We covered 80% of the ORV route on the island earlier this year and it is fun (especially for the stock rigs) but if you're rig is more built, you will just be annoyed by the washboard trails, and small rocks.

I hear TR is a great park, and I cannot give you any info on it since I've never been there. I don't think it compares to Harlan though.

I would recommend checking out windrock. We had a blast down there and only covered a small amount of trails.

 

I was up there during the DOA, but didnt participate. Timing was just a coincidence.

It was our first trip, my son and I.

Good..... The island is cool. Im not really interested in the trails, Im interested in where the trails lead. We headed out towards Glen Cove after getting some groceries. The scenery and wildlife are amazing. The stone beaches are picture perfect. The trails...a little rough for my taste. Especially the tight twisties trail. I was trying to stay off that one but eneded up on it anyway. Actually got high centered at the start of it and should have turned around once I pulled myself free. Anyway....2/3 of the island is state owned, and you can camp anywhere on state land. Heres a shot of where we camped our first night...

At the point on the right in the first pic, there is a reatively nice camping spot off in the trees. You cant get a vehicle to it, but its got a fire ring and a clearing for probably 5 or so tents. This spot is a few minutes south of Glen Cove.

The bad...it rained almost the entire time we were there. Originally we were going to stay through Sunday. Ended up leaving the island shortly after getting off the tight twisties trail Friday because the rain, the mosquitos and that damn trail just put a bad taste in my mouth for the weekend.

All in all, Well go back one day. We really wanted to cruise the south end of the island checking out shipwrecks.

Oh...its a 600 mile round trip for me...and yes, its worth it. Didnt hit up the ORV park, but thats not my bag.

 

I make a trip up to drummond every summer. I love the place, but its not just the four wheeling I also enjoy camping up there. Some of the places you get to see are really cool. I also go to the park and its always a blast. Now for me its the perfect level of difficulty.

The state trails can get boring at times depending on where you are at. Some are really tight and twisty which I like. But don't expect to hit any big rock obsticals except marble head steps which really are not that extreme. There are some big holes on the trails too. Most of the trails are fairly small rocks that just throw you around, nothing thats difficult to get over. I have never done the entire route in a day, usually takes me and my friend two days to see the whole thing. The state land is awesome for scenery but the park is where its at for more challenging offroading.

Ive only ever wheeled the upper portion of the park and I can do most the stuff in that section if I take the right line. My jeep is locked on 33s with 4" of lift so nothing that crazy. If you are built up a lot more than that you will still have fun. But if you don't really care about the scenery I would think a more hard core park like harlan or windrock would be better. Its a 600 mile round trip for me too but way worth it, I look forward to it every year.

A couple of my pics:

this is marble head

When I say tight trails I mean TIGHT!

I don't really have any good pics of the park.

 

If you are looking for tough trails, go south to Harlan.

If you are looking for a relaxing long weekend camping with mild trails and georgous scenery, drummond is a great place.

 

If you are looking for tough trails, go south to Harlan.

If you are looking for a relaxing long weekend camping with mild trails and georgous scenery, drummond is a great place.

i was thinking moderate to tough trails and a long weekend camping and such.

i'm still up in the air, i've heard it's pretty light trails minus the park, 800 mile round trip is hard to justify when wheeling will be the #1 reason for going

 

btw, thanks for the input i had given up on this thread

 

If you still drive through Dearborn Heights let me know. Stop by my house and I'll show you the drummond trail maps (and have a beer).

I'll stand by what I said last time;
If you are looking for a wheeling trip with camping, head south (or actually, head north to Canada)
If you are looking for a camping trip with wheeling, head to Drummond

 

If you still drive through Dearborn Heights let me know. Stop by my house and I'll show you the drummond trail maps (and have a beer).

I'll stand by what I said last time;
If you are looking for a wheeling trip with camping, head south (or actually, head north to Canada)
If you are looking for a camping trip with wheeling, head to Drummond

i might just take you up on that in a few weeks.

Thanks!

 

QUOTE*
Stay at Bear Tracks Inn if/when you go too - Steve is awesome. He'll feed you a great breakfast then give you the scoop on the island and the best places to go/see.
END QUOTE*

I would'nt give this jerk [ Steve ] 5 cents of my money. Earlier this year, I had a planned meeting with him on the west side of the State and he sold me out.

True leaders dont sell their fellow ORV brothers out.

 

you just mocked a person who single handedly opened the BEST private park in Michigan, worked with the DNR to open up numerous ATV trails on state land on drummond island, helped reopen marblehead, makes one hell of a strawberry pancake and would give you the shirt of his back.... and you're calling him a sellout?

 

Sorry Bones, but I have to disagree with you. Skip the pancakes next time and go for the German Omelette.

As for the rest, I have to agree.

Steve is a class act and I would say that he has probably done as much or more for Michigan wheeling. In a time when trails are being closed, he helped to get more trails opened.

Oh, and he doesn't trash talk all over the web. In fact, he usually just gets quiet rather than complaining about a person.

 

BONES,
I call em like I see em.

I had a PLANNED/SCHEDULED ORV meeting with this Steve for over 6 weeks. We were suppose to meet-up for discussions with one of our Lansing Reps on the west side of the State. The morning of the meeting, he informed me that I was no longer invited because ''someone'' in the meeting would not go IF I showed up.And worse yet,Steve refused to tell me WHO this guy was.

Now mind you, Steve has NEVER personally met me before,though we have had several phone discussions and open forum talks. NEVER seen me talk in a meeting before, but dis-allowed me SOLEY on the basis of some asshole who dis-liked me on the morning of our scheduled meeting.

