Brighton Recreation Area

The top attraction for hikers in the Brighton Recreation Area is the fabulous Penosha Trail, a hilly 5 mile loop that takes you through dense forests of hardwoods and pine. Along the way you will also encounter ponds, wetlands, and prairie. The Kahchin Trail offers a shorter hike through this terrain and uses some of the same trail segments. It is also possible to fashion a hike that includes most of both trails.

Another outstanding option is a hike on any of the three mountain bike trails in the area:

Appleton Trail (4.2 mile loop, including extensions),
Murray Lake Trail (7.5 mile loop, not including extensions),
Torn Shirt Trail (8 mile loop).

These loops share a common trailhead with the Penosha and Kahchin Trails at the Bishop Lake Complex. Their twisty turny aspects may be off-putting for a hiker, but the natural beauty

of the setting more than makes up for it. Some tips for sharing the trail with mountain bikers and for incorporating sections of the Torn Shirt Trail into a Penosha/Kahchin hike are provided below.

The Penosha and Kahchin Trails

These two hiker-only trails are well-maintained, with trail markers at several branching points to guide you. The trailhead

is located on the east side of the parking lot, but the true starting point for the trails is about 75 yards farther east at Trail Marker 1

The trailhead displays a map indicating that the Penosha Trail is 6 miles long. This seems to be an exaggeration -- OpenStreetMap data suggests that a round trip (from Marker 1 back to Marker 1) is 4.75 miles, or 4.85 miles if you include the walk out and back to the parking lot. This is more in line with what is posted on the online trail map (5 miles), and is consistent with the mileage markers installed recently on the trail.

The Kahchin Trail also seems to be a bit shorter than the advertised 2 miles. The OpenStreetMap suggests that it is about 1.6 miles long (marker to marker), or 1.7 miles if you measure starting from the parking lot.

You can combine the best of both hikes by traversing the Penosha Trail Markers 1, 7, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8 in that order (i.e., counterclockwise), returning via the Kahchin trail from Marker 8 to Marker 12, and then back to 1 via 7. This hike is about 5.3 miles long.

A tip to be filed under Calibrating Your Expectations: If you zoom in on the OpenStreetMap, you'll notice an intriguing feature labeled "Rock Bath" at about the midway point of the Kahchin Trail. While this may conjure up images of a human-sized basin fed by a spring, the reality is a rather modest bird bath

Variations:

West of the parking lot is Bishop Lake

and the 1 mile Bishop Lake Trail. The latter is a point-to-point trail that runs along the shoreline between the Three Fires Group Camp on the south side and the Bishop Lake Campground on the northwest side. While you may want to take advantage of the lake area amenities, the trail itself is rather tame. About half of it -- in the vicinity of the beach area on the north shore -- is a concrete sidewalk.

If you enjoy testing your navigational skills and are undaunted by the potential for making wrong turns, it is possible to take a side trip along an unpaved portion of the Bishop Lake Trail and eventually join the Penosha Trail at about the 0.85 mile mark. Heading west from the parking lot, turn left (south) onto the Bishop Lake Trail, following it to where it ends at the Three Fires Group Camp

. Provided that the camp is not occupied, make your way to the gated vehicle entrance on the opposite side and turn left onto the access road. After 1/8 mile, look for a trail on your right

headed southeast. Continue southeast on this trail for about 0.4 miles, where a branch of the trail to your left (east) continues for another 75 yards and joins the Penosha Trail.

I've created a GPX route map [What's this?] that shows three tracks: the Kahchin Trail, the Penosha Trail, and a hybrid 5.7 mile hike that starts with the Bishop Lake side trip before joining the southbound Penosha and finishing on the Kahchin. A fourth option is this 3.3 mile route

available on MapPedometer. It also follows the Bishop Lake side trip, but after rejoining the Penosha, it heads north to Marker 12 and takes the Kahchin Trail from there.

The Mountain Bike Trails

If you are interested in hiking on the mountain bike trails, be aware that they are narrow

and single-track. Bike traffic is allowed only in the counterclockwise direction. My advice for hikers is to travel clockwise and be prepared to yield the right of way. You'll know you're moving in the right direction when you see trail markers that read "Wrong Way". On the other sides of those markers are mileages for the bikers.

