This will be a quick trail report to add to my previous one concerning the Ambrose Lake Loop, the Rose City Loop and the new MCCCT connector trail between them.
What started out looking like another miserable, potentially rainy day here in mid-Michigan turned out to be a glorious afternoon for riding … one simply needed to demonstrate some faith in the morning, get out the equipment, hook up the trailer, load the bike in a sight drizzle … then drive for an hour and a half through intermittent showers under ominous, dark grey clouds while on the way up to the West Branch area … only to arrive under partly cloudy skies with bright sunshine beginning to appear … all that to get in what turned out to be an awesome ride!
I did discover that the Ambrose Lake Trailhead is marked by a sign along Rose City road … this is a bit out of the way if you’re coming in from the south, but the roads are marked and in considerably better condition than taking Houghton Creek Road west off of Fairview which comes north from M-55 out of West Branch. Regardless, the outcome was the same for me again … bright sunny conditions, temperature about 60 degrees, calm winds … and an absolutely empty parking facility. Since my last visit entailed running the MCCCT connector from the Ambrose Lake Loop north to the Rose City Loop, and included details for both the Rose City and Ambrose Lake Loops themselves … today I intended to run the MCCCT connector south from Ambrose Lake to the Ogemaw Hills Loop. Well … I almost made it …
The trails are considerably wetter this week than last … even the starting portion of the Ambrose Lake trail had puddles more than 150 feet long … not too deep, but definitely slippery on the bottom. That really isn’t a problem for the MCCCT connector south as its entrance is essentially at the start of the Ambrose Lake Loop … about 100 yards down the trail a sign marks your departure to the right … you have to look carefully, the trail is not yet well defined by usage so it is a bit deceptive at the start.
This connector is cut to a width which permits ATV passage but my assessment of the current tracks indicate that it has not seen much four wheeled traffic to date. The trail, as a whole, is a bit more open than the newer connector leading north to Rose City; however, it is considerably more difficult to ride due to the variety of terrains through which it passes. Today I found a variety of wet conditions: small puddles, muddy spots, soggy areas, flowing water, beaver dams, eroded gullies, wet logs & sticks … to these were added the occasional deeper mud bogs, slippery-rock-encrusted-hills and the advent of swarming mosquitoes. For me, on my CRF-450, I found it fairly slow going but very interesting … under these wet conditions, because of the nearly constant slippery surfaces in the woods, the trail rides considerably narrower than its cut dimensions display. In fact, if I had to define it … I would say this connector is a softer version of the Evart Motorcycle Trail wherein all of the characteristics are present excepting the heavy concentrations of rocks occasionally found at Evart.
Riding solo today, I managed to negotiate the entire trail coming south from Ambrose Lake up to where it crosses Clear Lake Road and passes through a stand of very tall confer and is in sight of Fairview. Here I encountered a swollen stream bed that was over 12 inches deep, perhaps 15 to 20 feet across, very soft, muddy bottom … and no way around. I would guess I was less than a mile from intercepting the east end of the East Ogemaw Hills Loop. At this point I had been riding for about an hour … so, I turned around and headed back ... I'm not too courageous when riding alone ... pulling the bike out of such situations by myself has taught me this lesson well.
The area is very hilly … its really funny, felt like I rode up hill both ways on this trail … maybe that’s just because I like riding up slippery hills better than riding down? Regardless, this connector trail is often almost grown over with grass in the open areas due to insufficient traffic to keep the plants down. Feels almost like riding on virgin land. In fact, at the Beaver Dam, the trail is temporarily diverted through virgin forest … there is no real trail … were it not for orange tape and many signs one could not see a trail … very unusual and very interesting. My ride today required approximately 2.3 hrs engine operating time, consumed approximately 1 gallon of gas [CRF-450] and was immensely interesting. These are approximately the same specs I get when riding the entire Evart Motorcycle Trail so I am guessing that I traveled about 20 miles on the loop today.
For those of you looking for extended tracts of ‘tight stuff’ … starting your ride at the Ambrose Lake Trailhead and first going north on the MCCCT connector to the Rose City Loop, then returning and then proceeding south on the MCCCT connector to the Ogemaw Hills Loop and finally returning, should provide approximately 35 miles of relatively tight trail. Combine this route with rides on the Rose City Loop, the Ambrose Lake Loop, and one [or both] of the Ogemaw Hills loops should easily provide a weekend’s riding fun with the Ambrose Lake Campground serving as your base and the town of West Branch as the nearest source of gas and food. All this can be done with only an ORV sticker on your ride!
