It can be for sure. Our county has two holdout village boards who won’t open up ATV routes despite their constituents overwhelmingly supporting them doing so. It really limits our travel options. I hear a lot of wrong information on safety and economics too from the folks who are against opening more routes.
I can't wait to see how this one plays out. Thanks for chasing this route down. Your ambition is paving the way for a lot of people who are dreaming of trips like this.
Not sure how I stumbled across your channel but I'm glad I did! Being from Wisconsin just north of the Dells it was awesome to see all the beautiful trails! Nice set up with that General
The story telling, music selections for the specific scenarios creating the emotion of the scene, and videography made both part 1 & 2 excellent! It felt like I was riding a long for the trip. On another note, I loved seeing the Perkinstown and Dead Horse trails. Both of those are on my list as I'm new to riding. I'm located in northern Clark County so it was cool seeing stuff right in my neck of the woods.
Loop 4 (Overflow or Rustic Loop) at the Campground on the Northern end of the Perkinstown Motorized trail is open to ATV/UTV/MC. Need to enter directly off the the trail head on FR1455. It is a nice little area with shaded sites, tables, firepits, water and nice pit toilets. No electric.
Another great video guys (and gals). With regard to utv/atv in WI state campgrounds take a look at my Google Review of Castle Mound State Park near Black River Falls. We were confronted with the same problem that you had. Disappointing to say the least.
Thanks! We’ll check it out. We’ve been part of some rides that got day use access to state parks and WATVA and some other groups are working on getting some of them opened up. It’s tough to camp sometimes without access to state parks - and imposing a simple speed limit would keep noise down. I think it’s coming at least in some of the state parks but it will take time.
Super cool! That’s good to know. We’ll take a look, we’re going to compile some more options for food, fuel, lodging as we work on improving info on the trail.
Fun to see you at Kathy's bar (kd in Drummond) and all the little spots in my stomping ground. Herbster is awesome, great choice of a destination. Epic adventure
Thanks! That was a great spot at a time we really needed it 😆 Herbster is great. A little spoiler for the next video - all the lakeside campsites were full so we couldn’t stay there but what a cool place on the lake!
It’s hard enough without the camping! You’ll see on the way home we hit some hotels! You should give it a shot! We’ll have the map out - probably have to wait til after we get back on our next trip.
I think the reason campgrounds are closed to atv itv is if its a route alot of people woukd just drive in to look and the machines some are loud would be a parade of utvs all day
I get it…. They’re a little louder. As riders we need to understand at a campground to ride in and then out, and be respectful. There was apparently a UTV friendly campground on the other side of the lake but we didn’t see any info online anywhere at the time.
The Big Falls camp site along the Jump River is in Price County, our cabin is 20 min south of that. My wife and I were just there yesterday. Keep riding. .
Pretty neat trip! Starting a few days before memorial day weekend, a few friends and myself did something similar where we rode from my home in the St. Croix Falls area up to High Rock Bay Michigan and Back. Overlanding in a SXS is the next big thing, especially with the new Expedition Polaris released.
Nice! That’s a legit haul! Had to be over 600 round trip I image. I agree I think it’s going to get big. It’s a nice alternative to say a MC trip that you can bring your family on. It’s kind of funny for the first time ever we’re on the cutting edge of something new 😂
Yes! We absolutely will. But we have to clean it up, correct some of our wrong turns, etc. it’s actually a lot of work and we want it to be really usable for people. We have another trip here shortly, so my goal is to have a .GPX file people can download and use in their GPS and some kind of digital map too, by the end of August!
Just found your channel and I am really enjoying it! Thinking about getting a UTV and since I'm Northern Illinois, Im sure I would visit some of the trails you hit! New subscriber!
I am literally just getting started in the whole UTV thing and didn’t even realize overlanding was a thing with these vehicles until I found your channel. One question I have is that you obviously trailer your UTV to a starting point. Where do you leave it to guarantee security during your overlanding expedition?
