Bayfield/Valhalla

[woodside]

I did a short ride this afternoon west of Bayfield and north of Valhalla. I didn't want to end my ride as conditions were so good.

The trails I rode (short sections of 31N, 51, and 19) were excellent and firm even during mid-afternoon with 36 degree temp and sunny conditions. The base is solid and there we no ruts. The Forest Roads are softer with 1-2" of snowball consistency on top of a deep base and over 2 feet of snow on the edges. Advise the use of scratchers on the trails during the morning until temps warm as it freezes during the night.

With the potential for rain Sunday and Monday and the excellent trail conditions, this is a great time to ride in Northern Bayfield County. We plan on being out there starting Friday.

 

[candyman]

View attachment 58457 View attachment 58458 View attachment 58459 Yesteday's ride...Heading out there again today. They're saying more snow is in the forecast. We'll keep you posted! www.woodsidecottages.com

 

[Scottydog]

what's the latest trail reports for Bayfield county? Any decent riding south of corridor or need to stay to the north?

 

[candyman]

what's the latest trail reports for Bayfield county? Any decent riding south of corridor or need to stay to the north?

North of the corridor got shut out. Cable received 5 inches, Hayward 9 inches. We rode Saturday trail 13 south to the corridor up trail 63 to 31. Only rode 31 for a short distance, it had gotten the snot kicked out of it by the afternoon. Fire roads north of 251 in much better shape than anything we rode south of it. As usual fire roads and trails north of Valhalla at the end of the day were holding up well.

 

[Clintondf]

Id believe it. We arrived here at treelands resort. Looks to be plenty of snow. Cant wait to go out and explore.

 

[Snirtdawg]

We ended up in Bayfield at the Legendary Waters Resort/Casino. Snow conditions were good to very good. Went down through Valhalla and over to Iron River and back up through west side of the peninsula. Arguably the best scenery and changes in grade I've ever ridden. I will go back. Then went out to the Apostle Islands as well. Looks of snow in the woods as we did a lot of digging sleds out.

 

[Scottydog]

Thanks Candyman. I think we will stay around Hayward area this time. Just wanted to say thanks to you and Woodside for your honest trail reports and pics throughout the year. We have been to Bayfield CO plenty of times over the years but still need to ride the "fire road experience" with you or woodside. Will look you up at Woodside Cottages next year!!

 

[candyman]

Thanks Candyman. I think we will stay around Hayward area this time. Just wanted to say thanks to you and Woodside for your honest trail reports and pics throughout the year. We have been to Bayfield CO plenty of times over the years but still need to ride the "fire road experience" with you or woodside. Will look you up at Woodside Cottages next year!!

Your welcome Scottydog! Can't blame you on the Hayward decision,our cabin is about 1/2 mile from the Chippewa Flowage, great area to spend a weekend snowmobiling.I might have to sneak down there on Saturday morning?? Stop in at Deerfoot Lodge and say hi to Jim and Amanda from Wooodside Cottages.

 

[candyman]

View attachment 58486 View attachment 58487 View attachment 58491 View attachment 58490 View attachment 58488 View attachment 58489
We were feeling kinda left out cuz we didn't get the snow that everyone else got south of us. So we went for a ride this afternoon and we're feeling better now www.woodsidecottages.com

 

[WorkHardPlayHrd]

Snirtdawg were did you go out to the islands, and how was the ice?

 

[Snirtdawg]

We went out to Madeline Island (Beach Bar) Sunday afternoon. Ice was fine, it's weird seeing the headlights of cars crossing over from Bayfield on the ice road.

 

[mark_zaar]

about how long would it take to get up to apostles from Hayward area? Do you think its passable with current conditions and is it easy to navigate or would we need specific knowledge to get there on forest roads ,etc? thanks.

 

[woodside]

We joined Candyman for a 150 mile run down to Barnes yesterday. Conditions south of Brule on TR27 & 7 were good for the most part with some expected bare spots, bumpy corners and wear due to higher sled volume. Much better north of Barnes on TR17 & 18.

