- Jan 1, 2002
- 794
- 0
Tomahawk System & upcoming Trail Tour:
If you like new, tight, true single track trail - come to the CCC's Phil Bean Memorial Trail Tour on June 26/27.
If you like awesome Dual Sport riding that is challenging but not tiring and truly scenic, come to the Trail Tour..
Just came back from putting in 300 miles in 2 days up to the Wolverine area. The plan was to proof both Dual Sport loops. If time permitted, I hoped to ride some of the single track and get that GPS'd. Turned out that I was able to get all of the above done with help from fellow Great Lakes Dual Sporters club members.
Let me tell you about the DS portion to begin with. We have 2 fantastic routes put together for that area. When I took off to proof the B Loop (DS, not ORV) the anticipation level was not that high. We I drew the courses out this winter I thought there was going to be a lot of pavement pounding and, well, just a lot of road in it to connect otherwise excellent two tracks. Turned out that it was an awesome loop. We start by playing in the Chandler Hill area, up and down, up and down, ooops, watch out for that rain rut! We chase the MCCCT down to the pavement, then head over and put in another 2T (two track) loop, then a bit more pavement down the MCCCT and suddenly you're back on 2T. The 2T just continues and continues. More hills, more winding, dark, smooth forest roads. Pop out to pavement to get gas (it's been 40 miles already?) and back into the woods for more winding narrow roads. Some hilly sections, a bit of 2T, then a really cool "roller coaster" 2T section. It would only be more fun if you didn't have to really watch for rain ruts on the other side of the hills. Let me say that you just keep jumping from 2T to 2T grinning ear to ear. That was just the short (80 mile) loop. The big loop simply has more of the same. The fantastic weather helped things as well, being sunny and 65. Plenty of rain this year provided for no dust and excellent traction. That rain also makes for plenty of road covering water puddles - the kind my KTM 520 loves to wheelie through at speed. I enjoy it too..
Saturday was one and a half of the DS loops for 150 miles of awesome riding. After BS'ing with the guys back to the ranch (a local club member offered his place to camp at) I still had the itch to ride. The C Loop (ORV Trail) called out to me and off I went to record it with the GPS. Seems like it was 6 or 7 PM by now, but hey, when the weather is good and the riding awesome... I must have started in the most dark, heavy canopy area of the trail 'cause the GPS couldn't hold lock (see the satellites) for more than a few feet. Perhaps if I were to walk (ick!) the trail it would have held on. I debated on giving up or just riding the trail 'till I was tired of it and opted for the latter. Miraculously the GPS was able to find the sky for most of the remaining trail. This loop needs to be re-recorded in the spring/fall when there are no leaves, but what I was able to put together is still more accurate than what the DNR has on their map (their map is WAY off on bunch of it).
So what can I say about the C Loop? Tight? Yes. Twisty? Yes. Fit a quad through it? Some places, sure. Hills? A few. Nice trail? You bet!
There's a few whoop sections, but generally is a nice trail. Covers plenty of elevation and is mainly dark soil with hardwoods. Some sand here/there but relatively little compared to other Michigan trails. There are a couple hill climbs that would give a new rider fits.
Sunday Shannon said he'd record the A Loop as I was going to ride the B Loop (both ORV trails). I also opted to pick up the bit of MCCCT the DS routes skip to get to the parking lot. I've ridden spots of the A Loop and those memories confirm what Shannon had to say - plenty of tight stuff on that loop making it very similar to the C Loop without the elevation changes.
Before I continue with my [lame] description of the B Loop, allow me to congratulate the trail maintainers of the Tomahawk system. My understanding is that Brian pretty much does all of the trail work on the system and it's apparent he spends an extraordinary amount of time on them. You only need to look at the trail while riding to see all the care that is put into ensuring the trail does not straighten out. Their use of downed timber and carefully laid logs to ensure the trail stays in excellent shape. Bravo!
The B Loop officially starts at the parking lot and I rode it counter-clockwise. The near-parking-area whoops are existent although the trail is twisty enough that it's not as bad as many other systems. For those who haven't paid attention, watch when you leave a parking area on most trail systems. You'll find that it's very whooped as many [poser] riders like to scream out on the trail for a short distance and then fly right back in. This is usually mixed in with parking lot donuts, but I digress.
The B Loop quickly opens up to a whooped, wide, sandy ORV Route/Trail heading north. The original trail was closed due to private property but they were JUST recently able to put in a re-route of NEW trail. You must look closely to see this new trail, it's just after the old trail (north, that is). It was not officially signed in, but it was ridden and ribboned enough to ride - so I did. Nice stuff.
