Bayfield/Valhalla

[woodside]

The trails are the best they have been thus far this Winter and the forest roads continue to provide good riding. All our cottage guests were very satisfied with the conditions. The 2" of LES today will be put to good use as the groomers will once again have the trails in good to very good condition for the coming week. Te trails held up very well as there was light traffic Friday and Saturday and we saw just two sleds during our ride today.

The exceptions are TR1/TR31 and TR51 west of Bayfield which need more snow to repair the damage from the warm and rain a few weeks back. One of our guests reported that conditions into Iron River were OK on Saturday.

From what I read, hear and have experienced, the Bayfield area has the best conditions in Wisconsin. We rode the Hurley/Mercer area and west on Thursday. Conditions were OK just south of Hwy 2 but were very thin around Mercer, especially west on the many miles of plowed trails. Very tough on the carbides and hifax. The groomer was doing the best it could with what there was to work with. Plus we know of riders who trailered from the south of Hwy 2 to get to the good conditions up here.

The forecast looks decent for the coming week: http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?zoneid=WIZ002#.VMXVtCz9zvM Lets hope that Wisconsin gets some much needed snow this week.

www.woodsidecottages.com

 

[Deleted member 10829]

I may have to come up there again, it looks pretty good! Trails still have not opened around here. What a difference from a year ago!

How many miles on your new Adventure so far? I have 975 after my UP trip a couple weeks ago.

 

[sounder]

We had a great time there at Woodside on Christmas weekend. It might be the place to go in the next week or two. Especially with light traffic in the area. Don't tell anyone!

 

[woodside]

Come on up guys! We have picked about about 2" thus far today and hope for more snow Wednesday into Thursday then cooler temps.

I am guessing around 1400 miles Mark. Haven't check recently.

Man, I sure hope this new snow will help out a good share of northern Wisconsin but I'm guessing they will need a lot more. We are fortunate to have what we do.

 

[Winter Warlock]

Seriously looked at doing a saddlebag trip from Land O' Lakes to over by you guys in a couple of weeks. Is there any progress on getting a trail back from Hurley to Ashland? (that 40-60 mile detour has always been a killer when coming cross country from the east) It used to be easy to do a 3 to 4 day trip coming your way.

Hopefully we all get some snow this week!

 

[woodside]

I have no info RE: that process.

All I know is that the Trail 2 from going east from Cedar, WI to the Bad River Casino was not groomed last Thursday so there must be issues with that stretch going to the casino.

 

[woodside]

I drove west of Bayfield today to check on the trail conditions. I found TR31, TR1 and Butterfield Rd groomed. The trails have up to 5" of solid base but I know there will be some places with less. But at least there is a decent base. The pics are rather boring but they do tell the story.

The Forest Roads are solid and hard with a couple inches of snow from Sunday. Any plowed Forest Road should be OK if they have the 2"-3" of snow on them from Sunday.

Hope the sleet stays away Wed. into Thursday and is snow instead as that could make the groomed trails hard.

 

[woodside]

The trails are holding up well as most have a decent base and the traffic has been light. TR31, TR! and TR51 have some thin spots as those areas still need some wet snow to fill in. The 5 mile re-route of TR1 on plowed forest roads had very little loose snow. We did not ride TR31 from Valhalla to Iron River, TR13 to Washburn and any trails near the lake. The area got 1" of LES Sunday so there has been no new snow. Maybe this coming weekend. The 5 mile re-route around TR1 is a challenge on the plowed forest roads have very little loose snow.

Access in/out of Bayfield and Red Cliff are a challenge due to the re-route of TR1. A couple of inches of fresh snow would remedy that but that may not happen until this weekend.

The Forest Roads continue to provide good riding although some of those that see more riders are rough in the corners. Clover Township plowed over 25 miles of Forest Roads (FR 439, 258, 433, 633 Seven Mile and FR262 Lenawee Rd, etc) plus a mile of TR41 going to TR 19 just to try out a new piece of equipment. These FR's are used by a lot of riders who want to avoid the 1/2 mile plowed section of TR40 going to Old Baldy. Lot of upset riders.

