- Dec 5, 2011
- 690
Well the trip to Drummond was a BLAST/ minus the set backs the 2nd day. We had awesome weather both days. Clear and sunny with temps between 72 and 82 with low humidity.
My uncle and cousin met at the DQ in Mackinaw around 10:15am Saturday and left around 10:30am 10:40am. We crossed the bridge and made it to Detour Village around 12pm we stopped and filled up before we got onto the ferry. Once on the ferry the ride to Drummond was 15 minutes long. We made it to the campsite, checked in and they said to find a spot that we liked. So we did just that. They said that there was a guy leaving sometime that afternoon and we could set up there. We had parked in the site next to him cause that was the one we were going to setup in. But after checking the sight the ground was kind of uneven. So in the mean time we grilled up lunch waiting for the guy to leave. He finally came after we ate and tore down his tent and just threw it into his van. It was pretty funny to watch him tear it down. After he left we checked that site out and it was much better still a tad uneven but much better.
We sat around for a while or so till we went back into town to get a trail map. Once we got the map we looked it over to figure out where we were going to go the following day. We decide to do a quick loop that evening to pass some time. We then went back to the campsite and unloaded some stuff and headed out.
Below is a map of Drummond. The Blue on the Top left of the map was the loop we took Day 1. The Purplish Blue in the bottom Right was the route we took Day 2. The White was the way were going to come back from the Purplish Blue.
Trail 2, 3 was mostly mud with some rocks. Once we got onto Trail #4 it was flat out rocks with little mud. I'd say it took us 2 hours to do that loop. I think we took the outside trail or the inside trail can't really recall. It doesn't seem like it would be that long but it was. I've got some videos of the trails and will post them once they get uploaded. About and hour into the ride we came across a rocky ledge that was impassable for both of us. My uncle was going to attempt it but he didn't have skids so he decided not to attempt it. There were 2 different by passes that we took. Pretty much after that the trail turn to rock. I did a number on my door on trail 4. There was a rock formation (I guess) that I knew I could not drive straight over it. So my goal was to get my passenger tires on it and hug the drivers side to the edge of the trail. Well when I came down I either had the wheel turned to much to the left or I slid. Needles to say I hit/scraped my door against the tree. Stupid me I only took cell phone pictures of the damage. After the ride we went back to camp and made some dinner and fixed my door. I took the panel off and pushed the dented aera out. I wasn't able to push all of it out but heck its a trail scars :thumleft: After that we went back to the ferry dock to make some phone calls. There is NO cell service on the island except for the ferry dock. Funny thing was I was receiving all my preset stations on the radio the entire time.
Day #2 was a LONG day and things didn't go well at all.
During the night around 4:30 am, I think someone hit a dear because I was woken by squealing tires, a thud and then there was a lot of commotion. That morning after we had eaten breakfast we were going to set out until the campground offered us free breakfast. My cousin and I passed as we weren't that hungry but my uncle took them up. After he got back we packed up some food and the grill and headed out. Trail #27 was super fun. It was Mud and hard packed dirt the first little bit then it changed to soup like mud. As we went further it changed to rocks and mud through a cedar swamp. About 150 yards from the beach there was a cabin in the woods that the trail went right in front of, the name "Plywood camp" hung above the door. That was probably the best section IMO. There was some pools of water with a rocky bottom some had big rocks in them and some didn't. It was a long treck from 27 to the beach though with our average speed about 5 mph or slower. I wish I had taken some dash cam footage or pictures of the tail but didn't. Once we passed the beach we had taken #26, the one we were going to stay away from. We had decided when we started that we would see how bad 26 really was and if it was impassable we would turn around and hop onto another trail. Well we didn't realize we had taken 26 until we got stuck and when I walked it.
26 was rutted out to beat the band. A small section of the trail was closed cause it was BAD. Thankfully there was a by pass around all the ruts which we didn't realize till we got stuck. Thankfully we didn't get stuck at the same time. I found out that the reason why 26 was rutted out so bad was cause Michigan Wheelers hosts an annual event on Drummond in April. Needless to say that all of the Big Rigs with 40s and 400+hp engines went through 26 and tore it up. My uncle tried to speed into the ruts hoping to get momentum and bust through which he ended up hanging up on his rear diff. I was stuck at this point and unable to help. Thankfully he had a wench and was able to pull cable for an hour till he was free. He did have trouble with his wench on the last bit he had to pull cable. It had bound up, wouldn't let us unspool it, and the switch was acting up. But thankfully we were able to unspool it and get it working properly. Then he came around on the bypass and pulled me free. We then took the by pass around. Once we got out of 26 it turned into a nice logging road for about a short while. I almost left my Shovel, Tow Strap and Come along in the woods thankfully I remembered.
After all of that we continued on towards marble head. Where trail 26 intersects with 25 there are 3 head stones. Talk about a peaceful place to be buried. The rest of the ride was more rutted trails thankfully with by passes. Some of the by passes were bad but not all that bad. After we finally got out of the rutted sections the trails smoothed out a tad and as we got closer to Marble Head it turned to rock. We reached Marble head about 3pm. We were hoping to descend marble head but it too was bad and we didn't feel like even attempting a decent. I was very disappointed that Marble head was as bad as what it was, everyone I talked to about it said I could do it and I really wanted to do it. We took a break to eat lunch and head back to camp so I could pack and head home. This is where thing got interesting.
