I am planning a trip from Minocqua (7 miles west of town) to Ontonagon over president's day weekend. We originally want to go to Houghton but we couldn't find a room but we managed to get a cabin at Scott's resort. We have quick access to trail 17 north out of Minocqua and we are trying to figure out if we should enter Michigan through Hurley or Presque Isle. Is seems like getting to Hurley through Mercer would be a tough ride based on previous posts. Another option is through Presque Isle but trail 11 is closed... correct? That would leave us with entering MI through trial 1. Any opinion if we should muscle through Mercer to get to Hurley entering MI with Trail 2 or enter via Presque Isle using trial 1. This will be our first backpack trip from WI to the UP. I have not ridden in the UP in 10 years.
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Minocqua to Ontonagon
- Thread starter bhall
- Start date
chiefcheese
Member
Take 1N out of Presque to Bergland. It's a lot longer going to Hurley.
Take 1N out of Presque to Bergland. It's a lot longer going to Hurley.
x2....head to boulder jct...then to Presque isle...a lot quicker
skidoo mxz
Member
Go through Presque Isle, you will like the trails through this area much better and it is shorter
I rode both routes last weekend - Trail 17 from Mercer, through Hurley/Ironwood, Marinesco, then Trail 1 up to Lake Gogebic, back down Trail 1 to Marinesco, Trail 2 over to the continuation of Trail 1, then Trail 1 south to Presque Isle. Some of our group had come up from Minocqua on Trail 17 to meet us in Mercer for breakfast. They reported that the Trail 17 grade was decent from Minocqua, but got rougher as they approached Mercer. From Mercer north, 17 was rough for a few miles, but improved dramatically as we approached Hurley. Trail 2 was good to excellent headed East out of Ironwood. The re-route of trail 2 was actually very nice and only added about a half-hour to the route from Ironwood to Wakefield. We had heard that trail 8 to Bergland was very rough, with ungroomed spots, so we took the trail 2/trail 1 route to Lake Gogebic. Trail 1 north to Lake Gogebic and south from Marinesco to Presque Isle was getting rough with the heavier traffic at the end of the day. Also, since trail 11S is closed for the season (not sure why - no one has explained definitively, only rumored that it was due to logging), trail 1 south of trail 2 is the only route back to Wisconsin between Hurley and Watersmeet/Land-O-Lakes. South of Presque Isle, the trails were a mixed bag.
If you head north from Minocqua through Mercer on trail 17, and then take trail 8 east, through Manitowish Waters, to trail 6 and then take trail 6 north to Presque Isle, you will find rough spots on trail 8 in Mercer until you leave Iron County and enter the Manitowish Waters system, where the trail improves dramatically (not sure what is going on in Mercer this year, but you can literally see the difference where the Mercer club stops and the Manny Waters club starts). Also, Manny Waters has had some difficulty with a spot just north of town that just won't freeze up - its about two miles of very rough trail - but then it turns very good the rest of the way up to Presque Isle.
Alternatively, you could wiggle your way up from Minocqua to Boulder Junction on either the local club trails or via trails 10 and 15. Those trails were a little thin and icy from Minocqua until you got north of Hwy K. From there on into Boulder, the trails improve and from Boulder to Presque Isle, the trails get very good - depending on time of day. These are all fairly heavily traveled trails and the later in the day - the worse they get. The groomers in Boulder and Manitowish Waters are really doing outstanding work this year. Presque Isle grooming is improving this year. While the Boulder Junction route is much less direct, its also probably going to be a nicer ride than the Minocqua/Mercer/Hurley route - which is mostly RR grades.
If you head north from Minocqua through Mercer on trail 17, and then take trail 8 east, through Manitowish Waters, to trail 6 and then take trail 6 north to Presque Isle, you will find rough spots on trail 8 in Mercer until you leave Iron County and enter the Manitowish Waters system, where the trail improves dramatically (not sure what is going on in Mercer this year, but you can literally see the difference where the Mercer club stops and the Manny Waters club starts). Also, Manny Waters has had some difficulty with a spot just north of town that just won't freeze up - its about two miles of very rough trail - but then it turns very good the rest of the way up to Presque Isle.
Alternatively, you could wiggle your way up from Minocqua to Boulder Junction on either the local club trails or via trails 10 and 15. Those trails were a little thin and icy from Minocqua until you got north of Hwy K. From there on into Boulder, the trails improve and from Boulder to Presque Isle, the trails get very good - depending on time of day. These are all fairly heavily traveled trails and the later in the day - the worse they get. The groomers in Boulder and Manitowish Waters are really doing outstanding work this year. Presque Isle grooming is improving this year. While the Boulder Junction route is much less direct, its also probably going to be a nicer ride than the Minocqua/Mercer/Hurley route - which is mostly RR grades.
harvest1121
Well-known member
The only thing I warn you is the trail out of Presque Isle to Michigan is horrible rode it today it looked like it did not even snow on the trail. As soon as I got into Wisconsin it was great. So you will have 15 miles of bad trail if they do not groom. The PI groomer told me Michigan will not groom until more snow.
SLED_DOCTOR
Member
Ontonagon is normally thin but I rode thru there last weekend it was surprisingly good. Stop at Roxy's for a burger!
harvest1121
Well-known member
Ontonagan was really good plenty of snow was there Thursday