Trails in the Valhalla area were all groomed and were hard, very smooth and flat. Scratchers were a big help but not needed in the afternoon. Expect the hi fax to take a hit on the usual 1/4 mile plow on TR40 just east of Old Baldy and the mile section of TR3 just south of FR248. I don't understand why the township plow jockeys don't use their wing plow and provide a place to ride on the edge.

Trails south and north of Valhalla were excellent and showed no wear and tear due to very light traffic north of the Hwy 2 Corridor on our return, even TR31 south of Valhalla. We saw a total of 4 sleds in that 25 mile stretch. FR's are hard so we gave them a rest for the most part this time out.

Anyone looking for a great ride, trails will be in great shape yet this week even with the warmer temps. Scratchers will come in handy until conditions loosen. Access is good into the Pub and Grub. Candyman at www.woodsidecottages.com will probably do some riding and would be happy to have you join him.

 

[candyman]

We joined Candyman for a 150 mile run down to Barnes yesterday. Conditions south of Brule on TR27 & 7 were good for the most part with some expected bare spots, bumpy corners and wear due to higher sled volume. Much better north of Barnes on TR17 & 18.

Trails in the Valhalla area were all groomed and were hard, very smooth and flat. Scratchers were a big help but not needed in the afternoon. Expect the hi fax to take a hit on the usual 1/4 mile plow on TR40 just east of Old Baldy and the mile section of TR3 just south of FR248. I don't understand why the township plow jockeys don't use their wing plow and provide a place to ride on the edge.

Trails south and north of Valhalla were excellent and showed no wear and tear due to very light traffic north of the Hwy 2 Corridor on our return, even TR31 south of Valhalla. We saw a total of 4 sleds in that 25 mile stretch. FR's are hard so we gave them a rest for the most part this time out.

Anyone looking for a great ride, trails will be in great shape yet this week even with the warmer temps. Scratchers will come in handy until conditions loosen. Access is good into the Pub and Grub. Candyman at www.woodsidecottages.com will probably do some riding and would be happy to have you join him.

Sorry no pics from yesterday's ride. Just tried to keep up with Woodside all day! Great ride!

 

[rmk4ever]

Thanks for the good time, candyman, Woodside, & Dock. Your patience with our girls was excellent. Allowing us to speed up with Woodside & stay behind with the girls. Looks like I'm coming up early on Wednesday morn. Thanks again. You guys are a class act!

 

[candyman]

Thanks for the good time, candyman, Woodside, & Dock. Your patience with our girls was excellent. Allowing us to speed up with Woodside & stay behind with the girls. Looks like I'm coming up early on Wednesday morn. Thanks again. You guys are a class act!

It was our pleasure! As the saying goes, "It's not how many miles, it's how many smiles!" Thank you for staying with us again! We'll look forward to the next time!
www.woodsidecottages.com

 

[WorkHardPlayHrd]

Rode Bayfield county all of Sunday. Put on 225 miles from Lakewoods Resort in Cable to up to Red Cliff and back. Best trails by far were corridor 2 north. 2 was freshly groomed and excellent. Got on it at trail 4 and headed toward Ashland. We had seen a ton of deer all day and I made the off handed comment that the way it was going we would be bringing home venison. That was a stupid thing to say when 6 miles latter a small doe comes right over the steep grade edge and I hit her at 90+. O I was pissed!! Her head hit the the a frame and killed her instantly, I was glad because I hate seeing them suffer. Managed to bend the frame back most of the way with a tow strap and another sled. Will finish tweaking here, but it's handling well, and has no cracks or other damage so I'll be happy.

Trails from 2 north were just great and the only other place I had seen as nice this past weekend was the Tuscobia in Price county and the other trails in the Northwest corner of Price. Ashland county was flat and hard, but in one spot we were on blacktop for almost 2 miles. Yes my sled needs new carbides.