I was good with Steve until he sold me out for a person he would'nt even identify. If your going to accept somebody else ''bad mouthing'' me, than at least have the balls to tell me who's doing the talking so I can have a chance to defend my honor. Steve did'nt have the dignity to even allow me this opportunity.

BRAG all you want about what Steve has done for DI..

But ''remember'' one thing here. EVERYTHING he has done on DI regarding ORVing is in his OWN BEST INTEREST finacially..He owns the Bear Track Inn and EVERTHING he does to support ORV tourism on DI put $$ in his OWN pockets.

 

Who gives a rip if he did it for his financial interest? And who are you to say what his sole motive is? Are you the typical liberal with special powers to see why someone is doing something?

Either way, he got it done.

As for the rest of your sob story, I can see why they wouldn't want you there. You seem to bring the hate. Who needs that baggage?

 

I would have to agree with Steve's unkown friend in this case. I wouldn't want you at a meeting either.

And if you think Steve has done all this work for the sole prupose of his own pockets, I think you're terribly mistaken. He has more time, sweat and personal money invested into growing tourism at drummmond than he will EVER get back selling omlets.

 

You guys need to learn how to read/interpet post's better, rather than spinning it around to fit your own agenda's so that your better able to defend your pal Steve and accuse me of bringing on hate in a person.

You guys dont even know me yet you pre-judge me based on one post. That in itself,speaks volumes about the credibility of your comments.

Nobody anywhere stated that Steve's ''sole purpose'' for fixing up DI for ORVers was to benefit his own pockets. No doubt about it, Steve has busted his butt working for the betterment of ORVers on DI, but at the sametime, nobody's blind to the fact that Steve will undoubtly benefit tremedously from the fruits of turning DI into a tourism community for ORVers.

To make my point, I have NEVER seen/heard of Steve doing anything for the ORV community outside of DI..

 

You guys dont even know me yet you pre-judge me based on one post. That in itself,speaks volumes about the credibility of your comments.

Actually, I've met you before. Someone PM'd me a pic of you, and I recognized you from some ORV meetings. I know that I've talked with you in person. Just like here on the web, your message was clouded by your over the top attacks. Maybe if you would calm down a bit, your message could be heard.

And, I've known Steve Walker since 2001. Not just a met him, but actually gone out wheeling with him, hung and chatted for hours, one of the first outsiders to run his park kinda thing. So yeah, I'm gonna think negatively of you when you come on here and bash him.

 

I also thought alot of Steve until he did what he did to me, as mentioned in my above post. Fact is, he called my place of business and requested that I put on an ORV safety education course on DI for some ORV gig he had this year. We talked about this for 18 months prior to him screwing me over.

I did'nt come in here with ANY ''over the top attacks'' nor did I come in here and judge your friend Steve without ever meeting him. He ''earned'' my opinion of him when he sold me out to some asshole that he did'nt even have the stones to identify.

Im not going to discredit what he did for DI. It was a good thing for ORVers.

Just the same, I have no immediate plans to dismiss the unrealistic acts of betrayal he served upon me either.

 

Just the same, I have no immediate plans to dismiss the unrealistic acts of betrayal he served upon me either.

Bill,
"Betrayal" is a harsh word to use in this case, isn't it? Would it be possible that Steve needed the person that "refused to meet if you were there" on his side for something? Right or wrong, somehow, this mystery person developed an opinion of you in person or from your rants on the internet.

Let me pose this to you: People I have talked to about you tell me you are a champion for the cause, very passionate and a much different personality in person. Could it be simply that the person that didn't want to meet because of you got the wrong impression of you from reading some of your posts?

Personally, I appreciate your hard work, even though you demonize the CCC and the cyclists in this state. I believe passion like yours is what is necessary to continue to raise ORV awareness and approval.
Unfortunately, I think some of the things you post on the internet may polarize people, and there are more that dislike or dismiss you than appreciate you.

Just my $0.02

Scot

 

Scooter,
I think the problem that a FEW folks have with me is that I dont ''sugar coat'' too many things. I'll tell you whats on my mind whether in person or over the internet, does'nt matter to me. When it comes to my passion [ORVing]---I take it pretty seriously..

Most of the people that dislike me have NO IDEA of the amount of TIME and DOLLARS that I have spent in Lansing fighting for the betterment of our sport. They dont understand the YEARS of FRUSTRATIONS that I've dealt with when it comes to our sport and the MDNR. This creates some of the attitude issues I have with a few folks that dont know me on a personal level. I have to try and understand WHERE they are coming from because they dont know the HISTORY of the last 10 years.They only see me as a person who is ranting. I understand this!

The LAST thing I ever want to do is to get into a pissing match with ANY of my ORV brothers/sisters, but sometimes, a person must paint the wall the color that it really is.

If somebody has a issue with me [ as with Steve's friend ], im not an unreasonable person and I WILL take the time to discuss whatever it is thats on your mind and see if we can come to some sort of fix.I was never afforded this option with Steve and I dont think it was right on his behalf.

Personally?
I think the guy did a grand job on DI and I supported him every step of the way. But I beleive the guy shafted me in favor of some other persons ''perception of me'' without ever affording me the time/day of even telling me WHO this person was so as to allow me to defend my honor.

Betrayal or not, I feel I deserved better treatment than that!

Now to the folks that want a great time ORVing------go to DI and have a great time, because thats EXACTLY what you'll get.

But the Steve guy AINT getting any of ''my'' support or dollars.

 

Well put. :thumb: