Ok as promised here is my weekend at Drummond Island aka The Rock. Be warned I got caried away. This is a little long.
Day #1
Friday morning I slept in till 7:30am, had the day off. Got my kid up, dressed, fed and on his way to school. Then grabbed some last minute things, threw them in the truck and hit the road to the U.P. by 8:45am. Had to drive up to Ludington from Muskegon 1st to pick up my buddy Darrel and his 04 YZ450. Picked up Darrel and was on the road by 10:00am. Passed my buddy Keith on the way outta town. He was on his way to work. He was leaving in the afternoon after a ½ day at work.
The drive up North was pretty uneventful. Made it to Detour in about 5 hours, got there around 3:00pm. We stopped at my buddy Joe Doughtery’s place just outside of Detour before hitting the island. Joe was there as was Kurt and his wife Kerry. They had drove up the night before and stayed at Joe’s place. Here is a few pictures of Joe’s summer spread. He parks his Motor Home there in the summer and lives outta that. Not to bad to be in your mid 50’s, retired and living the trail riders dream in the U.P.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/joes_place_1.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/joes_place_2.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/joes_place_3.jpg
Well we hung out there for a few hours and cooked some dogs before heading over to the island. We reached camp at around 7:00pm and set up our stuff.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/camp_1.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/camp_2.jpg
After figuring out were everyone was going to park and camp the last few stragglers trickled in and set up. There was already a campfire going so we made some dinner, and hung out around the fire for while before going to bed. It was really cold Friday night. Like 30 deg. I was sure glad I brought that extra blanket.
Day #2
Saturday morning I woke up to blue skies and gradually rising temps. This is gonna be a great day. Eventually everyone starting stirring around getting breakfast. We all got it together around 11:00am and hit the trail in groups. There were around 30 riders. We broke off in groups of around 6 and headed in different directions. Our group was Joe (520KTM), Keith (YZF250), Darrel (YZ450), Kurt (WR250), Jim (WR426), Gordy (DR350) and me (CRF250X).
Part of what we were up there was to assess the current state of the trails, and see what kind of damage has been caused over the last year. There is a 4x4 club on the island that is doing trail maintenance but we usually do a little here and there to help out. Some of those trails are so tight that they really cannot get in there even with a quad.
So we headed out at 13 were we were camped. If you are not familiar with Drummond, the trail intersections are marked with numbers. So anyway we headed out from 13, hit 12 to14. 12 to 14 was a sloppy little section of trail as usual. Gave us our 1st taste of the mud to come the rest of the weekend. At 14 Gordy broke off and headed down the road to met us at 19. Gordy is 69 years old after all. I think he is the head honcho for the K.O.M. trail riders. I was amazed that he could ride that DR350 thru the woods with a chain saw strapped to the back.
We Jumped in at 14 headed to 15. Somewhere between 14 and 15 we met up with 2 quad riders from camp that were lost. We explained where we were headed and the trail work that we were going to be doing. They decided to tag along with us. So we headed out to 15 and then down Sheep ranch road to 19.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/group_at_19.jpg
We jumped in at 19 heading to 24 and 24a. I was a little skeptical that the quads were going to get thru the trails, as most of the trails on the Rock are motorcycle only trails. To my surprise they made it thru. We had to do a little work here and there but finally made it to 24a. One funny little thing that happened in there is when I was helping the quads thru a tight section. I was helping pull the front ends over so they could make the corners. Everyone else was thru, waiting and watching the quads come thru. I just got the last quad squared away when he gently clipped a 3” tree with his back tire. I never seen this. Everyone else seen what came next except me until I found myself getting klunked on the head by this tree that the quad had knocked over. Thank goodness I had my helmet on. No harm was done. We all got a good laugh outta that.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/quads_and_kurt_in_woods.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/joe_and_cmore_in_woods.jpg
At 24a we sent the quad riders back to camp as they were getting low on gas. The rest of us jumped in heading to 21. This section of trail usually doesn’t get rode much and needs more work than most. But we found our way thru pretty easy and to my surprise popped out at 21. In the past I could never make it thru to 21 because my yz400 would overheat in there. But on my 250x I didn’t have any problem at all. It was easy.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/bikes_in_woods.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/keith_working.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/kurt_in_woods.jpg
At 21 there was a nice pile of Birch logs there that the loggers had left. It was too inviting and Keith had to give it a try.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/keith_in_the_logs.jpg
Here we decided to head back to camp for lunch. While everyone was finishing up there food I broke out Keiths 270 Gas Gas trials bike and proved just how uncoordinated I was. That bike is so much fun. But it sure shows how bad of a rider you may be. Your bad habits become very obvious.
