Holy Vilas Traffic!

dfattack

dfattack

Well-known member
For those of you who don’t have a place or major reason to base out of these busy areas heading east towards iron river, MI, Florence, Iron mountain MI is much more quiet. Probably shouldn’t say anything since I don’t want the crazy busy trails out by me but just trying to help.
 
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old abe

Well-known member
SledTL said:
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.
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I couldn't agree more! Spot on you are with the crowded areas, where ever they are. However I gave up on Vilas long ago for that very reason.
 
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harvest1121

Well-known member
I ride out of Vilas most weekends just stay out of the busy areas and do not have many issues. Well heading up in 18 minutes maybe my last ride of the season
 
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stitcher

Member
indy_500 said:
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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Speaking as a person who has observed life in Dane County for the last year (looking forward to moving to the northwoods soon), I think a large majority of the people who live here don't care if they never see another snowmobile. It seems it would be hard to find a peg to hang the helmet on in most of the eating establishments. I think SERIOUS snowmobilers would head north no matter the snow conditions here.
And now since the property taxes are so outrageous here, people are attaching their removable front tire bicycles to the Subaru and moving or buying houses in all of the neighboring counties. Not sure if they'll leave their thoughts on snowmobiles in Dane County or not.
Maybe I'm wrong (I hope I am), I'm not brilliant but I do listen a lot standing in line at Kwik Trip.
 
goofy600

goofy600

Well-known member
Just took a ride from Cisco chain to Woodruff to Rhinelander to eagle river to landolakes back to home and from what i could see from roads I really wished I was on sled just about everything looked fresh groomed and mostly white. Few places were snirt by road crossings but wow did they look good. Don’t know what this weekend will do to them but today they are nice.
 
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Hoosier

Well-known member
stitcher said:
Speaking as a person who has observed life in Dane County for the last year (looking forward to moving to the northwoods soon), I think a large majority of the people who live here don't care if they never see another snowmobile. It seems it would be hard to find a peg to hang the helmet on in most of the eating establishments. I think SERIOUS snowmobilers would head north no matter the snow conditions here.
And now since the property taxes are so outrageous here, people are attaching their removable front tire bicycles to the Subaru and moving or buying houses in all of the neighboring counties. Not sure if they'll leave their thoughts on snowmobiles in Dane County or not.
Maybe I'm wrong (I hope I am), I'm not brilliant but I do listen a lot standing in line at Kwik Trip.
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Had a friend move to Dane County from Indianapolis area last Spring. Definitely a different world there! He was from that area but hadn't lived there and was kind of surprised at some of the stuff going in schools for example. Let's just say I hope those people stay in their subaru areas there and not infect more of wisconsin.
 
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wisco-mb

Active member
stitcher said:
Speaking as a person who has observed life in Dane County for the last year (looking forward to moving to the northwoods soon), I think a large majority of the people who live here don't care if they never see another snowmobile. It seems it would be hard to find a peg to hang the helmet on in most of the eating establishments. I think SERIOUS snowmobilers would head north no matter the snow conditions here.
And now since the property taxes are so outrageous here, people are attaching their removable front tire bicycles to the Subaru and moving or buying houses in all of the neighboring counties. Not sure if they'll leave their thoughts on snowmobiles in Dane County or not.
Maybe I'm wrong (I hope I am), I'm not brilliant but I do listen a lot standing in line at Kwik Trip.
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Madison vs Dane county is different! I've lived in downtown Madison and village of Dane. Still work in Middleton, but live in Portage. There are a lot of passionate people here who ride, and take pride in the trails. Dane county actually has a pretty good network of trails. Would we all prefer the northwoods of WI, vs farm fields, absolutely. But when you can ride out of front door, it's really nice. Saves the lodging and travel expenses. Which add up fast!
I always hope for a couple weekends of local riding, but not so lucky every year. Like this year. A lot of taverns on the trails are very accommodating to riders. There are still some scenic trails in S. WI, but you need to know which ones they are. I've done a lot of riding in the CP area.