** I think 99% of all the new trail on the B Loop I rode was broken in on the Stump Jumper Trail Ride last fall as much of it looked familiar to me. **
This new trail sneaks onto the "old-closed" trail where the trail masters have carefully laid logs that force you off the whoops and onto a killer slalom course. Neat. Eventually you make it onto the original trail which is quad wide, but generally hard pack, with enough whoops to keep you busy but not tired. My trail terrain descriptions are poor at best, so I'll save you the reading. Think of 80% older growth hard woods with lots and lots of hills, big ones too (for Michigan). The remaining bits of trail are small meadows, a few pine areas and the remaining mix you'd expect to find.
What you need to know about this loop is that it has a LOT of brand new trail. One bike tire wide, narrow enough to make you appreciate your bark busters. All of it is windy, tight trail. Getting out of 3rd gear is a rare occurrence (AA riders don't count). There are several, aw heck, many(!) large hills the trail snakes up. The lower displacement bikes need to be on the lookout else they'll be backing down to make a second run. My 520 laughs at this stuff; just begging for more throttle. In fact, I found the only issue to be the amount of speed it would make up hills if I was not judicious with the frontal elevation control (sometimes referred to as the throttle). Admittedly I'm not used to riding a bike that would not require gear selection changes to be made if you started "late" up a hill. This thing will let you putt half way up a hill until you realize you are lookup "up" a tree by looking straight ahead and then just roll the throttle on, or if you are really twisted, shift up another gear, hang on and twist some more.
Much of the new trail is on the licensed required section. I recommend riding this part, highly recommend it. If you don't have a plate, it may be worth your while to push your bike the 100 yards of road to reach the trail (north side connector is the short road section). I'd never condone riding your unlicensed bike down that really short section of road where there is no other traffic (wink).
You'll also get a kick out of the "No ATV" signs conveniently placed at many of the trail/road intersections.
Did I mention some of the hills? Wow, there are some neat climbs. The nearest cutoff (to the parking lot) has a big hill where the cutoff intersects on the north side. If you continue on the B Loop at that point you run the "razor back" down the hill. This trail would be a good challenge if you were riding clockwise. Try it sometime. The woods on that section is thick with young saplings/brush that obscures your view of what is coming up next - which of course is yet another turn on an 18" wide trail as it claws it's way to the top of this (yes, high) hill.
There's one new section of trail, 3-4 miles out from the parking lot, south side of the loop, that I didn't enjoy. I found it too tight and rough. Once it gets broken in and "opened" up my tune will change. Much of it's cut in through 6' high poplar scrub and was so tight I could barely keep moving in first. True, my hydraulic clutch was completely gone (seal needs replaced) by then so I had NO clutch and I was getting pooped, so my opinion may be overly negative.
So, what do you need to do? Go ride the Tomahawk system!
If you like new, tight, true single track trail - come to the CCC's Phil Bean Memorial Trail Tour on June 26/27.
If you like awesome Dual Sport riding that is challenging but not tiring and truly scenic, come to the Trail Tour..
Just came back from putting in 300 miles in 2 days up to the Wolverine area. The plan was to proof both Dual Sport loops. If time permitted, I hoped to ride some of the single track and get that GPS'd. Turned out that I was able to get all of the above done with help from fellow Great Lakes Dual Sporters club members.
Let me tell you about the DS portion to begin with. We have 2 fantastic routes put together for that area. When I took off to proof the B Loop (DS, not ORV) the anticipation level was not that high. We I drew the courses out this winter I thought there was going to be a lot of pavement pounding and, well, just a lot of road in it to connect otherwise excellent two tracks. Turned out that it was an awesome loop. We start by playing in the Chandler Hill area, up and down, up and down, ooops, watch out for that rain rut! We chase the MCCCT down to the pavement, then head over and put in another 2T (two track) loop, then a bit more pavement down the MCCCT and suddenly you're back on 2T. The 2T just continues and continues. More hills, more winding, dark, smooth forest roads. Pop out to pavement to get gas (it's been 40 miles already?) and back into the woods for more winding narrow roads. Some hilly sections, a bit of 2T, then a really cool "roller coaster" 2T section. It would only be more fun if you didn't have to really watch for rain ruts on the other side of the hills. Let me say that you just keep jumping from 2T to 2T grinning ear to ear. That was just the short (80 mile) loop. The big loop simply has more of the same. The fantastic weather helped things as well, being sunny and 65. Plenty of rain this year provided for no dust and excellent traction. That rain also makes for plenty of road covering water puddles - the kind my KTM 520 loves to wheelie through at speed. I enjoy it too..
Saturday was one and a half of the DS loops for 150 miles of awesome riding. After BS'ing with the guys back to the ranch (a local club member offered his place to camp at) I still had the itch to ride. The C Loop (ORV Trail) called out to me and off I went to record it with the GPS. Seems like it was 6 or 7 PM by now, but hey, when the weather is good and the riding awesome... I must have started in the most dark, heavy canopy area of the trail 'cause the GPS couldn't hold lock (see the satellites) for more than a few feet. Perhaps if I were to walk (ick!) the trail it would have held on. I debated on giving up or just riding the trail 'till I was tired of it and opted for the latter. Miraculously the GPS was able to find the sky for most of the remaining trail. This loop needs to be re-recorded in the spring/fall when there are no leaves, but what I was able to put together is still more accurate than what the DNR has on their map (their map is WAY off on bunch of it).