Some of our guests rode to Iron River Saturday. The sections of TR40 and TR3 that are plowed were a challenge. Plus there are a lot of forest roads northeast of Iron Rive are plowed as well as those mentioned in Clover Twshp. We did not use the Hwy 2 and TR63 route.

We found a few old logging roads on county land that had up to 16" of unused snow which was fun.

A reminder to riders to stay on the numbered FR's and groomed trails in the Chequamegon National Forest (Federal land marked in green on the map.) We are seeing more and more tracks from riders not complying with the regulations.

 

[minnesotasnowman]

Great write up Woodside. Thank you for the update.

 

[woodside]

TR31 west of Bayfield was groomed last night and is looking good. Same with Butterfield Rd that is very solid and will be groomed for the dog race this weekend.

Lets hope John's forecast for up to 4" by Saturday morning will happen. Either way, we will be riding the smooth trails this weekend.

gary
www.woodsidecottages.com

 

[royaloaks]

Hi Gary. Can you list the route of the dog sled race?

 

[woodside]

The course has been modified a bit from the past. Probably the best spot to watch is at TR51 and Butterfield Rd. just north of Valhalla. That's where we will hang out this year. The mushers use about a 2 mile stretch of TR51 going Northwest of that intersection. TR51 and Butterfield Rd. should not be used between 10:00am and noon or use reduced speeds.

Here is the link to the pdf taken from the Bayfield Chamber website www.bayfield.org
http://bayfield.org/pdf/AISDR_RaceMap_2015.pdf

Will be a great weekend to ride and also watch the dogs.

 

[sounder]

Gary did you get that snow? How are things holding up?

 

[woodside]

No. It went just to our north. We got about 1" today.

The trails are holding up very well with a couple of exceptions. TR31 northeast of Iron River was the only bad on and parts of TR51/31 and 1 west of Bayfield had a few thin spots and iy corners. A couple inches of snow will help those sections and we hope to get that Tuesday.

We rode 196 yesterday and just got back in after 167 today riding with our cottage guests. No complaints at all.

 

[cmscat50]

I was in Valhalla this weekend and rode much of the area.

The good: Anything near Valhalla. Generally real good until heavy traffic makes it a bit bumpy. There is not yet enough snow to cover all the rocks and the groomer does bump the sides and knock rocks and dirt onto the trail now and then. Overall anything within the Valhalla area or west or SW for a ways is very good. As always 19 is a great ride. Fire roads were real good.

The bad: TR 31 and TR3 near IR. If coming from Valhalla once you pass TR 63 on 31 it's poor. We rode it so I know. I'd highly advise against it...lots of rocks, gravel, or little snow...to almost no snow. I don't think it's even enough snow to call it thin. Trail 2 is actually fine somehow. It's probably 2" of snow on an ice base. White snow too! TR 3 is also poor or at least mostly poor to say the least all the way to TR 43. Then the snow picks up considerably again.

We rode TR 1 between 51 and 41 and it's real poor. VERY thin to say the least and that was during the snow yesterday. The north end of 51 is also poor due to logging. You can get to Cornie as some of our group did that. Just expect 10ish miles of poor to very very little snow going into town.

The very poor trails will need many inches of snow to repair. Probably 6-8" minimum IMO.

 

[woodside]

Conditions northeast of Iron River on TR31 can be iffy even during Winters with decent snow. Its a difficult trail to maintain. Last year was an exception.

The mentioned trails west of Bayfield to Cornie have thin areas due to the wide spread wet areas that kept the groomer away during the early Winter heavy snow then the melt and rain. Thus they never got a decent base. Plus they usually require more snow than the trails in the Valhalla area that, for the most part, are forest roads. A section of TR1 is still closed but after riding through it Saturday, we asked the groomer to open it up.

