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Michigan Bronco Club

Members from the Mitten and the U.P.
Gr8Hortoni
Hey guys,

a couple weeks ago I stumbled on info regarding the Trans American Trail and I’ve been obsessing about how great a ride like that could be.

About 4:30 this morning, I was working and had an epiphany..... what about a full blown Michigan Adventure Circuit?? Use the same concept of the T.A.T, but do it all in the state of Michigan.


Starting somewhere along the southwest of Michigan (Allegan Woods?) build a route using legal trails, dirt roads and paved secondary roads as much as possible, looping up the middle or east of the state to the bridge, maybe add an Upper Peninsula section that could be run or bypassed depending on time/destination. I’ve put together a couple of off road poker runs previously, my last one covered 105 miles, with about 70 on trails and dirt, but this is going to be a huge task.
I’m starting to do some research on it, reading through my trail atlases, going to see what I can put together. Any trail/dirt road/2 lane blacktop suggestions would be appreciated.
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gamma_j
gamma_j
Sounds pretty epic! Would love to see how this turns out. Can't really say I'm currently offroading so I don't have much in the way to offer, but that's my intent with the new Bronco. I'd like to do a little overlanding on Drummond Island as well. Family has a house there and it seems like it'd be a lot of fun.
Mattwings
Mattwings
Sounds awesome. Have you done the MCCT (I think that’s the name). It goes across the state and loops the norther part of the lower peninsula. Maybe do an east to west route that meets in the middle somewhere around Lansing, then goes North to the loop? Much of that loop can be paralleled by two tracks, DNR trails and dirt roads. SE MI is a bit challenging, might have to start around Brighton or Milford to keep the path even partially dirt. Maybe even start the East loop at the new Holly Oaks park?
Gr8Hortoni
Gr8Hortoni
MCCT is only for bikes. I’ve got the resources to start planning. As long as it avoids the major highways, I’m good with it. Detroit area and SE MI is tough in general. I was thinking about getting the off road parks involved maybe... Bundy Hill, RnV, Twisted trails (have a very good relationship with the manager), maybe see if we can get Holly oaks involved. My thought is once we get north of Holly there’s quite a bit to play with up there between St Helen, Bull Gap, Mio, Gaylord, Grayling. We could have some awesome fun getting up to the bridge, then out to Drummond and back along Lake Superior and around the south and down the west side of the state (I’ve got plenty mapped on this side to make it work).
Mattwings
Mattwings
I was just thinking the MCCT is a good starting or point for mapping parts of a run. Much of it has two tracks and or ORV trails that connect or parallel that route, not running the route itself (other than potentially sections that use roads or full size legal trails). I am very interested in Drummond (and several other spots for sure) having never been there before. I mentioned it in another post, but I have a place near Oscoda and would be happy to put help host a start, stop or finish over on the East side of a ride. There are full size legal trails and lots of two tracks that lead to MIO, Rose City, Gladwin areas that have full size trails as well. The river road, air base, Iosco Sportmans Club range ( up to 600 yards, trap, skeet) Lumbermans Monument) are some side trips that outdoor enthusiasts might enjoy as well. I have not mapped a ride before (most of my experience with trail mapping and rides was on my motorcycle in the past) but I am willing to learn and help out.
Gr8Hortoni
Gr8Hortoni
@Mattwings, have you ever used the Ramblr app? Very easy way to map and share rides. Probably going to need a more advanced mapping system to put the route together, but it would be a good way to get sections or side adventures mapped out to get added to the overall run. I didn’t think of the fact of the adjacent routes to the cycle trail, that is a good point. I’ve got the paper map of Drummond here (it’s definitely worth it’s own dedicated trip. I love it).
Gr8Hortoni
Gr8Hortoni
I’ve done grayling a couple times, around the base is awesome, and Lucerne is a great trip over by Mio.
Mattwings
Mattwings
I downloaded Gaia and Ramblr. I will mess around with them a bit and see how they work. I may try and do another mostly dirt road drive between my cabin near Oscoda and our family place in Gladwin. It goes through a lot of National Forest and the routes get interrupted by rivers and private land in a few spots. Gladwin has some really fun two tracks in the spring and late fall. They get pretty wet and swampy. Otherwise it’s a lot of sand, but some decent tow tracks up to West Branch. From there you can obviously get almost anywhere in Northern MI on mostly dirt.

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