Tuesday, August 16, 2016

West Ride - Two New Trails - Journey So Far

The Trail Head has the week off and with that, an opportunity to pedal some new trails. The trails of choice yesterday were the Al Sabo Land Preserve just outside of Portage and the Dr. T.K. Lawless Park in Vandalia; both on the west side of our great state. I have no idea who Al Sabo or Dr. T.K. are but they have some great trails; the doctor trail being my favorite of the two as it had a little bit of everything in terms of terrain (good hard pack) and a great layout throughout the thick forest. The hills were there but they weren't what I call "Really?" hills. The "Really?" hills occur when you come upon one and it is such a steep climb with an abundant washout through it that you can only say...."a hill here, really?"
The new additions to the tour make 37 different pedal destinations so far on the tour dating back to 1990-something (maps at the bottom of this post).
As the song goes, what a long, strange trip its been; but a darn fun one at that.
Trail Head  

Trail List:

Metro Detroit
Bald Mountain Recreation Area
Brighton Recreation Area
Hickory Glen
Highland Recreation Area
Hines Park
Holly-Holdridge Mountain Bike Trail
Island Lake
Kensington/Proud Lake Connector
Lakeshore Park
Maybury State Park
Milford Trail
Pinckney Recreation Area
Pontiac Lake Recreation Area
Proud Lake Recreation Area
Stony Creek Metropark

Grand Rapids Area
Cannonsburg Ski Area
Cannonsburg State Game Area

Kalamazoo Area
Al Sabo Land Preserve
Dr. T.K. Lawless Park
Fort Custer Recreation Area
Yankee Springs

Northern Michigan - Lower Peninsula
Boyne Highlands
Boyne Mountain
Wilderness State Park

Northwest Lower Peninsula
Arcadia Dunes
Big M
Crystal Mountain
Glacial Hills
Hanson Hills
North Country Trail
VASA Singletrack

Thumb
Albert E. Sleeper State Park

Central U.P.
Bruno's Run
Grand Island

Keeweenau Peninsula - U.P.
Copper Harbor
Michigan Tech Trails
Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park

Al Sabo Land Preserve





trails pedaled so far noted in red