HOUGHTON (Keweenaw) UPDATE (WITH PICTURES)

[packerlandrider]

After seeing a couple of horrible reports, I spent the last hour driving around the Houghton/Hancock area visiting trail crossings to get a better idea of how things are. My thought is always that city conditions should generally be worse than nearly anything away from town. I will let the pictures do the talking as aside from the bad contrast they tell the story. The story in words: its all sugar. Period. From my experience, it looked like everything had been groomed in the past day or two, however instead of walking on a firm surface, it was like walking on a beach (see the photo of my boot in the sand, ahh, I mean "snow"). I would say the groomers are doing the best they can (saw one just leaving town headed north), however that "ribbon" will be extremely temporary.

So here is my 2 cents on the trails the next few days: they will be "snow" covered. However, unless you follow the groomer around at 10mph the entire ride (which won't even be out when its above freezing), trails are going to be very loose (sandy), and as a result, rough.

Also, saw today that the Superior club (Greenland/Twin Lakes area) is experiencing major equipment problems. So at a time when trails will need to be groomed constantly, they will be more than short handed.

Wish I had better news, but I don't want anybody falling into the misconception I was in thinking since there is still "plenty" of snow on the ground/trails, that they must still be fine.

 

[cloud_master]

unfortunately, it's going to get worse before better with Saturday's warm temps.........

 

[rich_jelinek]

thanks packerlandrider for the reality check. We were supposed to head up there tomorrow after work, but think the smart move is to cancel. No sense tearing up our equipment, shame of it is this was to be our last chance to head UP for the season. This winter has just been a heart breaker.

Any idea if it's better anywhere ? I've checked just about every area of the UP and thought the Kewee was the best chance to get in some decent riding, now not so much.

 

[firefighter1]

I hope in March it turns around I'm looking forward to take another trip the third week. But maybe this season won't cooperate. It really has been a disappointment. Next year has to be better, right?

 

[packerlandrider]

thanks packerlandrider for the reality check. We were supposed to head up there tomorrow after work, but think the smart move is to cancel. No sense tearing up our equipment, shame of it is this was to be our last chance to head UP for the season. This winter has just been a heart breaker.

Any idea if it's better anywhere ? I've checked just about every area of the UP and thought the Kewee was the best chance to get in some decent riding, now not so much.

Yeah my parents are coming up this weekend and they were going to ride, but I told them not to bother bringing the sleds - no conceivable way with what I saw today that I could see them enjoying snowmobiling the next couple days.

As far as the rest of the U.P. your guess is as good as mine. I'm blessed that I am able to walk nearly everywhere I need to be over the course of a work week, so it was a special trip just to go see these few road crossings. I don't want to speak to definitively cuz' I certainly was wrong on what I thought conditions were around here, but the bits and pieces I've read have indicated that anywhere there is snow, its of the sugar variety that I saw today

 

[jd]

Nice write-up packerlandrider.

I go by a trail crossing up here near Mohawk daily and kept seeing bumps. So I stopped by the groomer barn as I saw a groomer getting ready to go out and asked when they would be doing the stretch that I kept seeing the bumps on. He said someone was out there right now. So on my way back I checked and sure enough, the groomer was returning and a nice ribbon behind him. Only it was sugar snow and would not hold a groom.

So a person is not going to tear up their sleds equipment by riding on it but could do damage to "their" equipment. We have a good chance of getting 3-6" on Sunday and another couple Monday, which would likely put things back in order.

-John

 

[rich_jelinek]

Well, we still might come up , and bring the sleds, see what happens as far as the temps on sat. and then hope for the snow on sunday to freshen things up. If we can do some riding, that would be great, otherwise I guess there's the copper dog 150 and maybe check out the COR race in Baraga, and just have a lil get away.
This will be it for us this season, so we should try to make the best of it.

I'm hoping that once north and outside of hancock/town where the pics were taken, at least the snow is white ?...............................Trail cam 2 looks alot better than whats in town?

 

[packerlandrider]

Rich,

How long did you say you were going to be up here? Who knows how much snow will be needed to get a base to begin to stick again, but if John's forecast comes true that should be a good start. Plus, if you are willing to do those couple other things instead of riding tomorrow that would help as well in avoiding hopefully the worst day.

What's that saying, "A day in the Keweenaw is better than a day anywhere else." Or something like that.... Hahaha

 

[jetrep]

We rode Monday 2/22 based out of Calumet. We rode only to the north. Overall conditions were quite good considering recent weather. We saw almost no dirt and surprisingly little snirt. Some corners were icy but I expected worse. While riding I never once thought we should have stayed home. Most trails were bumpy. Trail 3 we saw being groomed in the morning. In the afternoon it was rough. As mentioned earlier the snow didn't take well to the grooming.

 

[pauli18c]

I'd ride the crap outta those still! Way better than what we're used to down around here

 

[rich_jelinek]

Thanks for the input everybody, we decided to head up and give it a go, worst that can happen is we waste some diesel fuel and some hotel money, but we're hoping for the best ( and the fresh snow on sunday/monday ). Hope to be in Lake Linden by 11pm or so................

 

[pyroking]

I just came back from riding Feb 23-25 and I have to report most trails are in poor shape. This has nothing to do with grooming, but quality of snow they have to work with. All high traffic trails won't hold a groom. We rode Watersmeet, Baraga, Ontonagon, Rockland, Twin Lakes, Houghton, Calumet, Phoenix, Gay, Lake Linden, and found the same conditions. The only trails we found in good shape were low traffic trails that were freshly groomed. Freda loop, snow gauge, half of trail 13 between Twin Lakes and Greenland and 109. Keep in mind there are groomers down in Bergland, Greenland, and Twin Lakes, so the trails will not improve with the higher traffic and warm weather coming.