Hey all! I hope you had a good 4th of July. I went on another Off-Road adventure, this time a lot longer and a lot more trails. I thought I'd give an update in the event any of you have the itch...sometimes it's hard to take that next step...but it is totally worth it!!!
First, I downloaded onX Offroad a month or two ago and have been tinkering with it ever since. I paid the $30ish dollars to get more access and I am finally feelings like I am understanding how to optimize it/use it properly. There is a learning curve and it does take a little time.
As I mentioned in a previous post if you want to drive on "jeep trails" which is indicated by the symbol on the trailhead you do need to have your Bronco registered as an ORV which is $38.50 for three years. However, only about 30-40% of the trails I went on required this registration. I will say the trails that required it were the REALLY FUN trails. They weren't just dirt/gravel roads, they were largely the width of your vehicle, quite rocky, mud/water spots and great "intro" to Off-roading trails.
I started off in the St. Croix State Forest and repeated all of my trails from my last visit. I was much more comfortable this time and less anxious because I knew my vehicle and me could handle the drive. When you are on the jeep trails you are driving quite slow and it take a long time (45-50 minutes) to traverse the 5-6 mile trail. Could you go faster? Probably, but I'm still trying to figure this whole Off-Roading thing out.
After hitting every trail I could in the St. Croix State Forest I headed up the Gandy Dancer (no registration required) towards the Nemadji State Forest. The Gandy Dancer while mostly a flat gravel road is still fun and worth driving. The cool part is you can traverse between the State Forests using it and not having to go on County/State paved roads. There was an off shoot trail from the Gandy I was going to take but it ended up being closed for repairs. So I continued on into the Nemadji State Forest. It was about 30 minutes in on a fun gravel road before I got to the first Jeep trail. When I got on it, wow, it was fun. Not better than the St. Croix, just different. Less rocky and more hills with more water and mud. I ended up getting slightly lost in the Nemadji Forest and time was running out so I had to cancel the last 6 mile Jeep trail I was planning on going on. I drove the dirt roads back to civilization and took a fun route back to our family cabin.
A couple things to point out:
- Plenty of roads that don't require registration, however, the most fun ones do.
- Again, the jeep trails got tight at times. I brought a lopper this time and bet I got out over a dozen times to cut tree branches that would've scratched the car....not ready to get those kind of scratches yet!
- Exploring, trial and error is fun and all part of the journey. I enjoyed trying out roads I think might be cool even if they were an out and back.
- There were many areas where there was no cell service and I only knew where I was because I had downloaded maps in the onX Offroad app. Either get the onX app or use the free one you can get from the DNR because it would be unwise to go into these areas without the capability of knowing where you are.
- I can see why people like going out in groups of vehicles. There is power in numbers and while these trails can easily be done on your own there is something nice knowing another vehicle could drive/tow you out if something bad happens.
I am by no means an expert but wanted to provide my experience in the event a newbee is looking to get out and have fun. I for sure plan on getting up in this area another time before it snows and think Fall could be an amazing time to do so if others would be interested.
A few pictures I took. Hard to show the size of the rocks and what the trails are like but this give you a taste and just know they are much more fun in person. Some pics of dirt mud I got on the trail. Also got my first trail rash when a stick got stuck in my side Steps, need to bend that back.
Please ask any questions if you have any!
First, I downloaded onX Offroad a month or two ago and have been tinkering with it ever since. I paid the $30ish dollars to get more access and I am finally feelings like I am understanding how to optimize it/use it properly. There is a learning curve and it does take a little time.
As I mentioned in a previous post if you want to drive on "jeep trails" which is indicated by the symbol on the trailhead you do need to have your Bronco registered as an ORV which is $38.50 for three years. However, only about 30-40% of the trails I went on required this registration. I will say the trails that required it were the REALLY FUN trails. They weren't just dirt/gravel roads, they were largely the width of your vehicle, quite rocky, mud/water spots and great "intro" to Off-roading trails.
I started off in the St. Croix State Forest and repeated all of my trails from my last visit. I was much more comfortable this time and less anxious because I knew my vehicle and me could handle the drive. When you are on the jeep trails you are driving quite slow and it take a long time (45-50 minutes) to traverse the 5-6 mile trail. Could you go faster? Probably, but I'm still trying to figure this whole Off-Roading thing out.
After hitting every trail I could in the St. Croix State Forest I headed up the Gandy Dancer (no registration required) towards the Nemadji State Forest. The Gandy Dancer while mostly a flat gravel road is still fun and worth driving. The cool part is you can traverse between the State Forests using it and not having to go on County/State paved roads. There was an off shoot trail from the Gandy I was going to take but it ended up being closed for repairs. So I continued on into the Nemadji State Forest. It was about 30 minutes in on a fun gravel road before I got to the first Jeep trail. When I got on it, wow, it was fun. Not better than the St. Croix, just different. Less rocky and more hills with more water and mud. I ended up getting slightly lost in the Nemadji Forest and time was running out so I had to cancel the last 6 mile Jeep trail I was planning on going on. I drove the dirt roads back to civilization and took a fun route back to our family cabin.
A couple things to point out:
- Plenty of roads that don't require registration, however, the most fun ones do.
- Again, the jeep trails got tight at times. I brought a lopper this time and bet I got out over a dozen times to cut tree branches that would've scratched the car....not ready to get those kind of scratches yet!
- Exploring, trial and error is fun and all part of the journey. I enjoyed trying out roads I think might be cool even if they were an out and back.
- There were many areas where there was no cell service and I only knew where I was because I had downloaded maps in the onX Offroad app. Either get the onX app or use the free one you can get from the DNR because it would be unwise to go into these areas without the capability of knowing where you are.
- I can see why people like going out in groups of vehicles. There is power in numbers and while these trails can easily be done on your own there is something nice knowing another vehicle could drive/tow you out if something bad happens.
I am by no means an expert but wanted to provide my experience in the event a newbee is looking to get out and have fun. I for sure plan on getting up in this area another time before it snows and think Fall could be an amazing time to do so if others would be interested.
A few pictures I took. Hard to show the size of the rocks and what the trails are like but this give you a taste and just know they are much more fun in person. Some pics of dirt mud I got on the trail. Also got my first trail rash when a stick got stuck in my side Steps, need to bend that back.
Please ask any questions if you have any!
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