Hayward area conditions

[bogie wheel]

Sawyer County Trail Condition Report 12/27/14





Hello Riders!!

Most Sawyer County snow trails are in good condition with the 5 inches of fresh snow last night. Groomers will be out tonight.

Most of the area lakes have been staked, having 12 inches or more of ice. Fallowing lakes are marked: Lost Land, Nelson, Sand, Tiger Cat Flowage, Ospry, LCO, Round, Grindstone, BlueBerry, Moose, Spider, Little Round, Whitefish and the west side of Chippewa Flowage.

The east side of the Chippewa Flowage has spots of thin ice and is not staked.

some channels on east side of flowage are STILL OPEN WATER !!!!! hopefully these next few nights of cold they will freeze up --

Some of the lakes have ice heaves and riders should always ride with caution and stay on marked trails.

Some trails still have trees down on them, #6 North of Polish Rd to Dam rd. Several trails will have branch slappers yet with the fresh snow. 63 railroad grade north of Seeley has a reroute due to property dispute. Seeley Hills trails 8, 31, and 77 are in real good condition.

Trails are maintained by club volunteers and clubs are always looking for new members.

Trails are maintained by club volunteers and clubs are always looking for new members.

 

[catalac]

This is great news! The cold will only make it better!
Thanks for the report!

 

[sweeperguy]

I'd like to drive over from the twin cities, where can a guy park his truck/trailer and unload and ride for the day.

 

[hemi_newman]

I would start closer to Cable and go into Bayfield county..we got about 6" yesterday here in Hayward, but it was a powdery snow. Looks like a possible storm for the end of the week which will help things out a lot. Lots of open water and slush, some trails will not be groomed until things freeze up.

 

[bogie wheel]

The majority of Sawyer County snow trails are in good condition with the 5 inches of snow we received on Friday night and the couple more inches we received over the weekend. Some of the groomers have been out and more are going out today.

Most of the area lakes are staked, but there is some slush on top of the ice. The cold temperatures that started today should help finish freezing lakes and marshes. The fallowing lakes are marked: Lost Land, Nelson, Sand, Tiger Cat flowage, Ospry, LCO, Round, Grindstone, BlueBerry, Moose, Spider, Little Round, Whitefish and the Chippewa Flowage.

The following trails have wet areas and are not frozen solid enough to allow groomers to travel on them. These trails can not be groomed until solid; #5/27 from Tuscobia south to Rusk county, (#5 from Tuscobia North to trap and fish has been groomed), #6 from Tuscobia north to Chippewa Flowage, and #3 from Hwy 77 North to Lost Land Lake.

Some of the lakes have ice heaves and riders should always ride with caution and stay on marked trails.

Trail 63 railroad grade north of Seeley has a reroute due to property dispute.

Trails are maintained by club volunteers and clubs are always looking for new members.

 

[sounder]

I'm not sure what happened up there, but my group was there for five days over the NYE holiday. Trails all around Hayward were in fair condition at best on Thursday, and got progressively worse through Sunday. Twice we saw a groomer, and both times it was parked at a bar and the trails were not groomed. By Saturday afternoon, the bumps were so big we could only safely ride at 10-15 mph. We traveled from Pats Landing to Stone Lake by a variety of paths (turns out some were not open, which we discovered when we realized we were on the wrong side of the gate -- why aren't they marked as closed on both ends?), up toward Clam Lake, all around the flowage and on the lakes. Worst grooming conditions we have seen over the past several years. There must be some reason, but clearly the issue was not about the amount of snow because when we crossed the line from Sawyer county to Ashland county, it was like crossing from a motocross track to the autobahn. Ashland trails, with the same amount of snow and traffic, were in pristine condition.

Sorry if I'm out of line by saying this here, but we were a group of six riders and plan to come back with a group of 20 riders this weekend. Hopefully there has been some grooming this week, or our friends will be pissed at us that they spent $35 each for trail passes. Between all of us, that's $700 in trail passes and around $3k spent in the local community. It's a three hour drive for us and we take these trips several times a year, so we will definitely be back if we have a good time. We do like the area. Great bars, restaurants, hotels, nice trails, nice combination of lakes and trails. But if the trails beat us all to death, we'll probably go somewhere else next time.

Has there been any grooming, or are we going to be disappointed?

