Moving to West Michigan

[yksorom99]

Hey Everyone,

I am moving to the Holland/Grand Haven area this summer and wanted to know if anyone could recommend some trails that are pretty legit around there. I was reading about Cannonsburg. Can anyone tell me about all they have to offer including the skills course? What does all of that consist of? Any other recommendations would be helpful. Thanks...Ride Hard!

[LuckyCharm4x4]

Are you moving out here for work? I have been here just over a year now.

The closest place is Bass River, then there are several around the Grand Rapids area. Check out WMMBA's map ( http://wmmba.org/index.php/trails/inter ... trail-map/ )

[yksorom99]

I am moving out there, well to live with my girlfriend for the summer because I am able to take classes and I am currently looking for a job. I heard about Bass River. Is it any good? Also, know of anyone hiring a part time position?

[LuckyCharm4x4]

PM'd you.

[lampenj]

Hey, welcome to West Michigan!

'Good' and 'legit' are kinda relative to what you're used to riding. Bass River is a relatively technical trail with turns, a few log piles, and a few berm's to climb, but is not a tough-hill climbing course. Yankee Springs has a few more hills and is one of my local favorites, but is still an hour away (I live in Holland - North Side). My group rides Yankee in the spring and fall, but then we do Canonsburg State Game Area and the Ski Area throughout most of the summer. Luton is also a fun trail and we'll throw that in for the tri-fecta rides starting mid-summer. All three of these trails are about 45 minutes away from Holland (if you're closer to G.H. they may actually be a few minutes closer...I don't know). Otherwise, I know there's a couple of groups working on some new local trails, notably in Zeeland and Hamilton, but I'm not sure where they're at politically to start trail building.
Finally, if you're going to end up closer to Holland, Riley Trails allows mounting biking and is the place I hit up most often during the summer because I can ride there from my house and it gives me about 30-45 minutes of trail riding, but I wouldn't consider it a mountain bike course. It is definately multi-use (which I like because I can take my young kids there for hiking as well), but I enjoy it more than bike path riding for base miles.
I hope that was helpful and maybe I'll see you out on the trails sometime this year.

[yksorom99]

Have you ever been to the Detroit Area to ride? Pontiac, Maybury, Highland Rec...

[lampenj]

Not yet. I've only been riding mtb for a couple of years so I'm slowly getting to all of the trails. Hopefully someday soon.

[LuckyCharm4x4]

Here are a few pics from the Cannonsburg Ski Area Skills area:

[yahtzee_99]

Never been to Cannonsburg but for sure need to hit it up looking at those photos. Another trail not mentioned in this post is Owassippie. Opens May 1st till the boy scouts arrive then again once they leave till fall. But coming from Holland it is probably closer to go Yankee. Still a nice trail to check out at least once.

[raymears]

My thoughts on some of the local trails...
Bass River - very twisty single-track through the woods with some log piles. Slow due to the turns and not really any hills, but it's nearby - a good fall-back trail if nobody's up for heading for the trails further away.
Pigeon Creek - multi-purpose trails (no horses, though), not that great... but I take the kids there a couple of times per week and they love riding it. Wide trails, some noticeable downhills, sand isn't too bad.
Yankee Springs - great single-track trail - some pretty intense downhills with small repeated dropoffs. A bit too sandy. I consider it the most challenging trail that I've ridden around here.
Cannonsburg Ski Area - really two things, a skills area and a single-track course. I'm not a big skills guy. The trail is fun, with a good mix of hills and turns.
Cannonsburg SGA - I know it's the first one people mention usually, but it's not my favorite. It's definitely a good single-track trail, I just don't see it as the top attraction here. Good hills, not very twisty. Lots of riders usually.
Luton - I love this single-track trail. Very good flow, with twists, hills, and an obstacle or two. It's 9 miles of heaven.
Shearer Road - Pretty similar to Bass River. I only rode this once and plan to go back. Trails connect it to Edwards Creek.
Edwards Creek - Unique single-track. A variety of obstacles, some decent hills, a little of everything. I also only rode this once, but am looking forward to returning. Everyone in our group ended up bailing off of some seesaw or wooden planking at least twice.
Robinette's Orchard - Mostly single-track. This one costs some small amount of money. I didn't love it - there are some grassy spots, some overly steep short hills, too much sand, and a couple of dangerous drops. I'm guessing some people love this course, but it doesn't fit my style.
Owasippe - I'm not clear on whether/when this will be open, but I rode it once last year during a group ride and it was excellent. Single-track with hills, great scenery... a bit like Yankee Springs without as much sand. I'm psyched about getting back there this summer assuming it's open. There are also supposed to be just a ton of trails there in addition to the course we rode last fall.

If I had to rank them for my own enjoyment, it'd be:
Luton
Owasippe
Yankee Springs
Edwards Creek
Cannonsburg Ski
Cannonsburg SGA
Bass River
Shearer Road
Robinette's
Pigeon Creek

I still need to try out Ionia, Big M, Fort Custer (sounds great), and the new trails - I don't know the status on those because I can never make the WMMBA meetings.

[robbio7]

Ft. Custer is great. 2 main single track loops about 9 miles each (red and green) with a wider easier slightly shorter trail (yellow) which shares small parts with red. really fast with red trail having a good third of it re routed and new trail cut. Red has tougher climbs than green but green has some more fun technical play. i don't know if blue is still open to bikers or if it is equestrian only these days. also if you get done riding early enough you can get mexican food from Nina's which is amazing.

[yahtzee_99]

Robbio - +1 on the Nina's, great authentic mexican food!

I use to ride Custer about 2-3 times a week while in college and would mainly stick to the red loop occasionally doing both red and green. Have not been there in 7 years so I cannot comment on the new re-routes on the red trail. But I can say the red loop was more technical than Owassipie and had better flow. The green loop at Custer reminds me of Owassipie the most. With that being said I think Owassipie is a harder trail because of the sustained climbs and it is longer.

[LuckyCharm4x4]

I agree, the Green trail at FC reminds me of Owassipie too. I still enjoy FC more due to the Red trail, but Owassipie is fun too.