Drummond Island, Michigan from New Jersey

[NJRadioGuy]

Hi all,
In 2025 I would like to run both of Michigan's Jeep Badge of Honor trails in my 2022 JL Unlimited Rubicon.

I'll be traveling on my own from NJ (suburban NYC) and I was hoping to find one or two adventurous souls who might be interested in coming up to Drummond Island to play in the mud and rocks for a couple of days. As a solo overlander I don't like the idea of taking potentially troublesome trails on my own. I'm in my 60s, so going out with another rig or two is the only way I'll consider running the South Marble Head Loop or the so-called tank trap mud pits. I'm running 35" A/Ts, 2" lift, Yeti steering, Metalcloak armor, and a full compliment of recovery gear with about 5 years of off-roading and three years of overlanding experience. Not an expert, but not a n00b either <grin>. Most of my experience is either rock crawling in ORV parks in PA and overlanding in the George Washington, Green Mountain, and Monongahela Nat'l Forests.

I'm also looking at dispersed camping on the island, and if anybody knows of locations to do so I'd be grateful. I'm not concerned about the Holly Oaks ORV park for their Badge of Honor trail (it looks pretty simple and straightforward) but Drummond Island isn't something I'm prepared to do solo. My other question is what time of year is best for this trip, considering I want a bit of a challenge in the mud, but not bogs so deep it would take a rescue party a week to retrieve me if I get stuck either!

Please and thanks in advance.

 

[mjsterling]

How difficult are these trails? I am also from NJ but I am more of a newbie. I would definitely be interested in joining you, however.

 

[NJRadioGuy]

How difficult are these trails? I am also from NJ but I am more of a newbie. I would definitely be interested in joining you, however.

Hi Matthew,
I've never been up there before, but from the videos I've watched it doesn't seem crazy-difficult, just something that's probably best not done alone for safety's sake. Your JT looks well built (37s? 40s?) so it wouldn't have any difficulty.

As it stands now, my plan is to start heading north on 75 from Dayton, Ohio on Sunday, May 18th. I'm in Dayton for the world's largest ham radio convention that weekend, but I generally bug out on the Sunday morning to either head back east or to start adventuring. I don't have an itinerary thoroughly planned yet, but the idea is to do three destinations: Holly Oaks RV Park (one Badge of Honor trail there), then across to the sand dunes at Silver Lake, and then up to Drummond Island. Likely an overnight at Silver Lake, and one or possibly two on Drummond Island, depending on the wheeling.

After that it's wide open; either back down through Michigan on 75, or if I'm still feeling adventurous, into Ontario across Hwy. 17, around Georgian Bay or maybe via Manitoulin Island, through western Ontario then back home via the long way. I haven't researched the Canadian route at all yet, although I have driven it in the 1980s, when I still lived in Toronto.

Please feel free to DM me and we can go from there if you're still interested.