Western: Owasippe

[football44]

Rode all the loops today. Sweet trail. Among the top 5 Michigan trails in my opinion. Ended up riding the long loop counter clockwise because I missed the turn. Didnt see the arrow at the bottom of the new sign before the two bridges. I didnt really need a map. The signs were adequate and well

[football44]

Rode all the loops today. Sweet trail. Among the top 5 Michigan trails in my opinion. Ended up riding the long loop counter clockwise because I missed the turn. Didnt see the arrow at the bottom of the new sign before the two bridges. I didnt really need a map. The signs were adequate and well placed. I followed tire tracks when things got a bit confusing. There are definitely some fun swoopy downhill sections. Beautiful lakeside riding. Very remote feeling at times.

[irishpitbull]

Rode all the loops today. Sweet trail. Among the top 5 Michigan trails in my opinion. Ended up riding the long loop counter clockwise because I missed the turn. Didnt see the arrow at the bottom of the new sign before the two bridges. I didnt really need a map. The signs were adequate and well placed. I followed tire tracks when things got a bit confusing. There are definitely some fun swoopy downhill sections. Beautiful lakeside riding. Very remote feeling at times.

Thanks for the update, sounds like something I need to hit.

[AllMountin']

Trail was prime today, save the loose, sandy bits. Thanks to the gentleman who gave me his map and gave me the rundown on trail routing. I found everything pretty well marked, and just followed the red 'S'. The only place I faltered was at the loop exit, and started to run a reverse loop on accident.

I love how much narrow bench there is on the side slopes. Reminds me a bit of my favorite parts of NCT and Mohican.

Paid my fee in the maintenance shop, as nobody was home at the admin.

[Bigtymer]

I'm really sad they sold the land North of the road. It was some of my favorite singletrack at Owasippe, over the last ten years. bummer:(

[pharus]

Good going!! Thanks for getting this trail back in shape so we can ride it.
Trail map
http://ooec.org/assets/Owasippe_Bike_Tr ... 20502w.pdf

Going to ride this coming Sunday for the first time. And the map in the link above is much better than the one on the MMBA Trail page. Hoping to not get lost and eaten alive!

[kms662]

Rode yesterday and Memorial Day. Trail is in great shape. First time riding this trail. Beautiful scenery, quite a bit of climbing.

[Bento]

Does anyone have a contact for the pass necessary to ride? I paid for a season pass with PayPal, but haven't received any word back. I tried using the http://ooec.org/contact-us/ with no luck.

[gtrowbridge]

Rode Saturday. Even after the rail the trail was in great shape. The sandy nature of it much like Yankee in that it can take the water in stride.
Did the big 10 mile loop (aka blue). Very different from the shorter loop (aka red). Some really sweet views. One part is right along a cliff side that I had no idea existed out there. Don't fall. There is no getting back up. Really narrow tread there too. Reminded me of the cliff side trail at Versailles in Indiana but not quite as high or wide. Good stuff.
Clocked 12 miles instead of the 10 riding the big loop.

Had a bit of trouble with the signs and ended up on too much two track and gravel road toward the end. In talking to the TC Randy it looks like we were paralleling the single track. Bummer. I guess we missed some good stuff. Next time. I'm sure signage will be improving over the years as more and more trail is added in.

It was also interesting that it seemed where ever we stopped and said to ourselves it looks like the trail should be rerouted that way for more climbing/downhill/turns/scenery, that those places were already on Randy's map of suggested reroutes. In fact it looked like his map was about 75% reroutes to add in more trail!

My prediction is this could be the next IMBA Epic trail in MI. Might be 5 years from now but I can see there is so much here its a definite possibility.

This was worth the trip to get there.

[SteveF]

The trail is still open to bikes this weekend, right? Last chance before fall?

[gtrowbridge]

The trail is still open to bikes this weekend, right? Last chance before fall?

Yes I believe so.
In fact rumor has it there is a group ride there this weekend.

[SteveF]

The trail is still open to bikes this weekend, right? Last chance before fall?

Yes I believe so.
In fact rumor has it there is a group ride there this weekend.

Hey, George! Thanks, I like that rumor. I wonder where/how I can confirm it? I already posted in the west chapter forum. I don't have facebook or I'd check there...

[Owasippe Chief]

Owasippe closes temporarily for the summer Boy Scout season after the 2nd Saturday in June. This year the trails will close Saturday June 9th at dusk and will reopen in mid August. More Trail info, maps, plus on-line vehicle pass purchasing (Daily or Annual) are available at www.ooec.org/trails/
Annual passes are good through the calendar year 2012.

[SteveF]

Owasippe closes temporarily for the summer Boy Scout season after the 2nd Saturday in June. This year the trails will close Saturday June 9th at dusk and will reopen in mid August. More Trail info, maps, plus on-line vehicle pass purchasing (Daily or Annual) are available at http://www.ooec.org/trails/
Annual passes are good through the calendar year 2012.

Thanks for the link and close date confirmation! We'll definitely be done riding before dusk.

Looking at the trail map, it appears that the "long loop," is basically the medium loop with a couple of miles of the old blue loop included (in the lower right quadrant)--that seem right?

[Owasippe Chief]

Yes the long loop is the medium loop with a connector to the "Old" Blue Trail. This loop is almost the same as the Time-Trial course that Tailwind used in 2007 & 2008. This week we are finishing up some new single-track which will become the start of all three loops. This will eliminate a two-track and sandy steep downhill. This new section will be ridable and hopefully marked for Saturday's riding.