SoFO Trail Maintence and Building

[Kixx007]

SoFO will be in the west branch area the weekend of May 8th and 9th doing their spring trail maintenance. We would like to invite everyone to come up and join us. We will be doing the typical work of clearing downed trees, trimming branches back, overall making sure there is nothing dangerous on the trails. I reccomend a good pair of loppers and gloves. Chainsaws are optional, we will have ours.

On top of the regular maintenance, we will be putting in a new section of trail on the St. Helen route, off of Dunham Lake Rd. They are re-routing the ORV route away from Meridian Rd. we will be running the new section right through the woods, which will require a good ammount of work.

If anyone is interested in helping, feel free to come up for the day, or the weekend. We will be meeting at the Lumberjack restraunt at 9am Saturday May 8th.

[oz97tj]

????

Do you have enough people to complete the job, or do you need more to help?

[brewmenn]

I will try to get up there, at least for the day Saturday.

If by some miracle I get my Jeep running I'll bring it, I love making new trails.

Otherwise I'll be looking for an open seat.

[phittie1100]

In

[Creative Fab]

Do you guys think you will be working on sunday? We are doing our clubs stuff on saturday but I would not mind coming up sunday to help you guys.

[Kixx007]

Do you guys think you will be working on sunday? We are doing our clubs stuff on saturday but I would not mind coming up sunday to help you guys.

If I have to take a wild guess. Yes.

[T-way]

Sorry guys, but I can't make this one! Sure would like to help though!

I'll be out of state attending my oldest daughter's college graduation!!

:ahhh:

[Crazygrady127]

lol, Jim Roy cant find the trails , Maybe we should make them bigger ?? 8 miles of Vietnam !! :ahhh: I'm just joking Jim I still had fun !! (Snofari) !!!

[Kixx007]

This weekend! Don't miss your chance to help build this new trail!

[brewmenn]

Sorry, too many other things I have to do this weekend. Can't make it.

But if you find any trash piles in the woods mark them on a map and I'll try to get them next time I do a clean up up there.

[SweetLeah]

I just checked the weather. :wah:

Saturday:
High of 47 low of 35.
40% chance of percipitation
Mix of rain and snow showers.

Sunday
High of 55 low of 35
0% chance of percipitation
Partly Cloudy.

Might be a good idea to bring along some rain gear or at least a couple changes of clothes, i'm sure no one wants to have to be wet all day long. Does anyone have a pop up tent?? It would be nice for protection from the weather.

[Kixx007]

I just checked the weather. :wah:

Saturday:
High of 47 low of 35.
40% chance of percipitation
Mix of rain and snow showers.

Sunday
High of 55 low of 35
0% chance of percipitation
Partly Cloudy.

Might be a good idea to bring along some rain gear or at least a couple changes of clothes, i'm sure no one wants to have to be wet all day long. Does anyone have a pop up tent?? It would be nice for protection from the weather.

.. I do. I will also grab a large tarp, some straps/bungees etc. However a 40% chance concerns me less.

How many others are planning to make it up.

[SweetLeah]

.. I do.
We do?

[Kixx007]

We do?

I do.

[Rattler]

Dammit! I would have been up there had I seen this earlier.

[Kixx007]

Dammit! I would have been up there had I seen this earlier.

We will be back up there this weekend. Check out the thread below this.

[Rattler]

We will be back up there this weekend. Check out the thread below this.

We are going to Mackinac Island for our anniversary Thrs.-Sat. Are you going to be doing it Sunday? We planned on hitting Camp Grayling that day.

[Kixx007]

We are going to Mackinac Island for our anniversary Thrs.-Sat. Are you going to be doing it Sunday? We planned on hitting Camp Grayling that day.

I would doubt it. But you never know.

[oz97tj]

I had to run north for some other business so hit up the new section of trail. You guys did a good job. Nice and tight. My JK actually smacked a couple trees with the tires!

It appears the DNR went through it with a grader or something though. Looks like there is even a couple trees at the beginning of the trail (north end) that were pushed over. I'm not sure what's the deal with that, but otherwise nice trail.

Good job guys!

[Kixx007]

I had to run north for some other business so hit up the new section of trail. You guys did a good job. Nice and tight. My JK actually smacked a couple trees with the tires!

It appears the DNR went through it with a grader or something though. Looks like there is even a couple trees at the beginning of the trail (north end) that were pushed over. I'm not sure what's the deal with that, but otherwise nice trail.

Good job guys!


....... We had a Mini-Loader in there with a 6 foot bucket. We scraped the trail to make it a little more obvious and to remove roots, stumps, etc.

[oz97tj]

....... We had a Mini-Loader in there with a 6 foot bucket. We scraped the trail to make it a little more obvious and to remove roots, stumps, etc.

Ahhhhhhh, that explains what I saw. I was rather confused about it.


For what its worth, there did seem to be a half dozen or so fresh tracks on it so over the weekend somebody was trying it out...

[Kixx007]

Ahhhhhhh, that explains what I saw. I was rather confused about it.


For what its worth, there did seem to be a half dozen or so fresh tracks on it so over the weekend somebody was trying it out...

Well, I would hope so. I ran it the Sunday after we put it in, and noticed a couple of bikes had gone down it. If I get some time this weekend, I will try to make it over to check it out.

[sumpter1]

Where does this new section begin and end? How long is it?

Thanks for all the hard work!

[phittie1100]

It starts (or ends?) right across the street from the side entrance into Louie's gas station on the south side of St Helen. It follows existing two-tracks south across Romancky Rd, the turns SE then E back over to M76. It crosses M76 and continues over to the existing trail system on the SW corner of the St Helen Motorsport area.

Map attached, not official yet until the State approves it but they gave it to us in the first place so I do not expect any changes.

[Kixx007]

Where does this new section begin and end? How long is it?

Thanks for all the hard work!


The section that is complete is part of the St. Helen ORV Route. It's east of Dunham Lake Road. It's hard to miss, looks like a new section of trail through the woods, and you HAVE to take it, to stay on the route. It's just shy of 3/4th's of a mile.


The section Paul just posted about, with a map, is a "Gas Connector" trail. It will basically allow you to get from the Scramble Area, to the gas station, without driving on the road. It already exists as a fire road, but will now be a legal marked Route!

[sumpter1]

Thanks!

[phittie1100]

I have a real knack for answering the wrong questions lately :muttley:

Here is the old route in blue, with the new section in red. Everything east of the new section is now no longer a part of the ORV system