- Oct 28, 2001
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Rode the Old State House trail/route this past weekend near Oscoda. We stayed at Camp Nissokone, a YMCA camp about 3 miles east of the trail head. This was my first ride since breaking my collarbone on 6/2 (14 weeks out), and was Zach's (age 8) first real ORV trail ride.
The staging area is a nice graded area about 1/4 mile down a dirt road off the main highway. There is a 12 mile ORV route (two track), and a 17 mile ORV trail (single track). Both start and end at the same point. The staging area was empty except for a quad trailer.
I had heard that the Old State House system was good for kids, so we started out on the 17 mile single track loop. The first 300 yards were pretty sandy, especially for my son's XR-70. He had never ridden in sand, and this combined with the twisty single track left him a little unnerved. He was used to riding in a wide-open grassy field, and he didn't like the bike getting squirrely so close to all the trees. We turned around and decided to take the wider 12 mile loop route instead.
The two track was still pretty sandy and dusty (no rain!), but gave the little XR-70 more wiggle room to fight through the sand. The first 1-2 miles were pretty rough. I kept telling Zach to tough it out, and that it would get better and eventually easier. There was always at least 1"-2" of sand, and in quite a few spots 5"-10". The lack of rain did not help. We rode 6 miles, and came up to a slight hill that had fairly deep sand ruts. The XR-70 had done pretty well, and Zach was at least starting to fight through the sand without cussing under his breath :) . So we headed back with a little of that fine Michigan sand experience under his belt. 12 miles in all the first day.
The second day was much better. We took the same 12 mile route again, but this time did the complete loop. We went the opposite direction so that the up hill encountered the first day would be a down hill on the second day. There were some fairly hard packed spots found deep in the woods towards the back of the loop, but still a fair amount of sand for a little kid. The really cool thing was that Zach was a lot more confident riding through the sand. After he made through a tight sandy corner with both feet on the pegs, he was ecstatic. He had gone from "I hate this sand, lets go back! :( " to "Hey that was fun - I made it through! :thumb: " It was cool following 20' behind him and watching him fight his way through the sandy sections, trying to keep his feet on the pegs and using some body english.
We got a little lost, but ended up completing the loop with 17 miles on the odometer the second day. There were quite a few dirt roads, side trails, and stop signs that the route crossed over. After we got back to the staging area, someone there mentioned that the single track is only really sandy in the beginning, so I'd like to try that next time.
It was a great experience watching my son on the brink of tears, hating the sand, to eventually having a riot and enjoying the challenge of it all.
As we were loading up, a guy pulled up in his pickup with a KTM 250 EXC (white, a few years old), and a KX-65, along with his 8 year-old son. They were really nice, and we talked for about 20 minutes. He's from Howell (about 30 minutes from my house), and has about 50 acres of riding area right next to his house. He invited Zach and I to come out and go riding sometime. He never heard of DRN, so I told him all about it.
Overall a great (but short) riding weekend!
:thumb:
- Bill
The staging area is a nice graded area about 1/4 mile down a dirt road off the main highway. There is a 12 mile ORV route (two track), and a 17 mile ORV trail (single track). Both start and end at the same point. The staging area was empty except for a quad trailer.
I had heard that the Old State House system was good for kids, so we started out on the 17 mile single track loop. The first 300 yards were pretty sandy, especially for my son's XR-70. He had never ridden in sand, and this combined with the twisty single track left him a little unnerved. He was used to riding in a wide-open grassy field, and he didn't like the bike getting squirrely so close to all the trees. We turned around and decided to take the wider 12 mile loop route instead.
The two track was still pretty sandy and dusty (no rain!), but gave the little XR-70 more wiggle room to fight through the sand. The first 1-2 miles were pretty rough. I kept telling Zach to tough it out, and that it would get better and eventually easier. There was always at least 1"-2" of sand, and in quite a few spots 5"-10". The lack of rain did not help. We rode 6 miles, and came up to a slight hill that had fairly deep sand ruts. The XR-70 had done pretty well, and Zach was at least starting to fight through the sand without cussing under his breath :) . So we headed back with a little of that fine Michigan sand experience under his belt. 12 miles in all the first day.
The second day was much better. We took the same 12 mile route again, but this time did the complete loop. We went the opposite direction so that the up hill encountered the first day would be a down hill on the second day. There were some fairly hard packed spots found deep in the woods towards the back of the loop, but still a fair amount of sand for a little kid. The really cool thing was that Zach was a lot more confident riding through the sand. After he made through a tight sandy corner with both feet on the pegs, he was ecstatic. He had gone from "I hate this sand, lets go back! :( " to "Hey that was fun - I made it through! :thumb: " It was cool following 20' behind him and watching him fight his way through the sandy sections, trying to keep his feet on the pegs and using some body english.
We got a little lost, but ended up completing the loop with 17 miles on the odometer the second day. There were quite a few dirt roads, side trails, and stop signs that the route crossed over. After we got back to the staging area, someone there mentioned that the single track is only really sandy in the beginning, so I'd like to try that next time.
It was a great experience watching my son on the brink of tears, hating the sand, to eventually having a riot and enjoying the challenge of it all.
As we were loading up, a guy pulled up in his pickup with a KTM 250 EXC (white, a few years old), and a KX-65, along with his 8 year-old son. They were really nice, and we talked for about 20 minutes. He's from Howell (about 30 minutes from my house), and has about 50 acres of riding area right next to his house. He invited Zach and I to come out and go riding sometime. He never heard of DRN, so I told him all about it.
Overall a great (but short) riding weekend!
:thumb:
- Bill
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