Upper Peninsula Adventure Trail (UPAT - 1250 Miles of the UP Backcountry)

Jon,
The 800 did great. You will have no problem with the KLR 650. I only did one big bike go around and that was the Moss Lake single track. The trail was too tight with my paniers. The biggest obstacle with the 800 and big bikes is the soft sugar sand, but if you take your time , and you being an experienced rider you will be alright. I carried camping gear also and had no issues.
You will enjoy the route as it has a mixture of just about everything the UP has to offer other than Drummond Island rocks. Good luck!

Great stuff, thanks for the reply! I should have noted that im pretty experienced on street but ive been on alot of single track... just not on my 650. That sand is killer no doubt. I used to ride the orv trails in northern lower with a klr 250, and have started hitting them again on my 650. Its hard work and since I havnt been on a dual sport for a few years prior to this year, im starting find out how out of shape im in throwing that bike around.... and picking it up! Im used to riding mostly light terrain/street on my curent bike so I may stick to the go-arounds unless i can whoop myself back into shape this winter lol. Ill be camping the whole time so I may stretch it out for 5 days and take my time.

Jon

Yes, the sand was definately taxing. I must say that I contemplated a few of the by passes, but I would start in with the option to turn around, and then figured I was already mostly through so I would continue. I never new what to expect as several areas you had listed as really soft sand was not that bad. They seemed to be pretty compacted. and then other areas were really soft. I also must state that I was riding on stock tires that are 90% road and 10% off road and I am a pretty experienced off road rider competing in enduros and hare scrambles. I wanted to see how the stock tires would do since I didn't want to put on my TKC's for the 700 mile plus ride to the bridge and back from Indiana. Stock tires did really well other than the sand and a few bull rides due to no traction.
Thanks again Cannonshot

Sorry for the late reply. I had not been to the site in a while.
The nice thing about Cannonshots map is you can start into the sections and if it is too much you can turn around or even in a couple of instances the trail crosses forest roads or two tracks and you can get back over to the go arounds with your GPS. I did the whole route in 7 days with 5 days being the UP route. I went from daybreak to dusk and even into dark a couple of times not stopping very much. I kept a real aggresive pace, with not a lot of down time, and it took me about 4 and 1/2 days to go 1497 miles.
Did I mention great scenery no matter what time of year. Good Luck!

Man this is going to be a long winter waiting to take the trip. I have been all over the UP and ive never been bored with the scenery! I am putting a set of track masters on this winter along with some new suspension, so that should help a bit in the sand.


Cannonshot, thanks for putting this route together in great detail for everyone to enjoy! Also going to run the superior loop this next summer with my wife. Looks like a lot of fun.

Jon

Hey Jon, I am planning on doing this sometime this spring/summer. Let me know when you are planning to head up. I will be on the big GS.
I will be in Munising sledding next weekend, I can't wait for bike season to come back around though.

Sounds good! My brother is interested in doing it on his DR 650, and Zaboo65 mentioned he may want to meet up for some upat riding as well. Maybe we could all meet up and do the ride, I will make a thread in the central region section when I have the dates set in stone.

Jon

Thanks for putting up such a great route and RR, Cannon.

My brother and I are planning to do part of the UPAT this summer, starting from our parents house a bit south of St. Ignace. We'll have 4 days to ride, needing to return to St. Ignace by the end of the 4th day. I was wondering what part of the route you'd suggest that we do. We're considering the following options:

1) Go north from St. Ignace, hopefully making it to Marquette, connect with the southern part of the trail and head back to St. Ignace.

2) Go north from St. Ignace and follow the trail all the way up to Copper Harbor. Come back on roads as needed to make time on the return, jumping on some sections of the lower part of the trail on the way back if we have time.

3) Go west from St. Ignace and explore the southern part of the loop, returning when we run out of time.

I love pictured rocks and lake superior, so I'm inclined towards (1) or (2) but I've really never explored the southern part of the UP, so I'd be open to that if it's great riding.

I don't have a good sense of how many miles we can cover each day. We're a couple of 40-something guys in pretty good shape, on the beginner side of intermediate with offroad riding (I've completed the RawHyde course in CA, my brother had a dirt bike he rode in CO for a few years). We'll be riding 650 dual sports (a V-Strom and a BMW G650 XCountry).

Thanks for any advice you could offer. We're really looking forward to this trip.

This looks fantastic.

Do you have any mapped routes that would be good for a Jeep Wrangler in the UP? I'm going to camp in Newberry in July and have a few days to get there from Chicago. Looking for some offroad sections.

Wow great thread, love all the pictures and ride report, I also checked out your website its pretty awesome. I am planning on hitting the MCCCT "loop" this summer with some friends, but might have to do 2 trips this summer and hit the UP as well!

You wouldn't be disappointed. Great riding and fantastic people up there.

Dear Cannonshot, The wife and I are planing to go around the outer edge of the UP this Aug. We will be leaving from our cabin in Saint Helen ( Lower Penn. ) going across the bridge and staying on Druhmond Island the first day, second day to the Soo and pictured rocks, third day Big Bay, fourth day Copper Harbor, and so on. Could you recommend any good maps with all the roads ( Paved and dirt ). We will be on our BMW 1150 GS and I would like to stay as close to the lake shores as possible. Thank you for any info, Bruce

Thank you so much Cannonshot. The wife and I just love the UP and now that we have the right 2-up machine we cant wait. Thanks again, Bruce

PM coming...Zaboo65, Grimloc, and I are thinking about doing this between the first and second weeks of June.