Once fed we headed back out our group now numbering 7 with a new KTM rider. Our goal was to get to 20 and ride to 21. We built some new trail in there last year. Sometime since then loggers had been thru and killed our trail. So we had some work ahead. We went there via 13 to 12 to 11a to 11 to 9. This is some nasty tight trail with lots of rock and a spattering of mud. At 9 our KTM rider (I forgot his name) called it quits and headed back. The remaining 6 of us headed on to 16 and down to 20. I learned something during all of this. Keep way clear of Darrel and his YZ450. That thing will throw the earth at you if he even thinks of the throttle. He almost had me a few times. At 20 We took a break at the start of a spring fed creek. Really nice.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/keith_in_the_logs.jpg
The 6 of us jumped in at 20 and worked our way back to 21. About ½ way thru we came to the clear cut with skidder tracks all over. At 1st glance it looked hopeless but after a bit we dug our way thru and back to 21.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/kurt_and_the_rocks.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/kurt-cmore_and_the_rocks.jpg
From here we headed back to camp. About ½ way back I spotted a small Dashound dog running down the road. Joe has 2 of these dogs back in the camper. One of them fairly young and still being trained. I stopped and tried to get it but it wouldn’t come to me. After some frogging around it ran off into the woods and we lost it. Good thing too as it wasn’t Joe’s dog after all. What are the chances of 3 of those strange little dogs on the island at the same time?? Pretty good I guess.
About this time my friend Chris (XR650) rode up with 3 others (2 ktm’s and a wr). As my group was done ridding I hooked up with these guys and headed out wherever they were headed. Turns out that they were gonna check out 21 to 20 that we just fixed. I jumped in to show them the way. Thru this Chris was right on my tire. This isn’t the smartest thing to do as there are some really sloppy sections in there. I coulda made Chris’s day bad at the twist of the throttle but I was nice and didn’t hose him. Instead I stalled my bike at the top of a nasty rocky hill climb and messed them all up. I hit the e-button and tractored on while the rest of them struggled to get there bikes moving again. Chris dropped his bike in there 2x I think he said… heh heh heh. Once out at 20 Chris headed back to camp and the remaining 4 of us headed in at 20 to 19a to 19 and back to camp. At 20 there was a creek x-ing that I got way stuck in. I got a really good taste of cold gooey mud oozing down my back. Nice. These 3 guys I was ridding with were fast. I couldn’t keep up with them but could at least keep them in sight. That’s something right??