Indy made a good point with the lodging. I'm actually staying in Eagle River this weekend. First time ever staying in Eagle River in 20 years of taking trips up North. I've always avoided Vilas due to traffic. I'm bringing my son, and my mother. This will be my mom's first trip with us on a sled trip. Since my son is going, she wanted a place with a pool, and some areas to shop. Not too many options in Northwoods winter time, so we chose Eagle River. Normally traffic goes down once we hit March.
 
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stitcher

Member
wisco-mb said:
Madison vs Dane county is different! I've lived in downtown Madison and village of Dane. Still work in Middleton, but live in Portage. There are a lot of passionate people here who ride, and take pride in the trails. Dane county actually has a pretty good network of trails. Would we all prefer the northwoods of WI, vs farm fields, absolutely. But when you can ride out of front door, it's really nice. Saves the lodging and travel expenses. Which add up fast!
I always hope for a couple weekends of local riding, but not so lucky every year. Like this year. A lot of taverns on the trails are very accommodating to riders. There are still some scenic trails in S. WI, but you need to know which ones they are. I've done a lot of riding in the CP area.

Indy made a good point with the lodging. I'm actually staying in Eagle River this weekend. First time ever staying in Eagle River in 20 years of taking trips up North. I've always avoided Vilas due to traffic. I'm bringing my son, and my mother. This will be my mom's first trip with us on a sled trip. Since my son is going, she wanted a place with a pool, and some areas to shop. Not too many options in Northwoods winter time, so we chose Eagle River. Normally traffic goes down once we hit March.
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I moved from Portage after 30 years to down here (work down here, got a divorce etc etc) Was treasurer for the Ridge Runners up there for a few years and am still a member. I could ride from my back yard & loved it. I didn't mean any bashing by no means. The people that bought my house were from Dane County, the couple right across the street and directly next to me moved from Madison within my last year there. And maybe I was just unlucky, but the new neighbors weren't the most tolerable (I was not a bad neighbor btw lol, all my other neighbors were great friends and still are). I guess my point is, as with everything else, things are changing. Probably stating the obvious.
 
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whitedust

Well-known member
I’ve snowmobiled all over WI. Lived in Vilas for 16 years so plenty of experience Snowmobiling between UPMI and all of WI. I go where the snow is and enjoyed every ride ,every bar grill is happy to see us some burgers and fries , draft beer are unbelievably inexpensive in the sticks of WI. All I need is a groomed trail and a map and the fun takes care of itself. When you only have a day to ride lots of nice trails south to north in WI and my buddies had a good time too although I’ve been known to take off to the snow by myself. Lol. I’m definitely not too proud to hold out for the Northwoods southern WI is great too.
 
J

junior

Member
SledTL said:
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.
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How would you know from Illinois? A lot of people from out of State register in Wisconsin. Join Club and trail passes are $10
 
J

junior

Member
In addition to low snow in mid-southern Wisconsin, and none in Indiana and Illinois, Tomahawk is usually about as far south as you can reasonably to hope for rideable snow. And you need the one main trail to get somewhere. So St. Germain is next best option if you are trying to minimize miles driven to find snow
 
SledTL

SledTL

Active member
junior said:
How would you know from Illinois? A lot of people from out of State register in Wisconsin. Join Club and trail passes are $10
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Sleds have IL reg stickers on them, and almost everyone we talked to in the bars was. Bet alot of the wisco ones are just what you said too.
 
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ridindirty800

Active member
whitedust said:
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?
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Easy drive from Milwaukee and Northern Wi. You can be in Minocqua in 3-4 hours from those locations and be on the highway rolling 70-80 the whole way. And its typically has snow jan-feb so pretty safe to book a trip. I was just in Lando and I have never seen traffic in my 30 years riding like what i saw last weekend. About every mile or so would pass a group 5-15 sleds it seemed like. 1hr plus waits for lunch at most places.

I do not think covid plays a roll as most snowmobilers were riding right through covid last year as well. But last year we had great snow down south for almost 2 months. This year I think trials were open for like 16hrs lol.
 
srt20

srt20

Active member
blkhwkbob said:
We went to Joany's Sidekick in Iron County on Sunday and spent the afternoon waiting for a couple of cheeseburgers.
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I can't believe that place is still around. I was there a few times about 17 years ago. Thats all I have to say. Oh and she had silk panties back then too.
 
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