Mercer Trails to Open on Friday?

pclark

pclark

Well-known member
I thought I saw on Rhinelander TV that Mercer Trails were opening Friday at 7am. Iron County has been open partially for a week or so.

Can anyone confirm Mercer?
 
pclark

pclark

Well-known member
Manitowish Waters Trails as well as Vilas County remains closed. They are meeting on Wednesday 12/21 to determine the opening date.
FYI
See Below:

Sno Skeeters:

The Manitowish Waters and Vilas County Trails remain closed. The Vilas County Alliance of Snowmobile Clubs will meet
Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022 and discuss a potential opening date. Many clubs still have wet swampy areas that need to freeze. Several clubs still need to have their trails inspected prior to opening County trails.

That being said, we did get a nice heavy snow Wednesday night and the forecast is cold weather next week.

Stay tuned.

Thank you,
Barry Hopkins, President MW Sno Skeeters
 
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marty700

Member
Here we go again - just like last year. The northwest portions of the county need to wait for the rest of Vilas County for permission to open. I understand that those are the way things are run now, I just don't think its fair. Yes, colder temps will make things better. But how can the trails be good in Mercer, and unusable in MW? More local politics.
 
pclark

pclark

Well-known member
Trails were groomed this afternoon in Manitowish, they looked pretty good, hopefully they move up that date a little bit. I would assume businesses want an opening as soon as possible but it looks like they will be open for the Holiday week which is always a good thing.
 
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whitedust

Well-known member
marty700 said:
Here we go again - just like last year. The northwest portions of the county need to wait for the rest of Vilas County for permission to open. I understand that those are the way things are run now, I just don't think its fair. Yes, colder temps will make things better. But how can the trails be good in Mercer, and unusable in MW? More local politics.
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What’s the diff? Obvious early season throughout that area north , south ,east or west base needs to set up for groomers to groom. Imo wait it out much better conditions available in the next few days. For me I want to ride out at least 75 miles from base and back to have some fun. I guess if you want to take a short ride to shake out sled it maybe inconvenient but I have my legal places for that off marked trails.
 
goofy600

goofy600

Well-known member
Took a ride from Watersmeet to Rhinelander today and most trails around Eagle River down to Rhinelander were all panned or rolled, then Conover doesn’t look like they have been out and Lando hasn’t been out sense it’s snowed but I think they were out to pan at least along hwy b once. UP thunder riders (Watersmeet area) got out today to clean and pan again and I will be sending them out again tomorrow, the farther west the better the trails get from what my drivers are telling me. I will be out tomorrow for a ride to see for myself.
 
hermie

hermie

Active member
marty700 said:
Here we go again - just like last year. The northwest portions of the county need to wait for the rest of Vilas County for permission to open. I understand that those are the way things are run now, I just don't think its fair. Yes, colder temps will make things better. But how can the trails be good in Mercer, and unusable in MW? More local politics.
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As far as I know has nothing to do with politics but insurance for the county and inspections on the trail pretty hard to say we are going to open in this small portion of the county but the rest is closed. Most riders wouldn't know where the open part of the county is open and where the closed part is so people would be riding sections that are closed to. I don't know about Maintoish but in Saint Germain there is over a 100 different land owners that allow us to ride on there property. They have to take that in consideration and make sure there is enough snow on the ground that we don't trash there property.
 
pclark

pclark

Well-known member
Even if they opened today it would be early season riding at best and the base that has been established would be shredded and then everyone would complain that the trails are horrible. Hopefully we get the clipper to come through on Wednesday and give us another shot of snow and they open for the holiday weekend. I don't know how it could be construed as political as everyone including the clubs wants to open but they know their trails systems the best and when they are ready. They all decide with Vilas as a whole to open or not as Hermie indicated because it would be too hard to open just parts of the county. I believe most counties operate like this?
 
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rph130

Well-known member
I was in the Retreat Bar in Presque Isle last night and 3 riders came in. Everyone looked a little shocked that they were out. I asked where they had come from because our trails are still closed. They said they rode down from Hurley. Trails were great. I asked about closed gates and then they got nervous. Didn't want to talk too much after that. We will be riding on Monday. Don't need the trails to access Ottawa forest roads to hook up with Michigan trails and head towards Marenisco.
 
pclark

pclark

Well-known member
I should have clarified that most of the Northern Counties are like that, by northern I mean Minocqua and north.
 
goofy600

goofy600

Well-known member
rph130 said:
I was in the Retreat Bar in Presque Isle last night and 3 riders came in. Everyone looked a little shocked that they were out. I asked where they had come from because our trails are still closed. They said they rode down from Hurley. Trails were great. I asked about closed gates and then they got nervous. Didn't want to talk too much after that. We will be riding on Monday. Don't need the trails to access Ottawa forest roads to hook up with Michigan trails and head towards Marenisco.
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Exactly, I can ride from my house to Presque Isle without touching a trail if there is some snow on a few roads but 90% of ride is unplowed forest roads and old 2 tracks.
 
pclark

pclark

Well-known member
goofy600 said:
Exactly, I can ride from my house to Presque Isle without touching a trail if there is some snow on a few roads but 90% of ride is unplowed forest roads and old 2 tracks.
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We used to ride out of Cisco Lake on the roads, lakes, and forest lanes down to PI. One trip down there we hit freezing rain over by Langford Lake and lightning/thunder snow, that was crazy as the lightning really lights up the landscape, made it to PI Pub, had a few, my sleds handlebars cracked and I remember waking up a guy in PI who welded them around midnight and we made it back to Cisco around 3am. I was 25 at the time but it was something I will always will remember.
 
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rph130

Well-known member
Riders out again last night in Presque Isle. We attended the Sno-Bunnies Christmas party at the Outpost and a couple came in on sleds. They were not members of our club and were not sure which state they were in.?? I told them they were a couple of hundred yards into Wisconsin and they said they had just ridden in from Marenisco. Also said the trails were great. Getting really itchy to go for a trail ride but I don't want to be the jerk that can't follow rules.
 
pclark

pclark

Well-known member
rph130 said:
Riders out again last night in Presque Isle. We attended the Sno-Bunnies Christmas party at the Outpost and a couple came in on sleds. They were not members of our club and were not sure which state they were in.?? I told them they were a couple of hundred yards into Wisconsin and they said they had just ridden in from Marenisco. Also said the trails were great. Getting really itchy to go for a trail ride but I don't want to be the jerk that can't follow rules.
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Saw 3 snowmobiles parked across from the Pea Patch in Manitowish Waters Saturday around 5pm. Wish people would do their homework on when things open, it's not that difficult.
 
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