Keweenaw trail 3 vs. 17

[upoutdoorzman]

Plan on riding in the Keweenaw this weekend with my wife and daughter. Which would you say is usually better/less traveled - Trail 3 or 17? Which has better access to some "backcountry" or unplowed forest roads and where if I could ask?
Thanks in advance!

Rob

 

[1fujifilm]

Plan on riding in the Keweenaw this weekend with my wife and daughter. Which would you say is usually better/less traveled - Trail 3 or 17? Which has better access to some "backcountry" or unplowed forest roads and where if I could ask?
Thanks in advance!

Rob

3 is the most traveled trail west of Marquette and maybe even the entire U.P.
By 3 PM there will be bumps that a wife will generally ruin their day and balk at. They will most likely be groomed out by the next morning so ride it in the A.M.

Bear

 

[jtm_67]

When you say Keweenaw I am guessing north of the bridge, Houghton to Copper Harbor is always busy on the weekend. A nice trip for a family would be 3 to Dollar Bay Club Trail to Dreamland into 122 and 133 for Gay 133 to 132 to Lac Labelle 134 gets you to the tip of the Keweenaw and 3 back in to town. By afternoon 3 could be a wreck but we did get 6" of fresh system snow last night.

 

[garyl62]

Plan on riding in the Keweenaw this weekend with my wife and daughter. Which would you say is usually better/less traveled - Trail 3 or 17? Which has better access to some "backcountry" or unplowed forest roads and where if I could ask?
Thanks in advance!

Rob

Probably to late of a reply for you if you're already riding on the weekend, but if you're only asking about these 2 trails and the area between the points they intersect, it's really just a short area of the entire route you'll probably be riding. 17 will take you from the lift bridge up through Hancock, down the grade and around Calumet before meeting back up with 3 just north of the Trailside Motel. 3 will run from the bridge through Dollar Bay, down a different grade along the edge of Lake Linden then swing up and in a few miles meet with 17. Not sure either route will have a lot of "backcountry" or forest roads as they are both closer to towns. If you need fuel either way will work especially now that the Dollar Bay gas station opened back up. If snow is thin (probably not an issue now) 17 gets bad right in Hancock faster than other places. Have a great weekend!