Once back at camp one of the guys that I was ridding with earlier broke out his trials bike and went to play in the field. I grabbed my camera and my kids TTR90 / pit bike and chased him down for a photo shoot / bs session.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/trials_1.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/trials_2.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/trials_3.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/trials_4.jpg
When we got back dinner was on thanks to Joe’s wife Pat. We all ate and settled around the campfire with a few frosty’s to tell the days tales.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/campfire.jpg
Day #3
Sunday I got up early. My friend Jim (WR426) and I decided the night before that we would get up early, eat a quick breakfast and hit the trails early. By 8:30 we were off to explore the island by ourselves. Usually I ride with Joe who knows the island like the back of his hand. But going out on our own we had to rely on our own sense of direction to find our way back. Another fellow from camp John joined us with his XR400 and we were off. Our goal was to hit the southern most trail on the map as none of had ever been there before. So we chose a route that would keep us off the 2 tracks and headed out. WE settled in a nice easy pace so we would all keep up. Started in at 13 to 12 to 11a to 11 to 9 to 10 and out at 17. At this point were all starting to feel the pounding of all the rocks. We went across Sheep Ranch Road and headed in at 17 and on to 17A. Found a nice hill and stopped to take a few photo’s.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/cmore_in_17.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/john_in_17.jpg
For me a lot of this trail I had never rode before. It was a learning experience. We found 17a and headed down to 18 and then to 28. Somewhere in here we encountered about 100 yards of REALLY nasty muddy trail with no bypass. Nothing to do but dive in and get muddy.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/john_in_the_black_yukkies.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/john_stuck_in_the_mud.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/creek_xing.jpg
About ½ way thru the mud John tipped over and was stuck under his bike laying in the mud It took me a minute to get my bike standing upright before I could come over to help him. It was a little hard not to laugh.
Once thru that we intended to go from 25 to 25a and down to 27. We found the trail and headed off. Somewere in here we came onto another clear cut and started in It was pretty muddy with some small trees down. Nothing my folding saw couldn’t fix.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/clearcut_1.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/clear_cut_2.jpg
Once we got thru the clear cut we found another trail intersection. Only problem was it said we were at 26a! what were looking for was 25a. Somehow we went east instead of south. No problem, we just headed south to 27 from there instead of from 25a. We had talked about heading over to Marblehead to show John who had never been there. But it was nearing lunch and we all could use a break. So we headed down the road and back to camp.
Having a nice lunch and a little break we got ready to go just as most everyone else was arriving back at camp. Joe had taken a few of them up north and by the looks of them they found a lot of muddy water. I couldn’t convince any of them to go out with us. I grabbed Keith’s Helmet cam and we were off. We wanted to get John to Marblehead. It is really a nice trip to the east side of the island. Marblehead is a scenic overlook on a cliff. About ½ way there we switched on the helmet camera were the trail gets really interesting and finished our ride out there.
On the way back we stopped at 17 and john headed back to camp. Jim and I headed in at 17. We wanted to find the trail marker #7 that I have never seen. Whenever I have gone out to try to find it I have got lost. So we went in at 17 to 10.
Somewhere in here we stopped to change the tape in the helmet cam and check out a nasty water hole ahead. There was the main trail and a small bypass to the right that looked pretty sloppy. We could tell that it was pretty soupy cause there was mud some 20ft up in the trees. Darrel must of been thru here. Jim took the bypass and made it thru pretty easy. I decided to take the main trail / water hole. I mean really how bad could it be. I jumped in and the water was about 4" deep. No problem till about 1/2 way thru when I sunk to the seat. Instinct musta kicked in cause I pinned the throttle in 2nd. Nothing happened for a sec then she got some traction, the front end shot up outta the water, came back down and out I came with one soaked foot.
From here it was on to 8. This is were it gets interesting. Somehow we missed the trail and sure enough we got lost, again. We found a nice dirt road and decided that it would probably lead us to civilization. After a few miles of that what did I stumble upon but #7! It did exist.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/elusive_7.jpg
Now the problem was that we wanted to go down to 6 and back to camp. But we couldn’t find the trail. So we just continued down the dirt road till we came to another intersection #5…. What the heck were we doing here? We were heading west not south. But there was a trail here that was supposed to lead us to 6 and back to camp. Problem is that the loggers had struck again and the trail was lost.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/stuck_big_time.jpg
After some frogging around we came upon a group of about ten 4x4’s. We stopped and asked were the heck we were. The unanimous reply was DRUMMOND ISLAND. Obviously these folk had been out here for a while and were getting a little tipsy. But someone was able to point us in the right direction. I also met the Pres. of the Drummond Island 4x4 club. We talked about the trails and the work that the W.M.T.R.’s were doing and he was thrilled that we were there. After telling him were we were camped and inviting him over we headed out.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/party_drummond_style.jpg
We found the trail back to camp and headed in. We were getting really tired at this point. We had covered almost 45 miles at this point. I couldn’t sit down cause my butt hurt so bad. I couldn’t stand up cause my legs were Jell-O. I could hardly use my hands to cover the clutch. As you can imagine these trails can be a real challenge under these conditions. At one point I smashed my toe into a rock so hard I coulda swore it was broken. But we soldered on and finially poped out back at camp around 6:30pm looking very, very tired and hungry. Jim had been getting a little concerned about fuel and was a little relieved that he wouldn’t have to be looking for a squirrel to cook up as we spent the night in the woods (boy that sure sounded familiar…..woodsy).
