Leaving early in the morning to head up to Michigan tomorrow. We'll be driving along the western coast, along the lake. We'll probably get at least to Muskegon, but maybe up to Luddington. We'll then head inland into the forest area to explore. I'm not sure where it will take us, but we're just out for some scenery and fun. I'm bringing 4 of my daughters. Three of them could care less about the scenery and Jeeping. They are in it for a hotel with an indoor pool. It doesn't take much to please them!

 

How did your trip go? With no snow or leaves, not the prettiest time of year for Michigan. I hope you had a great trip anyway.

 

We had a great time! We stopped at Indiana Dunes and then worked our way along the coast, right up to Muskegon, where we spent the night. We also stopped in St. Joseph and a few other interesting places. Tuesday morning, we went into the Manistee National Forest and found lots of Jeep trails. After running some of those, we went to the coast I think just south of Manistee, and found more Jeep trails. The kids played for a bit on the beach, and we did a little night wheeling on the trails. We then headed back and arrived at home just after midnight. My girls love to explore new places, so they loved it. Good thing they don't care about the cold when they have the chance to play on the beach! They would have spent hours there, if I could have stood it.

We saw more wildlife in a neighborhood in Muskegon than we did anywhere in the National Forest! We saw large numbers of wild turkey and deer there, but didn't see one in the forest. Strange!

I'd have loved it if we could have had some snow, but some of the trails had glare ice, and that made them fun. There were also some decent mud holes.

Man, that muddy Michigan sand is tough to clean off the fender flares and bumpers! What a pain!

Michigan is beautiful even in its ugliest season!

 

I feel your pain! I'm still trying to get my bumpers and fenders back to a normal shade of black, from my trip through St. Helens almost 2 months ago. Although, my entire Jeep was covered in it haha.

Some pics from my trip



10min on the trail, and stuck lol. Leaves covered the mud, 2wd and zero momentum



A few water holes washed some off...but this is how it looked when I made it home.

 

Glad you and your girls enjoyed your trip. I'm going to have to go explore those trails in the Manistee NF.

 

Last October we were in Macinaw and the UP. Did some trails in Hiawatha NF and some dirt roads around Paradise. Tahquamenon Falls was a great stop. Would love to do some cross country skiing there some day. I've always loved upper Mi and return every couple years.

 

The UP is on my Jeep bucket list now, for sure!

 

Drummond Island this past April.