 

[hemi_newman]

I'm not sure what happened up there, but my group was there for five days over the NYE holiday. Trails all around Hayward were in fair condition at best on Thursday, and got progressively worse through Sunday. Twice we saw a groomer, and both times it was parked at a bar and the trails were not groomed. By Saturday afternoon, the bumps were so big we could only safely ride at 10-15 mph. We traveled from Pats Landing to Stone Lake by a variety of paths (turns out some were not open, which we discovered when we realized we were on the wrong side of the gate -- why aren't they marked as closed on both ends?), up toward Clam Lake, all around the flowage and on the lakes. Worst grooming conditions we have seen over the past several years. There must be some reason, but clearly the issue was not about the amount of snow because when we crossed the line from Sawyer county to Ashland county, it was like crossing from a motocross track to the autobahn. Ashland trails, with the same amount of snow and traffic, were in pristine condition.

Sorry if I'm out of line by saying this here, but we were a group of six riders and plan to come back with a group of 20 riders this weekend. Hopefully there has been some grooming this week, or our friends will be pissed at us that they spent $35 each for trail passes. Between all of us, that's $700 in trail passes and around $3k spent in the local community. It's a three hour drive for us and we take these trips several times a year, so we will definitely be back if we have a good time. We do like the area. Great bars, restaurants, hotels, nice trails, nice combination of lakes and trails. But if the trails beat us all to death, we'll probably go somewhere else next time.

Has there been any grooming, or are we going to be disappointed?

Its kind of hard to groom when we have no snow to work with and there isn't any snow in the forecast. Maybe an inch on Thursday is all. Groomers are only panning from what I was told. Bottom line is we need more snow and doesn't look promising for the next two weeks either.

 

[bogie wheel]

hemi is correct there is marginal snow in some areas and in others there is more !!! groomer equipment BREAKS quite often when there is NOT ENOUGH snow-- cleats on tracks for instance ( spendy $$) i heard over last weekend from ok trails to just terrible as a business owner up here not good at all .

like all businesses up here WE ARE STARVING !! for the right conditions as well as VOLUNTEERING our time for trail work and grooming sorry if this sounds stern but we CAN NOT control the weather here or elsewhere for that matter


BTW this was Saturday 1-3-2015



copper harbor trail



hi tom s

 

[upnorthman]

I don't want to be out of line either but how are the trails in Minnesota?? Last year the whole state had snow this year is off to a rough start. Do the snow dance and it will get better.

I'm not sure what happened up there, but my group was there for five days over the NYE holiday. Trails all around Hayward were in fair condition at best on Thursday, and got progressively worse through Sunday. Twice we saw a groomer, and both times it was parked at a bar and the trails were not groomed. By Saturday afternoon, the bumps were so big we could only safely ride at 10-15 mph. We traveled from Pats Landing to Stone Lake by a variety of paths (turns out some were not open, which we discovered when we realized we were on the wrong side of the gate -- why aren't they marked as closed on both ends?), up toward Clam Lake, all around the flowage and on the lakes. Worst grooming conditions we have seen over the past several years. There must be some reason, but clearly the issue was not about the amount of snow because when we crossed the line from Sawyer county to Ashland county, it was like crossing from a motocross track to the autobahn. Ashland trails, with the same amount of snow and traffic, were in pristine condition.

Sorry if I'm out of line by saying this here, but we were a group of six riders and plan to come back with a group of 20 riders this weekend. Hopefully there has been some grooming this week, or our friends will be pissed at us that they spent $35 each for trail passes. Between all of us, that's $700 in trail passes and around $3k spent in the local community. It's a three hour drive for us and we take these trips several times a year, so we will definitely be back if we have a good time. We do like the area. Great bars, restaurants, hotels, nice trails, nice combination of lakes and trails. But if the trails beat us all to death, we'll probably go somewhere else next time.

Has there been any grooming, or are we going to be disappointed?

 

[bogie wheel]

GROOMING IS SPOTTY !! we need more snow !!!! if you are coming this way PLEASE check with local taverns or business in area you plan riding thru -- sorry I couldn't be more help but conditions are tough this year so far.

as far as Minnesota goes I know nothing about their conditions sorry

 

[sounder]

It's completely understandable that you can't groom what isn't here. But one side of the county line had exactly the same snow as the other. I don't understand why there was no grooming when the snow was groomable. I guess what I hear you saying is that we are going to be disappointed unless we stay on the lakes mostly.

I honor and respect the work of hard working volunteers who groom the trails. Thanks to you guys. That wasn't happening in sawyer county last weekend though.

There's not much snow in mn. I don't see why that matters. We like to visit other places and spend our money too. Is that such a bad thing? Isn't that why we all read these boards?