It was funny listening to all the other guys talk about there morning ride thru some of the same trails that Jim and I had gone thru in the afternoon. They all told about the bottomless watter hole that they got stuck in. The same one that I sunk in to my seat. We fired up the video camera to watch my helmet cam footage of the holes that they had gone thru. The look on there faces was pricless as Jim and I motored effortlessly thru all of these holes that had given them so much trouble. They mumbled something about how we went down the trail in a differant direction than they did, and that is why it was so easy. I was like YEA that must be the reason.
We settled into our chairs around the campfire and told the tales of the day before heading to bed. In the morning I was so sore I was shuffling around like an old man. Darrel woke up soon after. The weather was looking pretty threatening so we packed up our gear and hit the road to try to beet the traffic. Here is a few shots of the Ferry that takes you to and fro the island.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/in_line_at_the_ferry.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/gettin_on_the_ferry.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/on_the_ferry.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/gettin_off_the_ferry.jpg
At the bridge we had to be escorted across by bridge security because of the high winds. That was a 1st.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/big_mac.jpg
We got home with relatively light traffic. I was pretty happy to finally be able to take a shower.
Hey I have the correct map of Drummond Island. The one that the DNR publishes is not accurate. The one that I have has been laid out using GPS info. I will get is scanned in and add it here if anyone wants it.
Day #1
Friday morning I slept in till 7:30am, had the day off. Got my kid up, dressed, fed and on his way to school. Then grabbed some last minute things, threw them in the truck and hit the road to the U.P. by 8:45am. Had to drive up to Ludington from Muskegon 1st to pick up my buddy Darrel and his 04 YZ450. Picked up Darrel and was on the road by 10:00am. Passed my buddy Keith on the way outta town. He was on his way to work. He was leaving in the afternoon after a ½ day at work.
The drive up North was pretty uneventful. Made it to Detour in about 5 hours, got there around 3:00pm. We stopped at my buddy Joe Doughtery’s place just outside of Detour before hitting the island. Joe was there as was Kurt and his wife Kerry. They had drove up the night before and stayed at Joe’s place. Here is a few pictures of Joe’s summer spread. He parks his Motor Home there in the summer and lives outta that. Not to bad to be in your mid 50’s, retired and living the trail riders dream in the U.P.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/joes_place_1.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/joes_place_2.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/joes_place_3.jpg
Well we hung out there for a few hours and cooked some dogs before heading over to the island. We reached camp at around 7:00pm and set up our stuff.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/camp_1.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/camp_2.jpg
After figuring out were everyone was going to park and camp the last few stragglers trickled in and set up. There was already a campfire going so we made some dinner, and hung out around the fire for while before going to bed. It was really cold Friday night. Like 30 deg. I was sure glad I brought that extra blanket.
Day #2
Saturday morning I woke up to blue skies and gradually rising temps. This is gonna be a great day. Eventually everyone starting stirring around getting breakfast. We all got it together around 11:00am and hit the trail in groups. There were around 30 riders. We broke off in groups of around 6 and headed in different directions. Our group was Joe (520KTM), Keith (YZF250), Darrel (YZ450), Kurt (WR250), Jim (WR426), Gordy (DR350) and me (CRF250X).
