The Cedar Creek Trail area is in Western Michigan near the town of Twin Lake. The actual trail is made for ORV's such as quads and dirt bikes, but there is a substantial network of two-tracks and forest roads that surround this area that are accessible by Jeeps.

There are numerous entrances to the two-track trail system. The entry that we used was from the south side on Sweeter Rd. This road starts out as a paved road and then a sign warns that the road will end and the two-tracks start. Once you are in the trail system try to stay on the main trails. We ventured off into many tributary trails and most lead to a fence where private property begins. The trail system isn't very challenging for 4x4'ing, but it does offer a chance to get into the woods and enjoy nature.

Three families ventured out on this trip, each in a 2000 Wrangler TJ (my Jeep), a 1989 Wrangler YJ, and a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ. All three Jeeps performed well, but because of the dust on the trail, I think the Grand Cherokee had the best life. There are some areas along the trail that offer moguls which get the Jeeps bouncing pretty well, but none of the Jeeps had any troubles with bottoming out.

Our day started out with breakfast in Grant, Michigan at the Grant Depot. This little restaurant has a lot of potential, but unfortunately, our service was not the best. We were told this was because a new cook had just started so I won't discount the restaurant entirely, but I can't recommend it either. The restaurant is interesting to look at with all of the train memorabilia outside and on the walls, so if you're into trains, then this would be a good stop. Just plan plenty of extra time and bring your trail maps or a good book for your wait. Pictured below are some shots from outside the restaurant with the Jeeps lined up and ready to go.

After breakfast, we went after a geocache that was actually located just outside Grant near Blanche Lake. This is a family outing so we tried to add things that the kids would enjoy. The cache we went after allowed us to park along the lake and venture into the foot trails.

This was a multi-stage cache which means that once you find the first cache there will be coordinates for the next cache. This cache had 3 stages. The picture below was taken when we found our first cache. This one took us the longest to find because we didn't look in the obvious places (like under the bridge).

The cache was a little metal box that contained a piece of paper with the coordinates for the next cache.

Once we had the coordinates for the next cache, we handed them over to our intrepid young explorers who laid out the route to the next cache -

which ended in victory.

The third stage of the cache had us all involved with walking this way and that, but we eventually found it. I won't go into details about its location so as to save the fun for the next family.

Once we found the cache, we then took 120th Street out of Grant and headed over to Sweeter Rd. For simplicity's sake, I won't go into the details of the other 20 little roads that we turned left, then right, then right, then left again to find Sweeter Rd. Hopefully, the route that you plan will be a little more direct than ours. Just remember, you have to get across Muskegon River when trying to get to the Cedar Creek Trails and no, you can't drive your Jeep through it.

At the end of Sweeter road (going west) the trail system starts.

After you get a little ways into the trails, small trees start to show up. This area is mostly sand so there aren't many large trees. In April, there are no leaves on the trees yet, but I have a feeling the trails are much prettier in the summer. We'll have to plan a return trip to see!

In some spots of the trail you can't care a whole lot about your paint job. It is a Jeep after all. After a few tight squeezes like this, the kids starting yelling out "Character!" when they heard a branch scrape the side of the Jeep or "Nature!" when a branch actually came into the Jeep. This became a running joke for the rest of the trip.

As you can tell from the condition of the trail in the following pictures, you don't really need your 4x4 engaged. In fact, I only switched into 4x4 a couple of times. While following the trail, 4x2 works just fine. But just because you don't need 4x4 doesn't mean this is a bad trail. Just don't expect extreme conditions with rock crawling and mud running. This particular spot endowed our Jeeps with considerable "nature" and a bit of "character," as well! And yes, we all made it through, including the ZJ!

After trail riding for the morning we stopped for lunch. You can't beat stopping along a trail in the middle of the woods, throwing out a blanket and digging out the sandwiches and chips.

After lunch we ventured further into the trails and ran across an area that appears to have been burnt by a forest fire. The area is very dramatic. On the day we were there, the wind was blowing sand across the road and gave the trail an eerie feeling.

Most of the trail system is very sandy and dusty. In the picture below you can see how the dust is hanging in the air after we pass through a spot. This is why I thought the Grand Cherokee, with its roll up windows, was a nice ride on this day.

The Cedar Creek Trail System in Western Michigan is a great day trip if you're looking for a nice family outing to enjoy nature - or build character. This isn't a challenging trail... in fact, you could probably do the entire trail on a dry day without switching into 4x4 at all, but nevertheless, it is worth checking out.

There are many more trails in this area to explore and I'm sure we'll venture back out to this area in the future.

*Editor's Note: We had a thick layer of dust covering every single surface in the Jeep and ourselves, so take your allergy pills, seal up anything important in ziploc bags, and don't wear a white shirt!

Please feel free to email us if you have any questions.

We'll see you all later :)