We put on 460 miles Saturday though Monday noon with our cottage guests and we basically stayed in the "good areas" except for our run down to north of Barnes where conditions were very thin. I won't go back to that area until they get more snow. The east/west Hwy 2 Corridor was good to very good to Brule but sections of TR31 and 63 in the same area were bad. Its not just the low snow amount but the nature and make-up of the trail and volume of traffic.

We rode about 50/50 on groomed trails and forest roads and had a great ride. It helps to know where to go and where not to go. TR 31 is one that we try to avoid. But not everyone knows that or the alternative routes to get to Valhalla or Iron River. Plus some of the alternative routes have been plowed for various reasons.

Pics were taken today in the Valhalla/Bayfield area.

 

[attack_06]

,why the heck are they plowing all these fire lanes

 

[woodside]

The Fr's east of the Old Baldy area to south of TR19 were plowed just because the township want to try out a new piece of equipment. I figured they plowed close to 25 miles of FR about three weeks ago. I hope that was likely a one time thing as we use those FR's a lot to get down to IR to avoid the plowed sections of TR40 and TR3. So do many other riders.

I have no idea why many of the FR's northeast of Iron River are plowed other than logging and to earn road tax dollars that the township collects from the state. I believe there is a Wisconsin statute that requires township to plow township roads if there is any reasonable request.

The detour on TR1 is plowed for logging.

Barnes Township spent thousands of dollars plowing miles of FR's last Winter as a coyote hunter requested that they be plowed. I heard the guy never did use them.

 

[T-Rod]

Hoping to take my son on his first trail ride Feb. 27-28. I know ALOT can change between now and then but I am thinking of staying in the Cable or Clam Lake area and just doing a couple shorter loops 40-70 miles. My son passed his safety course and has been wanting to ride, but it doesn't like trails will open at all in the Eau Claire/Chippewa County area. My son has been riding since he was 7 years old, but I don't want to just head to MI and throw him on the RR grade with everyone else doing 60mph.

I know the trails won't be great but any thoughts on whether they'll be rideable. I can handle a snirty trails just now bare ground. Any thoughts or recommendations? Do the trails run to Ol'Baldy or is there even anything to see there?

Thanks in advance.

 

[woodside]

Trail conditions in the Bayfield/Valhalla area are generally in good to very good conditions. I took a short ride this morning and attached some pics from parts of TR31N, TR51 and Butterfield Rd. All excellent and just groomed. I know there will be some thin spots and areas on TR51, TR31N and TR1 west of Bayfield towards Cornie but overall they should be good. Those areas did not get groomed early in the season due to numerous wet spots thus never got the base set up. A section of TR 1 west of Bayfield is still closed and will be for the season so the 6 mile re-route will remain. There was decent snow on it Saturday and it depends if it gets plowed as they are logging in that area.

Forest Roads continue to hold up very well and have a very solid base but there are a few that are getting bumpy especially on corners. FR248 between TR3 and FR236 has been plowed for logging `FR683 was plowed for some reason by Clover Township but the other FR's they plowed a few weeks back have 3-4" of snow so are good to go. At least for now.

Some of our cottage guests did ride into Iron River and also Cornie on TR1 over the weekend and said conditions were OK.

I rode Hwy 2 Corridor out of Moquah Monday with a friend then north on TR63 and a couple mile section of TR31 towards Valhalla. Conditions were good to very good. From there we jumped on FR's and headed to the Old Baldy area. TR40 was good. We saw zero sleds during our 4 hour ride. I saw one sled today during my short ride taking pics.

No new snow in the forecast but we have been getting 1/2-1" every other day so it all helps.

We have lots of availability at our cottages www.woodsidecottages,com and will be riding with our guests this weekend. Come on up and join us for some very good riding and avoid the UP, Mercer, Hayward, etc crowds.

Sorry but for some reason I am unable to download the pics.