Holy Vilas Traffic!

indy_500

indy_500

Well-known member
Well, figured I’d give a little report. Stayed in Minocqua this weekend, and couldn’t believe the traffic everywhere we went, still got to ride plenty of great trails despite! Saturday morning left The Waters on the lake and headed through Woodruff and Arbor Vitae on our way to St Germain. They put the RUFF in WoodRUFF! WOW! 10 miles of the worst trails I rode all year, until we hopped onto Bo Boen trails. Once on Bo Boen trails, we filled up at the Shell on the west side of St G and headed north to Sayner for lunch at the Sayner pub. Those trails were all absolutely excellent! A little loose and sloppy around Sayner but not bad considering the traffic. Must’ve been 100 sleds at Sayner pub. After lunch headed across plum and star lakes into Star lake before heading northwest to Boulder Junction. All trails were excellent, once we got close to Boulder it got a little rougher but nothing you couldn’t handle. Then took a western route all the way down and back to Minocqua avoiding Woodruff. This morning we headed east to Lake Tomahawk and up to the western Side of St G again to fill up, then headed across Big St Germain Lake and into Sayner before taking the trail on the west side of the lake (trail 6?) back down to St G. The barnstormer trails didn’t get groomed overnight and were fairly rough but rideable, glad we didn’t spend a ton of time on them. Then, took the short way back into Minocqua from the east. All in all, great weekend, must’ve seen 7,359 snowmobiles on the trail, and once again, Bo-Boen trails stood out from the rest!
 
M

MKW

Active member
I ride out of my cousins place in St Germain a lot but NEVER weekends. Traffic this year has been bad..even during the week. Can’t imagine a weekend..that’s why I fish on the weekends and ride during the week.
 
dfattack

dfattack

Well-known member
Nice report. I've heard about the saynor pub several times. Is that a good destination for food too? or just adult beverages? I tend to stop at Blink Bonnies for dinner when choosing a destination in that area, wondering if I should add the saynor pub on my list.
 
pclark

pclark

Well-known member
Saynor Pub has good food but can get extremely busy, wont have steaks like Blink Bonnies. We have stopped by Saynor Pub a few times and it's an hour or wait to get a table.
Just have to time it right or don't go right around the traditional lunch and dinner times that everyone shows up at. All the places up here as you well know are short of help and slammed with business.
 
indy_500

indy_500

Well-known member
pclark said:
Saynor Pub has good food but can get extremely busy, wont have steaks like Blink Bonnies. We have stopped by Saynor Pub a few times and it's an hour or wait to get a table.
Just have to time it right or don't go right around the traditional lunch and dinner times that everyone shows up at. All the places up here as you well know are short of help and slammed with business.
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I’ve been to the Sayner pub 3 times this year, with 100 sleds outside, and have walked in and got a table instantly. Got our food in less than a half hour each time too! The place is pretty big inside, and the service has been great. Everything we’ve had off the menu has been great as well, we had a homemade pizza on Saturday and the little man said it was the best pizza he ever had LOL
 
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old abe

Well-known member
indy_500 said:
I’ve been to the Sayner pub 3 times this year, with 100 sleds outside, and have walked in and got a table instantly. Got our food in less than a half hour each time too! The place is pretty big inside, and the service has been great. Everything we’ve had off the menu has been great as well, we had a homemade pizza on Saturday and the little man said it was the best pizza he ever had LOL
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What is your take on the 900 Doo now indy? Getting it where she likes it I hope.
 
pclark

pclark

Well-known member
indy_500 said:
I’ve been to the Sayner pub 3 times this year, with 100 sleds outside, and have walked in and got a table instantly. Got our food in less than a half hour each time too! The place is pretty big inside, and the service has been great. Everything we’ve had off the menu has been great as well, we had a homemade pizza on Saturday and the little man said it was the best pizza he ever had LOL
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Good for you, I have never eaten there yet, everytime we stop its too long of a wait. Must be hitting it at the wrong times.
 
S

scoobydoo

Member
I have a place in woodruff and this year is the busiest ive seen. Could not get over the amt. of people this weekend. We found plenty of good trails though. Always ride the old stuff to the vintage ride in lake tom and have a blast!
 
O

old abe

Well-known member
indy_500 said:
She’s got 600 miles on it now, pretty much have everything dialed. Don’t plan to do anything for next year except change the oil!
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Keep your eyes appealed for when Farm & Fleet puts "Mobil 1" 0-W-40 on sale, plus the rebate offer. If I see the sale is on I'll post it.
 
B

blkhwkbob

Active member
indy_500 said:
I’ve been to the Sayner pub 3 times this year, with 100 sleds outside, and have walked in and got a table instantly. Got our food in less than a half hour each time too! The place is pretty big inside, and the service has been great. Everything we’ve had off the menu has been great as well, we had a homemade pizza on Saturday and the little man said it was the best pizza he ever had LOL
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We went to Joany's Sidekick in Iron County on Sunday and spent the afternoon waiting for a couple of cheeseburgers.
 
B

blkhwkbob

Active member
It's a small bar in the middle of nowhere that's been around for two generations. Supposed to be great food. Umm, yeah.
 
W

whitedust

Well-known member
Why is Vilas so crowded? Imo always has been crowded. Is it lack of snow south , end of Covid or more snowmobiles joining the sport? What’s up?
 
pclark

pclark

Well-known member
A few things: more people moved up here full time, lots of people have vacation homes up here, more places to stay (Airbnb, Vacasa, VRBO, etc) lots of bars and resturants, I think we have had the best snow conditions since December and we never had a meltdown, trails pretty well marked. You can get to alot places by basing out of this area. I will agree that it is madness on the weekends up here though, the bars are packed here on weekends.
 
SledTL

SledTL

Active member
I was/am one of them myself but there was probably 45 IL sleds for every 1 MN or WI sled in Vilas last weekend. The past two years I didn't really find the riding that enjoyable, come around turns with people sideways locked up, rentals, dirty trails, etc. I loved spending time with friends and family and the establishments, but 10x better trails in my neck of the woods. Heck its been 40 here three days and the trails look better by me than they did when it was -3 in Vilas. Way too much pressure for the tight wooded areas (you think that Patriot Boost is going to leave a nice white trail behind it??). As someone who simply loves to ride, and ride some more, I've found other areas in the Midwest much more enjoyable to go to. I get on my sled to go away from people and civilization.
 
indy_500

indy_500

Well-known member
I think lack of snow south, and the majority of the lodging being in Vilas is why it’s so crowded, especially family friendly lodging. Typically people go up north to ride early season, then their local trails open up mid winter and they get a month-ish to ride them and get their fix. Trails never even opened here this year, sucks because we hardly had any warm ups/rain after Xmas.
 
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