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Holdridge Lakes
41 reviews
4.17 of 5
There are three trails in this area north, west, and east. The north trail is about 2 miles and is pretty level, you can take your kids on this trail. The west trail is about 5.5 miles if you do all the loops. It is mostly rolling hills with one very steep climb. The east loop is 15.8 miles long and is called Grubers Grinder. At the start of this trail is a sign that warns of the length and difficulty. This trail is very similar to highland but is tighter with more log s to climb over.
Take I-75 to exit 101, Grange Hall Road, go west for 1/2 mile turn north on Hess road and go 1.5 miles to the entrance for the parking. There will be a sign on the left just before you turn.
Summary: ** Recommend long sleeve jersey in summer months ** (trail over grown)
The 'East' trail (a.k.a Grubers Grinder) is 15.8 miles long, well marked, very twisty, with short but frequent climbs, moderately technical with fun obstacles, a little bit of everything on this trail. I am an intermediate rider and a clydesdale (meaning 250+ lbs) and rode the trail in about 2 hrs and 20 minutes. I agree that you shouldn't bring a brand new mountain biker to this trail... BUT... I don't agree that this is an 'expert' only trail (you can always ride a little slower).
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Summary: Gruber's Grinder is long and slow like everyone has said. I used to ride that a few times each summer on weekends. The west loop is where its at! I usually rode Holdridge after work in the evenings when I lived in Michigan. The west loop was a perfect after work ride. A couple loops on the West loop usually took me a little over an hour, including the tech loop and the lakeshore loop. The west loop is just good fun, not too technical, but has some really great fun flowy spots. I would still ride it regularly if I hadn't moved away. I give it a 5 overall because its just a fun trail to ride.
Recommended Route: Lapping the West loop.
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Review Date July 21, 2003
Overall Rating 4 of 5
Aerobic Difficulty 4 of 5
Technical Difficulty 3 of 5
Ridden Trail: Once a month
Reviewed by: Todd HOckenberry
,
Weekend Warrior
, from Boulder, co
Summary: This trail is just a few minutes from my parents house in Holly. I rode it when visiting from Colorado about a month ago. For Michigan it is pretty challenging and a blast. I like raging through narrow woods at high speeds, not knowing whats around the corner...non-existent in CO. The wall is very challenging. You can loop it and try again and again until you get it right...fantastic. I even saw a group of deer on the trail.
Be prepared to get muddy. I fell a few times. Once over my bars trying to hop a log another time at a very high speed in a mud pit.
I recommend this trail to anybody.
Recommended Route: East
Other recommended trails in the same area: Island Lake
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Review Date July 20, 2003
Overall Rating 4 of 5
Aerobic Difficulty 3 of 5
Technical Difficulty 5 of 5
Ridden Trail: Once a year
Reviewed by: Paul LaRue
,
Weekend Warrior
, from Flint, MI, USA
Summary: Just finished the full 15+ miles of the east trail for the first time a couple days ago. I've ridden it a few times before, but ran out of water at about the 10 mile point, and took the shortcut back. To be honest I have mixed feeling about this trail. On one hand I like a challenge, but there are a couple parts of the trail that have "impossibly difficult" climbs (imagine climbing a hill of ball-bearing-like stones that roll out from under your tire), and one or two other points that are just plain dangerous. For example, one particular very steep decent contains a stone about the size of a bowling ball that is broken at about the angle of a log splitting (read head splitting) axe. Yes, I went over the handlebars avoiding this stone. The difficulty of the trail requires that you either travel very slowly, or count on getting hurt. Because I ended up riding so slowly I didn't get a really good cardio workout.
Having said that, the 3-4 foot log piles are fun, most of the trail is pretty safe, and you really feel like you accomplished something when you finish.
I'd recommend that most people ride the west (intermediate) trail two or three times instead of the east trail. The west trail is fairly fast, with far fewer chances to get hurt.
The north trail is good for a warm up or cool down, just watch out for kids.
I’m not sure that I’ll ever ride the east trail again, and I’ve heard several people say that it’s more like just crashing from one tree to the next that riding. I’d like to see a little more work done to the trail so a few more people besides the extreme riders would enjoy riding it. I tip my helmet to the “professionals” that can supposedly finish the east trail in 1.5 hours -- they are bad dudes.
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Review Date July 20, 2003
Overall Rating 2 of 5
Aerobic Difficulty 3 of 5
Technical Difficulty 2 of 5
Ridden Trail: Ridden Once
Visitors rate this review 1.00 of 5,
1 votes
Reviewed by: trail toad
,
Cross Country Rider
, from A 2
Summary: This is the average twisty trail that I've found evertime I have traveled to a trail rated techincal since I moved here. I rode it in the spring and not in my summer riding shape. It took 2 hours 15 minutes for the grind. I'm not a racer or fast but nether is required for this trail just simple braking skills. There were a few low level obstacles normally bunny hoppable the rest not much of a challenge. I love trail riding and while the area doesn't have the hills of the U.P. I think they could have been used better. I seen plenty of places for drops and G-out that could spice up the fun factor and piling sticks infront of ever log under 12 inches makes me think racers had got in on the building of the trail(too smooth). I can say it is alittle like highland but not as fun (but highland is smoothed out also) I'll not be back this year, if I head that far north I'll keep going till I get to High Country Pathway.
Other recommended trails in the same area: High Country Pathway, start at shingle mill and go to the lookout on that trail and head off on the pathway trail for a trail ride with natural obstacles and hills. Ride as far out as you have time th
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