Just got back from a great weekend of riding in Oscada County, MI... Mio, Kalkaska and Atlanta. But...

what is happening to the trails!? The Michigan/Federal DNR is RUINING this trail system by refusing to take care of it, let me be more clear.

Rather than groom the trails and monitor for foolish riders breaking the rules, they just go in and close down absolutely wonderful trails. What happened to Bull Gap!? I have been riding in and around Mio for over 10 years and a month ago Bull Gap was as fun as ever, now they have one way traffic going up the hill, all the great challenging side trails are closed and the fun has dissappeared. Who wants to climb a hill and then spend 5 minutes taking a bypass with speedbumps back to the bottom! This is ridiculous, I have no idea why the DNR chose this route. If anybody knows what happened over the last month please let me know. This is the second time in this trail system that fun, challenging trails have been closed down. I understand that some riders are not capable of climbing steep hills...but thats why there is the green/blue/black rating system!

PLEASE...DNR, instead of just closing trails do your job and monitor and groom these trails! We pay for ORV passes and camping for a reason, use that money to improve the area!

 

You make me feel lucky to live in Wisconsin. Most of the trails here are maintained by local clubs, using grant money from the state. The county oversees the use of the funds. We haven't had any trails closed in our county, but you better believe that our club reacts fast to any concerns about trail conditions.

So, I've got to wonder why you feel that government has to be the whole solution.

 

I actually live in Ohio but often ride in MI... I had no idea they were even going to do this. We were there in June and it was fine and came back this weekend and everything was changed. Believe me if I lived closer than 5hrs away I would be doing all I can to keep this from happening, this is a great trail system and if there are any local groups (Mio, Rose City, Kalkaska, Atlanta, Luzurne) who know of a contact person to inquire about this let me know.

 

In Michigan, the trails are NOT maintined by the DNR but by private groups who receive financial compensation by the DNR from the funds obtained through ORV licensing. Your right, Bull Gap is in awful shape compared to the Old State House trail in Oscoda, which I believe is maintained by the ATV Club of Michigan. I have been unable to find out which groups maintain what trails and what the compensation is. Anyone know who to contact? My EMails to the DNR were not answered.

 

I always see the DNR trucks on the rare occassions when they do groom. And I have seen DNR vehicles and personnel at Bull Gap checking ORV stickers, spark arrestors etc. If a private group is responsible for maintaining the trails I would also be very interested to know who the group is.

If you find out any contact info let me know. Thanks for the info.

 

I live less than an hour away from bull gap and have never ridden it, but hate to hear of trails around me gettin closed down, esp since rose city and mio pretty much thrive on the ATV n snowmobiles to stay afloat.

 

Go to www.atvoffroad.net and sign-on with their website [ cost nothing ] and get your answers in there.

Non profit clubs and association maintain the ORV trails in Michigan.

I was told that the Bull Gap hill went to one-way because of all the spurs that were built/made on the hill sides by ORVs in the past. If so, this is complete BS by the DNR. There was absolutley NOTHING wrong with the side spurs on the BG hill IMO.

More than likely, just some GREENIE or TREE HUGGER complained, and thus, this is what we get..A HUGE WASTE of our ORV dollars.

 

Exactly! Here is my question...
No offense to the residents of Mio, its a beautiful place and I would love to have a cabin there, but without ATVs, Motorcycles, Snowmobiles and the Au Sable, there would be nobody there! Taking care of the trails only benefits the area which is why I would think local groups and DNR would put in a little more effort.

I also want to point out that this is only recent. My first trip to Mio was about 12years ago and only within the last 2 have I started to notice the probs. Not sure what changed.

 

My thoughts were that it was either environmentalists complaining or that someone got hurt/killed at the hill. I couldn't think of another reason for the changes.

 

After dealing with the DNR for MANY years with respect to our ORV sport here in Michigan, I am completely convinced that IF it were left up to just the DNR, Michigan would have NO trails to operate ORVs on.

We fought long and hard for HB 4323, and it seemed that 90% of the objections come directly from the DNR.

HB 4323 allows the Counties north of US 10 the authority to OPEN the shoulders of their County Roadways to ORV traffic, single file, at speeds of under 25 mph. DNR fought this Bill with upmost consistancy, however, the riding public and leaders of our sport were their to fight them, and we WON.

HB 4323 has now been signed into LAW on July 17th of this year and is now PA 240.

Congradulations to the ORV public in Michigan.