Jeep 2015 late-summer vacation to Michigan

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Usually I go on vacation in July to Michigan to visit the family. We usually spend a few days in the UP, because the UP is awesome. As a bonus in the last couple of years there's been a huge boom in craft breweries up there, and some of them are <i>quite</i> good! I recommend KBC Widowmaker and almost always bring some back to Florida with me. arty52:

The bridge crossing was pretty neat, what with the rain. I was a bit disappointed there weren't any freighters passing underneath, but you can't win them all.

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Anyway, we had a bit of fun with the Jeep on one of the days.

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This trail was listed as a 'State Forestry Road' on the map we were using, and indeed, it even shows up on google maps! At least... some of it does. It shows it going up to a ridge and ending, it did not, and instead looped to the west and intersected the road we wanted to be on anyway.

You can see the road we took if you find SFR 2276 between Munising Junction and Stillman/Coalwood in Alger County MI and follow it to just before the pond that is the source of Cole Creek (46.364N 86.7534W).

This video starts... a good ways down the trail. The first part of the trail seemed a lot more heavily traveled than the last part did. It's worth noting that once we got on SFR 575 it was apparent that the trail was marked CLOSED on 575. There was no indication from the other way that this was the case. :thumbsdown:

We made our own exit onto 575. :icon_lol:

 

[Jbergun]

Nice ride nothing too extreme just cuising through the greenery

 

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On our next outing, this happened...

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Had to call in the calvary in the form of Wilderness Recovery Towing Service in Munising, Mi. I was an idiot and didn't have any gear with me to get us out. My mistake, and lesson learned. Although from what we were told, even if I had gotten us out, we wouldn't have gotten much farther as the road was washed out.

They got me out without much difficulty, as you can see, I was pretty well stuck. You can sort of see where the tires slipped off the high-area to the left and into the soft silty much.

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They had some cool equipment!

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The guy who pulled us out, Dave, said that he'd pulled out a Ford on 35s a few days previous from just a bit further down. He also told us that it's not uncommon to have to pull Chevy Sparks out of the woods, because people are idiots. :happy175:

I do have video of the event and subsequent extraction, but I need to edit it and put the segments together. Hopefully in a few days...

 

[nullptr]

Nice ride nothing too extreme just cuising through the greenery

Yeah, nothing fancy, but it was relaxing. :gr_grin:

It did make me a bit overconfident about the next trail, though.

 

[Jbergun]

Yea the first time i went off the road ever was in michigan i had it in 2wd and i got myself in a tight hill like a u turn with hills go down turn go up. The down wasnt as bad as the up so i turned around and shot right up. My little brother said whyd you do that i was like you seen tried that hill three time sand is to wet i cant make it up. He then pointed to my select a trak lever.:happy175::ROFLJest::happy175:

 

[Dave]

Yeah, looks like fun. I've been stuck good a few times and had to be pulled out too. Mostly been high-centered on my skids.


I am always shifting into 4hi as soon as I hit the dirt/gravel even if I don't need it yet. If I am approaching a rough looking place I will stop and shift to 4lo and then proceed.


I really only use the selec-trac full-time around here in the winter when the roads are part snowy/pavement. Full-time works good for that.




Dave

 

[Ohio-white-kj]

Know that area , stayed in Munising several times. Seen Dave's equipment before. There is another dude in Shingleton that has some off road towing equipment also.

I've never stuck the Libbey uo there, but did bury a Focus SVT in sand once.

That's a long drive for you - I'm in Ohio and it's 800 miles.

 

[TwoBobsKJ]

Yeah, nothing fancy, but it was relaxing. :gr_grin:

It did make me a bit overconfident about the next trail, though.

A winch, grasshopper, a winch... :cheers:

It is a blast being offroad in the KJ, isn't it?


Bob

 

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Know that area , stayed in Munising several times. Seen Dave's equipment before. There is another dude in Shingleton that has some off road towing equipment also.

I've never stuck the Libbey uo there, but did bury a Focus SVT in sand once.

That's a long drive for you - I'm in Ohio and it's 800 miles.

Yeah, it's a beautiful area up there. If I could get a job up there, I'd move in a heartbeat. We used to vacation in the area a lot when I was younger, and my brother goes to school in Marquette (I did a stint at Lake State in Sault Ste Marie).

The sand up there is a menace! Super fine and soft, you just sink into it.

And yes, it's a long drive. From my parent's place in Montrose, it was a 19 hour straight drive. I think I put about 4.5k miles on the Jeep in a week.

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The dog enjoyed all the extra room in the Jeep vs the old Colorado, though. As did I. These are really nice highway cruisers as well, other than being stiff and tired, I wasn't particularly sore or grumpy after the return trip.

A winch, grasshopper, a winch... :cheers:

It is a blast being offroad in the KJ, isn't it?
Bob

That is on the list of things! As well as skids, a lift, and some decent tires. I've got half dead Primwell highway tires on it right now. I very nearly bought some Firestone A/Ts before I left Florida, but couldn't justify the expense if I was lifting it next year <i>anyway</i>.

But, yeah, this pushed 'ARB Bumper + Winch' up the list from, "This would be nice but isn't really needed" to "Ok, yeah, need this". At the very least I need to get my tow hooks on and a come-along with a snatch strap. :icon_lol:

I actually had to be towed twice, once out of the mud, and once up a silty-soft hill that had a large wash out in it. I'd end up with my back left in the air, and my front right just barely touching, and all forward progress would <i>stop</i>. :favorites68:

It was a lot of fun, though, even better that they'd had a cold snap and all the bugs were dead. I think I saw one Mosquito the 4 days we were up there, and temps were in the low 70s upper 60s. It was glorious.