This week o Under the Radar, we're headed to where towering pines meet sand shores and adventure is never fa We'll spring into nature, dine like locals, ride the trails and cheer on one of M wildest races.

Buckle up.

It's going to be a ride.

The stars, Motors and Music Experience feature a collection of automated music neon signs, gas pumps and 150 years of automotive hist More info at Stahl's auto.com.

We've been around the world, bu there's one place we keep coming And the more we explore the more we realize it's the pla I'm Tom Dalton.

I'm Jim Edelman and this is under the radar.

Michigan.

First.

You know, if you ask me, there's no better combination than trees, trails and tradition and I Skoda's got all three.

Let's go see what makes this tow A Skoda sits where the mighty A River meets Lake Huron's blue ho With a history rooted in lumbe and a heartful of hometown pride this little town has quietly bec to for outdoor lovers, road trippers, and race day diehards.

So whether you're craving rustic or revved up action, Oscoda has something for every kind of traveler.

Let's hit the road.

Oscoda is located in northeast along Lake Huron sunrise side.

It's about three hours from Detr and just far enough north to feel like a real escape.

First up, we head into the woods to a plac that has the air of a sacred sec This is Argo Springs with casca waters, mossy rocks, and more st And you probably want to count.

I Argo Springs is par scenic overlook and part spiritu Originally a sacred sit for indigenous peoples, it's now a peaceful place to pause listen and reconnect with nature I met up with Brooke Whitford t what makes this spot so special, and wh you should absolutely take the s When I think about this valley and I think about the river, this is one of the perfect place to come view it.

And it's the starting poin for getting down to Argo Springs But that is tremendous.

I mean, what a great view.

This is a fantastic office you h It's gorgeous.

You come here every day.

And how lucky you are to look out over there.

What do you find truly spectacul Like when you when you come here What makes you just go, For me personally, it's just the fact that all of this i Not to mention that everything.

Once you make it to the bottom the stairs, it's all completely But the fact that this is what w call home is pretty amazing.

But that's that you have to manage the people getting to experience this, alo with being able to experience wh Correct.

Yeah.

And I think that's something that is truly special.

But what you know, when people c what are they expect to find?

I think they really expect to find a lot of people that come into a lot of location on the byway.

They really are looking for the and just the natural aspects, ju outdoors and the feel of being o and, just traveling and yeah, like I said, just the whole aspect of wha you would want to just getting a I think, from a lot of modern th that we have now and just kind for a lot of people, this is an Yeah, yeah it is.

And they don't have this.

This is the wonderful thing abo is that you roll into something, you come around to turn off of and you're looking at this and y you know, you're 20 minutes of of a downtown Oscoda experience, but you're out here and, you know, it's kind of true for all the peopl who are walking through here now I mean, but then you're also looking at who have to walk the 300 steps d Right?

And it's 300 each way.

Ri Yes.

Yeah.

So that's a you got to gear your for that, right?

Yeah.

I mean that's what you get with these great s is they're they mean something t Absolutely.

I think people come here and they have memorie from whether they were kids or t they're going to create memorie or they're looking to create mem with their kids and everything.

And then whether that's, you kno just coming and enjoying the overlook or, you know, getting engaged.

One of the things that that you're privy to is this opportunity to talk to f when they come through here and you're kind of like a collec as well as a disseminat or of information, right?

Yeah.

What?

You know, what does that mean to you?

Oh, I guess just constantly taki you know, new things and then taking those thing and being able to give that out So you know, your constan it's like a taken give and take.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And you learn stuf and then you adapt it for yourse Yeah.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Like yeah I totally I, I k Yeah.

Exactly.

This is a big area.

What's your favorite part of the So let's let's limit it to this.

My favorite part of the spring would probably have to be once you get to the bottom of the tre down the stairs, I think it's just one of the most gorgeo that you have.

I mean, you have the overlook and you see the, you know, the pond and the trees and every and of course the sand hill.

But once you get to the bottom you have that thousand feet of b And it's jus the waterfalls are just gorgeous And it's really just unlike anyt So now you're saying I got 300 s in 1000ft of boardwalk?

You betcha.

