Vilas and oneida

[pclark]

Oneida opens on Friday, word has it Vilas does as well. It was 37 degrees today but only the roads melted as it was cloudy, 30 on Wednesday, 35 on Thursday and then colder following. No sun, so things are still good. We are stuck in a no snow pattern so I hope that changes soon and we continue with our epic start to winter. Lakes seem to have froze up but there has to be bad areas out there so be careful if you are on a lake. A lot of the heavy snow came down off the pine branches today as it was windy so you may see some branches down on the trails, if so, please pull them off. Should be a busy Christmas week up here, first time in awhile we will be open before the holidays. Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[pclark]

Vilas County trails open at 8am Friday morning.

 

[pclark]

Well, it was a balmy day on Thursday with a high of 38 and drizzle most of the day. Lost some snow, still have a good 12” on the ground and roads that are snowmobile routes are mostly snowpacked. It turned over to snow last night and got an inch of new snow, snowing lightly this morning and 9 degrees so everything has froze up again. 1-3” tonight into Saturday and cold until early next week. Looks like another warm up next week, hope it’s not bad. If I can get back on I will post tonight as I will be heading down to Rhinelander today, will see what the trails look like.

 

[attakman]

It was bad yesterday...lightly rained all day here in Tomahawk....however the temp dropped quickly went from 33 degrees at 5PM to 5 above at 11 PM...roads got real bad, as it started snowing...it started out wet and packy and ended light and fluffy..I had just shy of 2 inches overnight...every little bit will help the damage from yesterday....we are expecting another inch or two tonight into tomorrow...I will go check a few trails out tonight after work...it's going to be thin, early season conditions, AND Lincoln County is not open at this time....due to construction on or near the Hiawatha trail, so that is also closed TFN...so you can NOT go south of the bridge just past the windmill, nor to the Kracker Barrel gas station, or Holly's bar at this time (ALL are in Lincoln County)...hopefully they will open the Hiawatha soon so you can get from Sara Park out to the Nokomis area....FYI...as of today Lake Nokomis is not marked, nor are any of the Lincoln Couty lakes (Mohawksin, Alice, and the Spirit)..our rule of thumb is if it is not marked it is NOT safe...stay off!!!...Ice is variable this year some lakes have 4 to 5 inches...others have 7 plus....keep that in mind when planning your route

 

[mezz]

Here in the Keweenaw we have had temps in the upper 30's & low 40's then came the rain on Thursday. Snow packed on sidewalks, steps & decks turned into ice. The rain transitioned to a mix & later to all snow as the temps dropped from upper 30's to mid 20's. Once it finally changed to all snow we had crazy winds once again. We awoke to 11 degrees with snow & blowing snow. New snow accumulation this a,m. 4" & currently still snowing.

 

[venturenorth]

Well, it was a balmy day on Thursday with a high of 38 and drizzle most of the day. Lost some snow, still have a good 12” on the ground and roads that are snowmobile routes are mostly snowpacked. It turned over to snow last night and got an inch of new snow, snowing lightly this morning and 9 degrees so everything has froze up again. 1-3” tonight into Saturday and cold until early next week. Looks like another warm up next week, hope it’s not bad. If I can get back on I will post tonight as I will be heading down to Rhinelander today, will see what the trails look like.

Thanks for the updates Paul...hoping the warm up is short-lived....hoping to be back up with Euphoric mid-Jan to ride Vilas and beyond.

 

[pclark]

Just got back from Rhinelander and my view from the truck is this, very simply put. Decent snow pack in the MW area, the farther south you go the thinner it gets. Early season riding conditions apply to all areas, we are supposed to get 1-3” tonight, should help. Traffic everywhere was pretty light, holiday week coming up do this is all bonus, as Attak said I would stay off the lakes until we get more ice thickness, have not seen any vehicles out on the ice yet, it’s sketchy up here in MW because that big snow dump landed on top of some fairly thin ice. Ride safe!

 

[attakman]

I went for a spin north and west of Lake Nokomis...trails were fair to good...I was amazed at how good they actually were...Traffic was minimal, and I wasn't hitting rocks (not one), and wasn't burning my slides off ..there is probably a 3-4 inch base...as everybody has mentioned, there is more snow to the north, less to the south and east....after Thursday I was really worried...the lakes were a mess, everything melted down...but the rain/freezing rain may have actually helped, plus we added a bit of fresh snow on top...this is what it looked like on 7N heading to swamp lake...I was first one on it (7PM on a Friday night)....Overall trails are very rideable...don't listen to the negative nelly's on the internet...it's far better than I thought it would be...get out and ride while you can..btw, I have some buddies riding up in the Mercer area earlier this week, and they said other than Thursday it was very, very good, in fact they are back up there riding again today.

