New off-road course for kids on dirt bikes opens in Oakland County
It wasn’t like someone had to nudge Michigan’s off-roaders.
If you build it, they will come, on wheels made for dirt, sand and mud.
Even so, a group of Oakland County park rangers held a spring welcome Saturday for off-roaders, and in particular for the next generation. They cut a ribbon for the kids. And the kids cut loose on a played-out gravel pit turned obstacle course, an hour north of Detroit. Some sprayed dirt from screaming dirt bikes. Others jounced on all-terrain vehicles, better known as ATVs.
The new "youth riding area," built with a $100,000 state grant, is at Holly Oaks Off-Road Vehicle Park, a few miles north of Clarkston. It's Michigan's newest spot for off-roading and by far the closest to metro Detroit. The site, 10 minutes from I-75, has become a hub for hobbyists, who arrive in vehicles that auto gurus say profoundly influence the design and marketing of the everyday SUVs and pickups most Americans drive. Holly Oaks was the brainchild of honchos at Oakland County Parks. More than two decades ago, they saw that interest in off-roading was spreading like a dust storm. So they began a lengthy pursuit of county and state funding to buy turn a gravel miner's moonscape into this public playground.
Allen Roof, 15, of Dundee was first on the new youth course with his hefty ATV, a Yamaha YFZ 450Z. Not that he needed practice on a course set for novices. His dad, Matt Roof, said Allen rode his first ATV "in our backyard and on our farm fields" when he was six. The new course will be "good for kids to learn on," Allen said. They reached the hills and hairpin turns of this Oakland County park in 90 minutes from their rural home in Monroe County.
The first trails opened in 2020, to usage curbed by the pandemic. That's changing fast, judging by Saturday's swarm of off-roaders. They roamed the hills and mudholes in Jeep Wranglers, Toyota 4-Runners and GMC 4X4 pickups — not to mention, a herd of 126 Ford Broncos that rode in for Motor City Broncofest. The big turnout will surely spawn more Broncofests this summer, said Tom Zielinski, whose Z Performance Group staged the first-time event. As a hobby, off-roading "is only going to grow," Zielinski said, including when big-wheeled SUVs and knobby-tired motorcycles morph into electric hybrids and full EVs, he believes.
Teaching newbies to conquer the trails multiplies the fan base, whether they're teens riding the youth course or adults on full-scale hills and gullies, he said. At Broncofest, "We did 61 lessons we call Off-Road 101. Once we take people out there and teach them, they all say, 'That was super-fun,' and then they want to come back," Zielinski said.
Even without formal lessons, beginners can get tutelage from other off-roaders, said Jamie Weasel, park supervisor at Holly Oaks. "These people will help you, teach you and pull you out if you get stuck. They're really like a club with no dues," Weasel said.
Besides opening the youth area, park officials celebrated Armed Forces Day, giving free park entry to past and present military members. The park's usual fee is $30 per vehicle, or $199 for a season pass, good from now through March 31, 2024. Men in uniform were, after all, the first to drive Jeeps, invented for the U.S. Army in World War II. At Holly Oaks, there were moments of olive drab when a restored Jeep rolled past. But the main vehicle color? Dust on black. Also looking hip was mud-flecked royal blue, on newer Jeeps and Broncos.
Most drivers came from southeast Michigan although Steve Val drove his new blue Bronco from Up North near Houghton Lake. For safety's sake, so that off-roaders see others coming, the park requires a 10-foot orange dune flag to fly from each SUV, ATV, dirt bike or "side-by-side," the last being an ATV that seats either two or four. The biggest smiles came from dads watching sons tearing up terra firma on the new youth course.
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Quinn Thompson, 16, of Bloomfield Hills practiced on a nearly new Kawasaki KX 250 dirt bike, a reward in February for getting good grades, dad Mike Thompson said. Since then, what's happened? Quinn replied, "Nothing crazy so far. It's a ton of fun." He was joined by two teenaged veterans of dirt bike racing: Christian Hilton, 13, of Macomb Township and Collin Berta, also 13, of Holly Township. Both zoomed under the watchful eye of their coach, Lucas Lowe, who plans to teach motocross riding on the new youth course. "We want them to enjoy the sport without having to worry about the dangers," Lowe said, at the ribbon-cutting.
This crowd has its own vocabulary. Besides motocross (off-road motorcycle racing on a closed course), there are self-explanatory terms: mudding, hill climbing, fording (referring to water, not the brand, although that brand might help you get across some water), and green laning (which means rolling down leafy trails). It's a costly hobby, yet growing. The off-road marketplace notches $12 billion a year in global sales of vehicles, apparel and equipment.
That number makes Holly Oaks an exciting concept for metro-Detroit’s designers and marketers of everything ORV. Because, for a hobby once relegated to haunts in northern Michigan or the far west, Holly Oaks shows that big off-road thrills can happen just a stone’s throw from the big city.
Contact Bill Laytner: blaitner@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Kids on dirt bikes learn off-roading at Holly Oaks Off-Road Vehicle Park