Well we better get started.

Let's go If the view doesn't take your breath aw the stairs might.

But trust me, I. Argo Springs is worth every step Next, we refue the way locals do and head to a that's been serving up smiles for generations.

Kate's bill of fare has been a Go-To spot in Oscoda for 25 ye Known for hearty meals, creative themed food specials, drinks that are just what you need, an that makes you feel like family.

This place is like a community h in a supper club.

Whether you're in the mood for prime rib, or a perfectly poured Manhattan, Kate's delivers with charm and up north hospitality.

So I grabbed a table with its na Bill Tate, to find ou why Tate's is the talk of the to So, Bill one of the things I love about t with the restaurant is watching the room.

You're par restaurant tour, part ringmaster What does that access to the gue give you?

Well, I learne I learned a long time ago that the personal contac with all of the customers is imp They love to see the owner walking through, saying hello even if it's just a small joke.

Even if it's just, oh, look at your quadruple burger when I know it's just glass of t You know they get a kick out of and it makes them want to come b It's important everybody, you g of restaurants and it's someone Someone gives you this, you don the same person over and over ag The owner never comes back.

You'll never see a manager unless you can play.

Yeah, yeah.

Do you feel special getting to talk to you?

You watch You coming around and like alway What's next?

Well, not just that but but being in business along we have a lot of repeat customer I mean people do they come u for the summertime, they come he over and over again because the that this is the best place to e They want to come back.

They when they come in, they se then they feel more comfortable.

You know, I used to be sitting a waiting for him, but now I don't do that.

We have hostesses for that.

But I still make it all the wa around the dining room for every Every nigh I talk to everybody at least onc Well, let's talk about the speci that you have, because these ar these are items you've had for y This is the specialty food that comes from our hearts and our ho You know, the chicken, especial my wife came up with that recipe Oh, really?

You know the ribs.

The ribs are You know, the things that we us people when they'd come to our h This was onion sou you were talking about earlier.

My wife's recipe, where she came up with it.

I have no idea.

But she's, you know and she's not in the restaurant She was a nurse in the emergenc in the hospital in Dallas for 30 What I like about the speakeas is you have a different theme ev Yeah, and that means differen cocktails and different, finger I think, you know, kind of fill us in o some of the things you've done.

Well, I'm.

I'm not in all those things, but But they did.

She did the 4th of July, the red, white and blue.

The Christmas theme.

We did a Halloween contest thing The drinks, her, her and the wai Stephen, go over the cocktails and make them all up.

And they do all the prep work fo A lot of it's a lot of very intensive work.

And some of those things like, like grinding a beats for beache because you don't want to buy be because it's coming.

I mean, it just but I mean, but just the being meticulou care to making sure that was gre They did this pomegranate martin which with a mint leaf on it.

That was another one I can't remember where that was.

Oh, that was for the Kentucky De when I'm like, yeah, me, me.

Yeah, yeah.

So she, she comes up with all th for all of the speakeasies and she always got just few.

It's got to do herself.

All the time.

Yeah.

So our last night wa she was wearing a little pirate Yeah.

So yeah she's doing a great job We have a new guy in the kitchen He's going to be working, doing a lot of that.

The prep for that.

So the next speakeas will probably be mostly his food So we'll see how that works out.

Two.

Nice.

Yeah.

What do you think?

Makes a place feel like home to a dine Well, it's there's you can go and look in and the book will tell you every you want to know about it.

And I don't need to read the boo I've lived the book.

You know, that' how I. When I when we got here.

That's why we did so good in th was because everybody that came felt like they were the only cus here.

And I made a habit of that.

I used to work over at the night and my wife came in for lunch, w one day on a Friday, when it was Fridays were really busy.

I do like 100 lay people for lun And her new girlfriend came in for lunch and when I got home she said, I can't believe what y She said you had like 100 people and you made us feel like we were the only table.

I said, well, I made every table they were the only table.

That's what the game's all about So that's why they feel like they want to come back here.

That's why they feel like they'r here.

Good food, great people, and sto that span over 25 years.

Statesvill affair is a true Oscoda treasure After filling up, we're heading and Oscod is home to some fantastic ORV tr No better way to see it than sid in a side by side.