We got up to Red Cliff, the trails were just so nice. Woodside they were great and if you know who's grooming tell them Thank-you it really is appreciated. From there we dropped onto Lake Superior and ran the ice all the way to Washburn. There were a few ice heaves, and such. O and watch out for ice fishing holes, but she seemed nice and solid. We have some beautiful pictures of ice caves south of Bayfield along the cliffs. Do you go out by them Woodside, and what type off weather will break up the ice. We sent pictures home and the kids were very mad! Wanted to know why they couldn't go to the ice caves, and are considering a day trip up if we can fit it in soon.

Anywhere you could recommend parking with trailer near Washburn. The only trail in upper Bayfield county that I considered questionable was south from Washburn to Ashland.

On the way back it went from good to ugly.

Stay away from trail 6 from trail 4 south for about 8 miles it is all road and it's purpose is to eat your carbides. Where trail 6 hit 63 south to Drummond was rough, but doable. To owen lake it got worse. Picked up trail 15 on other side of Owen Lake and hit the snow cross special all the way to Lake Namakagon. That was at 10:30 p.m. and never saw a groomer. It really sucks when the worst part of the trip is the last 13 miles.

Stay away from any trail in Sawyer, Ashland, and Bayfield county that looks like it runs right next to the road and isn't a grade, the new snow is all used up in those spots. Stay off the Tuscobia from Ojibwa west. Ojibwa east the further east the better it gets. Hope everyone had fun if they were able to get out.

P.S. watch out for DNR they are driving along roads watching for you to not make complete dead stops. They mean business. especially around Cable to Clam Lake and up toward Mason.���� Got myself in trouble Saturday night. They managed to stop the rest of my group. When I went back to find everybody I got a present. I did look, and I did a hard pause, but not a complete stop. That's life. I was leading so I took the fall.

 

[frnash]

Well, I have to say it:

That was a well written trip report. It was an absolute joy to read.

Clear, coherent, real paragraphs (instead of a whole page of solid run-on blur).
Real sentences and real punctuation even.
Nary a spelling glitch to stumble over while reading, no apostrophes used in "plural's", etc. (I'm not going to count those "����", whatever they were!)

I guess it takes a dairy farmer[SUP]1[/SUP] to show up all those high falutin' city fellers! Yeay!

Your report scored a literary "highmark", to steal a sleddin' term.
It was also remarkably upbeat, given that you bagged a deer with your sled and collected a souvenir from the DNR!


Two thumbs up!

---

([SUP]1[/SUP] I spent enough summer vacations on my grandparents' dairy farm in Bruce Crossing, MI to qualify as a one-time dairy farmer myself! — It sure beat the heck out o' "hangin' in da hood" all summer in Detroit, too!)

 

[candyman]

WorkHardPlayHrd wrote: "We have some beautiful pictures of ice caves south of Bayfield along the cliffs. Do you go out by them Woodside, and what type off weather will break up the ice. We sent pictures home and the kids were very mad! Wanted to know why they couldn't go to the ice caves, and are considering a day trip up if we can fit it in soon."

Just thought we'd better let everyone know that the Ice Caves (at Meyers Beach near Cornucopia) are NOT open or accessible. The ice formations south of Bayfield on the shoreline cliffs are very beautiful as well. Here is a pic of the live camera shot from this morning https://www.facebook.com/apostleislandsnationallakeshore/ :

View attachment 58506

 

[woodside]

WorkHardPlayHrd
I am glad that you were able to enjoy our great trails in Northern Bayfield County. My opinion is that our area is the one of the best, if not the best, area to ride in Wisconsin, especially when one considers the hundreds of miles of Forest Roads that are available.

I never ride on the Big Lake. Its too unpredictable and has many opportunities for trouble. High winds will break up the ice very quickly. If you get a chance, launch your boat and really enjoy the lake.

Conditions south of Hwy 2 can vary and there is always more sled traffic which adds wear and tear to the trails. Recently, the Mason to Drummond areas has had to reroute some its previous groomed trails to township roads, which are pretty much unrideable this time of the Winter. The same situation has occurred in the Port Wing and Herbster areas. As a result, we don't ride there anymore.

We will be riding this afternoon with Candyman out of www.woodsidecottages.com and will post a report with pics this time.