Part of what we were up there was to assess the current state of the trails, and see what kind of damage has been caused over the last year. There is a 4x4 club on the island that is doing trail maintenance but we usually do a little here and there to help out. Some of those trails are so tight that they really cannot get in there even with a quad.
So we headed out at 13 were we were camped. If you are not familiar with Drummond, the trail intersections are marked with numbers. So anyway we headed out from 13, hit 12 to14. 12 to 14 was a sloppy little section of trail as usual. Gave us our 1st taste of the mud to come the rest of the weekend. At 14 Gordy broke off and headed down the road to met us at 19. Gordy is 69 years old after all. I think he is the head honcho for the K.O.M. trail riders. I was amazed that he could ride that DR350 thru the woods with a chain saw strapped to the back.
We Jumped in at 14 headed to 15. Somewhere between 14 and 15 we met up with 2 quad riders from camp that were lost. We explained where we were headed and the trail work that we were going to be doing. They decided to tag along with us. So we headed out to 15 and then down Sheep ranch road to 19.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/group_at_19.jpg
We jumped in at 19 heading to 24 and 24a. I was a little skeptical that the quads were going to get thru the trails, as most of the trails on the Rock are motorcycle only trails. To my surprise they made it thru. We had to do a little work here and there but finally made it to 24a. One funny little thing that happened in there is when I was helping the quads thru a tight section. I was helping pull the front ends over so they could make the corners. Everyone else was thru, waiting and watching the quads come thru. I just got the last quad squared away when he gently clipped a 3” tree with his back tire. I never seen this. Everyone else seen what came next except me until I found myself getting klunked on the head by this tree that the quad had knocked over. Thank goodness I had my helmet on. No harm was done. We all got a good laugh outta that.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/quads_and_kurt_in_woods.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/joe_and_cmore_in_woods.jpg
At 24a we sent the quad riders back to camp as they were getting low on gas. The rest of us jumped in heading to 21. This section of trail usually doesn’t get rode much and needs more work than most. But we found our way thru pretty easy and to my surprise popped out at 21. In the past I could never make it thru to 21 because my yz400 would overheat in there. But on my 250x I didn’t have any problem at all. It was easy.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/bikes_in_woods.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/keith_working.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/kurt_in_woods.jpg
At 21 there was a nice pile of Birch logs there that the loggers had left. It was too inviting and Keith had to give it a try.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/keith_in_the_logs.jpg
Here we decided to head back to camp for lunch. While everyone was finishing up there food I broke out Keiths 270 Gas Gas trials bike and proved just how uncoordinated I was. That bike is so much fun. But it sure shows how bad of a rider you may be. Your bad habits become very obvious.
Once fed we headed back out our group now numbering 7 with a new KTM rider. Our goal was to get to 20 and ride to 21. We built some new trail in there last year. Sometime since then loggers had been thru and killed our trail. So we had some work ahead. We went there via 13 to 12 to 11a to 11 to 9. This is some nasty tight trail with lots of rock and a spattering of mud. At 9 our KTM rider (I forgot his name) called it quits and headed back. The remaining 6 of us headed on to 16 and down to 20. I learned something during all of this. Keep way clear of Darrel and his YZ450. That thing will throw the earth at you if he even thinks of the throttle. He almost had me a few times. At 20 We took a break at the start of a spring fed creek. Really nice.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/keith_in_the_logs.jpg
The 6 of us jumped in at 20 and worked our way back to 21. About ½ way thru we came to the clear cut with skidder tracks all over. At 1st glance it looked hopeless but after a bit we dug our way thru and back to 21.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/kurt_and_the_rocks.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/kurt-cmore_and_the_rocks.jpg
From here we headed back to camp. About ½ way back I spotted a small Dashound dog running down the road. Joe has 2 of these dogs back in the camper. One of them fairly young and still being trained. I stopped and tried to get it but it wouldn’t come to me. After some frogging around it ran off into the woods and we lost it. Good thing too as it wasn’t Joe’s dog after all. What are the chances of 3 of those strange little dogs on the island at the same time?? Pretty good I guess.
