Trail etiquette: how to ride right in Michigan

Etiquette doesn’t change with the season, but it’s worth re-reading every spring anyway.

The short version

Michigan’s trail system runs on volunteer clubs, tolerant neighbors, and shared corridors. Every closed trail in state history closed for the same reason: a few riders made it easy. Etiquette here isn’t politeness — it’s how the trails stay open.

The code

• Ride right, literally. Keep right, expect oncoming traffic on every blind corner, and slow with a raised hand when passing.
• Count for the group. When you meet oncoming riders, hold up fingers for how many are still behind you; a closed fist means you’re the last. Small custom, huge safety value.
• Yield down the food chain. Motorized yields to everyone — bikes, hikers, horses. For horses especially: stop, kill the engine if asked, and talk softly so the horse knows you’re human.
• Slow way down through trailheads, campgrounds, road crossings, and anywhere near houses. Dust and noise are why townships vote against ORV roads.
• Stay on the trail. Cutting corners, riding wet meadows, hill-climbing off the designated faces — it’s resource damage, it’s ticketable, and it gets photographed and brought to the next county board meeting.
• Pack out everything, including tie-downs and broken parts. A tow strap left on a tree becomes next year’s closure argument.
• Respect closures and seasonal gates. They’re usually about mud season or nesting, not bureaucracy.
• Quiet pipes save trails. The 94-decibel limit is the law; running quieter than the law is the etiquette.
• Help anyone stopped. Off-road culture’s best rule: nobody gets left on the trail.
• Mind private property like it’s your grandmother’s. The U.P.’s riding access exists because landowners and clubs trust riders. One cut fence undoes a decade.
• Leave it better. Tread Lightly is the national ethic; picking up someone else’s cans is the Michigan application.

The signpost

The rules half of this lives at Michigan.gov/ORVInfo. Start with ORV riding in Michigan, explained — and pass the code along to whoever rides behind you.