 

[upnorthman]

Yep..that's why we are on here. I hear ya about going to different areas too.

It's completely understandable that you can't groom what isn't here. But one side of the county line had exactly the same snow as the other. I don't understand why there was no grooming when the snow was groomable. I guess what I hear you saying is that we are going to be disappointed unless we stay on the lakes mostly.

I honor and respect the work of hard working volunteers who groom the trails. Thanks to you guys. That wasn't happening in sawyer county last weekend though.

There's not much snow in mn. I don't see why that matters. We like to visit other places and spend our money too. Is that such a bad thing? Isn't that why we all read these boards?

 

[fastercat]

2 of us are staying in Hayward this weekend, we will be there by 11am Friday, where is the best way to go, we were thinking of going east towards Park falls, but any info on where to go would be great, never been to Hayward before, we are staying at the Flat Creek Inn.

 

[Highflyer]

It's completely understandable that you can't groom what isn't here. But one side of the county line had exactly the same snow as the other. I don't understand why there was no grooming when the snow was groomable. I guess what I hear you saying is that we are going to be disappointed unless we stay on the lakes mostly.

I honor and respect the work of hard working volunteers who groom the trails. Thanks to you guys. That wasn't happening in sawyer county last weekend though.

There's not much snow in mn. I don't see why that matters. We like to visit other places and spend our money too. Is that such a bad thing? Isn't that why we all read these boards?

I rode in the exact areas you did Jan 1-4. It was very obivious that Bayfield and Ashland county had more snow then Sawyer county. If they could have done more grooming they would have. Also, its rather pointless to try and groom on Saturday when its just going to get beat up again and you risk do more damage then good when the trail barely has any snow on it to begin with.

I talked to a local groomer on Sunday on our way out of town. They were planning on grooming Sunday night/ Monday morning prior to prep the trailers for another week. Hopefully John's forecast holds up and sends them another 2-4" this week.

 

[vmax1994]

There isn't much snow in Bayfield county either. Around Cable, Namakagon, and Drummond is OK. Northern Bayfield is alright as well but the middle and eastern sections are really thin. I would head E/NE from Hayward.

 

[dragon_700]

2 of us are staying in Hayward this weekend, we will be there by 11am Friday, where is the best way to go, we were thinking of going east towards Park falls, but any info on where to go would be great, never been to Hayward before, we are staying at the Flat Creek Inn.

Yes head towards the east.We will be in the stone lake area friday morning about 15 miles south of hayward and will be heading towards parkfalls then will head north towards mellen then across to clam lake then back down towards hayward area.nice loop but pretty good mileage about 200 mile day?
trail 31 goes right by flat creek inn so i would either take 31 south and head towards grindstone lake area.you can take 31 south till you get to trail 32 that heads towards grindstone then take trail 3 that will bring you to chippawa flowage.then you have alot of options from there.i would stay away from trail 63 that goes north towards cable usually is bad from traffic and low snow.if you want to head north take the 31 trail north.see ya on the trails

 

[scsaa trail co]

I'm not sure what happened up there, but my group was there for five days over the NYE holiday. Trails all around Hayward were in fair condition at best on Thursday, and got progressively worse through Sunday. Twice we saw a groomer, and both times it was parked at a bar and the trails were not groomed. By Saturday afternoon, the bumps were so big we could only safely ride at 10-15 mph. We traveled from Pats Landing to Stone Lake by a variety of paths (turns out some were not open, which we discovered when we realized we were on the wrong side of the gate -- why aren't they marked as closed on both ends?), up toward Clam Lake, all around the flowage and on the lakes. Worst grooming conditions we have seen over the past several years. There must be some reason, but clearly the issue was not about the amount of snow because when we crossed the line from Sawyer county to Ashland county, it was like crossing from a motocross track to the autobahn. Ashland trails, with the same amount of snow and traffic, were in pristine condition.

Sorry if I'm out of line by saying this here, but we were a group of six riders and plan to come back with a group of 20 riders this weekend. Hopefully there has been some grooming this week, or our friends will be pissed at us that they spent $35 each for trail passes. Between all of us, that's $700 in trail passes and around $3k spent in the local community. It's a three hour drive for us and we take these trips several times a year, so we will definitely be back if we have a good time. We do like the area. Great bars, restaurants, hotels, nice trails, nice combination of lakes and trails. But if the trails beat us all to death, we'll probably go somewhere else next time.

Has there been any grooming, or are we going to be disappointed?

