I definitely agree with you Frank, If I lived up that way, I would never come back down here for too much! I hate Bundy like Ken said, the mud there is really a concrete mix, and if you don't get it off right away, when you leave there, you'll never get it off without sand blasting, dynamite, picks and shovels! It's too bad that it's the only place down here where we can legally ride and on top of that its only open for a couple days all winter! .We usually go every year for those 2 days out of boredom, but in their defence it really was something special both trips last yr with fresh snow on the hills there, and we were first ones in, with no other tracks made yet.
We might need to cancel on going with this heavy rain were getting right now, with more the night (New Years Eve) before opening day. I've been there before, right after a heavy rain, and all that mud from their hills, land slides over the trails making for a real bad and nasty trip! That might be ok, I sure wasn't looking forward to dirtying up my clean machine lol, but it's got to get dirty eventually, but not that kind of dirt! You can ride for a month up north and the sand kinda polishes things up, instead of soiling/staining/rock hard sludge! where most everything in God's country up there rinses right off with a simple spray, and lite brushing! I just checked our weather snowman just now up there where all the snow has melted and warm, nearly 50 tomorrow, and heavy rain with no snow in their forecast! Ouch!!

Riding heaven would be a 2 hour drive north of here to Grayling. It's surrounded by trails. You could take a relatively short drive in any direction to get to one. If you type grayling into the search box of the interactive map, click on Grayling, MI, and zoom out, you can see the area is littered with trails. https://midnr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=1710727ba3ec4c64928110fdb4f7799d

Sometime I'd like to ride Kalkaska Trail & Route and/or North Missaukee Trail & Route. They go through parts of about a half dozen counties and would take several days to cover. My friends will never go there because they would have to trailer from their cabin.

Hey Frank...you do lots of riding up there in Mich so I have some questions for you if you don't mind. How strict is the 50" trail rule enforced? My SxS is a smaller one at 56", hate just riding roads. When up in St Helens area this fall noticed lots of SxS on trails (50") so do the cops look the other way or do they enforce the trail widths. Want to ride but not looking for a ticket. Most routes appear to be boring roads. Thanks

I had an answer all typed out but must not have hit the submit button. Basically, I don't know if they actually enforce the 50" width on the trails without gates, but there's no way you're getting your 56" SxS through the 50" gates. On The Meadows trail where I do most of my riding they have a few gates like that. One time I stopped halfway through and it looked like it was about 52" wide. Bull Gap trail had some gates, just 2 big posts in the ground really, that people were always going around. If you got caught going around a gate with something too wide go trough it, you'd be in big trouble if anyone saw you. But I don't see much law enforcement anywhere.

ETA: On some trails without any gates your SxS may fit down the trail but you never know when it will narrow down. You might not have any problem at all and most likely you wouldn't get caught. But if the DNR or a forest ranger saw you I don't know if they would give you a ticket or not. I think they would.

Get off them roads, and into trails!
Got a few left 2017, new w/ 1 yr warranty. 2019 under $6000.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/atvconn...d67eff4b69.jpg$98 mo. Under $5000, 2017
Beats taking chances, also peace of mind! We'll also be more well matched for them tighter trails.

Nice thought but not gonna happen! Use my SxS for to many other things. Only use for the act would be up north....to expensive for a toy to use a few times a year. Besides I got rid of my Praire because it was killing my shoulders (torn rotator cuffs both shoulders) the steering wheel doesn't bother them. I guess we will just see what happens, and try to stay on wider trails where there are no gates or posts. Quite a few guys from another group ride the area with SxS' s and have no issues, but they also never go thru or around posts, just find wider trails.

Sounds like a plan Ken, I just get so envious when watching you in that warm comfy/cozy ride of yours, while I'm out there, in the elements, freezing my rrr's off lol Although I am gathering a few more creature comforts for next trip, like warm back couch cushion, grip/thumb warmers, handlebar mitts, snowmobile helmet, hitch crapper w/heated seat and butt wipe holder lol
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/atvconn...a218f4117c.jpg sorry wishful thinking....could you imagine seeing this out on the trails behind someone's quad doing whoops, a splash'n and a dump'n along the way lol Also known as trying to get your sh*t together lol

If you saw that on the trail it would make you wonder just what the mud is really like in the next mudhole!! I could see you getting stuck and having to call for help...."I am stuck on the toilet and need help" .....

Would make for a great Steve Martin kind of movie, wouldn't it? lol
Its looking mild for the next 2 weeks up north! Too bad you put the other home up for the winter!! Mid 30's next weekend w/ sun St Helen....MAN!! AND DRY!! Maybe I can get my son and grandson to go, they just got their dirt bike running yesterday, so we would all have rides! We'll see. You might think about getting yours out of mothballs, it might stay globally warm all winter lol

Just my luck to get the MH out of storage and get stranded up north in a freak snowstorm!! Wouldn't want to take the buggy up with the enclosure on it as it might get snagged and torn by debris on the trails, tree branches etc. The material is tough, a premium boat covering material but I could see a tree branch snagging it when you pass by at 25 mph! While it definitely sounds like fun, I will pass on the winter trail riding.....however if there is a winter carnival or tip-up on a frozen lake I am open to that. Used to go to devils lake tipup for years until there was no ice strong enough to go out on. We took along a big saucer to pull behind the atv and play crack the whip. One year a guy had a radar gun and clocked my son at 55 mph after letting loose the tow rope on a crack the whip run. He didn't stop laughing for an hour afterwards. They had drag strip and big oval track for fun racing of anything you wanted to ride on. Locally we had a carnival on the frozen Ottawa river, lots of fun, big campfire, plenty to eat and drink, restaurants along the river were open as well as the yacht clubs. Just a fun time to get out and meet and greet and do a little riding. Hope we get some good cold weather to have these start happening again.