 

[whitedust]

Hopefully we will start seeing ride reports for Northwoods including Three Lakes , Forest , Vilas and UPMI Big Snow Country. For me I like to string multiple locations together to have a least 150 mile RT. I don’t care to ride an island but that’s me to each his own.

 

[ZRMadness]

Planning to ride out of Minocqua/Woodruff toward Mercer and Ironwood Sunday. If Minocqua area is too thin, we'll probably just trailer to Mercer.

 

[hermie]

We got out today. Took off from St.Germain to Boulder,Presque Isle,MW,Arbor Vitae back to St Germain. St Germain and Arbor Vitae are thin but solid trail base so you don't hit anything under the snow. Boulder and Presque Isle not bad. MW a little rougher but not terrible. Some of the trails are more narrow than they use to be due to clubs just able to get the fallen trees far enough out of the way for the groomer to get through. Also I noticed no one seem to be spinning there tracks much and really respecting the trail base. Now for a little negative come on people stop and pick up a few branches for the clubs we can do better. We picked up branches as much as we could. Probably around 50 branches or so. If we all would just pick up 5 branches the trails would be branch free. A few pictures from tody

 

[hermie]

Hopefully we will start seeing ride reports for Northwoods including Three Lakes , Forest , Vilas and UPMI Big Snow Country. For me I like to string multiple locations together to have a least 150 mile RT. I don’t care to ride an island but that’s me to each his own.

I am think from Mercer north things should be good to excellent with the new fresh lake effect they got. I have a feeling 3 lakes and Forest have a good base but thin.

 

[ddhanna]

I am think from Mercer north things should be good to excellent with the new fresh lake effect they got. I have a feeling 3 lakes and Forest have a good base but thin.

Forest is still closed and lakes are not marked in Three Lakes so no connections there.

 

[whitedust]

Forest is still closed and lakes are not marked in Three Lakes so no connections there.

Yes I didn’t think Forest was open yet but still early. I was surprised 3 lakes local trail access was shut down to designated parking area and walk in. When did they start that and is there a trail to the Shell Station?

 

[ddhanna]

Yes I didn’t think Forest was open yet but still early. I was surprised 3 lakes local trail access was shut down to designated parking area and walk in. When did they start that and is there a trail to the Shell Station?

Still the same local access including the Shell Station. I did not hear about a "shut down". The designated parking area at hwy 45 and cty A has a land use agreement that allows for public parking as it has for years.

 

[whitedust]

Still the same local access including the Shell Station. I did not hear about a "shut down". The designated parking area at hwy 45 and cty A has a land use agreement that allows for public parking as it has for years.

Calling the parking lot “shed the sled “walk to downtown biz. I remember being able to access downtown biz from the back doors some years ago. I guess can’t do that anymore.

 

[indy_500]

Hermie, passed you around noon today just west of Sayner!

We trailered to conover to get the little man back in the saddle. Made it to the burnt bridge and the sleds were overheating. Base was thin and very bumpy on trail 8 along hwy K. Due to the bumps, the little man couldn’t go fast enough to keep it cool. They waited at burnt bridge and I went and grabbed the truck and trailer. We trailered over to Sayner, and grabbed lunch at the Sayner pub. Then we took off and rode around the west/north side of plum and star lake on trail 15/11. We made it to star lake and turned around and came back the same route as I knew these trails would be good for him. These trails are mostly seasonal roads, and were very flat, with good base. Little man could run it up to 40 mph on these trails and had no problem keeping things cool due to how smooth they were. All in all, trails were what I expected, things get better as you go northwest in Vilas due to the snow depth. I would stay away from the far east end, and I also would hold off on riding oneida unless it’s on older equipment. I was torn on trailering to Mani Waters or Conover. Went with Conover because I prefer going up hwy 45 but should’ve trusted my gut as I knew the snow depth was better to the west. Lot of truck miles for small amount of riding but glad to get the little dude back in the saddle.

 

[indy_500]