With miles of woodsy forest, sa and just enough bumps to make it Trail riding in Oscod is the perfect mix of adrenaline so I met up with Matt Traeger to talk tra scenic stops, and why off roading is such a blast in this part of the state.

How many trails?

I mean, this is a it's a really trail network, right?

Right.

Yes.

Yeah, actually, one of the just got back with me and, but he says total, 106 in the winter and all over 5 And you're just pulling that out of your brain, right?

No, that's that's, an operator from the.

Well, that works for the county grooming.

Well.

So they do they do limit these trails to 50in wide.

Yeah.

So and I believe it' the width, farther west in here.

This ain't bad here.

You know, having two, two wide vehicles p each other becomes a safety issu West o here, there's a couple little ti but for the majority, it's not a super narrow trail.

So, I mean, with very little wor you could open it up to more tha Should I should I follow the sig Yeah.

Really?

Do you do you use GPS or.

No.

I've been on the so much my life that I don't nee But there there are programs, yo you could have here.

Just like the road map.

You could have it right here and follow it.

The trail system.

Yeah, they do make it.

It is ava So, you know someone who's new or beginner or can get around with that, but.

So if you're if you're into RV, you're going to bring, you're going to trailer up your and you're going to come here.

And this is.

Why you should come here.

Because this i I mean, this is virgin forest.

Yeah.

It's crazy how, serene.

This forest is when we pull off and turn off the motor right?

Yeah.

I mean, most people, most traffi we are limited in the winter with the snow.

So most traffic here are locals They have their summer homes, wh They come off in the winter and use the trails.

More than we don't.

You know, we're far enough away We don't get the average, you know, downstairs.

And it's not Gaylord snowfall, right?

Right.

You know so we are kind of a hidden gem o where you can come enjoy the tr and not be overwhelmed with this After traffic.

And so we, us as locals, we do that fact that it's a little lig You know, our lighter, lighter t This is where this is the high p that brings us to, which is where the Canoer Memorial is on that high point.

Right.

And that part of the points is h Argo Springs.

Yeah.

Which we were at earlier.

I, you know, I love climbing this because you you k at the top of it when you get th Yeah, yeah.

You get a lot of these along.

You know, we're basically we're paralleling the river.

So you get a lot of these highs and lows through here.

But yeah I want to live in the Oscoda are is you live very close to nature and the forest puts you right th With a massive amount of land.

So it's a it' a great mixture of everything.

You know, you got the some inla you got, you can get out to the right out the mouth of the river if you wanted.

You know, the exposure to that.

The Sabo offers so much, the difference between lower and upper, you know, above the dam, between the, the, the sports end of it or even recreational, you know, your pontoon whatnot.

Or just sit on the beac and then the national forest rig you know.

So, and this might be a question outside of your realm, but what's camping like in the f Are there camped by their campsi All along the river, there's nu campsites you can reserve and co Yeah, right through the state o or DNR website, whichever one it I'm not sure, but.

So you could bring your, your si up your your ATV up for RV.

What do you want?

Whatever alphabet soup you want You could drive to your campsit and you could stay there for a w Yeah outside of even Old Orchard Park They have, National Forest camps Yeah the as long as you have the righ you can run on the forest road with your side by side, you know Yeah.

So you're using the, there's roa stickers, right?

Yeah.

There's two, trail or, a off road vehicle.

Yeah.

And the trail is the less than 5 and it's the less.

Yeah.

Whether you're a seasoned ride or a first timer side by side, riding in Oscoda is pure Michiga with a little extra mud.

Okay, next up, we head to one of Michi most legendary races.

Every summer, teams of paddlers set off on a 120 mile journey from Grayling to Oscod in the Isabell River Canoe Marat It's a nonstop race that tests e teamwork and sheer willpower.

And while the race begins a little further north, the real celebration happens rig here, where tired paddlers and cheerin crowds meet at the finish line.

So I met up with Justin Griffit what makes this event so special and why thousands come to Oscoda to watch it unfold.

So I mean, just in this race, seven decades, thousands of race it is it is royalty in the canoe world of Michigan and of the wor Of the world.