Cool! Welcome to the community! That’s a great question. You can never guarantee security of course, there are risks regardless. When we trailer somewhere and need to leave things we look for a couple things. Obviously the location has to be right to work with our journey, so we start with that. Once we’re in that general area, we need to make sure it’s in a legal spot. Then we try to leave it in a populated area or trailhead that has a good amount of traffic and natural surveillance - people walking by and seeing it, so there are fewer opportunities for someone to try to break in, cut locks, etc without arousing suspicion. We keep the truck and trailer clean and organized when parked so it looks like someone cares about it and may just be out for a day ride. We keep valuables locked in the truck and out of sight. The trailer is locked with a hitch lock, which isn’t much admittedly… I’ve thought about getting another chain or cable lock too to do the wheels or something but haven’t done that yet. Finally, AirTags are cheap. Hiding 1-2 in the trailer / vehicle may increase the chances of recovery if something is stolen or if you have cell coverage may allow you to check in on your trailer.
Living in Wisconsin ourselves my wife and I really enjoy your adventures. We live just North of Green Bay so much this trip is familiar to us. How did you manage to have a trailer waiting for you at the end of this trip?
What? You are coming to Utah? When/where? I know you guys are usually solo but if it is possible, I'd really like to meet you and at least shake your hand and say "hello."
Hey Reed! We are going to be in Salt Lake City and then up into the Uintas. Shoot me an email asknwf@gmail.com - our travel plans are a little crazy but maybe we could figure something out!
With the assumption that every road you were on was legal, did Ride Command and/or VVmapping reflect that? Or were either of them not up-to-date that you noticed?
Yes… to the best of our knowledge we entirely used legal routes. VVMapping is primarily what we relied on. Before the trip, we did check some local resources to confirm a few spots… but in all honesty you’re taking some risk on something like this. It is impossible to independently confirm every street…. You’d be looking at over a dozen counties and scores of townships and villages - not everyone easily posts their routes, so we relied on VVMapping heavily b VVMapping was very accurate, I think we found a couple roads that were legal they didn’t have marked. We ran into a dead end on the way back which was wrong on the map and a short cross over trail that wasn’t there. We should send them that info. Ride Command had more that wasn’t marked but it depended on county. It’s wasn’t bad but I think it would have been hard to do the trip solely on Ride Command. It’s getting close but not quite there.
I have to ask... What mapping software and you using on your Garmin Tread ? I prefer VV Mapping for Wisconsin and the UP. In most cases far better than Ride Command. Ride Command is Great for Bayfield county but we in Pierce County have trouble communicating with them for changes or corrections.
In Wisconsin VVMapping on our Tread is generally more useful. Depending on the county, sometimes Ride Command is easier to see things if the maps are updated. VVMapping doesn’t show city names very well so it’s hard to see the big picture sometime. Ride Command has made improvements on updates but they still rely on local clubs for updates - some are better than others and they’re trying to do the whole country… so, they’re behind sometimes for sure.
VV mapping should have guided you into the ATV friendly loop at Chippewa campground. At least it shows up on Basecamp and my Nuvi. I have stayed in the non ATV part and parked my truck camper and trailer in the Trailhead/Boat landing and went back to the campground at night. Ride command didn't have anything in Taylor Co except a few forest roads that didn't connect to anything until I sent them a link to the Taylor made website about 4 years ago. Any how Thanks for the Great Videos almost as good as being there....@@TheNorthwoodsFamily
If you would have taken the trail to the boat landing and came in that way you would have found out that one Loop (Rustic Loop) in Chippewa campground is open to ATV/UTV use. Been that way for a couple years. www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/cnnf/recarea/?recid=27783 There are about 5 NF campgrounds that are open to ATV in Wisconsin. Day Lake, Wanoka Lake, Birch Grove, Stockfarm Bridge; Sailor Lake, Morgan Lake and one loop in Chippewa. And the plus is they are half price with a Geezer pass...
Sorry didn’t see your comment til now…. Thank you for sharing that!!! We totally missed that there was a campground open for ATVs. That’s awesome and we’ll add it to the “guide” we put together on our website. Really appreciate the info. We love staying at USFS campgrounds because they’re usually more rustic and like you said cheaper, quieter, etc. we were hoping people would chime in with suggestions for improvement or things we could add. Really appreciate it!!
![UTV Overlanding Across Wisconsin || 600 miles Illinois to Lake Superior [Badger Overland Trail Pt 1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ir503PPoTDs/mqdefault.jpg)
Far better adventure series than those that Polaris produce. They should sponsor this family.
😆 thanks!
Living in Wisconsin with a UTV is frustrating. The laws here for anything "off road" are ridiculous.
