I had an opportunity to spend some time with my parents. Back in the day, my dad and I used to spend a lot of time riding snowmobiles across northern Michigan. It was a great time, but it always had me thinking, “I wonder if I could do something on bikes…”
Well, since I was up there, and had my Farley, I decided to find out…
It’s no secret that I love downhill and flow type trails. It’s no secret that I also like exploring unridden dh type trails as well. One thing I always wanted to try was to go on a several day mountain bike adventure through the backwoods. I found that the High Country Pathway meandered through areas near my parents house, and this works into my long term goals perfectly. My dream adventure ride would be to ride from my parents house over to my wife’s family in Wolverine, then ride up to Mackinaw City. My guess is that it would take two days.
I am a total noob to this type of riding. I love riding my fat bike, but I have no back country experience whatsoever. The High Country Pathway, coupled with trails I have ridden all my life, would be a great introduction and way to learn if I would even like this type of riding. With this in mind I had my dad drive me out into the woods around Atlanta, MI and with my bike, water, and GPS, I set off on my first back woods adventure.
This was an amazing adventure. I have no experience bikepacking, and know it can be a costly venture to find out you may not like it, so I highly recommend trying to ride some sections like this before throwing coin into the sport. Fortunately for me, I enjoyed every minute of my mini adventure. I was actually disappointed that it came to an end.
As I work off some more weight and get settled in at my new company, I will be putting aside change regularly and working hard to do more adventure rides in the future. Ultimately I would like to accomplish my dream ride and I look forward to sharing that victory.