[golf12]

Hey all.. Was looking at a trip to H/M at the end of this month.. While looking at their site it says there's no riding at night.. Anyone know if that's a hard rule that they enforce?.. When my group goes away on trips we ride big miles from sun up to 1-2 in the morning.. Night riding is one of our favourite parts of our trips.. If it's an absolute no, no that's disappointing.. Morning till dusk just ain't enough riding for what we like to do..

On that note.. We've considered Michigan as well.. Are there any decent systems in Michigan near the Canadian border at Sarnia?.. If so, what are they called?.. I'd like to inquire and confirm how to secure trial passes for future rides.. Thanks for any guidance on either subject above..

 

[JPXP1000]

I have been riding Hatfield for about 5 years and from where we stay we hear people down on the trails but we don't ride at night. We go spring and fall and we have only passed law-enforcement on the trail two times. There are plenty of non Hatfield tails (locals call them Out Law trails)also, where there is no enforcement.

 

[pirate]

We have had to ride after dark several times to get back to our lodging. I doubt if you would get in trouble for being LATE getting back. Have you been to HM before? It is great riding but not a lot of high speed trails. You might not have to ride 12 hours days to get enough riding in. As the other poster mentioned the Outlaw trails would be an option but not being familiar with them might be asking for trouble at night. I have directed several groups lost after dark on the HM trails and they are marked excellent. JMO, but don't let the night thing discourage you as there is great riding and great people. We headquarter at " Browning Fork Trailhouse" on the Rockhouse System and go from there. You won't be disappointed.

 

[Vandal]

Hey all.. Was looking at a trip to H/M at the end of this month.. While looking at their site it says there's no riding at night.. Anyone know if that's a hard rule that they enforce?.. When my group goes away on trips we ride big miles from sun up to 1-2 in the morning.. Night riding is one of our favourite parts of our trips.. If it's an absolute no, no that's disappointing.. Morning till dusk just ain't enough riding for what we like to do..

On that note.. We've considered Michigan as well.. Are there any decent systems in Michigan near the Canadian border at Sarnia?.. If so, what are they called?.. I'd like to inquire and confirm how to secure trial passes for future rides.. Thanks for any guidance on either subject above..

Quote: While looking at their site it says there's no riding at night

This pretty much answers your own question. I have ridden all the HM trails and have never seen anyone riding them after dark, and asked a ranger this question once and he also said no night riding....Period. You might get away with it til you got caught, and I'm sure if you were late getting back in they might consider the circumstances. The one thing to remember about HM is that HM doesn't own the land the trails are located on. The coal companies do and as such HM has to abide by their wishes, and if they say no night riding there's no night riding

 

[golf12]

Great info boys, thank you.. Agreed that the outlaw trails sound awesome.. But riding unfamiliar trails at night that aren't mapped is a terrible idea.. As for H/M, we certainly don't want to be in violation of the rules.. Nothin' worse than riding with nagging worry that you're going to catch hell for being somewhere you're not supposed to be.. I reached out to the H/M folks and spoke with a representative that confirmed no riding at night.. However.. She "hinted" that if you happened to be a couple of hours away from your hotel at dark and you encountered a Marshall.. As long as you're not being an idiot on the trails and you're headed in the direction you're supposed to be going to get back to your hotel you're fine.. So.. Might work for us, might not.. We'll put it to a vote in our group and decide..

 

[motocross269]

I wouldn't ride H/M at night....Miss a corner and it is a long ride to the bottom....lol It is a great system though and I have had plenty of time to ride when I have been there....I like to start early though...
Being that the H/M is all on private land I did my best to stay within the guidelines..It doesn't take much to lose an opportunity...Plus "Yankees" tend to disappear down there...lol
As far as Michigan there is nothing close to Sarnia..... I think Gladwin is about the closest trail system...There is "The Mounds" that is about 60 miles or so from Sarnia but it isn't much more than a Gravel pit...
If you want to ride Michigan head to the UP.......Some great trails in Northern Michigan also...

