Munising Grooming Changes

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buddah2

Member
This has all happened since the meeting with the DNR et al a week ago today.........

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Thank you for your email expressing your concerns about the Munising area trail system. While I cannot answer all of your questions I will try. First off we absolutely do value snowmobiling dollars and realize that we a s a community need them in the winter for our businesses to not only survive but also to thrive. The specific things we are doing to alleviate the problem was to fire the head of grooming as of yesterday we then will be replacing the current contractor with a new contractor as of the beginning of next season as we are too far into this season to have a lapse in grooming. I will be handling all of the grooming management for the rest of the year and we will be looking into the next year at what the program is going to look like in the future. So to answer your question what we are we doing? We are completely redoing the whole program from the ground up. We will be working directly with several other grant sponsors who surround us to help us create a new program. We have new equipment coming and are renting a Duby drag out for the remainder of the season. As for the rumors you may have heard I can tell you one thing the contract is and always has been awarded in a open meeting with all the members votes so not sure what you heard but as far as that goes most likely not true. The program is audited by the DNR and there has never been anything "fishy" about it. Poorly ran yes I agree but fishy no. I can't say anymore but that I am working on it and working with the various local businesses and the MSA and the DNR to fix it and it won't be easy. I will be forming an snowmobile advisory committee this spring to advise our group on the perspective of the actual sledder on the trails. If you are interested in participating let me know and you can be included with any actual suggestions for improving things from this point forward. We cannot fix what happened yesterday or last month or last year but we will be working on it going forward. I hope people understand this is a whole new process for us and we are going to do our best to make it work.

Cori-Ann Cearley

Munising Visitors Bureau President
 
P

Pizza Man

New member
I have been come up to Munising since 1980.
Munising has been the Snowmobile Capital of that area of the U.P. for years.
We were up there 2 weeks ago and all was good except the same old bumps from Munising to Shingleton. That will always happen as it's a heavy travel section of trail.
The rest of our 3 days of riding was smooth.
Years ago, there was talk of adding another connecting trail from Munising east to Shingleton and from Munising west to the the turn off to the Buckhorn.
I think that should be one area that's given top priority.
Also due to no snow in the southern half of Wisconsin and also other areas this year, it gets pounded no matter how much or how many groomers you have out there.
I hope all of the groomer problems work out and we'll be back up there smooth or bumpy !!
 
S

snocrazy

Active member
Hearing nothing but good things so far regarding conditions. See how they handle the weekend traffic.
 
P

polaris62

New member
We were there a couple weeks ago and other than 8 the trails were in good to great condition. I understand that 8 between shingleton and 7 to Christmas is very heavily traveled as this is the only way in and out of wetmore Munising and Christmas. But those responsible for grooming should be even more aware of this. The trail takes a beating especially on weekends a trip down the trail mid afternoon definitely couldn't hurt. Yes I understand there would be a lot of sled traffic but I sure wouldn't mind keeping a eye out for the groomer if it means smoother trails.
 
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MAC2600

New member
We were up 2/4/15 - 2/8/15, Munising and AuTrain trails were awful, and it wasn't just related to the abundant traffic. I saw the groomer around Munising twice (during the day), both times the sled was only set to scrape a couple inches deep. He really wasn't doing anything that was remotely effective. Why waste the gas if you're not going to do a good job? There were also 2 other people riding in the cab with him on his trek down the trail coming out of Wetmore. If he's going to keep grooming thru this season, perhaps someone could give him some training. Or for the love of all that is white and holy make sure the new staff gets properly trained.

Also, it would be great if the Visitor Bureau could work something out with CSX to allow the trail from Wetmore to Munising to reopen. We were told it was closed because CSX doesn't like where it crosses the railroad track. But getting into Munising from Wetmore is more difficult without the trail, which must be affecting businesses.
 
L

lenny

Guest
MAC2600 said:
We were up 2/4/15 - 2/8/15, Munising and AuTrain trails were awful, and it wasn't just related to the abundant traffic. I saw the groomer around Munising twice (during the day), both times the sled was only set to scrape a couple inches deep. He really wasn't doing anything that was remotely effective. Why waste the gas if you're not going to do a good job? There were also 2 other people riding in the cab with him on his trek down the trail coming out of Wetmore. If he's going to keep grooming thru this season, perhaps someone could give him some training. Or for the love of all that is white and holy make sure the new staff gets properly trained.