It is, considered the mos prestigious canoe race in the wo There are tougher ones.

There are longer ones.

There are, you know, bigger and is as far as, competitors competing in, in the But this is the one that everybo to do.

The crowds you know, there there's no canoe So you're going to go to where going to get the crowd participa The whole community getting around all of these peop Alberto Blanco, team hi and his daughter are in this yea Two years ago he called me up about a camping I said, why don't you camp at my And, they became best of friends She invited them into her home, And it's that type of thing, you know, that that happens all along the entire US river va Yeah.

People are inviting these paddle from out of state, out of country to their home to be part of their family.

And, that doesn't happen.

And, and a whole lot of other pl And it's one of the thing that makes this race very specia Yeah.

Let's talk about the race this y We've got the largest fiel that you've ever put together, r Yeah.

We have 114 teams on the start l Somebody broke their wrist yeste or the day before.

And, so we were at 116.

It always happens in the final d We lose 1 or 2 teams.

Yeah, but yeah, definitel the largest starting field, this Now it's a two city event.

Grayling being the start of the I go to being the finish.

So there's there's two committee to our corporation, the Grayling Committee and the Oscoda Committee.

We work on our own, and I'm just one small cog on a whee that makes this whole thing work There are families that have bee since the beginning in 1947, and it's generational generatio after generation after generatio You know, all of these familie have had very significant roles since the beginning.

What do you think it does mean t into the residents to have an event like this in to It means everything.

The Chamber of Commerce was star based on this event after World The chamber.

Well, this race started in 1947, and it was an idea born here in between, Howard Brubaker and Fra and he was the east toward tourism director or something li And out of that spawned Chamber of Commerce is the Oscoda Chamber of Commerc I think, started in 1948.

I'm not 100% on that fact, but, the two are hand in hand, you know, an and so this is the first event that the Oscoda Chamber of Comm put on to bring tourism to this And then tourism is obviously o the meat and potatoes of our of There always has to be someone l And I think that's, you know, th that it's your grandfather that all those things along the way.

I think that's a tremendous line Royalty, whatever.

The champion that we ran into he was saying about your family.

I think that history is phenomen And I think the wonderful thing about this, this event is that there's people along th that can cheer it on from the di from the different portage sites to, to everything else.

So I think that's fantastic.

Let's go, let's go paddle around So when, when this started, you know, events like this weren that big.

They were they were small events And they any, any even is always a starting point for i But when I look at those picture from those early days and I look at the gear that the I mean, now you look at these ca they're sleek, they're thin, th probably anti fouling paint on t that, you know, protects the bo makes them slicker in the water.

Right.

So the technology is ther Is there any technology you don't allow to be used.

Not that I know of.

I mean obviously motor boa not sure you know, motors or any other than than single blade, pr You know, so the canoes of today are made out of carbon fiber, and they used to be wood and can like an airplane, like a canvas That's what they were made out o And obviously then the aluminum technology cam Fiberglass was the next technolo And then Kevlar was the first, l superstrong material that was u to bring this to a whole new lev Yeah, yeah.

And nowadays the, the carbon fib has not replaced, but a lot of, the tim guys are just going to use a car The ultimate light weight is the a lot of peopl use a Kevlar carbon combination which has a little bit more flex the same strength.

And it's just a little bit more The Isabelle River Canoe Maratho just a race, it's a rite of pass And Oscoda welcome every paddler home with open arm whether you're first or last.

From sacred springs and comfort food classi to wild rides and world class ra Oscoda is full of surprises and packed with heart.

You know, I think I'm goin to stick around here for a bit.

I can' wait to uncover some more hidden So until our next adventure on Under the Radar Michigan, keep exploring and stay curious, my friends.

After filling up, we're heading out and hitting t we're heading and we're heading After filling up, we're heading off road and.

You know, if you ask me if I like that, I like that.

I like that, you know, I think I'm going to stick around here for a bit wait to see what else is on the I'm just making it up.

The stars, Motors and Music Experience fea a collection of automated music neon signs, gas pumps and 150 years of automotive hist More info at Stars Auto.

Com and.