver lodges on many of the little lakes that dot the area. Pileated woodpeckers and eagles are often spotted. I’ve never seen one, but the DNRE has confirmed that wolves are present in the northern Lower Peninsula. With a natural food source like deer and elk present, the Pigeon would be a very attractive habitat for wolves, but, to my knowledge, none have been spotted yet.
CHOICES, CHOICES Ernest Hemingway hunted and fished all three major rivers as a teenager – the Pigeon, Sturgeon and Black rivers – that flow north through the state forest. He loved the area and wrote that it was “wild as the devil.” The forest offers a couple of opportunities for backpackers. There’s the High Country Pathway, a 77-mile loop that passes through four counties and the heart of the northern Lower Peninsula. Most backpackers need at least five days, and many take a week, to complete the circle hike. You can camp almost anywhere along the route as long as you’re 100 feet away from the trail or any body of nearby water, and there are also designated campgrounds. Three of the campgrounds exist along the most popular trail, the Shingle Mill Pathway, which is an 11-mile loop with shorter segments. The first-half of the loop shares the same trail as the High Country Pathway. Shingle Mill is popular with both hikers, for overnight trips, and mountain bikers, who enjoy biking along the scenic Pigeon River. Along the way you cross the Pigeon twice, cruise along scenic “sinkhole lakes” -- meaning small lakes and lily ponds -- and climb to a panoramic overlook of Grass Lake and distant hills up to 20 miles away. The trail is mostly hard-pack dirt with a few sandy sections and lots of roots. Oh yeah, there’s also one long section of boardwalk over a bog-like area near the end. Walking your mountain bike over the fairly narrow walkway is a good idea.
LOGISTICS The trail starts in the back of the campground that you encounter after crossing the Pigeon River Bridge on Sturgeon Valley Road out of Vanderbilt. The bridge is about 11 miles due east of the village. You park across the road from the campground in the designated parking area. There are three small loops when you first start out that total about a mile-and-a-half between signposts 1-4. When you come to signpost 3 you head toward signpost 5 and the 6, 10 and 11-mile trails. If you head towards signpost 4 it leads back to the campground and starting point. You quickly move away from the river, which you won’t see for another three miles. The trail climbs a wooded ridge once you leave the river. It descends to the Pigeon River Country State Forest headquarters at about two miles, which is an impressive large log lodge full of information on the land, its history, and all the recreational opportunities that it holds. The lobby displays are quite nice. At three miles the pathway drops down into another campground and crosses the Pigeon on a forest road bridge where you can soak your feet in a pool that campers created by partially damning the stream with rocks. Many of the campsites are right along the rustic river. There are toilets, picnic tables and drinking water from an artesian well. The six-mile loop breaks off here, climbs a steep ridge and heads over to rejoin the longer loop at signpost 12. It’s about a mile-and-a-half across to the post and than another mile-and-a-half back to the Pigeon River Bridge campground and starting point.
GHOST TOWN If you choose to continue on the longer, scenic trail, you head on over to signpost 7 where the 11-mile loop splits from the 10-mile loop. I wouldn’t recommend the extra mile for mountain bikers. If you’re hiking, it’s okay. It drops steeply down by the river again and back up. It does pass a historical marker where an old lumbering mill once stood that was called Cornwall Flats. The 10-mile loop continues on over to Grass Lake, another walk-in campground on a lily-padded pond, and climbs to the scenic overlook at signpost 10. Distant hills, 20 miles away, blend into the horizon. It’s a great place to relax and enjoy the incredible view after the long climb. At signpost 11 the High Country Pathway, which you’ve been sharing since leaving the starting point, heads on north and Shingle Mill turns back south. After a nice long downhill run by the Devil’s Soup Bowl, one of two sinkhole lakes that you pass, you drop down along beautiful Grass Lake. Stop and observe some of the large beaver lodges found along its edge. The Pathway continues rolling through forest and some extensive clear-cut areas before passing Ford Lake and reaching signpost 12. You’re just a little over a mile from the end. It’s one of the truly great mountain bike rides in the Lower Peninsula, and not a bad hike either. Jeremiah Johnson would have loved this place.
“Wilderness” is a term generally reserved to any place that requires at least a full day’s hike from any road -- ed.
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