 

[scjetb]

We just rode HMT all last week and I wouldn't want to ride it after dark. We would hit the trails about 9:00 am and not come off til about 6:30 pm. We stayed in Pineville and went almost to Norfolk. It was a lot of riding , but we enjoyed the hell out of it. We will be back for more.

 

[bowmper]

I have riddin hmt a few times and they are my favorite to ride. We usually stay in gilbert. I could not imagine riding them at night unless you know them well. We have accidently went down some crazy narrow switchbacks during the day that if encountered at night you would be lucky to make it to the bottom alive.

 

[darius427]

Mio and St. Helen area in Michigan have a lot of nice trails. About 3 hours from the border. Many different trail systems connect throughout that area so you can ride quite far. There are places to stay in many of the small towns if you wanted to go from one to another instead of staying at one "home base".

 

[Vandal]

Mio and St. Helen area in Michigan have a lot of nice trails. About 3 hours from the border. Many different trail systems connect throughout that area so you can ride quite far. There are places to stay in many of the small towns if you wanted to go from one to another instead of staying at one "home base".

HUH?????
This thread is about riding Hatfield McCoy trails after dark, and I guarantee you they're not in Michigan....so what was the point about this post?

 

[darius427]

Mio and St. Helen area in Michigan have a lot of nice trails. About 3 hours from the border. Many different trail systems connect throughout that area so you can ride quite far. There are places to stay in many of the small towns if you wanted to go from one to another instead of staying at one "home base".

HUH?????
This thread is about riding Hatfield McCoy trails after dark, and I guarantee you they're not in Michigan....so what was the point about this post?

Go back and take the 10 secs to read the OP's full post and then maybe you will be able to understand. I know ADD is rampant these days but come on.:crackhead:

 

[Vandal]

Mio and St. Helen area in Michigan have a lot of nice trails. About 3 hours from the border. Many different trail systems connect throughout that area so you can ride quite far. There are places to stay in many of the small towns if you wanted to go from one to another instead of staying at one "home base".

HUH?????
This thread is about riding Hatfield McCoy trails after dark, and I guarantee you they're not in Michigan....so what was the point about this post?

Go back and take the 10 secs to read the OP's full post and then maybe you will be able to understand. I know ADD is rampant these days but come on.:crackhead:

My apologies....missed that partopworm:

 

[golf12]

Drove down to H/M thurs and rode Friday/sat.. Rode 200 miles and covered a good amt of pohahontas/indian ridge and pinnacle creek.. Lets just say I get it now.. You would not want to be on those trails after dark.. A flat tire on my 570 (dang 4ply tires) kept us out on Pinnacle till around 10:30pm.. As we made our way out.. We discovered right quick the need to adjust our speed and not look away from the trail for a second.. Tight turns into crazy elevation changes and the drop off on those ridges are insane (200 to 300 feet straight down in some area's).. There is little to no room for error in the dark.. That said.. They are hands down the best trails I have ever been on and the locals are some of the friendliest people I've ever met.. I'm sold on H/M and will be back for sure.. If you haven't been.. Go..

 

[pirate]

Totally agree Golf 12. We have ridden a bunch of places but I always feel the pull to plan a trip to HM. The trails are challenging, rated correctly, plenty of variety and just a great riding atmosphere. The people there are glad to have us and show it. We always stay five nights and ride four days. We are dragging when we leave. I hope to spend a week next trip so we won't have to ride ourselves to death. The Rockhouse /Buffalo Mtn connecter is supposed to open Memorial Day and they say it is a system within itself. We rode from hwy 44 to Hwy 52 back in Oct and really liked it. All the systems are just different enough to always keep riders plenty entertained. Glad your group liked it. The only riding we have done after dark was last fall and we started a late afternoon ride on the new connecter and couldn't make ourselves turn around. We rode the last 15 miles in the dark but on familiar trails. All went ok. The next day we trailered to Buffalo Mtn. Right before we got to Matewan one riders brake line came apart. No brakes. He struggled into Matewan in daylight. If this had happened the evening before it would have been "Mr Toads wild ride". S--t happens.