About this time my friend Chris (XR650) rode up with 3 others (2 ktm’s and a wr). As my group was done ridding I hooked up with these guys and headed out wherever they were headed. Turns out that they were gonna check out 21 to 20 that we just fixed. I jumped in to show them the way. Thru this Chris was right on my tire. This isn’t the smartest thing to do as there are some really sloppy sections in there. I coulda made Chris’s day bad at the twist of the throttle but I was nice and didn’t hose him. Instead I stalled my bike at the top of a nasty rocky hill climb and messed them all up. I hit the e-button and tractored on while the rest of them struggled to get there bikes moving again. Chris dropped his bike in there 2x I think he said… heh heh heh. Once out at 20 Chris headed back to camp and the remaining 4 of us headed in at 20 to 19a to 19 and back to camp. At 20 there was a creek x-ing that I got way stuck in. I got a really good taste of cold gooey mud oozing down my back. Nice. These 3 guys I was ridding with were fast. I couldn’t keep up with them but could at least keep them in sight. That’s something right??
Once back at camp one of the guys that I was ridding with earlier broke out his trials bike and went to play in the field. I grabbed my camera and my kids TTR90 / pit bike and chased him down for a photo shoot / bs session.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/trials_1.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/trials_2.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/trials_3.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/trials_4.jpg
When we got back dinner was on thanks to Joe’s wife Pat. We all ate and settled around the campfire with a few frosty’s to tell the days tales.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/campfire.jpg
Day #3
Sunday I got up early. My friend Jim (WR426) and I decided the night before that we would get up early, eat a quick breakfast and hit the trails early. By 8:30 we were off to explore the island by ourselves. Usually I ride with Joe who knows the island like the back of his hand. But going out on our own we had to rely on our own sense of direction to find our way back. Another fellow from camp John joined us with his XR400 and we were off. Our goal was to hit the southern most trail on the map as none of had ever been there before. So we chose a route that would keep us off the 2 tracks and headed out. WE settled in a nice easy pace so we would all keep up. Started in at 13 to 12 to 11a to 11 to 9 to 10 and out at 17. At this point were all starting to feel the pounding of all the rocks. We went across Sheep Ranch Road and headed in at 17 and on to 17A. Found a nice hill and stopped to take a few photo’s.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/cmore_in_17.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/john_in_17.jpg
For me a lot of this trail I had never rode before. It was a learning experience. We found 17a and headed down to 18 and then to 28. Somewhere in here we encountered about 100 yards of REALLY nasty muddy trail with no bypass. Nothing to do but dive in and get muddy.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/john_in_the_black_yukkies.jpg
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v97/yzman400/Drummond Island/john_stuck_in_the_mud.jpg
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About ½ way thru the mud John tipped over and was stuck under his bike laying in the mud It took me a minute to get my bike standing upright before I could come over to help him. It was a little hard not to laugh.
Once thru that we intended to go from 25 to 25a and down to 27. We found the trail and headed off. Somewere in here we came onto another clear cut and started in It was pretty muddy with some small trees down. Nothing my folding saw couldn’t fix.
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Once we got thru the clear cut we found another trail intersection. Only problem was it said we were at 26a! what were looking for was 25a. Somehow we went east instead of south. No problem, we just headed south to 27 from there instead of from 25a. We had talked about heading over to Marblehead to show John who had never been there. But it was nearing lunch and we all could use a break. So we headed down the road and back to camp.
