These 5 Destinations Lure Quads to the Heartland
Often called the heartland, the U.S. Midwest is a haven for off-road destinations.
Home to rolling hills, challenging rocks, deep mud bogs, numerous national forests, and a 1,600-acre span of dunes, the Midwest has enough variety for those seeking thrills within its UTV and ATV park trails.
Let’s take a look at some trails found in Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin that rev up our hearts.
Arkansas: Ozark-St. Francis National Forest
The 1.2-million-acre Ozark-St. Francis National Forest in Russellville, Arkansas, offers endless choices for adventure including hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, kayaking, boating, camping, hunting, fishing - and more than 120 miles of accessible roads and trails for quads.
Multi-use trails spread throughout the Ozark National Forest at Brock Creek, Huckleberry Mountain, Mill Creek, and Moccasin Gap.
OHV trail riding areas include:
Indiana: Redbird Off-Road State Recreation Area
Named after the Redbird Coal Mine, the state recreation area in Dugger, Indiana, boasts 1,400 acres of former surface and underground coal mine land.
Miles of trails for all skill levels bring riders to the property for its gentle slopes with miles of off-road vehicle trails, as well as fishing lakes and room to roam on foot. As reclamation projects are completed more areas will be opened and non-motorized trails will be built.
For more information about Indiana’s Off-Roading opportunities, visit Interlake Off-Road State Recreation Area.
Michigan: Manistee National Forest
In Michigan, you can ride more than 4,000 miles of state-designated ORV trails and routes, six scramble areas, eligible county roads, frozen surface of public waters, state forest roads (open to ORV use) and eligible national forest roads.
Michigan’s ORV trails range from single tracks and rocky hill climbs to soggy mud bogs, dirt bikes, quads and dune buggies.
Silver Lake Sand Dunes is the only place in Michigan you can drive the dunes, and a very popular spot for that reason, but there is plenty of dirt to choose from across the lower and upper peninsulas of Michigan.
Known nationally for its flat to rolling hills of forested and meadowed trails with bridge crossings, we recommend visiting the Manistee National Forest in Lake County.
Manistee is home to many trails for motor sports including:
- Cedar Creek Motorsport Trail
- Holton Motorcycle Trail
- Big O OHV Trail
- Little O ATV Trail
- M-20 Motorsport Trail
Motorized vehicles may only be operated on designated roads, trails or areas open to that use. To find what roads and trails are open to a particular use, visitors should obtain a Motor Vehicle Use Map.
Minnesota: Appleton Area OHV Park
Minnesota has more than 1,000 miles of designated trails for off-road vehicles, with most of the trails located in the northern half of the state.
An extremely popular sport in the state, numerous clubs and groups protect the more than 60 OHV trails. We recommend hitting up the southwest of the state to enjoy the Appleton Area OHV Park just 2 miles north of Appleton, Minnesota.
The 330-acre park features:
- 10 miles of ORV trails
- 5 miles of ATV/OHM trails
- An OHM practice track
- 3 enduro tacks
- Youth ATV training course and OHM practice track
- Groomed snowmobile trails
- Jumps, water hole, sand dunes, hill climbs, rock crawls
The state’s DNR recommends subscribing to its email list for updates on trail closures.
Wisconsin: Lynne/Little Rice Lake Trail System
All-terrain vehicle and utility terrain vehicle riding is a vastly growing sport in Wisconsin, the state’s DNR says.
It’s not a surprise, as much of the state offers huge swathes of linked trails that snake throughout the vast countryside. Riders can easily jump on a trail and ride for hundreds of miles across the state.
In the middle of northern region of Wisconsin, Oneida County offers two main ATV/UTV trail systems , the Enterprise trail system and the Lynne/Little Rice Lake system.
We recommend The Lynne/Little Rice Lake ATV trail system, which consists of nearly 24 miles of wooded trails, 23 miles of connecting ATV roads, and 76 miles of multi-use roads.
In addition to these two trail systems, there are two short off-road trail connectors (Gritzmachen Road in Woodruff and Cruiser’s Road in Nokomis/Woodboro) and approximately 200 miles of woodland trails that are open to all motorized vehicles year-round.
During the winter, these trails are maintained for snowmobiling. Check out where to ride on this statewide map provided by the WATVA.
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