I think he's stated several times there are no legal places to wheel in his area.
In many parts of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan there aren't any easily accessible (or good) legal wheeling areas. As mentioned earlier the whole UP is pretty much one big wheeling area sorta like a lot of Arizona, New Mexico, etc.
Here you can either try out the "unmaintained roads" that range from muddy dirt roads to rutted "better have 44's" trails, you can head over to the mud bog called the Mounds near Flint, Silver Lake Sand Dunes on Lake Michigan, and up to Drummond Island at the eastern end of the UP in Lake Huron. The problem? They're all far apart from each other and other than Drummond pretty specialized. There are A FEW legal trails on state land but they're all pretty lackluster and pathetic. Nothing like driving 2 hours to go to a trail and then finding out it's basically a dirt bike path wide enough for a vehicle.
I try not to illegally wheel. Hell, it's been several years since I got to go out...didn't even have Big Ugly then. The problem is it's not hard to outbuild the "trails" around here and also a lot of what is legal around here is confusing. There's one area that's good for a half an hour or so of bumping around but it's also crisscrossed with near identical paths that are powerline trails and illegal AND patrolled. Many folks have gotten busted on them simply because they were driving down a trail and instead of turning off kept going straight on the one they were on.
Meanwhile there's the whole posted/not posted thing...the law says that if it isn't posted it's legal...but explain that to property owners, the DNR (who half the time can't seem to find where they are), local cops, et al.
Meanwhile you have the rednecks, white trash, yuppies with 4x4's, methheads, etc etc and you get the situation known as rural lower peninsula of Michigan. 90% of the population would have no problem with you cruising around in the woods or climbing a hill, etc etc etc but then there's the 10% trying to close everything off using the few idiots who go out and do damage as examples.
There's an area northwest of our place a few miles. Sorta known as a wheeling spot and mainly comprised of sandy trails going to a big pit and lots of varied terrain. No rocks but some off camber stuff and some climbs if you drive around long enough. Interesting and good for most of the locals to keep them happy.
It's not posted...so technically it's legal.
It's not state land...but it's A LOT of land...no clue who owns it.
Not near any houses or urban areas, just lots of trees and trails.
An old coworker of mine said it was "sort of illegal" in that everyone knew about it and wheeled there but only nuisance idiots were arrested there...
...this is our quandry here. Drive hours for so-so or non-varied wheeling, drive even further to pay for wheeling or go to the UP where you're forever and away from home, wheel the lame legal stuff here, or wheel the good stuff, be careful, be respectful, and PROBABLY never hear anything about it. Hell, they have more trouble on the walking/bike paths, snowmobile paths, and other areas than from illegal 4x4ing up here.
I like trails having grown up in an area where lots of 2 tracks were available. Not much of a mud guy or hard core anything guy. Give me some nice, diverse terrain and I'll be fine. Of course I only have one rig I could really wheel with, am afraid of body damage (it's my baby!...and expensive to fix!), I have a budget every month and vehicle upgrades/use doesn't always even exist in it, and I live in a state that I mentioned sorta sucks for legal wheeling.
. As for tree damage.......They still sell body panels....Or you can just cut them off so they can't hit any more.
