Waterloo State Recreation Area
Near Jackson, MI
By Matthew Eddy, 7/5/17
Summary
Overall Rating: 🌟🌟🌟⭐
Trail Type: dirt, roads, and sand with rive rrock
Water: Yes, hand pump at staging area
Requirements: Michigan State Park Pass, no bridal tag or coggins
Parking: Very good!
Trail Markings: Not Great
Cell Reception: Spotty
Technical Obstacles: Steep slopes and "The Switchback"
Date/Time of Ride: 6/26/17
Weather Conditions: 60°F, Moderate Humidity
Looking for Site Contributors if you are interested click HERE.
Description:
One of the largest state parks, Waterloo is situated a little North and East of Jackson. Covering over 20,000 acres, and numerous ponds it’s comprised of mostly wooded and hilly terrain which is great for trail riding. The trails are fairly technical and not for riders who are faint hearted. Most of the trails are shaded, so I imagine that even on a hot day it would be a fairly pleasant ride. However, when we went out there, it was a cool 60°F and it felt even cooler than that in the shade. Probably because of that, there were very bugs.
Parking was excellent with room for dozens of rigs. There are posts to put up tie-lines for horses, a hand pump for water and there are specific horse camp sites available as well. Overall the facilities are top notch. You can find the horse staging area off of Beeman Rd (you can see it on the Map HERE). There is a huge sign so it’s hard to miss. No bridal tags or coggins required, just a Michigan State Recreation pass. I assume you would be able to get that at the park offices. Below are a a few photos of the staging areas and camp sites. I was so impressed I had to hold back to not post any more photos of the facilities.
The most technical section we saw was called the
“Switch Back” – a relatively steep section of the trail that zig-zagged
down a hill with wooden fencing to keep you on the trail and prevent
taking short cuts. There were definitely other
sections that were equally as steep but shorter, and numerous fallen
trees across the trail. It appears these are intentionally left in
place, and they are easy for the horses to step over. I personally
enjoyed the technical aspects of the ride but others
may find it a bit tiresome. Pro tip – don’t bring your pregnant wife,
they start to get cranky toward the end. Especially when you forget to
pack their snacks. I won’t make that mistake twice!
One complaint from the group was the missing trail markers at some key intersections. We did take one wrong turn down a drive that dead ended at private property because the trail marker wasn't visible from the intersection and the actual trail was kind of hidden. As we were approaching the end of the trail we came to an intersection with no marker and we kind of guessed which way to go. Lucky for me it was correct because Rainey was getting quite tired by this time.
Map:
I was able to add "Waterloo Horse Camp and Staging Area" to Google Maps, so you can search for that or use the link in the second paragraph above.
Conclusion:
I personally would give this trails a 4 out of 5 stars because they are a bit technical at time, the facilities are great, there is about 30 miles of trails and camping is available. Which means you could camp here and visit other semi-local trails such as Pinckney, Maybury and Kensington. However, my trail companions did not feel so inclined due to the technical level of the trails, and the lack of good trail markers so I gave it 3 1/2 stars. I plan to get a few more rides in to see some of the other trails and get a better feel for what it has to offer.
Near Jackson, MI
By Matthew Eddy, 7/5/17
Summary
Overall Rating: 🌟🌟🌟⭐
Trail Type: dirt, roads, and sand with rive rrock
Water: Yes, hand pump at staging area
Requirements: Michigan State Park Pass, no bridal tag or coggins
Parking: Very good!
Trail Markings: Not Great
Cell Reception: Spotty
Technical Obstacles: Steep slopes and "The Switchback"
Date/Time of Ride: 6/26/17
Weather Conditions: 60°F, Moderate Humidity
Looking for Site Contributors if you are interested click HERE.
Description:
One of the largest state parks, Waterloo is situated a little North and East of Jackson. Covering over 20,000 acres, and numerous ponds it’s comprised of mostly wooded and hilly terrain which is great for trail riding. The trails are fairly technical and not for riders who are faint hearted. Most of the trails are shaded, so I imagine that even on a hot day it would be a fairly pleasant ride. However, when we went out there, it was a cool 60°F and it felt even cooler than that in the shade. Probably because of that, there were very bugs.
 |
| Beautiful Scenery |
Parking was excellent with room for dozens of rigs. There are posts to put up tie-lines for horses, a hand pump for water and there are specific horse camp sites available as well. Overall the facilities are top notch. You can find the horse staging area off of Beeman Rd (you can see it on the Map HERE). There is a huge sign so it’s hard to miss. No bridal tags or coggins required, just a Michigan State Recreation pass. I assume you would be able to get that at the park offices. Below are a a few photos of the staging areas and camp sites. I was so impressed I had to hold back to not post any more photos of the facilities.
 |
| Our Rigged Parked in the Staging Area |
 |
| Hand Pump to Water Your Horses |
 |
| Another Group in the Staging Area |
 |
| One of the Many Camp Sites |
There are three main trails that are color coded
Red, Blue and Yellow. We rode the Red trail, which is only 5 miles, but
took about 3 hours. Our horses weren’t in a hurry and they definitely
took their time picking their way through the
sections with sand and rive rock. We ran into some other riders who
were taking the Yellow/Blue trail out to what they called “The Creek”
and back, which sounded like a popular destination and they said it took
about 3 hours as well. Hopefully we will be out
there again relatively soon and we can check that out. Though we didn’t
ride on them, it looks like the Blue/Yellow trail has a section in
which you ride a fair distance on dirt roads.
 |
| Trail Map -We Road the Red Trail |
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| Rainey on Wyatt Coming Down One of the Steep Slopes |
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| Laura on Durango Stepping Over Some Fallen Trees |
 |
| Beautiful Scenery |
 |
| Trail Got Narrow at Times |
Map:
I was able to add "Waterloo Horse Camp and Staging Area" to Google Maps, so you can search for that or use the link in the second paragraph above.
 |
| Waterloo Horse Camp on Google Maps |
Conclusion:
I personally would give this trails a 4 out of 5 stars because they are a bit technical at time, the facilities are great, there is about 30 miles of trails and camping is available. Which means you could camp here and visit other semi-local trails such as Pinckney, Maybury and Kensington. However, my trail companions did not feel so inclined due to the technical level of the trails, and the lack of good trail markers so I gave it 3 1/2 stars. I plan to get a few more rides in to see some of the other trails and get a better feel for what it has to offer.
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