How can you go wrong with a safe day of ATV trail riding on the Leota Trail system in Michigan? On March 13, 2021, my son Kyle and I spent the day on a combination of snow, wet, and sandy 50″ trails. A great location and lots of fun!
We started out from the Leota ORV Trailhead at coordinates 44.153151, -84.858913 that is southwest of Houghton Lake and on the west side of US-127. This trailhead location supports two different rides. One has a set of 50″ trails that are north and slightly west of the trailhead after a scenic ride across a bridge over the Muskegon River. The second set of trails is east and northeast leading to the Denton Creek Trail and the Houghton Lake area. We chose to go the way of the bridge on this day.
Early on as we took the loop clockwise, there were locations that provided a backwater view of the Muskegon River and another with a nice elevation on the bank. The trails were awesome with several obstacles of trees and branches from the winter. Ice weighed down dozens of branches making the trail a tactical obstacle course. Several trees were across the trail that had to be bypassed slightly off trail. At about the halfway point, there was an elevation with sitting logs and a firepit. We had a nice lunch at this location.
The Leota Trails have some of the best marking of any trail in Michigan. A simple numbered system that corresponds to their map makes these trails easy to follow. Beginning at 01 and ending at 28, how much easier could it be? Check out their trail map here. Centrally located to the State of Michigan, well marked trails, sand and some water, and lots of sites to see make this a great destination to ride.
Trip Summary: Total Time = 4 hours 45 minutes. Moving Time = 3 hours 13 minutes. Distance = 21.1 miles.
Here are the related GPS data files for our ride:
GPX, KML, and GeoJson GPS Files
Here is the video on YouTube:
