Nan Weston Preserve: Hike Reports

I originally posted these hike reports on the Great Lakes Hikes Yahoo Group:

05/01/01

I went for a little hike (2 or 3 miles) yesterday in the Nan Weston Nature Conservancy preserve/Sharonville SGA west of Manchester. Geez, the wildflowers are amazing right now - I literally saw thousands of trilliums. I'd recommend the place to SE Michigan hikers. If you dig around in the maps a little, you can put together a good 10+ mile route.

03/27/02

I got about 5 miles in today at Sharon Hollow (P.31,Delorme's). I started from the Nature Conservancy parking area on Eusedes Rd(Section 29 on the map below). I crossed a bunch of streams - neat little bridges. I connected with the two track along the Sharon Hollow impoundment and hiked west into the game area. I followed the edge of a field along the River Raisin to where is crosses Sharon Valley Rd. I crossed and headed out to the small lake in section 36. Then I came back. 1.5 hours total. A few frogs were chirping. Lots of sandhill crane action. Lots of deer scurrying about.

Trail conditions were okay, but a bit muddy in spots. There are trails pretty much along the whole route and you can get in a good 9 or 10 mile straight line hike in the rest of the game area. But you have to know what you are doing to connect the paths. It's not too hilly, but it's a nice change of pace from Waterloo-Pinckney and you'll see no one else.

http://www.midnr.com/pdfs/wildlife/sga/sharonvl2001.pdf