We planned on taking the White back to camp but we didn't have enough time and were running low on gas. So we opted to go on trail 25 and catch 25a down to the trail head parking. That plan didn't work. We made it down a ways and then the trails went to heck again. Massive ruts deep water, again thankfully there were bypasses. As we kept going on the by pass things got interesting. We finally came to a section of the by pass where if met with the main trail and were unable to proceed. So we had to turn around (literally). Thankfully there was a nice gap in the trees that we could back into and turn around and back track out. I think we stopped where 25 and 26 meet to look at the map and figure out a way to get back. I suggested that we just take the way we came back as we already knew what the terrain was like. So that's just what we did. About an hour or so into the ride back my Uncles jeep stalled waiting for me to catch up. So he said for me to try and push his jeep which didn't work that well. He then put a spare tire between my bumper and his rear bumper and I would then push. We did this for about 20 minutes and then stopped to walk the trail to see how far we were from the next trail which we were about 150 yards. I almost crushed my Uncles leg while doing all of this. I was meaning to back up and I had accidently left it in drive and didn't realize it. Thankfully his leg got caught between my bumper and his spare tire.
When we got back he tried to start his jeep and it started. After that his jeep stalled out at least 3 other times. We finally reached "Plywood Camp" and stopped on the beach to take some pictures with Canada in the background. He then said for me to get in front of him so I could tow him incase his jeep died again. Which is what exactly happened. It stalled and I had to tow him for a while. I was pretty proud to have pulled a jeep through the woods. I was hoping to have towed it to pavement. I didn't record any video/take any picture of me towing him. As we neared the end of 27 I had gone to far forward cause there was a bypass around a mud hole that I wanted to take incase I couldn't get through it with the added weight of the jeep. This was when I handed to camera to my Cousin to record me towing my Uncles jeep. Which never happened Cause we ended up walked the trail for a ways so we could hopefully see the end of the trail, which we couldn't. When we got back my Uncle tried to start his jeep and... Thankfully it started. After that we got out as fast as we could. Turned out we were only about a mile from the road. Talk about being glad to see pavement cause I sure was.
We had gotten back to camp around 7:30 that evening. Talk about an all day ride. :safari: So in the end it was worth every second. I'm thankfully I had armor, I hit the skids 3 times scraped the frame on a rock once and landed on the frame twice. Trail Damage included a dented door.
My uncle and cousin met at the DQ in Mackinaw around 10:15am Saturday and left around 10:30am 10:40am. We crossed the bridge and made it to Detour Village around 12pm we stopped and filled up before we got onto the ferry. Once on the ferry the ride to Drummond was 15 minutes long. We made it to the campsite, checked in and they said to find a spot that we liked. So we did just that. They said that there was a guy leaving sometime that afternoon and we could set up there. We had parked in the site next to him cause that was the one we were going to setup in. But after checking the sight the ground was kind of uneven. So in the mean time we grilled up lunch waiting for the guy to leave. He finally came after we ate and tore down his tent and just threw it into his van. It was pretty funny to watch him tear it down. After he left we checked that site out and it was much better still a tad uneven but much better.
We sat around for a while or so till we went back into town to get a trail map. Once we got the map we looked it over to figure out where we were going to go the following day. We decide to do a quick loop that evening to pass some time. We then went back to the campsite and unloaded some stuff and headed out.
Below is a map of Drummond. The Blue on the Top left of the map was the loop we took Day 1. The Purplish Blue in the bottom Right was the route we took Day 2. The White was the way were going to come back from the Purplish Blue.
Trail 2, 3 was mostly mud with some rocks. Once we got onto Trail #4 it was flat out rocks with little mud. I'd say it took us 2 hours to do that loop. I think we took the outside trail or the inside trail can't really recall. It doesn't seem like it would be that long but it was. I've got some videos of the trails and will post them once they get uploaded. About and hour into the ride we came across a rocky ledge that was impassable for both of us. My uncle was going to attempt it but he didn't have skids so he decided not to attempt it. There were 2 different by passes that we took. Pretty much after that the trail turn to rock. I did a number on my door on trail 4. There was a rock formation (I guess) that I knew I could not drive straight over it. So my goal was to get my passenger tires on it and hug the drivers side to the edge of the trail. Well when I came down I either had the wheel turned to much to the left or I slid. Needles to say I hit/scraped my door against the tree. Stupid me I only took cell phone pictures of the damage. After the ride we went back to camp and made some dinner and fixed my door. I took the panel off and pushed the dented aera out. I wasn't able to push all of it out but heck its a trail scars :thumleft: After that we went back to the ferry dock to make some phone calls. There is NO cell service on the island except for the ferry dock. Funny thing was I was receiving all my preset stations on the radio the entire time.
Day #2 was a LONG day and things didn't go well at all.
