ATV trails

I decided to pull the wheelers home the other weekend and actually get out and use them some. Most all of my riding has been around McGregor and Gilbert ohv park. When I had a sport quad I would hit willow river and the gandy dancer but wide and flat trails are not much fun on my old slow Foreman. We always had a good time at Gilbert but it is a little far for a day trip. Any recommendations on where to head to ride some technical two track trails or just something to challenge the machines some?

I like Chengwatana. It’s a nice day tripper. There is a little bit of everything. Including a few challenging trails with rocks, logs, mud, etc.

Paul Bunyon State Forest north of Akeley. It is huge with trails of varying difficulty.

My vote goes to the Clark County trail system just east of Eau Claire. It is only a 2 hour drive from the south metro. Since you’re on the north side of the cities, Danbury, WI has really good trails also. MN ATV trails are, IMO, not near as good as WI ATV trails.

Don Miller wrote:

Paul Bunyon State Forest north of Akeley. It is huge with trails of varying difficulty.

I second this area. Stop at the Stompin Grounds north of Akeley. They have maps, food and trail info.The trails vary from forest roads, to tight and twisty atv sized trails. Fun area.

I went for a ride today up at Chengwatana. I wished I would of taken my plow bracket off on a few trails . If they expand that trail system or connect it with the ones to the north it has some potential. I rode all of the trails in under 3 hrs but only being a hour away from home I will head there again.

dbright wrote:

I went for a ride today up at Chengwatana. I wished I would of taken my plow bracket off on a few trails . If they expand that trail system or connect it with the ones to the north it has some potential. I rode all of the trails in under 3 hrs but only being a hour away from home I will head there again.

How are the trails up there? Would they be a good ride for sport ATV’s? The wife and I ride a SXS but I also have a sport machine for solo trails. Looking at the map, it is mostly class 1 ATV’s only…so the SXS needs to stay at home. Being in the south metro, we take day trips down to Chatfield. The trails are fun, but there isn’t many of them and the whole system can be hit in a couple hours.

The main loop would be ok on a sport quad but the inner loop and the trails that dead end rough and rocky. After riding them if I still had my sport quad I would head somewhere else. General Andrews by willow river can be alot of fun on a sport quad but on my 4×4 I would get bored quick. The trails are almost all sand and are much faster paced.

Awesome information! Keep it coming.

A couple of us are heading up to Red top north of Mora tomorrow. I’ll let you know what I think of them.

The sand pits by Moose Lake would be better suited for a sport quad or SxS.

Those are good for quick day trips as well.

Last time I was up there I think Utility quads were outnumbered 20-1. Sport quads and SxS’s were everywhere.

We are heading up to Namadji State Forest with decent size group this weekend. Anyone ridden this trail system before? Looks like a decent size.

FYI, I was up this past weekend at our cabin by Thunder Lake (south of Remer). All of the trails in the Moose River ATV trail system in Land O Lakes state forest were impassable, as were all of the logging roads near Thunder Lake. We hit a dead end on every single trail we rode due to trees down. There is a ton of cleanup that will need to be done up there….crazy how much damage was done in that storm two weeks ago.

We rode General Andrews a few weeks ago and it was a nice area and nice trails, but not overly big. We had covered most of the trails after roughly 3 hours of riding.

Do they allow Joe blow to carry a chain saw to make a trail passable if trees are fallen across it? I don’t believe I ever came across something like that addressed in the regs, at least in WI.

castle-rock-clown wrote:

Do they allow Joe blow to carry a chain saw to make a trail passable if trees are fallen across it? I don’t believe I ever came across something like that addressed in the regs, at least in WI.

It’s dependant on the areas regs. State forests require a permit to cut anything other than immediate use firewood. I doubt they would let a chainsaw in without a permit.

I was up at Chengwatana on Saturday for the first time in a few months and there were a couple trails impassable because of downed trees. Also quite a few “widow makers” laying precariously over the trails. Hopefully they get all that cleaned up soon.

I have spoken with DNR officers in WI about clearing ATV trails and logging roads of fallen trees. They said you should attempt to contact them first, but it would be alright if you cut the tree at both ends across the trail and moved the middle section off the trail. They simply don’t want people getting hurt by hitting a downed tree, they want it off the trail more than the riders!

I have never read anything of this sort in regs in MN or WI, that’s why I asked the CO. We always do our best to clear trees off the trail, even if we don’t have a chainsaw. The last thing we want to see someone come flying around the corner at high speed and being ejected after hitting a downed tree. I’ve seen enough unfortunate accidents on ATV/Snowmobile trails in my life as it is…

The girlyfriend and I hit up St Croix State Forest last weekend. Spent about 5 hours there, hit most but not all of the trails. It’s a fun trail, however nothing We found was too challenging. It’s perfect for side x sides and sport quads. Very wide and sometimes fast trails. Not the greatest for utility’s since there is nothing very challenging. Lots of sand, gravel, and rocks. Very little mud and water. Be careful when in the rocks, some are very sharp, hit them wrong and you will likely cut a tire.

We will go back, but will probably hit up some of the connecting trails and maybe jump over to wisco from it.

munchy wrote:

The girlyfriend and I hit up St Croix State Forest last weekend.

Thanks for letting me know. A couple of friends and I will be going to Nemadji and St. Croix this weekend. Mix of SXS’s and sport quads. Likely the last trail ride of the year for us!