The Panther Creek Trail passes through hardwood forests of white pine and hemlock trees with rocky bluffs and steep uphill ascents. The footpath moves upstream towards the focal point of this trip up where the camera almost continually gets into view mechanisms built into the rock wall. There are some photo spots along the way if you get the camera maximized.
The trail opens out to a hollow where you will get the sight of the cascading water falling from the nearby poplar trees. The trail continues to follow the river and the waterfall until it goes under the bridge. The path then swerves left as it ascends further to the Panther Creek.
Crossing a wooden bridge then a dirt road, the path continues to follow the Dwelling loop path to the top of the trail. Moving down to the Conservatory Loop, move past the park offices where you will see the parking lot and then turn left to the path that leads to the wooden footpath over the creek. The path follows the stream to the waterfall where it erupts into a place called the “Lost Children’s Place” in Primory Park.
The path then returns to the originating path and then you will begin the descent to the Panther Creek Falls where the cascading water falls at a 60-75 feet height. The falls named after British trappers that worked the forests in the 1800s. Later, the Falls became a favorite place for photographers to shoot pictures due to the hollow nature of the water.
From the Panther Creek Falls, the trail makes a difficult climb to an overlook on the top of Falls Branch. At the top of Falls Branch, a path leads you back to the Wetfoot Falls where you can see the South Branch Falls closer. However, the trail is again on the edge of a cliff so you will need to have a good vantage point from which to view the falls. From the Falls Branch, the trail makes a difficult climb further to the top of Primory Ridge where the pathway and the view back towards the overlook can be viewed.
After reaching the top of the falls, the trail moves to a difficult and steep descent to follow the stream. Move further until you cross Forest Service Road 42 and then make a difficult climb towards the split of Primory Ridge. As you move aside from this junction, you will then see the Panther Creek Trail going off to the right and the Wetfoot Trail going off to the left. The trail makes a long climb then curves left as it ascends towards the overlook. At the top of the overlook, turn right and then proceeds to a paved road which is a ways off the Crawford Path.
Cross the road and then make a difficult climb towards the top of Washburn Mountain where the trail comes to a abrupt end at the Washburn Mountain Canal. The canal is a water source which feeds the Grand River and Ergonomic Park boats. Move past this canal by a bridge and then find your way to a hill that leads to the set of stone steps that proceeds to the top of Panther Creek.
Last Wednesday I went out to Turtle Loop Park with a small group of my Boy Scout retrievers. We had planned on going a little ways to the end of the loop and then making a loop back to the parking lot we had started from.
As we started to pack up, my wife noticed that our day visitor was nowhere to be seen. We began to worry and spoke to someone else in the group. According to them, the man had checked to see if the park gates were locked at the end of the loop, but they had not yet closed it. They said they were still working on it.
Goats were not involved in the case.
We drove a short ways and returned to the entrance to the park. Sudwear was still there. We parked in the large parking area, got out our hiking poles and started towards the loop. As soon as we began to reach the end of the road, we began to climb up the side of the mountain.
At this point I became aware of the unusual way the dirt road had been cut into the hill. There are no graded road signs on the dirt road. It was just a straight arrow going down in the steep grade. I decided to ride out on the road a little further to see what it was like.
The bottom of the arrow was very smooth and forgiving. We started to climb up the mountain from here, with a determined steady pace. I am no longer a novice. I could easily ride the switchbacks and come back down the same way. But the fatigue from the climbing was with me and the fatigue from the pull was with Devi. The climb was slackened by lack of oxygen. At least on the way down I had something to breathe.