During the night around 4:30 am, I think someone hit a dear because I was woken by squealing tires, a thud and then there was a lot of commotion. That morning after we had eaten breakfast we were going to set out until the campground offered us free breakfast. My cousin and I passed as we weren't that hungry but my uncle took them up. After he got back we packed up some food and the grill and headed out. Trail #27 was super fun. It was Mud and hard packed dirt the first little bit then it changed to soup like mud. As we went further it changed to rocks and mud through a cedar swamp. About 150 yards from the beach there was a cabin in the woods that the trail went right in front of, the name "Plywood camp" hung above the door. That was probably the best section IMO. There was some pools of water with a rocky bottom some had big rocks in them and some didn't. It was a long treck from 27 to the beach though with our average speed about 5 mph or slower. I wish I had taken some dash cam footage or pictures of the tail but didn't. Once we passed the beach we had taken #26, the one we were going to stay away from. We had decided when we started that we would see how bad 26 really was and if it was impassable we would turn around and hop onto another trail. Well we didn't realize we had taken 26 until we got stuck and when I walked it.
26 was rutted out to beat the band. A small section of the trail was closed cause it was BAD. Thankfully there was a by pass around all the ruts which we didn't realize till we got stuck. Thankfully we didn't get stuck at the same time. I found out that the reason why 26 was rutted out so bad was cause Michigan Wheelers hosts an annual event on Drummond in April. Needless to say that all of the Big Rigs with 40s and 400+hp engines went through 26 and tore it up. My uncle tried to speed into the ruts hoping to get momentum and bust through which he ended up hanging up on his rear diff. I was stuck at this point and unable to help. Thankfully he had a wench and was able to pull cable for an hour till he was free. He did have trouble with his wench on the last bit he had to pull cable. It had bound up, wouldn't let us unspool it, and the switch was acting up. But thankfully we were able to unspool it and get it working properly. Then he came around on the bypass and pulled me free. We then took the by pass around. Once we got out of 26 it turned into a nice logging road for about a short while. I almost left my Shovel, Tow Strap and Come along in the woods thankfully I remembered.
After all of that we continued on towards marble head. Where trail 26 intersects with 25 there are 3 head stones. Talk about a peaceful place to be buried. The rest of the ride was more rutted trails thankfully with by passes. Some of the by passes were bad but not all that bad. After we finally got out of the rutted sections the trails smoothed out a tad and as we got closer to Marble Head it turned to rock. We reached Marble head about 3pm. We were hoping to descend marble head but it too was bad and we didn't feel like even attempting a decent. I was very disappointed that Marble head was as bad as what it was, everyone I talked to about it said I could do it and I really wanted to do it. We took a break to eat lunch and head back to camp so I could pack and head home. This is where thing got interesting.
We planned on taking the White back to camp but we didn't have enough time and were running low on gas. So we opted to go on trail 25 and catch 25a down to the trail head parking. That plan didn't work. We made it down a ways and then the trails went to heck again. Massive ruts deep water, again thankfully there were bypasses. As we kept going on the by pass things got interesting. We finally came to a section of the by pass where if met with the main trail and were unable to proceed. So we had to turn around (literally). Thankfully there was a nice gap in the trees that we could back into and turn around and back track out. I think we stopped where 25 and 26 meet to look at the map and figure out a way to get back. I suggested that we just take the way we came back as we already knew what the terrain was like. So that's just what we did. About an hour or so into the ride back my Uncles jeep stalled waiting for me to catch up. So he said for me to try and push his jeep which didn't work that well. He then put a spare tire between my bumper and his rear bumper and I would then push. We did this for about 20 minutes and then stopped to walk the trail to see how far we were from the next trail which we were about 150 yards. I almost crushed my Uncles leg while doing all of this. I was meaning to back up and I had accidently left it in drive and didn't realize it. Thankfully his leg got caught between my bumper and his spare tire.
When we got back he tried to start his jeep and it started. After that his jeep stalled out at least 3 other times. We finally reached "Plywood Camp" and stopped on the beach to take some pictures with Canada in the background. He then said for me to get in front of him so I could tow him incase his jeep died again. Which is what exactly happened. It stalled and I had to tow him for a while. I was pretty proud to have pulled a jeep through the woods. I was hoping to have towed it to pavement. I didn't record any video/take any picture of me towing him. As we neared the end of 27 I had gone to far forward cause there was a bypass around a mud hole that I wanted to take incase I couldn't get through it with the added weight of the jeep. This was when I handed to camera to my Cousin to record me towing my Uncles jeep. Which never happened Cause we ended up walked the trail for a ways so we could hopefully see the end of the trail, which we couldn't. When we got back my Uncle tried to start his jeep and... Thankfully it started. After that we got out as fast as we could. Turned out we were only about a mile from the road. Talk about being glad to see pavement cause I sure was.
We had gotten back to camp around 7:30 that evening. Talk about an all day ride. :safari: So in the end it was worth every second. I'm thankfully I had armor, I hit the skids 3 times scraped the frame on a rock once and landed on the frame twice. Trail Damage included a dented door.
