Gladwin County is built for the outdoors

Gladwin County’s outdoor map makes more sense if you look at it in layers. The DNR’s current deer-unit profile says roughly 38% of the county is state owned, mostly east of M-30, and much of that land is forested. That is a better planning number than the older local shorthand that says state forest covers about one-quarter of the county.

One old name can trip people up. Local descriptions still refer to a 35,000-acre “Gladwin Game Refuge,” but that is not how the DNR describes the current public hunting unit. The DNR now lists the Gladwin Field Trial Area and Wildlife Unit at 4,750 acres, and a 2026 DNR fisheries report calls the place the former Gladwin Game Refuge. Field trials are its main purpose, with limited hunting and several other public uses. The DNR separately lists a 413-acre Gladwin State Game Area. In other words, do not read the old 35,000-acre line as one current, open hunting tract.

The motorized-trail side is easier to verify. The DNR’s current maps list the Gladwin Trail and Route, an M-30 North Gladwin motorcycle trail, and a Gladwin snowmobile map. Routes and closures can change, so use those maps before a ride instead of relying on an old brochure. The Cedar, Tobacco, Tittabawassee, and Sugar rivers, inland lakes, Gladwin’s riverwalk, and the county recreation area add quieter ways to get outside.

If you’re sizing up a home or planning a weekend, use Mi-HUNT to check the actual public-land boundary, then open the current DNR trail map for the activity you have in mind. A nearby patch of green on a general map does not automatically mean there is legal access from the road or trail closest to you.