Were to four wheel in Michigan??

[Big E]

Anyone from Michigan or know of a few places to go four wheelin'. I know of Silver Lake sand dunes.

Eric

 

[Seth]

I'm from toledo and the only place I know of is right by a some rail road tracks. And its really not much. Also when you are there you have to constantly worry about cops. How far away from Toledo are the dunes?

 

[Big E]

The dunes if I had to guess about 4 hours. Right now I am in college in Lima OH. But orginally I live in MI. If you want to go up there some weekend let me know. I would love to go with someone.

Eric

 

[Tom Wilk]

Seth and Big E, I'm in Ohio, Cleveland to be exact. There ain't much up this way for off road pleasure, but you may want to look at a couple of places that are within a day's drive: Badlands in Attica, IN, and Paragon, PA. I've never been to either, but I know that there are some here that have been or are going to those places in the near future. Check out the "Serious Explorations" forum to see what trips are being planned, or look at the Calander on this site.

I agree, it would be nice to have some place nearby, but at least its a good way to see different people and different parts of the country.

 

[Seth]

Big E -You go to college in Lima? That wouldn't be Ohio Northern would it? What all do you have on your explorer? Just trying to figure out what kind of trails we could handle.

I would love to get together with you guys some time and go to one of those places. Right now I'm finishing up the last couple of weeks for the summer semester of classes at UT but when that is over with I'll have the rest of the summer to do whatever. My email is seth867@hotmail.com if any of you want to get ahold of me. I don't have too much experience with four wheelin' but I'm willing to try just about anything that won't ruin my explorer. I have a 97' XLT SOHC v6 with 30x9.5 bfg's. 3.55 gears Manik grille guard with piaa 520 offroad lights. Shocks are rs5000's. The only thing I have done to the engine is a k&N filter charger. So whatever you guys think I can handle i'm all for it. I still need to get a trailer hitch in the back so I can have a good tow point but otherwise i'm ready to go.

 

[Big E]

I got to Northwestern Auto Diesel College in Lima. I have been here for about a year and a half plus a few months. Right now I have done very few mods to my Explorer. I coveted the rear axle from drum to disc about 2 weeks ago. Now I have 3.73 with limited slip. I have a 3" body lift and just 235/75 r15 ( I do about 500 miles on highway a weekend). A kn filter and that is about it. Other than that I think that is it. Not alot of money being in college and all and trying to drive home every weekend...and I think we all know how good an Explorer is on gas right?

Eric

 

[mac66]

Trails in Michigan

There are a number of off road trails in michigan go to this web site for a listing of the state trails. You can also order trail maps.
Dead Link Removed

 

[riffman]

Its a little far

but you could always join us in Attica, Indiana!! We're going this weekend.

 

[Big E]

What kinda trials you going on?

Eric

 

[Seth]

Man I would love to go with you guys this weekend but I already promised to bring my girlfriend on a little vacation. How about planning another trip in a month or so. I have a friend that is getting a lift on his J**p Cherokee next week and he said he wants to go out there some time. Besides that will give me some time to buy some more goodies for my explorer. Make sure you take some good pics of the trails.

Mac66 -have you ever been on any of those trails? Which ones are good?

 

[riffman]

There are a bunch of trails....from sand to mud to rocks to forrest trails....check out

http://www.badlandsoffroad.com

or http://www.letsgojeepin.com

and go the the trial photos and stuff...

 

[01EB5.0]

Thought i would dig up this thread to get new input. i printed off 2 maps from the michigan DNR site and wanted to know if anyone has been to or seen these trails and if a stock explorer would do well on them. I do have larger tires, but no suspension mods. Let me know please. Also if anyone would want to go to one of the trails with me to test them out let me know.the trails I am considering are: Lincoln hills trail, little manistee trail, tin cup spring trail, and maybe the north missaukee trail.

The trails are located in central-western michigan. Drop me a line if anyone has any input!

 

[mac66]

95XLT, I assume since you go to school in Allendale, you attend GVSU? I happen to be an alumnus, class of '77, of course in those days it was GVSC.

I've been on some of the trails you've mentioned. The Tin Cup and Manistee trails are pretty easy. The Missaukee trail I was on a ATV and we went places a larger vehicle couldn't go.

There are also some trails east of Gladwin (about 3 hours north of Detroit and west of I-75 on M61) which are also pretty good. Also, there are some good trails near West Branch which is also about 3 hours north of Detroit and just off of I-75. There is an large annual Jeep rally there in March I think.

Guys from Ohio may be interested in an off road area called the Mounds which is east of Flint MI. It is a county owned area and is probably 2-2.5 hours from Toledo off of I-75, (actually I-475 around Flint)

A bunch of us big bronco owners will be there on Nov. 3, and large numbers of 4X4 owners of all types will be there on Thanksgiving for what they call the Thankgiving Day Massacre (sp?).

While I have a 92 Eplorer XLT, I prefer to use my 91 Bronco off road. My Explorer is still too nice to beat up on the trails.

 

[01EB5.0]

mac66,
Cool, how many students were in GVSU at that time? Now we have nearly 20,000!

What type of trails are these? Mud? Sand? ALso do you think I would do ok with a stock explorer? I may be interested on going on that trip near flint, but need ot know more as I don't want to risk damaging my truck.

 

[mac66]

Most of these trails are dirt roads with sand, ruts, some mud, some hills and some washout type roads. Most are easily accessable by stock 4x4s.

The Mounds is east of Flint on Mt. Morris road. It has a little of everything, big mud holes, sand, ruts, small hills, scramble areas and trails etc. Because this area is pretty big, you would have no trouble in a stock Explorer if you avoid the big ruts and deep mud holes. I saw a guy in a small S-10 stock Blazer go through some incredible stuff in it and not get stuck.

GVSC had about 3,000 students when I started there, about 5,000 when I finished. I have to say it was some of the best years of my life. Played 4 years of football and met my wife of 22 years there. Lived in Kesler, Kissler, Kistler (SP?) dorm for a couple years. Man, those were great days!

 

[01EB5.0]

Thats really cool. It sound slike i may need to check out some of those trails sometime.

Yeah Kistler living center is one of the main freshmen buildings now. i guess it was updated recently so it's a little different inside.

 

[mac66]

Kistler living center? They used to be just dorms when I was there. Also lived in the Ravine Apts and then moved off campus my senior year. Things change.

When I was there we used to have huge school sponsoreed keg parties in the dorms or in the student center. Of course the drinking age was 18 then, but imagine allowing alcohol in the dorms. We used to lose at least one or two people every weekend who used to fall down into the ravines and not find their way out until they sobered up on Sunday. Now they call it binge drinking and I am sure you are lectured about it. Interestingly enough I rarely even drink anymore except for an occasional glass of wine at dinner.

My roomate and I used to keep motorcycles in our dorm room on the first floor until we got caught. I told you we had some fun times. Oh, the stories I could tell about good old GV.

Anyway, have fun, but not too much.

 

[01EB5.0]

Well, we still have Keg parites now...lol, but the kegs contain rootbeer instead. We haven;t had many big parties in my building yet, but off campus there have been some as you can imagine.
The cool thing is this friday is the inaugeration(sp?) of GV's third president. The last one (President Lubbers) retired last year. It's going to be crazy this friday...they are having a huge ceremony in the fieldhouse.