So what can I say about the C Loop? Tight? Yes. Twisty? Yes. Fit a quad through it? Some places, sure. Hills? A few. Nice trail? You bet!
There's a few whoop sections, but generally is a nice trail. Covers plenty of elevation and is mainly dark soil with hardwoods. Some sand here/there but relatively little compared to other Michigan trails. There are a couple hill climbs that would give a new rider fits.
Sunday Shannon said he'd record the A Loop as I was going to ride the B Loop (both ORV trails). I also opted to pick up the bit of MCCCT the DS routes skip to get to the parking lot. I've ridden spots of the A Loop and those memories confirm what Shannon had to say - plenty of tight stuff on that loop making it very similar to the C Loop without the elevation changes.
Before I continue with my [lame] description of the B Loop, allow me to congratulate the trail maintainers of the Tomahawk system. My understanding is that Brian pretty much does all of the trail work on the system and it's apparent he spends an extraordinary amount of time on them. You only need to look at the trail while riding to see all the care that is put into ensuring the trail does not straighten out. Their use of downed timber and carefully laid logs to ensure the trail stays in excellent shape. Bravo!
The B Loop officially starts at the parking lot and I rode it counter-clockwise. The near-parking-area whoops are existent although the trail is twisty enough that it's not as bad as many other systems. For those who haven't paid attention, watch when you leave a parking area on most trail systems. You'll find that it's very whooped as many [poser] riders like to scream out on the trail for a short distance and then fly right back in. This is usually mixed in with parking lot donuts, but I digress.
The B Loop quickly opens up to a whooped, wide, sandy ORV Route/Trail heading north. The original trail was closed due to private property but they were JUST recently able to put in a re-route of NEW trail. You must look closely to see this new trail, it's just after the old trail (north, that is). It was not officially signed in, but it was ridden and ribboned enough to ride - so I did. Nice stuff.
** I think 99% of all the new trail on the B Loop I rode was broken in on the Stump Jumper Trail Ride last fall as much of it looked familiar to me. **
This new trail sneaks onto the "old-closed" trail where the trail masters have carefully laid logs that force you off the whoops and onto a killer slalom course. Neat. Eventually you make it onto the original trail which is quad wide, but generally hard pack, with enough whoops to keep you busy but not tired. My trail terrain descriptions are poor at best, so I'll save you the reading. Think of 80% older growth hard woods with lots and lots of hills, big ones too (for Michigan). The remaining bits of trail are small meadows, a few pine areas and the remaining mix you'd expect to find.
What you need to know about this loop is that it has a LOT of brand new trail. One bike tire wide, narrow enough to make you appreciate your bark busters. All of it is windy, tight trail. Getting out of 3rd gear is a rare occurrence (AA riders don't count). There are several, aw heck, many(!) large hills the trail snakes up. The lower displacement bikes need to be on the lookout else they'll be backing down to make a second run. My 520 laughs at this stuff; just begging for more throttle. In fact, I found the only issue to be the amount of speed it would make up hills if I was not judicious with the frontal elevation control (sometimes referred to as the throttle). Admittedly I'm not used to riding a bike that would not require gear selection changes to be made if you started "late" up a hill. This thing will let you putt half way up a hill until you realize you are lookup "up" a tree by looking straight ahead and then just roll the throttle on, or if you are really twisted, shift up another gear, hang on and twist some more.
Much of the new trail is on the licensed required section. I recommend riding this part, highly recommend it. If you don't have a plate, it may be worth your while to push your bike the 100 yards of road to reach the trail (north side connector is the short road section). I'd never condone riding your unlicensed bike down that really short section of road where there is no other traffic (wink).
You'll also get a kick out of the "No ATV" signs conveniently placed at many of the trail/road intersections.
Did I mention some of the hills? Wow, there are some neat climbs. The nearest cutoff (to the parking lot) has a big hill where the cutoff intersects on the north side. If you continue on the B Loop at that point you run the "razor back" down the hill. This trail would be a good challenge if you were riding clockwise. Try it sometime. The woods on that section is thick with young saplings/brush that obscures your view of what is coming up next - which of course is yet another turn on an 18" wide trail as it claws it's way to the top of this (yes, high) hill.
There's one new section of trail, 3-4 miles out from the parking lot, south side of the loop, that I didn't enjoy. I found it too tight and rough. Once it gets broken in and "opened" up my tune will change. Much of it's cut in through 6' high poplar scrub and was so tight I could barely keep moving in first. True, my hydraulic clutch was completely gone (seal needs replaced) by then so I had NO clutch and I was getting pooped, so my opinion may be overly negative.
So, what do you need to do? Go ride the Tomahawk system!