Having a nice lunch and a little break we got ready to go just as most everyone else was arriving back at camp. Joe had taken a few of them up north and by the looks of them they found a lot of muddy water. I couldn’t convince any of them to go out with us. I grabbed Keith’s Helmet cam and we were off. We wanted to get John to Marblehead. It is really a nice trip to the east side of the island. Marblehead is a scenic overlook on a cliff. About ½ way there we switched on the helmet camera were the trail gets really interesting and finished our ride out there.
On the way back we stopped at 17 and john headed back to camp. Jim and I headed in at 17. We wanted to find the trail marker #7 that I have never seen. Whenever I have gone out to try to find it I have got lost. So we went in at 17 to 10.
Somewhere in here we stopped to change the tape in the helmet cam and check out a nasty water hole ahead. There was the main trail and a small bypass to the right that looked pretty sloppy. We could tell that it was pretty soupy cause there was mud some 20ft up in the trees. Darrel must of been thru here. Jim took the bypass and made it thru pretty easy. I decided to take the main trail / water hole. I mean really how bad could it be. I jumped in and the water was about 4" deep. No problem till about 1/2 way thru when I sunk to the seat. Instinct musta kicked in cause I pinned the throttle in 2nd. Nothing happened for a sec then she got some traction, the front end shot up outta the water, came back down and out I came with one soaked foot.
From here it was on to 8. This is were it gets interesting. Somehow we missed the trail and sure enough we got lost, again. We found a nice dirt road and decided that it would probably lead us to civilization. After a few miles of that what did I stumble upon but #7! It did exist.
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Now the problem was that we wanted to go down to 6 and back to camp. But we couldn’t find the trail. So we just continued down the dirt road till we came to another intersection #5…. What the heck were we doing here? We were heading west not south. But there was a trail here that was supposed to lead us to 6 and back to camp. Problem is that the loggers had struck again and the trail was lost.
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After some frogging around we came upon a group of about ten 4x4’s. We stopped and asked were the heck we were. The unanimous reply was DRUMMOND ISLAND. Obviously these folk had been out here for a while and were getting a little tipsy. But someone was able to point us in the right direction. I also met the Pres. of the Drummond Island 4x4 club. We talked about the trails and the work that the W.M.T.R.’s were doing and he was thrilled that we were there. After telling him were we were camped and inviting him over we headed out.
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We found the trail back to camp and headed in. We were getting really tired at this point. We had covered almost 45 miles at this point. I couldn’t sit down cause my butt hurt so bad. I couldn’t stand up cause my legs were Jell-O. I could hardly use my hands to cover the clutch. As you can imagine these trails can be a real challenge under these conditions. At one point I smashed my toe into a rock so hard I coulda swore it was broken. But we soldered on and finially poped out back at camp around 6:30pm looking very, very tired and hungry. Jim had been getting a little concerned about fuel and was a little relieved that he wouldn’t have to be looking for a squirrel to cook up as we spent the night in the woods (boy that sure sounded familiar…..woodsy).
It was funny listening to all the other guys talk about there morning ride thru some of the same trails that Jim and I had gone thru in the afternoon. They all told about the bottomless watter hole that they got stuck in. The same one that I sunk in to my seat. We fired up the video camera to watch my helmet cam footage of the holes that they had gone thru. The look on there faces was pricless as Jim and I motored effortlessly thru all of these holes that had given them so much trouble. They mumbled something about how we went down the trail in a differant direction than they did, and that is why it was so easy. I was like YEA that must be the reason.
We settled into our chairs around the campfire and told the tales of the day before heading to bed. In the morning I was so sore I was shuffling around like an old man. Darrel woke up soon after. The weather was looking pretty threatening so we packed up our gear and hit the road to try to beet the traffic. Here is a few shots of the Ferry that takes you to and fro the island.
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At the bridge we had to be escorted across by bridge security because of the high winds. That was a 1st.
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We got home with relatively light traffic. I was pretty happy to finally be able to take a shower.
Hey I have the correct map of Drummond Island. The one that the DNR publishes is not accurate. The one that I have has been laid out using GPS info. I will get is scanned in and add it here if anyone wants it.
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