Oscoda- old state house trail

[Mattwings]

Looking to Explore Oscoda area (old state house?) and maybe others near by (Gladwin and somewhat north). I will likely have family with me too. 2006 LJ 33" BFG mt, basic recovery gear. Post here with advice or interest in putting together a quick ride. Friday and Saturday. E-mail Matthewnweaver@gmail.com

[computeruser]

Which friday-saturday did you have in mind?

[Mattwings]

This Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Funny I forgot to include dates.

[joe_jeep]

i would love to help ya, and go with ya, but im gonna be out of town. in the summer the old statehouse trail is pretty scenic, but not very challenging. not alot of green cover this time of year. last year there was some logging going on too.
watch where you go. some is legal for full size, some is atv and mc only. i usually enter from the trail head on bisonette rd.
if going north on m65, hang a right on bissonette(its just past river rd). the trail head is a few miles down on the left. if you hit rea rd you went too far. if you hang a right on rea rd it will take ya to the dam store. handy if ya need pop, ice, or gas. im sure there are other places to enter too.

i get a yearly campsite at old orchard park on river rd near the dam store. so i have driven some of the trail, but not alot.
i have found nothing in the area that is legal my stock jeep is challenged by. there used to be some nice trails around there, but if it was good it was closed. still very scenic though, with lots of deer and turkey. if you end up there in the summer im all game to check it out with ya. the river is beautiful in the summer, the wife and i love it.
good luck!
joe

[sumpter1]

Part of Old State House was closed because it was feared that it contained unexploded ordinance.

[Mattwings]

i would love to help ya, and go with ya, but im gonna be out of town. in the summer the old statehouse trail is pretty scenic, but not very challenging. not alot of green cover this time of year. last year there was some logging going on too.
watch where you go. some is legal for full size, some is atv and mc only. i usually enter from the trail head on bisonette rd.
if going north on m65, hang a right on bissonette(its just past river rd). the trail head is a few miles down on the left. if you hit rea rd you went too far. if you hang a right on rea rd it will take ya to the dam store. handy if ya need pop, ice, or gas. im sure there are other places to enter too.

i get a yearly campsite at old orchard park on river rd near the dam store. so i have driven some of the trail, but not alot.
i have found nothing in the area that is legal my stock jeep is challenged by. there used to be some nice trails around there, but if it was good it was closed. still very scenic though, with lots of deer and turkey. if you end up there in the summer im all game to check it out with ya. the river is beautiful in the summer, the wife and i love it.
good luck!
joe

[Mattwings]

My folks live outside of Tawas, so I am up often. I am interested in finding good spots to explore anywhere within an hour or so of Tawas or Gladwin (where we have a family cottage as well). We are headed up this weekend (memorial day) and want to try some new areas. Maybe South Branch area? We did find some good power lines and sand hills north west of Oscoda a couple of weeks ago.

[phittie1100]

Power lines, unless marked as an ORV route, are generally going to get you in trouble - they are leased to the utility company and considered private property. I would also be careful of sand hills - in general if Grandma's Buick couldn't make it in 2wd, it's off limits to 4wd vehicles.

[Mattwings]

Power lines, unless marked as an ORV route, are generally going to get you in trouble - they are leased to the utility company and considered private property. I would also be careful of sand hills - in general if Grandma's Buick couldn't make it in 2wd, it's off limits to 4wd vehicles.

There was a pretty definite road and no postings. Once we got to the top, there was a fence and a turn around, so hopefully I was OK. The good part about the bad economy is there are very few DNR or sheriff in the woods (not that I want to get in troublenornwheel where it will cause problems). They seem to spend all therentime where they can ticket fisherman on the river or lakes.

[Renegade II]

There was a pretty definite road and no postings. Once we got to the top, there was a fence and a turn around, so hopefully I was OK. The good part about the bad economy is there are very few DNR or sheriff in the woods (not that I want to get in troublenornwheel where it will cause problems). They seem to spend all therentime where they can ticket fisherman on the river or lakes.

Don't rely on signage (or the lack of,) in the lower peninsula state owned land is considered closed unless it is posted as 'open.' http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7...1401--,00.html