Also, it would be great if the Visitor Bureau could work something out with CSX to allow the trail from Wetmore to Munising to reopen. We were told it was closed because CSX doesn't like where it crosses the railroad track. But getting into Munising from Wetmore is more difficult without the trail, which must be affecting businesses.
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Maybe the guy was being trained! Grooming during the day is counter productive and only good for training. Lots of speculation in your post. Trail access is a real task, please don't under estimate the efforts that may have been in the process already. If you like that area and are not a member of that particular club, a proactive means for improving trail conditions would be to join the club if you haven't already. You were just presented in the original post a strong statement of reorganization, it's gonna take some time, be patient. Complaining and strong criticism only flames the fires.
 
J

joks79

Member
lenny said:
Maybe the guy was being trained! Grooming during the day is counter productive and only good for training. Lots of speculation in your post. Trail access is a real task, please don't under estimate the efforts that may have been in the process already. If you like that area and are not a member of that particular club, a proactive means for improving trail conditions would be to join the club if you haven't already. You were just presented in the original post a strong statement of reorganization, it's gonna take some time, be patient. Complaining and strong criticism only flames the fires.
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I don't know of any clubs in this area. I would guess that is part of the problem.
 
G

GTL

Member
joks79 said:
I don't know of any clubs in this area. I would guess that is part of the problem.
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Now THAT is an interesting statement !! What IF (and probably WHEN) we "old timers" can't get out there and take care of Ricky Rockets trails what will happen???????????? Our club has been dwindling in numbers for years and soon will not have anyone to take care of our trail. Just food for thought because I know I'm preaching to the choir!!
 
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lenny

Guest
GTL said:
Now THAT is an interesting statement !! What IF (and probably WHEN) we "old timers" can't get out there and take care of Ricky Rockets trails what will happen???????????? Our club has been dwindling in numbers for years and soon will not have anyone to take care of our trail. Just food for thought because I know I'm preaching to the choir!!
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Right on brother! Our average groomer operator age has to be 65 and we are dwindling. Also, recruiting new operators is very difficult to say the least. many people don't know that there are clubs and just figure the town or state does it I suppose. Riders need to seek out the clubs and support theme because these "old timers" groom out of the goodness of their own heart,,,,for free! At least our club and many others around are all volunteers.
 
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Pizza Man

New member
Munising had a club but I think it is gone except for the groomer being there.
They have a huge area to groom.
Grand Marais and Seney have clubs and they groom all the area east of Munising.
 
B

buddah2

Member
Pizza Man said:
Munising had a club but I think it is gone except for the groomer being there.
.......
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The Alger county club has been folded since sometime in the mid to late 90's.......the entire time I've lived here (13+ yrs) it's been this jerry-rig setup with the Visitor's Bureau holding the grant and using a sub-contractor to actually groom.......at least now the people watching over the process from the Visitor's Bureau actually seem to care......and so far they have had a very positive effect.......
 
G

GTL

Member
buddah2 said:
The Alger county club has been folded since sometime in the mid to late 90's.......the entire time I've lived here (13+ yrs) it's been this jerry-rig setup with the Visitor's Bureau holding the grant and using a sub-contractor to actually groom.......at least now the people watching over the process from the Visitor's Bureau actually seem to care......and so far they have had a very positive effect.......
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Lenny----------God bless you. I'm 65 and one of the "youngsters" of our club!! Yep, Ya don't miss it till it's gone. Nuff said. ( We REALLY need a "LIKE" button on this site!!!!!!!)
 
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Pizza Man

New member
Buddah2, If I remember, they use to keep the groomer in Christmas and had a small club house there too.
We first started riding Munising in 1980 and joined their club around that time.
Always stayed at Ricks Hillcreast Motel.
Trails were marked so bad back then. We were coming back from GM and couldn't find the trail.
Unknown to us, we ended up coming out on H-28 east of Seney.
It was late at night so we took H-28 all the way back to Shingelton and then the trail to Munising. Coming into Wetmore, one by one we ran out of gas. One of the guys with gas, rode up to the store in Wetmore and got a 5 gallon can of gas. We put a little bit into each one and then filled up at the store.
The area has sure come a long way since then.
 
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B

buddah2

Member
Pizza Man said:
Buddah2, If I remember, they use to keep the groomer in Christmas and had a small club house there too.
We first started riding Munising in 1980 and joined their club around that time.
Always stayed at Ricks Hillcreast Motel.
Trails were marked so bad back then. We were coming back from GM and couldn't find the trail.
Unknown to us, we ended up coming out on H-28 east of Seney.
It was late at night so we took H-28 all the way back to Shingelton and then the trail to Munising. Coming into Wetmore, one by one we ran out of gas. One of the guys with gas, rode up to the store in Wetmore and got a 5 gallon can of gas. We put a little bit into each one and then filled up at the store.
The area has sure come a long way since then.
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You are correct about the old club.......believe it or not the sign is still on that building.......and by "store" I assume you mean the old party store right behind Super 8 or whatever the heck it's called now?
 
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