2TrakR

~SPONSOR~
Mi. Trail Riders
Jan 1, 2002
794
0
Ride Report
Ambrose Lake, MCCCT and Rose City

Ran Ambrose Lake, the connecting MCCCT/ATV trail and Rose City loops today. Think it was high 30s out. There is no snow at home, but soon as you get to the north side of West Branch there is snow. Probably 3-4 inches with. Lots of ice underneath, generally crusty snow. All of the secondary roads were glare ice. I tried to shortcut from Fairview road over to the parking lot @ Ambrose Lake and ended up turning around halfway due to the big icy hills. A little backtracking later found me at the staging area. Had to four wheel just to get into the parking lot.
Plan was to run the entire Ambrose Lake loop, then zip up the MCCCT to Rose City and cover that loop. Ambrose Lake is like 8 miles so that didn't take too long. Some of it was untouched and way cool. You can just blast right along in the snow and giggle 'till it hurts. Some of the loop had quad ruts on the outside which had melted down and iced up in the center ridges. This sucks. Bad. If you're not familiar with this situation, put two bike rails (from bike rail trailer) side by side, maybe a foot apart. Now drive down them, hope from track to track while you try to miss trees. Some of it wasn't bad. Most of the sections that a sled had run down was a lot better as the center was packed down. Still, the "virgin" sections were the best.
Took off up the MCCCT (now an ATV trail as well) and was disappointed. The quads were up there as well. Riding is still fun, but this was a bit challenging. I'll quit whining now.
Ran the Rose City Loop, picking up all the sections. At least half had seen a bit of sled traffic making for a nice packed trail. Pretty fun. There's a couple pretty big hills on this loop. I went down several of them thinking, hmph, good thing I don't have to go back up those. There was one real long rocky, windy hill that sticks out in my mind. Think I would have had to push up that puppy. There was one that caught me off guard. Got about half way and she ground to a halt. Sand was soft under the snow and I had lost half my rear studs I think. I'd rock her back a foot down the hill and hit it again, usually making a bike length at a time. During this time I tried to figure out how I was going to push up the hill. My A* boots don't work so well in the snow & ice.. Funny when she first dug down, I grabbed the front brake and it didn't slow us down much. Started to wonder how fast we'd be going backwards when I would hit the ground. Ended up biting a few feet later and all was fine.
The sled trails are just ice. Rose City uses a couple sections of 'em.
I ran back roads to Ambrose Lake trail after fighting with the MCCCT for a mile or so. They were more fun event though it was grooved glare ice.
34 miles for the day. Not bad for the conditions. Always nice to get out and ride.
This would make for a decent loop in the warm weather. I don't think either gets much traffic and the whoops were few and far between. Not sure if you know or not, but they've ATV legalized much of that section so you can ride a non-licensed ORV from Leota, through Denton, up through St Helen, up past Ambrose Lake and on to somewhere in Fed land. Might go further up past there too. I know they made the sled trail from Geels to Roscommon and ORV Route this past summer. Impressive how far you can drive with just an ORV sticker over here.

--
/Jeramey

02 520 exc
98 XR400
99 TTR250

Member:
Great Lakes Dual Sporters Motorcycle Club <http://GLDSMC.tripod.com>
Michigan Cycle Conservation Club <http://www.cycleconservationclub.org>
Blue Ribbon Coalition <http://www.sharetrails.org>
American Motorcyclist Association <http://www.amadirectlink.com/>
Capitol Chapter
 

woodsy

~SPONSOR~
Mi. Trail Riders
Jan 16, 2002
2,933
1
Now, 2trackr, that report was MUCH better then your 1/2/04 report!! It sounds to me like I need to hook up with you and do some "Dualsporting"!!!
Thanks for taking the time to write!
Woodsy
 

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