It can be for sure. Our county has two holdout village boards who won’t open up ATV routes despite their constituents overwhelmingly supporting them doing so. It really limits our travel options. I hear a lot of wrong information on safety and economics too from the folks who are against opening more routes.
Same here and Iowa. Don't worry though, you can go down the road in a jeep with no doors and no top and it's totally legal😂
Rhode Island really sucks, try riding an atv or a utv on a town road and not getting harassed by the police.
You guys are polaris best advertisement
I know! They should send us a new Expedition for our videos! 🤔
I can't wait to see how this one plays out. Thanks for chasing this route down. Your ambition is paving the way for a lot of people who are dreaming of trips like this.
That’s very kind - thank you! Once I get the routes converted and cleaned up we’ll have them posted to our website for others to use!
Outstanding! This was a fun video to watch. My hat is off to this family.
Much appreciated!
Epic adventure! I will follow your trip home.
Thanks! It was pretty cool. We’ll share the journey home soon 😊
Not sure how I stumbled across your channel but I'm glad I did! Being from Wisconsin just north of the Dells it was awesome to see all the beautiful trails! Nice set up with that General
We’re glad you found it too! Always nice to have another Wisconsinite along for the ride. Thanks so much! 🙏🏼
Part 2 didn't disappoint. Thanks for sharing.
You bet!!!
awesome job parents!
Thank you!
Truly amazing, and awesome adventure for the kids to look back on when they grow up.
Thanks!!!
The story telling, music selections for the specific scenarios creating the emotion of the scene, and videography made both part 1 & 2 excellent! It felt like I was riding a long for the trip.
On another note, I loved seeing the Perkinstown and Dead Horse trails. Both of those are on my list as I'm new to riding. I'm located in northern Clark County so it was cool seeing stuff right in my neck of the woods.
Thank you! Really appreciate that. Both of those trail sections were excellent - it was the first time we rode either of them.
If you’re in to more technical trails you might want to check out the Hatfield and McCoy trails in West Virginia.
Definitely on our list to hit! We have to wait until our little guy turns six this winter… he should be tall enough then!
Another nice video! Thanks!
You bet!!!
Being from the area around in Miller, damn drove in there and camp
But the campground that you found a jump river that’s really nice too
Great video
🍻
Thank you!!!
Awesome videos! We have a place in central Wisconsin and love exploring. You have given me some great ideas of areas to hit up.
Awesome! So glad you got some inspiration from our trip. Thanks for watching 🤙🏼
Loop 4 (Overflow or Rustic Loop) at the Campground on the Northern end of the Perkinstown Motorized trail is open to ATV/UTV/MC. Need to enter directly off the the trail head on FR1455. It is a nice little area with shaded sites, tables, firepits, water and nice pit toilets. No electric.
Awesome. Good to know!
Love watching your adventures. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
Another great video guys (and gals). With regard to utv/atv in WI state campgrounds take a look at my Google Review of Castle Mound State Park near Black River Falls. We were confronted with the same problem that you had. Disappointing to say the least.
Thanks! We’ll check it out. We’ve been part of some rides that got day use access to state parks and WATVA and some other groups are working on getting some of them opened up. It’s tough to camp sometimes without access to state parks - and imposing a simple speed limit would keep noise down. I think it’s coming at least in some of the state parks but it will take time.
Perkins town Tavern really nice shower and camping
It was really close to the campground that was close to utv
Super cool! That’s good to know. We’ll take a look, we’re going to compile some more options for food, fuel, lodging as we work on improving info on the trail.
I wanna make a trip like this someday. I'm building an atv camper for this kind of stuff.
You should do it! We’ve been seeing more and more roof tents, trailers and camping setups being used on machines like ours
Another great video, but its hard to wait for the next one. We were in Iron River, Port Wing and Herbster in June and are going back in September.
Thanks!! Such a beautiful area up there. We have at least one more big trip coming up this summer, hopefully another weekend trip or two this fall!
Gas station in Port Wing has great smoked salmon.
Fun to see you at Kathy's bar (kd in Drummond) and all the little spots in my stomping ground. Herbster is awesome, great choice of a destination. Epic adventure
Thanks! That was a great spot at a time we really needed it 😆 Herbster is great. A little spoiler for the next video - all the lakeside campsites were full so we couldn’t stay there but what a cool place on the lake!
Great videos. Excellent trip. We just did the island of Newfoundland 700 miles in 6 days.