Please excuse me, as I don’t fallow this web site, but was advised of your dissatisfaction with Sawyer County trail conditions. I am the trail coordinator for the Sawyer County Snowmobile/ATV Alliance and our goal is to have the best snow trails in the state and if Mother Nature does not cooperate we want to report accurate conditions. Sawyer County is the 5th Largest County in Wisconsin so conditions can vary greatly from North to South. We try to update trail conditions every Monday and Thursday.
Sawyer County groomers have been out and most all trails have been groomed, but groomers have not and for now will not be going out more than once a week due to limited snow conditions. A couple of groomers have been out a bit more in higher snow areas. But many groomers are parked on a busy Saturday rather than have issues on a heavily traveled trail system. Most of the grooming is done at night.
Can you please advise what trail numbers that you traveled so we can see why there were problems. I am not aware of any closed gates in Sawyer County, but if you went to Stone Lake there is a strong chance that you crossed into Washburn County and their trails are not open at this time. Sawyer County does not post conditions in neighboring counties. What Ashland County trail was an autobahn? And what connecting Sawyer trail was a motocross?
Sawyer County wants you to come back and ENJOY our trails, so if you could please advise exactly what trails were a problem, we will most certainly look into correcting any problems that we can. Thank you.

 

[bogie wheel]

well said don

There are so many people out there that just DO NOT realize how hard we work as an alliance to keep these trails in rideable condition .
From the last TWO blow downs and ice storms --trying to keep up on 600 miles of the trail system is damn near impossible !!! seeing how most if not all workers are volunteer's -- I know as far as myself goes that I am burnt out but keep on going .
We need all tourism in these areas as so many people rely on it for us to live up here .
Enough said I wish EVERYONE safe riding and a ton of good times !!!!!

 

[sounder]

Don, thank you so much for your excellent response! My purpose wasn't to 'bash' your trails, but rather to say we were really surprised. In the past we've found the area trails to be well maintained. But it didn't seem that way last weekend.

We love riding there, and we are coming back this weekend. People are very friendly and the restaurants and bars are great. I didn't give all this detail before because I'm not trying to be a jerk... but was truly wondering if it would be different this weekend or not. We invited 15 friends to join us after we saw how nice it was Thursday. I don't want them to be disappointed in our judgment to bring them to Hayward. I'll try to remember everywhere we rode... but may miss some as we covered 400+ miles. So, here is some of what we found:

Last weekend, we saw one groomer that hadn't moved in days. We knew this because it had 4-6 inches of snow on it. The other groomer was at Chit-Chat bar. A few miles were groomed leading to the bar. Those are the only groomers we saw from Weds to leaving Sunday.

Thursday trails were pretty good. They seemed to be groomed several days previous, but all in all, pretty good. We were excited for the riding ahead.

Friday we went from Chief lake and eventually took the lakes 22 to Trail 3 to Trail 8, and both were "snocross" until just before we got to Clam Lake. We crossed the road and there was a brown sign. I think the brown sign was the cross into Ashland county, and that must have been on trail 3. From there on, autobahn. Then we took 9A south, and it was groomed. Further down, we turned off to the fire roads. Eventually we got back to trail 18, and it was a "snocross". We turned off on 21 north, and it was similarly "snocross".

Saturday we took the lake route 3 and then 37 toward Stone Lake. Along the way, most of the trails were getting rough, so we were attempting to get to trail 28 and Long Lake. We went south on 27 where we could, but it's poorly marked. Eventually we got to the end of a trail on 140 (rough all the way), and we were on the wrong side of a "private property" sign and chain. So we went back on 140 to 3/31 north. It was really rough. We went to Lake Chippewa (I don't remember which trail to get there). From there, trail 18 north intending to pick up 14 to 9. But, 18 was so rough that we turned back after about 8 miles.

So, I hear you and appreciate the comment about the varying snow depths. We covered much of the county and found similar conditions in most areas, except lakes. I hope we just got onto the wrong trails at the wrong time. Maybe you can advise us on the best places to ride this weekend?

Thanks. Your concern, passion and professional reply is truly appreciated! We also truly appreciate the time and energy invested by the volunteers who drive those groomers. We know it's a gift to us. And, trust me, we spend plenty of money in the local businesses when we're riding. We look forward to riding with you this weekend! I hope what I've shared is helpful, and not taken as being rude or overly critical. It's not meant that way.

 

[skidont]

I am a groomer operator also and get a kick out these a@# wipes that contribute nothing and want it all , Then in the end dont even know where they were riding or what trails