 

[golf12]

The Rockhouse /Buffalo Mtn connecter is supposed to open Memorial Day and they say it is a system within itself.

^^ The connector not being open yet was the reason we went to the south trails.. Really looking forward to buffalo mtn, rockhouse and the rest.. Man.. I can just imagine what it must have been like for your buddy with no brakes.. Dear lord!!..

 

[pirate]

When we ride Rockhouse we stay at Browning Fork Trailhouse. Great setup right on the trail. We usually ride RH two days, trailer to Buffalo Mtn. (about 35 minutes) and also trailer over to Pinnacle Creek, also 35 or 40 minutes. Of course when the connecter is open there will be another option. We have always enjoyed every trip and always look forward to our next one. Just a great riding destination.

 

[sbell]

Drove down to H/M thurs and rode Friday/sat.. Rode 200 miles and covered a good amt of pohahontas/indian ridge and pinnacle creek.. Lets just say I get it now.. You would not want to be on those trails after dark.. A flat tire on my 570 (dang 4ply tires) kept us out on Pinnacle till around 10:30pm.. As we made our way out.. We discovered right quick the need to adjust our speed and not look away from the trail for a second.. Tight turns into crazy elevation changes and the drop off on those ridges are insane (200 to 300 feet straight down in some area's).. There is little to no room for error in the dark.. That said.. They are hands down the best trails I have ever been on and the locals are some of the friendliest people I've ever met.. I'm sold on H/M and will be back for sure.. If you haven't been.. Go..

Can I ask what caused your flat tire. I'll be going next month and have stock tires on my 570. Going mostly for the touring not the black trails and concerned about flat tires.

 

[golf12]

Can I ask what caused your flat tire. I'll be going next month and have stock tires on my 570. Going mostly for the touring not the black trails and concerned about flat tires.[/QUOTE]

hey there.. I walked back about 100 feet to see if I could tell what it was.. Hard to know for sure, but I'm gonna say a small sharp rock got me just the right way while accelerating up a steep hill.. My group was riding hard and fast at the time.. I came out of a very sharp left turn already going uphill and then got on the gas to climb an even steeper section of the hill.. There was alot of stress on the tires in this situation and "pop!" it let go on me.. Granted my tires had about 2000km's (1250 miles) of hard trail riding on them already.. I've run the stockers through every kind of terrain imaginable and they've held up fine.. Just bad luck if you ask me.. But a 6ply or 8ply probably wouldn't have let go like the 4ply did.. I had plugs with me but one of the lugs was damaged as well which prevented the repair from holding for more than a few mins.. Had to stop and put air in a bunch of times.. Some slime combined with the plugs may have worked better.. Regardless of what tires you have.. Bring plugs and a small compressor.. My buddies 850 popped a bead a few times (he rides very hard).. Without a compressor he would have been screwed.. You'll love H/M..

 

[pirate]

sbell, Golf hit the nail on the head. There are literally thousands of rocks that will give you a flat tire at HM. I've ridden there numerous times without a flat on stock tires. I probably have been lucky. just take your essentials and hope you never use them, only as insurance. It's not as rocky as some places but hell, that's what we ride for , right. You definitely don't have to ride blacks to hit rocks wrong. A long time ago I was at a riders meeting at a race and some guy was complaining about all the rocks and the promoter frankly told him they all had a right and left side so take your choice. Have a blast! going myself in June.

 

[sbell]

Thanks guys for the comments. I will be taking plugs, CO2 cartridges, and a small compressor. I may even pick up some patches. I could borrow a tire from my daughters 500 but not sure I should go that extreme. It's just the wife and I going end of May for 1st time and can't wait.