At Marker 1, the trail splits three ways

. Penosha and Kahchin hikers take the right branch, Torn Shirters and Murray Lakers the middle branch, and Appletonians the left. The middle and left branches have short segments of two-way traffic leading from Marker 1 to another fork in the trail (such as this one

). Bikers will take the right branch; clockwise hikers, the left branch.

The Appleton Trail:

The 4.25 mile Appleton Trail is a series of three loops that are linked together. It is apparently the newest of the park's trails, since it is not even shown on the map at the trailhead, and the online trail map shows only the first of the three loops. The complete set is shown on the OpenStreetMap (labeled "Appleton Loop", "Appleton Extension", and "Appleton North") as well as at trailforks.com

As a mountain bike trail, the Appleton is considered easy. There are some modest hill climbs but no major technical challenges. Hikers will appreciate that it has only a few sharp turns -- the emphasis is on forward progress, not twisty tests of biker skill. The landscape is almost entirely forested, aside from a brief stretch through a grassy open field. There are also some tantalizing glimpses of two lakes (Appleton and Little Appleton). Should you wish to see the lakes up close (as shown here

and here

), note that there are two places where the trail crosses the access road to the lakes. Taking a side trip on the access road will add about 1/2 mile to your hike.

The outbound (clockwise) portion of the trail runs relatively close to unpaved Bishop Lake and Cunningham Lake Roads, so you may be forced to endure road noise from the occasional passing vehicle. However, the inbound portion is much quieter. It runs deeper into the forest, and at times there is further buffering provided by intervening hills and ridges.

I've saved a GPX route map for a 4.7 mile hike [What's this?] on the Appleton Trail that includes a side trip to the lakes. On older version of this route is still available online at MapPedometer

The Murray Lake Trail:

The Murray Lake Trail offers a longer trek through wooded areas with occasional wetlands and modest hills. There are glimpses of Reed Lake and Murray Lake along the way. As a mountain bike trail it is rated "intermediate", but for a hiker I would still consider it easy. While the up and down hilly segments are numerous, they each involve changes in elevation of less than 50 feet. It has a few more twists and turns than the Appleton Trail, but not enough to mar the experience for hikers.

The twistiness makes it difficult for mappers to accurately measure the trail length. In any case, it is clear that a round trip from the parking lot is longer than the 7.0 mile estimate one obtains from OpenStreetMap data and perhaps a bit shorter than the 8 mile estimate posted on the official trail maps. The mile markers posted along the trail do seem to be fairly accurate, suggesting that the true length is 7.7 miles.

There are quite a few shortcuts and extensions available on the trail allowing you to fashion shorter or longer hikes. For example, less than 2 miles into the hike, the trail intersects itself at Marker 4. A clockwise hiker would normally turn left at this spot to continue; a right turn would lead back to the trailhead, resulting in a hike of perhaps 3.75 miles. Passing straight through the intersection would switch your hike into counterclockwise mode. (Keep in mind that any route on these trails is likely to be 10% to 15% longer than any estimate based on OpenStreetMap data.)

Another major decision point is at Marker 5, near the entrance to the Murray Lake Campground. A clockwise hiker would curl around to the south here and return to the self-intersection at Marker 4. However, the trail fork also offers a northbound entry to three linked extensions of the Murray Lake Trail: the Lost Loop, the Found Loop, and Ralph's Ride. Even if you prefer to skip these extensions, you may wish to follow the northbound branch to a nearby bridge

crossing over a stream. A short distance beyond the bridge is Marker 6 and a shortcut that will lead you back across the bridge, allowing a return to Marker 5. I've saved a copy of this side trip

on MapPedometer -- it will add less than 0.4 miles to your hike.

Note that there is a path on the way (clockwise) to Marker 5 that leads off the trail and into the Murray Lake Campground. If you end up on this path either by intent or by accident, you will have a prime opportunity to get a close-up view of Murray Lake

New! I've saved a GPX route map [What's this?] that shows the Murray Lake Trail as it is currently configured, along with a second route that takes

a shortcut about 1.2 miles into the hike,
a later detour into the campground for a view of Murray Lake, and
a second detour to the stream crossing near Marker 6 as suggested above.

Disregard the reported 6.4 mile length of this route; I estimate that it is 7.1 miles long.

