Brighton Recreation Area/Livingston County

I'm very familiar with Livingston County. My husband grew up in the Pinckney/Hell area. A lot has changed and I hardly recognize the small towns I used to know. Brighton, Hamburg, Pinckney and surroundings areas have exploded and I'd say that the area is now pretty upscale.

Brighton has many nice stores and restaurants downtown and many strip malls. It even has a Costco and Barnes and Noble which are two of my favorite stores. And a Panera and Olive Garden which are two of my favorite places to eat.

The countryside is beautiful and a little rugged and pretty hilly for southeastern Michigan. Yesterday, thanks to a book I picked up at the library, I went to the Brighton Recreation Area and walked the Penosha Trail. The book is titled, "50 Hikes in Michigan" by Jim Dufresne and it gave me some good ideas on where to go to complete this ambitious plan I have going on.

This is an area where the glaciers came through and so there are moraines and ridges, with kettle lakes. Basically lots of high ground and wetlands. The Potawatomie and Chippewa lived here first and then of course the white settlers came and tried to farm which must have been pretty frustrating. Then during the Depression a lot of farmers just quit and Michigan has been buying up parcels since then for the Brighton and Pinckney recreation areas.

The trail goes right through all of this and I have to tell you some of those hills were pretty steep. I got a good burn going in my calves. It was good I hiked by myself because the whining in my head would have definitely been articulated unceasingly. I walked the five mile Penosha trail which feels like you're out in the middle of nowhere which had me nervous at the beginning of the hike. Until I realized that there were subdivisions right off the trail and it wasn't quite as remote as it first seemed.


The trail was well marked and I had a good time. I feel sorry for the farmers that tried so hard and had to give up their dream and walk away. But Michigan is very fortunate to have these beautiful areas to enjoy so close to our big cities.