I myself am doing a 3 day backpack trip this weekend. we are riding out of grantsburg or siren and will ride to brule. Have cabin reserved in brule for both nights. Day 2 we will explore the bayfield/cornucopia penisula. Hoping to find some off trail play and we will definetly be considering the ice caves. day 3 ride back to rigs and head home. There are multiple routes to choose from. I did notice the previous mention of parking in the PD lot in st. croix falls...that seems like a good option as well. There are a lot of good options posted here...anyway you cant go wrong!
Northern Wisconsin Trip?
- Thread starter tomcat
- Start date
Its not that I'm tired of the UP trails, I just wouldn't mind seeing some different scenery and staying in some different areas. Not to mention trimming a few hours off the drive will be nice. Don't get me wrong, I can handle some corn fields but I don't want to spend 3 days riding them. I like the woods and twisty trails as well as longer relaxing straight stretches. Just don't want to be running field fence lines for miles on end. thanks for suggestions groomerdriver, I'm looking at the map right now.`
Got it. Thanks for the info from you and others on this post.
Main goal is to try to explore Wisconsin since they seem to have plenty of snow. Definitely want to go far enough to avoid farm fields, but wouldn't mind cutting out a few hours compared to driving to the UP. Our group loves twisty trails, elevation changes and playing off trail....pretty much everything other than putting through towns or fields or RR grades for miles on end. I know Wisconsin isn't the place for playing off trail, but I'm looking forward to riding the more technical trails there.
indy_500
Well-known member
THIS if you're a trail rider looking for something new. Trails are very low traffic good scenery only thing you need to watch out for is every once in a while you'll run into a section of a clubs trails that are rough because they haven't been groomed in a while. The traffic is so low they only groom a couple times per week at most.
I would take the guy up on the 15 miles from Wausau and park at his house. Tomahawk would be great place to start from in northern WI right now you won't find too many bad trails.
If you are planning on going for a 3 days trip you will not ride farm fields all day. You may have rolling fields trails 10-15 miles, twisty trails, smooth wide trails in the woods, lake crossings and RR grade. Central and northewest Wisconsin would get you all of them.
The guy who mentioned Weston is another good spot to start and would give you option to head east or west and great riding both ways.
Hoosier you would be fine leaving the vehicle. Cameras and very lighted up.
You could even start at JR37 ride east and stay over night in Carter at the Casino. Then ride north and west back over to Lando Lakes or Watersmeet Michigan and then back south and down to JR37. Would be a great 3 day loop.
Depends how many miles a day you like to drive. Plenty of loops and stops to add plenty of miles.
You could even start at JR37 ride east and stay over night in Carter at the Casino. Then ride north and west back over to Lando Lakes or Watersmeet Michigan and then back south and down to JR37. Would be a great 3 day loop.
Depends how many miles a day you like to drive. Plenty of loops and stops to add plenty of miles.
groomerdriver
New member
"......Our group loves twisty trails......"
Then you would like the Hayward/Cable or Phillips/Price Cty. regions.
So many choices....so little time!!! LOL!!!
Then you would like the Hayward/Cable or Phillips/Price Cty. regions.
So many choices....so little time!!! LOL!!!
We don't get out as much as we would like, with young kids at home, so we try to spend as many hours as possible on the sleds each day when we are north. Hard to say how many miles - I have found that 200 in Wisconsin can be like 300 in the UP, without the RR grades to add up the miles and drain the tank. Cash is tight somewhat though, so that works out better for me and I think it's more fun anyway.
Thanks for all the ideas. It's probably not the smartest way to do things, but we generally don't plan very much ahead of time, but it's good to have a starting point, some options as to what direction to head, and then see where we end up.
THIS is the problem I've been having this year!! And its a good problem to have!
if you take off from tomahawk to hayward is about 160 miles the fast route .from there to hurley is about 100 miles the shortest route .but you can go many ways .then back to tomahawk is about 100 miles .the great thing about going that route is you can make it as short or as long as you care to. lots of options .as far as someone said about towns not being sled friendly is bull .the only town that is not is merrill every thing north of there is pretty good .i have done most of my riding in the north west part of wis . you will love it .hope it helps .
Gas will not be an issue.
Decided we are leaving wednesday at 10am so should get up to the wausau or tomahawk area in about 5 hours. Banks 93, we may take you up on your offer if it still stands. Two crewcabs with two 2 place trailers till sunday? I see someone said 160 miles to hayward from tomahawk. Relatively straight trails or twistys the whole way? Just trying to get a handle on time as we won't be on the trail till probably late afternoon. Any suggestions on where to stay day one around hayward. 6 guys so a cabin would work as well. We don't have to make hayward if anyone has suggestions before that point. Thinking Hayward first day and try to make it up to bayfield area Thursday. Anyone have a link to a good map of wisconsin trails that cover a wider area than individual counties.
I am not aware of any map that would cover multiple counties. There used to be a state map that showed "State Corridor" trails only, but I have not seen one in years. You will probably have to get individual county maps as you go. I have access to individual maps for each county, I could get for you if needed. Just not sure how to get them to you if you are starting in Tomahawk.
Update. Trip was fantastic. Stayed NW of Tomahawk Wednesday and Saturday night. I believe it was called Wild North Saloon or something like that. new owners and recently renovated. $65 a night. Can't beat that. Rode the local area Wednesday and put on maybe 60 miles or so. Thursday we started out towards Hayward. We didn't start out with full tanks as we were told that there was a gas station 5 miles from the motel on the trail that "you can't miss". Turns out we missed it. Needless to say about 50 miles or so later my F7 started sucking fumes. One of the other sleds in the group had a 2 gallon reserve tank so I was able to ration about half of that out of him to get going again. The trail map at this time showed nearest fuel to be 20 plus miles away and we were all low on gas. Skidoo ran out 5 miles later. We had to mess with that for a long time to get it restarted. Carbed 04 summit. Ended up having to pull plugs and dump gas in cylinders to get it going. During this process we were able to find a bar a few miles away that had gas. Thank god for smart phones. We all made it here with no more issues and topped off. From this point on we made sure not to pass up any gas stations. Ended up staying at the casino in hayward that evening. Pulled in about 11pm and got rooms for $65 again. They also gave each of us 30 bucks to gamble with on a players card for staying. Heck of a deal and really good breakfast there. Next morning woke up to 20 below temps. I've never seen the recoil pull so hard on my firecat in the 5 years I've owned it! 4 or 5 stiff pulls later she was up and running. The two stroke oil poured out of the jug like molasses when I topped off my reservoir. Let her warm up for an extended period of time that morning. Only one we had trouble starting was the carbed doo but got it going eventually. Intended to head towards ashland that day and then cut back down over to Hurley but thanks to a clutch coming apart on the Doo plans got changed. Time to do lunch with my kids right now but will fill you all in later on day 2 and 3.
1-snowbullet
New member
Just My 2 Cents literally I live in Marathon City so i know all the trails on both sides of the river -- My opinion Merril stay at the motel by wallmart Name escapes me sorry Trail runs trew land next to motel literally .. You can catch trails going in lots of directions just south of merril by truck stop and Snow Shack cross the river you are east big loops in there .. if you go west of merril you can go to chawamagan forrest area and stop in at tims hill higest point in wisconsin .. There is alot to see literally if i had off those days would show you around but sadly im working ! You can also hit some nice trails going north as well as south nice trail system all around marathon and sourounding co. Enjoy Be safe and good luck !