Michigan offers many trail riding opportunities. Michigan’s public Off-Road Vehicle (ORV) trail/route system provides four types of riding opportunities: motorcycle trails, all terrain vehicle (ATV) trails, ORV routes which are open to ORVs of all sizes including Secretary of State licensed vehicles, and scramble areas.
There are five scramble areas, two of which are on state forests (St. Helen’s Motorsport Area and Black Lake Scramble Area), one at Silver Lake State Park, one at Bull Gap in the Huron National Forest, and one at The Mounds, a Genesee County Park.
The ORV trail/route system covers 3,700 miles with 73% on state forests. Of the system, 30% is cycle trail, 50% is ATV trail and 20% is route. In the Lower Peninsula, the system is the only legal place to ride Non-Secretary of State licensed ORVs on public lands other than frozen waters. In the Upper Peninsula, it is legal for ORVs to operate on state forest roads as well as the designated trail system, unless a specific state forest road is posted closed to ORV use. Trails are lightly groomed and riders are likely to encounter narrow sand trails, rough moguls, steep hills, stumps, rocks, brush, loose surfaces and other hazards.