Gladwin is located approximately ¾ of the way up the lower peninsula of
Michigan and is one of the many riding areas available
throughout the state reserved for recreational vehicle use. The
entire Michigan ORV trail/route system covers 3,100 miles with 73%
on state forests. Of the system, 40% is cycle trail, 43% is ATV
trail and 17% is route.
As far as the actual riding goes, our group was a bit disappointed overall mostly due to our unsatisfied appetite for challenging, adrenalin pumping terrain. The terrain was fairly flat with really no hills at all. Rocks were virtually non-existent. No jumps, and lack of traction was absolutely not an issue. The riding was very "woopy"- bump upon bump, mile after mile of moguls. Kind of entertaining at first but after the first half hour it just became plain monotonous. On most of our quads (250X, Banshee, 400 Scrambler 4x4, and 500 Scrambler 4x4) the distance between the bumps was too short and frequent to jump, and too long to wheely more than two at a time without really getting burnt out. Overall, on a scale of 1-5 for technically challenging, it'd be about a 2. On the plus side, the forest was just gorgeous. And some of the woodsy sections were much less woopy and were a blast to run at a fast clip. Lots of short sections to open it up, followed quickly by tight radius turns threading through the zillions of pines. Near the upper end of the northern loop we even encountered a water crossing that almost gulped up our 2wd machines. Both 4x4 Polari easily powered through the tank deep water, but the X and the Banshee required following a carefully scouted line to make it across.
Bottom line? It was a fun ride. A nice
Sunday ride. Probably a great place to take younger, or less
experienced riders to play in the sand. There's even a couple of
large sand pits with some smaller hills and berms to rail through.
If you happen to live within 6 hours (like we do) it'd might just
be worth the road trip. Thanks for visiting |