In early Fall of 2021, I looked forward to a day trip to Michigan’s Kalkaska trails and a day of riding the magnificent trails in the upper loop. Fate had different plans and after only 30 minutes of riding, I took my eyes of the trail for a moment and ended up tipping my ATV on its side. Escaping without serious injury, it would be four months before riding again and eight before returning to Kalkaska. On Sunday, April 3, 2022, a successful Kalkaska day trip was added to the books.
Kyle, my Son, and I, traveled in his Jeep pulling our trailer with the ATV’s to Kalkaska. As we passed Cadillac & Mancelona, the snow cover was similar to what we had further South, none. After passing Mancelona and arriving closer to Kalkaska, the snow cover went from none to a varying several inches to a foot! I had concerns with the elevation changes we planned to ride on the trail. Some of these can be difficult without the snow. The trails seemed to have even more snow than the surrounding land. Some of the trails had an estimated 12 inches while other parts were a light dusting or even bare ground.
Our first destination was to grab some lunch. We stopped by the Hideway Bar at Starvation Lake and that fit the bill. From there, we drove west on Starvation Lake Road just under a mile and on the right or south side of the road, the trail was waiting. It takes me a little longer to get ready with the navigation and GoPro setup. Kyle is usually ready to ride first. Sometimes that can lead to an adventure! In this case, we managed to get the ATV stuck and had to work a little before riding on the trail.
Once on the trails, we assessed the snow and ice. If we continued, it would make for an interesting ride! We decided to keep riding and worst case, we could always turn around if the hills and the added snow were too much for the ATV’s to handle. This would work as long as we did not get in between two hills we could not climb.
We first started by taking the Kalkaska Route from the trailhead. We took it North and then West and passed by the Hideway Bar. At the Tee, we turned right or North entering the 50″ Kalkaska Trail North. Click here for a map that can be used for your planning if interested.
We continued driving the the trail in a clockwise direction. We passed through a clear cut area and drove a few miles along the power lines. Then we came to our first hill. As I have said before, I am impressed with the 2018 Polaris Sportsman 570 EPS. It may spin a bit in deep snow even on level ground. But, for some reason, and it has happened in many different conditions, when going up a hill, it seems to bite right into it and climbs elevations with ease. Hill #4 in the video demonstrates this point perfectly. The ATV struggled through some deep snow that was on mostly flat ground. Then, after a turn of about 90 degrees, the thing dug right in and climbed the hill with ease.
After Hill #1, there was a Hill #2 that was mostly down. Then we passed by the LP4/LP77 Kalkaska Trailhead lead in/out trail and the MCCC Northbound Trail for motorcycles only. We are getting closer to the fun of almost a dozen hill climbs packed so close together, it is like being on a rollercoaster in the wild!
Hill #3 was uneventful and adding to our practice of driving up and down hills. Before arriving at the many hills close together, there was a tree down on the trail that left part of the split trunk about three feet high. The split portion protruded within the trail and I carefully navigated past it as it slid along the top of the back rail. Then Kyle approached it. He did not see how I could get passed it. He tried, but his ATV has larger rims and tires and add the Fox Shocks, and it was not happening. He found a way around.
One more hill to go before the grouping. This was Hill #4, one of the longest and complicated climbs with turns mid-climb. This is where the approach on a mostly level trail with some snow resulted in spinning and crawling at a slow pace. Complicated with a 90 degree left turn, I was doubtful the ATV was going to make it. But it bit into the trail and made easy work out of it.
Next came the series of hills. One after another, some easy some difficult. One some of these hills, all or four wheel drive is a must. A lower gear helps with ascents and descents.
In summary, the trail conditions were unlike anything we have ridden before. We did ride Little ‘O in Bladwin, MI with deep snow, but most of those trails are flat. Riding these types of elevation changes does make for a different riding experience that I would like to do someday again. I would like to ride these trails again in 2022 with snow since that is fund as well. On this trip, we focused on the Northern Kalkaska Trail and combined that with the Kalkaska Route to go to and from the trailhead near Salvation Lake. We rode 19.4 miles in 2 hours and 18 minutes. A great day trip and lives up to being one of my top five trails.
Trip Summary: Total Time = 2 hours 11 minutes. Moving Time = 2 hours 8 minutes. Distance = 19.4 miles.
Here are the links if interested in doing a similar trip. Click below:
Check out the video below for the ride and thank you!