Thanks! I have to think Newfoundland would be an awesome place to ride!
Polaris should give you guys a ADV load up you guys would put that thing to the alternate test
It’d be fun to see how it runs / handles compared to our General!
Great video NWF. We always head to Saxon Harbor on Lake Superior.
Thank you! That looks like a really nice spot.
Love following you guys on this trip. I think once you post map I may give it a try. But must confess no camping, I would have to find motels.
It’s hard enough without the camping! You’ll see on the way home we hit some hotels! You should give it a shot! We’ll have the map out - probably have to wait til after we get back on our next trip.
I think the reason campgrounds are closed to atv itv is if its a route alot of people woukd just drive in to look and the machines some are loud would be a parade of utvs all day
I get it…. They’re a little louder. As riders we need to understand at a campground to ride in and then out, and be respectful. There was apparently a UTV friendly campground on the other side of the lake but we didn’t see any info online anywhere at the time.
The Big Falls camp site along the Jump River is in Price County, our cabin is 20 min south of that. My wife and I were just there yesterday. Keep riding. .
Super cool! It was a great area to pass through. Thanks!!!
This was such a good video. Loved watching this and the Utah overlanding videos. Hope you guys do more of these in the future.
Thanks!!!
I've been waiting for this.
Thanks! 🤙🏼
Pretty neat trip! Starting a few days before memorial day weekend, a few friends and myself did something similar where we rode from my home in the St. Croix Falls area up to High Rock Bay Michigan and Back. Overlanding in a SXS is the next big thing, especially with the new Expedition Polaris released.
Nice! That’s a legit haul! Had to be over 600 round trip I image. I agree I think it’s going to get big. It’s a nice alternative to say a MC trip that you can bring your family on.
It’s kind of funny for the first time ever we’re on the cutting edge of something new 😂
I might live in the beautiful State of Colorado, but you guys make me Sooo home sick. There's no place like home.
Can’t beat it! Colorado is nice too… mostly 😉
This is a great series! keep up the good videos!
Thank you!
Awesome trip! Ran into at Clam Lake with our group from Mauston.
Sure thing outside the Chippewa Outpost! Was nice chatting with you guys. Hope you had a good rest of your trip! 🤙🏼
Are you going to post the route at some point?? Really interested in doing something like this.
Yes! We absolutely will. But we have to clean it up, correct some of our wrong turns, etc. it’s actually a lot of work and we want it to be really usable for people. We have another trip here shortly, so my goal is to have a .GPX file people can download and use in their GPS and some kind of digital map too, by the end of August!
Thank you for your efforts. If you tracked the trip on your Ride Command then may want to share that as well.
Just found your channel and I am really enjoying it! Thinking about getting a UTV and since I'm Northern Illinois, Im sure I would visit some of the trails you hit! New subscriber!
Awesome! Thanks so much for subscribing. We have some great trials up, so you should definitely pull the trigger on a UTV! 😊
I am literally just getting started in the whole UTV thing and didn’t even realize overlanding was a thing with these vehicles until I found your channel. One question I have is that you obviously trailer your UTV to a starting point. Where do you leave it to guarantee security during your overlanding expedition?
Cool! Welcome to the community! That’s a great question. You can never guarantee security of course, there are risks regardless.
When we trailer somewhere and need to leave things we look for a couple things. Obviously the location has to be right to work with our journey, so we start with that. Once we’re in that general area, we need to make sure it’s in a legal spot. Then we try to leave it in a populated area or trailhead that has a good amount of traffic and natural surveillance - people walking by and seeing it, so there are fewer opportunities for someone to try to break in, cut locks, etc without arousing suspicion.
We keep the truck and trailer clean and organized when parked so it looks like someone cares about it and may just be out for a day ride.
We keep valuables locked in the truck and out of sight. The trailer is locked with a hitch lock, which isn’t much admittedly… I’ve thought about getting another chain or cable lock too to do the wheels or something but haven’t done that yet.
Finally, AirTags are cheap. Hiding 1-2 in the trailer / vehicle may increase the chances of recovery if something is stolen or if you have cell coverage may allow you to check in on your trailer.
I still would like to see you build a custom trailer to hold supplies and dry beds.
that’d make a pretty cool video… 🤔
Awesome journey
Thanks!!! It was an adventure for sure!