The Torn Shirt Trail:

The Torn Shirt Trail is considered the most technically challenging of the three mountain bike trails. The twists and turns are tighter and more numerous than they are on the Murray Lake Trail, and the second half (for a clockwise hiker) features several steep hill climbs that I would rate as moderately strenuous for hiking.

There is a surprising variety of conflicting information about the length of the trail. A Michigan DNR sign posted at Marker 2 indicates that it is 6 miles long, data extracted from the OpenStreetMap suggests that a round trip from the parking lot is 6.9 miles long, a 2022 DNR brochure says 7 miles, and the official trail map indicates 8 miles. The mile markers posted on the trail do appear to be accurate, and if so, it means that 8 miles is very close to the truth.

Including some Torn Shirt on your Penosha or Kahchin hike:

If you would prefer to get just a taste of the mountain bike trails rather than a full dose, consider starting with a counterclockwise hike on the Penosha or Kahchin Trails. Along the stretch from Markers 9 to 8 to 7, there are several short connecting paths that allow you to cross over into or out of the Torn Shirt Trail and weave one or two mountain bike trail segments into your hike:

Near Marker 9, after you cross Teahen Road and climb the staircase, look for a connecting path immediately on your right. A clockwise Torn Shirt hike from here to the finish is about 4.7 miles.
The next crossover point is about 0.25 miles later on the Penosha, or 0.4 miles later on the Torn Shirt. The Penosha side of this crossover is easy to identify -- it has a trail marker .
About 0.45 (Penosha) or 2.3 (Torn Shirt) miles later is the next crossover point. The two trails pass within a few feet of each other and there is a trail marker here as well.
The next opportunity comes quickly. After about 0.15 (Penosha) or 0.1 (Torn Shirt) miles, there is another spot where the trails pass within sight of each other and a rough path connects them.
Less than 0.1 Penosha miles later at Marker 8, where the Kahchin and Penosha Trails meet, there is a 50 foot path that connects to the Torn Shirt Trail. Look for it behind the bench at this intersection. On the Torn Shirt side this path is a bit less than 1 mile away from the previous crossover and 120 yards before you reach Mile Marker 1.0, but it may be difficult to spot through the trees and shrubs.
Roughly midway between Markers 7 and 8, there is one final spot where the two trails pass within a few feet of each other and there is a clear path between them. Crossing over here will not appreciably change the length of your hike, and with Marker 1 only 1/4 mile away, the duration will be brief.

These crossover points are labeled X1-X6 on the GPX route map provided below.

If your goal is to use the Torn Shirt Trail to burn some calories, be sure to include the 2.3 miles between the second and third crossover points and the 1 mile between the fourth and fifth. The steep hills and deep basins are most prevalent in these two sections. Quirky highlights to look for are the trail's presumptive namesake

and a how-did-they-get-it-up-here picnic table

I've saved a GPX route map [What's this?] that shows the Torn Shirt Trail as well as an easier hybrid route that replaces the more intense calorie-burning parts of the Torn Shirt with a segment on the Penosha Trail. The hybrid route initially follows the Torn Shirt Trail to the first crossover point (labeled "X1" on the map), switches over to the Penosha for the passage to Marker 8 ("X5"), and then rejoins the Torn Shirt for the finish. Although the GPX file suggests that this hike is 4.7 miles long, I estimate its true length to be about 5.4 miles.

Directions:

Head north on US-23, taking Exit 54B to westbound M-36 (9 Mile Road). Follow M-36 for 5 miles as it snakes north and west, turning right (north) onto Chilson Road just after you pass the Kroger. Continue the north and west snaking on Chilson and look for the Bishop Lake Road entrance to the Brighton Recreation Area on your right after 3.75 miles. Follow the signs to the Bishop Lake Complex about 1.4 miles down this road on the right (south). Turn right again to reach the large parking lot and trailhead.

Excerpt from the website:

[The] Brighton Recreation Area provides 4,947 acres of recreation for park visitors to use. The area has a combination of high, irregular ranges of hills, interspersed with a number of attractive lakes. [It] has several miles of trails available for [equestrians], mountain [bikers] and [hikers]. Oak forest, thick hedgerows and open spaces blend on the uplands while grassy marshes, shrub marshes and dense swamp timber mark the lowlands.

S4. Brighton Recreation Area Trails

Overview: