A Quick Look at Gladwin [glug ... glug]

[Nestrick]

Had some time this afternoon so I grabbed the dogs and headed up to check out the Gladwin Trail to see how the place endured last winter … well, I guess I’m really not too amazed at what I found based upon the heavy snows we received, but considering everything, I am surprised that the water levels on the surrounding roads were not as bad as I have witnessed in the recent past.

[See below left]
On my arrival I am approaching from the east on M-61 … hence, I pass the ORV trail where it crosses M-61 after leaving the trail head parking facility … I stopped and snapped this picture looking south at the trail as it exits onto the roadway from the trail head … as indicated, the DNR still has this area marked for no motorcycles or quads … in addition, there is now a large tree across the main trail as well.

[See below right]
Turning around and facing north from the same vantage point along M-61 you can see the trail entering the middle loop of the two northern trails … again, the DNR still has this area marked for no motorcycles or quads … however, if you look closely, you can easily see that there have been several folks riding through despite the signage.

 

[Nestrick]

[See below left]
I walked down the trail to the north of M-61 to the point of the junction for the lower loop … as you can see, all the trail markers have been removed and some of the trees appear to bear the kind of markings I have seen in areas that clear cutting operations have passed through. Interestingly, about a mile east of this point, on the north side of M-61 that’s exactly what is happening … they are clear cutting a large area of the forest. I do hope they do not intend to clear cut the area where the north loops of Gladwin pass through or it will increase the erosion problems that are a significant environmental problem currently … this area suffers flooding nearly year round … loss of the trees will certainly exacerbate the problem.

[See below right]
Here’s a shot of the new, double tiered, trail head parking facility. Still a bit of snow around in the shady areas … still quite a bit of mud and puddles … but as you can see in the background, there were two groups of ATV’ers out testing the South loop. I talked with one of the groups and they mentioned that the trail was still very rough … some ice and snow still present in the shady areas … there were many flooded zones where the water exceeded 2 feet in depth … and much of the sandy high trails were rather severely whooped out already. They did manage to run most of the 14 miles of trail on sport ATVs … they didn’t see anyone out on a motorcycle today though.

 

[Nestrick]

[See below left]
I drove to the north across M-61 on Center Fire Lane to the point that the road makes a jog to the west, near the camping area … the lower Northern loop passes through this area in two places depending on which side of the loop you are on … all of the trails were generously marked as shown in this picture … no wheeled motor vehicles. These signs were even placed on the roadways into the camping areas … really not much of problem at this time anyway … I was in my Jeep Wrangler which is equipped with Goodyear MTRs and I barely made it this far up Center Fire Lane … and in fact, going further about 1 mile brought me to the point of a pickup buried in the road up to the fenders in mud and water … I opted return to M-61. Guess the flooding problems for the North loop will still be with us this year?

[See below right]
Driving south on Center Fire Lane from the Trail Head Parking Facility about half a mile I noticed a father and son riding around in one of the small parking areas adjoining the South loop. I stopped and got this shot … the youngster was enjoying the first ride on his new bike … he was “beaming’ … by the way, so was Dad … if you look close, you will see that Dad has a brand new CRF-450X … has 18 miles on it!

 

[Nestrick]

[See below left]
Here’s a better shot of the CRF-450X … I was drooling! The bike sits a bit lower than my 02 CRF-450R … is a little heavier based on my impressions of just sitting on it … is much narrower across the tank and started crisply via the E button! I was amazed at how little sound emerges from the motor … even blipping the throttle half way, it’s so quite it’s almost scary. The fellow was moving up from an XR-400 … this was basically his first ride in any real dirt … he just couldn’t believe how powerful the 450X felt relative to his old XR-400.

[See below right]
Last shot is my jeep setting in the small scramble area on the southern end of the South loop where it emerges onto Grim Road … as you can see, in the open and higher areas the sand is beginning to dry out … however, what you don’t see as that every hole in the ground is filled with ice and water mixed with a good dose of mud.

It looks to me like we are in for another “banner year” at the Gladwin Trail. Not only is the North loop still closed, but the crazies are out in force to boot! No wonder the DNR wants this area closed to motorized use … while riding around I could see quad tracks leading into the woods at virtually every possible entry point within two to three miles of the trail head … the tracks were all over Center Fire Lane road, both north and south of M-61 … and I saw several “No Motorized Vehicle” signs that were obviously run over by a quad. If folks do not obey the markings then it will certainly be all that much harder to convince the DNR to reopen the North loops … and that would be a shame because the North loops are the only ones I really feel are worth riding on a bike … the South is mostly deep sand that is totally whooped out all summer long.

Thought you folks might enjoy a trail update … even if I didn’t try to ride yet!

terry nestrick :cool:

 

[woodsy]

Thanks for the excellent trail report brother Nez!! Good job!
Really cool pics too - of course my favorite is of the father and son team - NOTHING like biken and familyness!!
Woodsy

 

[70 marlin]

Thanks for the trail report Terry. It looks like the area is almost ready to ride.

 

[FLEM]

with the north loop closed the south is really taking a beating. with as much traffic as Gladwin has. when we did ride it we only rode the north loop, we usually parked off the center fire trail north of m-61. the trail used to go further south than Grimm road, but they closed those years ago. I hope they re-open the north and add some singlr track.

 

[3KDXXR2]

Man its great to have you back Terry! Thanks for the report.
Curtis