One last parting note, the mud encountered on this ride today is very reminiscent of that found in Mio … ‘black yuckies’ … it is gooey, sticky, stinky and makes a mess in the driveway when you wash your bike … first I power washed the bike and put the equipment away … then along came my wife who sent me back out to power wash the stuff off the driveway because it left such a mess! Remember, it's always best to leave the swamp where you found it ...
terry nestrick :cool:
What started out looking like another miserable, potentially rainy day here in mid-Michigan turned out to be a glorious afternoon for riding … one simply needed to demonstrate some faith in the morning, get out the equipment, hook up the trailer, load the bike in a sight drizzle … then drive for an hour and a half through intermittent showers under ominous, dark grey clouds while on the way up to the West Branch area … only to arrive under partly cloudy skies with bright sunshine beginning to appear … all that to get in what turned out to be an awesome ride!
I did discover that the Ambrose Lake Trailhead is marked by a sign along Rose City road … this is a bit out of the way if you’re coming in from the south, but the roads are marked and in considerably better condition than taking Houghton Creek Road west off of Fairview which comes north from M-55 out of West Branch. Regardless, the outcome was the same for me again … bright sunny conditions, temperature about 60 degrees, calm winds … and an absolutely empty parking facility. Since my last visit entailed running the MCCCT connector from the Ambrose Lake Loop north to the Rose City Loop, and included details for both the Rose City and Ambrose Lake Loops themselves … today I intended to run the MCCCT connector south from Ambrose Lake to the Ogemaw Hills Loop. Well … I almost made it …
The trails are considerably wetter this week than last … even the starting portion of the Ambrose Lake trail had puddles more than 150 feet long … not too deep, but definitely slippery on the bottom. That really isn’t a problem for the MCCCT connector south as its entrance is essentially at the start of the Ambrose Lake Loop … about 100 yards down the trail a sign marks your departure to the right … you have to look carefully, the trail is not yet well defined by usage so it is a bit deceptive at the start.
This connector is cut to a width which permits ATV passage but my assessment of the current tracks indicate that it has not seen much four wheeled traffic to date. The trail, as a whole, is a bit more open than the newer connector leading north to Rose City; however, it is considerably more difficult to ride due to the variety of terrains through which it passes. Today I found a variety of wet conditions: small puddles, muddy spots, soggy areas, flowing water, beaver dams, eroded gullies, wet logs & sticks … to these were added the occasional deeper mud bogs, slippery-rock-encrusted-hills and the advent of swarming mosquitoes. For me, on my CRF-450, I found it fairly slow going but very interesting … under these wet conditions, because of the nearly constant slippery surfaces in the woods, the trail rides considerably narrower than its cut dimensions display. In fact, if I had to define it … I would say this connector is a softer version of the Evart Motorcycle Trail wherein all of the characteristics are present excepting the heavy concentrations of rocks occasionally found at Evart.
Riding solo today, I managed to negotiate the entire trail coming south from Ambrose Lake up to where it crosses Clear Lake Road and passes through a stand of very tall confer and is in sight of Fairview. Here I encountered a swollen stream bed that was over 12 inches deep, perhaps 15 to 20 feet across, very soft, muddy bottom … and no way around. I would guess I was less than a mile from intercepting the east end of the East Ogemaw Hills Loop. At this point I had been riding for about an hour … so, I turned around and headed back ... I'm not too courageous when riding alone ... pulling the bike out of such situations by myself has taught me this lesson well.
The area is very hilly … its really funny, felt like I rode up hill both ways on this trail … maybe that’s just because I like riding up slippery hills better than riding down? Regardless, this connector trail is often almost grown over with grass in the open areas due to insufficient traffic to keep the plants down. Feels almost like riding on virgin land. In fact, at the Beaver Dam, the trail is temporarily diverted through virgin forest … there is no real trail … were it not for orange tape and many signs one could not see a trail … very unusual and very interesting. My ride today required approximately 2.3 hrs engine operating time, consumed approximately 1 gallon of gas [CRF-450] and was immensely interesting. These are approximately the same specs I get when riding the entire Evart Motorcycle Trail so I am guessing that I traveled about 20 miles on the loop today.
For those of you looking for extended tracts of ‘tight stuff’ … starting your ride at the Ambrose Lake Trailhead and first going north on the MCCCT connector to the Rose City Loop, then returning and then proceeding south on the MCCCT connector to the Ogemaw Hills Loop and finally returning, should provide approximately 35 miles of relatively tight trail. Combine this route with rides on the Rose City Loop, the Ambrose Lake Loop, and one [or both] of the Ogemaw Hills loops should easily provide a weekend’s riding fun with the Ambrose Lake Campground serving as your base and the town of West Branch as the nearest source of gas and food. All this can be done with only an ORV sticker on your ride!
One last parting note, the mud encountered on this ride today is very reminiscent of that found in Mio … ‘black yuckies’ … it is gooey, sticky, stinky and makes a mess in the driveway when you wash your bike … first I power washed the bike and put the equipment away … then along came my wife who sent me back out to power wash the stuff off the driveway because it left such a mess! Remember, it's always best to leave the swamp where you found it ...
terry nestrick :cool:
