North Country Snowmobile Club: Porkies, Ontonagon, Silver City & White Pine.

[ranlam]

I wanted to start this thread as a daily grooming log for North Country Snowmobile Club starting December 1st.

But....
Club officers have been very busy this off season and there is some great news that i wanted to share with you all now.
First news is we are getting a new trail between Ontonagon and Rockland! The trail will be on the old R.R. Grade. This allows an excellent alternative for riders to get between towns and businesses. Second we are expecting the arrival of a brand new groomer! It is a New Holland 4 Trac tractor with a new drag. Combined this with our 2 year old Piston Bully with Double wide drag (my favorite) and a spare New Holland Sur Trac tractor with a spare drag only means 1 thing: awesome trails! Just like last year.. but better! Pray for Snow!

 

[T- BONE]

I wanted to start this thread as a daily grooming log for North Country Snowmobile Club starting December 1st.

But....
Club officers have been very busy this off season and there is some great news that i wanted to share with you all now.
First news is we are getting a new trail between Ontonagon and Rockland! The trail will be on the old R.R. Grade. This allows an excellent alternative for riders to get between towns and businesses. Second we are expecting the arrival of a brand new groomer! It is a New Holland 4 Trac tractor with a new drag. Combined this with our 2 year old Piston Bully with Double wide drag (my favorite) and a spare New Holland Sur Trac tractor with a spare drag only means 1 thing: awesome trails! Just like last year.. but better! Pray for Snow!

That's really awesome!!!

 

[EXCESSIVE FORCE]

Great to hear !!

 

[Deleted member 10829]

Thanks for the update ranlam! I'm looking forward to running your trails again this year and spending my money in the local businesses. Can't wait to try the new trail! Keep up the great work.

 

[ranlam]

There are 2 trail changes:
1.Trail 12 from Ontonagon to Greenland will be re-routed. Basically take R.R. grade out of Ontonagon to a T where forward is Rockland and left is Greenland, it will all be signed and clear. This eliminates some "problem areas" of trail we were having with grooming.
2.Trail 11 (south boundry road, u know the great flat highway!) will be cut signifiantly short by around 5 miles. We will be turning around at the 102 intersection which loops around to Bergland.
Most riders turn there anyways because 11N has been bad the last several years. Trail 11N is does not go up that far anymore, which is a bummer. I would personally like to groom all the way to the Presque Isle Falls campground in the Porcupine Mountain State Park and start grooming Summit Peak road again to

 

[Deleted member 10829]

Those are good changes! I really like #1 and #2 makes sense also. I always take 102 to Bergland and have never been the other way and I've been riding up there since 1993.

 

[ski_dog]

Great to hear...I can't wait to ride the new trails!!! Thanks a bunch to you and your club members for all their hard work to make this happen. And to all of you other club members out there who make this sport what it is...THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ranlam]

Real bummer there is no snow to work.. but I have been fixing trail, here are a few pics: 1st picture is a fairly large washout near rockland on the new r.r. grade trail. Pic 2: I used piston bully to push rock from grade into washout. My peeps from Illinois helped me on this one, thanks to Mark and Shannon. 3rd pic is of the new drag with a brush attachment doing a fine job. Pic 4 is standing over the washout. I spent many hours last week enhancing the intersection of 12 and r.r. grade. I still don't have a trail designation for r.r. grade though. gee I wonder if 906 has been used yet?? I don't know why my pics arnt standin upright.

 

[EXCESSIVE FORCE]

Looks great (minus the snow)keep up the great work and THANK YOU !!!

 

[Deleted member 10829]

ranlam,

How do you like that blade for clearing overhanging branches? We have considered one in the past.

 

[ranlam]

Well I only have a couple hours logged on but here is what I think. It works good but the operator has to get out to clean it often. The threat of falling a tree onto cab is real. If you have the mechanism out to far you could hook a dead standing tree (lots around here) and pull it right down on you. So a keen eye and lots of patience is needed but after a couple runs you are clear until snow depths bring the trail up higher then you can do it all over again. I think it is a great idea but for experienced operators only.

 

[ranlam]

137 is the new trail designation from the T to Rockland and it is 9 miles long. So the R.R. grade out of Ontonagon will be 12 until the T where you will have your choice to go to Greenland 12 or Rockland 137.

If we get this foot of snow by Sunday that they are calling for I will groom trail 11 (south boundry road) and trail 1 up to Lake of the Clouds from ski hill. I will keep you posted.

 

[Deleted member 10829]

Thanks for the update Ranlam! I bet you are ready to get out in the groomer!

 

[ranlam]

I just groomed trail 11(south boundry road). There was 8-12+ inches of powder that is now a groomed flat highway. Base is 4-6+" now. Its a great start for a base. Hopefully we get 2-3" more tonight so i can hit it again tomorrow. I left lake of the clouds for tomorrow, if there is enough snow the r.r. grade out of ontonagon will be panned tonight. No where else is groomable yet. You would have to trailer to 11 if you wanted to ride it.

 

[Kmrobb]

Sounds great ranlam! When you groom those two locations, are you using two rigs, or somehow getting from Ontanogon to 11?

Would love to ride out of Rockland and make it to 11... That do able yet?

 

[ranlam]

Sounds great ranlam! When you groom those two locations, are you using two rigs, or somehow getting from Ontanogon to 11?

Would love to ride out of Rockland and make it to 11... That do able yet?

Kmrobb ...No sir our club has 2 locations, the club house and groomer barn are in Ontonagon and during season our other location is the DNR shed at the porcupine mtn ski hill in silver city. I take care of the west end which is the trail 11 porkies, trail 1 through silver city to white pine, then 12 upto 101 where I turn around at 101 and 13 and come back to ski hill.

The guys in Ontonagon take care trail 12 where it meets me to Ontonagon to Greenland and also 137 to Rockland with the brand new tractor!. He tried to pan the rr grade to rockland last night but didn't have enough snow to work with yet. But I know white pine got at least 6" more snow over night so hopefully they did to and panning can resume tonight hopefully. I will keep you posted. I will be doing trail 11 again tonight to train in a new operator. Trail 11 is a black top road at high elevation and always gets lots more snow then anywhere else around this area. Great easy groom.

 

[rbailey3711]

Thanks for the great information Randy!!!
When you are coming into Ontonagon by the M64 truck stop, do you still have to go up and over on the bridge or is it legal now to use the old railroad bridge across the river? Maybe you already said it and I just missed it!!!
Merry Christmas to you and the family. See y'all in January. ~Rick

 

[ranlam]

Thanks for the great information Randy!!!
When you are coming into Ontonagon by the M64 truck stop, do you still have to go up and over on the bridge or is it legal now to use the old railroad bridge across the river? Maybe you already said it and I just missed it!!!
Merry Christmas to you and the family. See y'all in January. ~Rick

Hi Rick.
We will still be using the M64 bridge this year, they are currently working on the old r.r. bridge. I am hoping we can use it next winter.
We need more snow! South Boundry has 2-6" base, all else is maybe 2" base
Grooming will resume when snow falls.

 

[cwkoch]

What has happened to trail 11N the past few years?? I used to love this trail. Lately (the past 4-5 years??) it's been horrible when we've tried to take it. It's a great option to make a longer loop instead of shooting down 102 to Bergland.....

 

[bonnevier]

What has happened to trail 11N the past few years?? I used to love this trail. Lately (the past 4-5 years??) it's been horrible when we've tried to take it. It's a great option to make a longer loop instead of shooting down 102 to Bergland.....

Would love to hear if anyone knows anything about 11N