Living in Wisconsin ourselves my wife and I really enjoy your adventures. We live just North of Green Bay so much this trip is familiar to us. How did you manage to have a trailer waiting for you at the end of this trip?
Thanks so much! We’re glad you’re enjoying them! You may have misheard… there was no trailer… they’ll be another video about the 500 mile trip home!!
Outstanding 🎉❤❤
Thank you! 🙏🏼
How many miles do you have on the General now? Thanks in advance!
Over 5,000. I suppose it’s time for 5k review video!
@@TheNorthwoodsFamily nice and yes, it sounds like time for 5k review video!
What? You are coming to Utah? When/where? I know you guys are usually solo but if it is possible, I'd really like to meet you and at least shake your hand and say "hello."
Hey Reed! We are going to be in Salt Lake City and then up into the Uintas. Shoot me an email asknwf@gmail.com - our travel plans are a little crazy but maybe we could figure something out!
With the assumption that every road you were on was legal, did Ride Command and/or VVmapping reflect that? Or were either of them not up-to-date that you noticed?
Yes… to the best of our knowledge we entirely used legal routes. VVMapping is primarily what we relied on. Before the trip, we did check some local resources to confirm a few spots… but in all honesty you’re taking some risk on something like this. It is impossible to independently confirm every street…. You’d be looking at over a dozen counties and scores of townships and villages - not everyone easily posts their routes, so we relied on VVMapping heavily b
VVMapping was very accurate, I think we found a couple roads that were legal they didn’t have marked. We ran into a dead end on the way back which was wrong on the map and a short cross over trail that wasn’t there. We should send them that info.
Ride Command had more that wasn’t marked but it depended on county. It’s wasn’t bad but I think it would have been hard to do the trip solely on Ride Command. It’s getting close but not quite there.
I have to ask... What mapping software and you using on your Garmin Tread ? I prefer VV Mapping for Wisconsin and the UP. In most cases far better than Ride Command. Ride Command is Great for Bayfield county but we in Pierce County have trouble communicating with them for changes or corrections.
In Wisconsin VVMapping on our Tread is generally more useful. Depending on the county, sometimes Ride Command is easier to see things if the maps are updated. VVMapping doesn’t show city names very well so it’s hard to see the big picture sometime. Ride Command has made improvements on updates but they still rely on local clubs for updates - some are better than others and they’re trying to do the whole country… so, they’re behind sometimes for sure.
VV mapping should have guided you into the ATV friendly loop at Chippewa campground. At least it shows up on Basecamp and my Nuvi. I have stayed in the non ATV part and parked my truck camper and trailer in the Trailhead/Boat landing and went back to the campground at night. Ride command didn't have anything in Taylor Co except a few forest roads that didn't connect to anything until I sent them a link to the Taylor made website about 4 years ago. Any how Thanks for the Great Videos almost as good as being there....@@TheNorthwoodsFamily
What drone are you all using?
DJI Mavic Air 2S
How many oil changes you did at any mile when traveling or you just aided UTV engine oil to top it off when low?
Changed the oil before we left. Checked it once a day, never had to add anything and changed it when we get home!
Take a look at the videos on our page. We do a lot of the same thing you guys do but on ATV's. We've covered most of the UP on ATV's.
Very cool! We’ll definitely check it out! Thanks for the heads up :)
Will there be a part 3 and 4 for the ride home?
Yep! Working on that now. Probably a one part series on the trip home!
What tent are you using?
It is a CORE 10 person wall tent.
If you would have taken the trail to the boat landing and came in that way you would have found out that one Loop (Rustic Loop) in Chippewa campground is open to ATV/UTV use. Been that way for a couple years. www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/cnnf/recarea/?recid=27783 There are about 5 NF campgrounds that are open to ATV in Wisconsin. Day Lake, Wanoka Lake, Birch Grove, Stockfarm Bridge; Sailor Lake, Morgan Lake and one loop in Chippewa. And the plus is they are half price with a Geezer pass...
Sorry didn’t see your comment til now…. Thank you for sharing that!!! We totally missed that there was a campground open for ATVs. That’s awesome and we’ll add it to the “guide” we put together on our website.
Really appreciate the info. We love staying at USFS campgrounds because they’re usually more rustic and like you said cheaper, quieter, etc. we were hoping people would chime in with suggestions for improvement or things we could add. Really appreciate it!!