Nick and I hauled the Yellerlife Jeep up to Drummond Island this weekend to volunteer for the Drummond Island Off Road Club’s spring cleanup! Not only is keeping the trails clean important to me, but after what happened with Marblehead last summer, I felt that I needed to help scout trails in need of improvements for another DNR “gravel and fill” grant on the table for this year.

I had never volunteered at an OFFICIAL trail cleanup before, but it was a major success and a great excuse to get out there and enjoy the trails more!

Many people showed up for this clean-up; in fact, the DIORC said this may be their biggest turnout. We all signed up for specific trails to make sure there was minimal overlap. I believe we ended up covering the whole trail system on the island, with the exception of a couple trails that were impassible due to spring flooding.

Nick and I as well as our new friend James personally cleaned 11.2 miles of trails. We covered Hallfrisch trail (which is a part of the new Jeep Badge of Honor trail), Dry Lake Rd, Log Jam, and Turkey Ranch trail. We also cleaned up the Maxton Rd parking lot.

Over the 11.2 miles of trails we covered, we collected 3 bags of trash and used chainsaws to remove several downed trees and branches that had fallen across the trail.

*The magenta line on the OnX off-road screenshot shows the portion of trails the 3 of us personally cleaned up*

The goal was to leave the trails much better than we found them, and we did exactly that!!! Notable finds: I picked up a couple very old cans — one that had the pull tab so it was likely from the 70’s or earlier. Another volunteer found a mannequin that resembled a human body………

I also wrote up my thoughts on how and where the DNR “gravel and fill” grant should be used this year and shared them with two members of the DIORC. I personally feel like most of the trails I ran this weekend DO NOT need any improvement at all, so my wish is that they are not touched other than the few suggestions I offered.

My reason for sharing this is that I want to encourage others to help keep their favorite trails clean. And even more, if something is going on that you don’t like regarding our trails — GET INVOLVED AND HELP!

-Becca

P.S. I just want to say that while the destruction of Marblehead was devastating………. in MY opinion, it is still quite possibly the best natural rock crawl to exist in Michigan. And dare I say the harsh edge created some cool new opportunities and lines to run up the middle. This was my first time on the island after everything last summer. I can now say, do not let what happened discourage you from heading up to Drummond Island to run trails. They are still a blast!! BUT ALSO, I will continue to share information on my social media on how to get involved and help the future of these trails.

Drummond Island Trail Clean-Up 4-26-25

Michigan’s Best Wheeling (for Jeeps)