ONEIDA COUNTY 1-24-25
- Thread starter attakman
- Start date
SHOOT2KILL
Active member
Well you live there, so what is your opinion of the trail conditions ?...Based on what I saw 1 week ago when I drove down hwy 17 and then west on Hwy 8 thru Rhinelander coming back from the U.P. the trails were all panned and looked very rideable...Waaaaaay better than the conditions I saw in Vilas County on the same day, and they were OPEN...Matter of fact on that same day I went for an early morning sled ride @ 7am from Watersmeet down into Land o Lakes...I saw a report of less than 2" on the ground in Manitowish, and thought that cant be right...So I went west of LoL on Trail 6w approx 2-3 miles and checked the snow depth in the bush along the trail...Yep...A solid 9-10"...Seems like there is something more to the story...
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You really can't tell from the road....it's very thin and rocky in some wooded areas by me....the base would not last long...like I said..it's a no win situation, open trails, and the businesses are happy...but you potentially lose trails that suffer damage due to low snow from pissed off land owners. we just need a solid 4 to 6, and we could open....there are some angry business owners making threats against clubs that voted no...it's getting ugly here in Oneida county.
Exactly...but threatening volunteers who run the various clubs is ridiculous...the clubs are looking out for the best interest of the snowmobiling community...we can't afford to lose trails due to pissed off landowners...kind of short sighted to say "screw it, let them ride dirt"...how mad will these business owners be when the trail to their business is closed due to an aggravated land owner?? Safety is another concern right now..if somebody hits a rock and sails into the woods and dies, who's to blame? (You know they'll blame the club)....i want to ride as bad as anybody else...I moved here to snowmobile..its dis heartening to see these trails closed in January ...but we can't control mother nature...there is still time for this to turn around..lets hope it does..SOON..for now..I'll pound ditches (perfectly legal) to get to lake nokomis, and spin around to feed my addiction...at least there is good ice...and the lake is marked...if you just want to scratch that itch..come up and ride the lake.
Tough situation either way. I grew up in that area(Spirit) and have rode Oneida, Lincoln and Price counties my entire life and still do when/if we have snow. I’m a very active club member where I live now and I also own property a trail runs thru in the southern part of the state. As a landowner I could really care less especially now as things are froze so hard right now you’d be hard pressed to put a scratch in the ground and I have crop land and woods. But I guess everyone is different. I’m wondering if the forecast for next week has a lot to do with their decision? My weather app says upper 30’s close to 40 for up there next Friday..with little base it wouldn’t take long. However Vilas opened last week when the temp was 40 degrees in Eagle River when I was there for the races. Thought that was kinda crazy..
However sadly, this is the same scenario southwestern Sconny went thru many years ago. The beginnings of poor, sparse, low snow riding conditions. Before that, in my first 15years of snowmobiling, Dodgeville, Darlington, Richland Center, Sparta, Tomah, BRF, Augusta, etc where sure bets for always having good riding snow conditions. No more is that the case. Only history these days.
Have to keep the landowners happy however if warms up next week the county may never open this season again. At this point open let the riders decide if meets their standards many don’t care if it’s white they are happy riding snirt and snomo biz needs the revenue. Not for me but I understand the revenue needs of the businesses.
Landowners as businesses are land owners too.
SHOOT2KILL
Active member
Lets hope the 10 day GFS is right...Shows 8+" from Madison north on days 8-10
hermie
Well-known member
Yeah climate prediction center has really increased the moisture in the 5-10 and 8-14. Patient it's coming
Without the land owners, you'll have no trails to ride. Land owners will band together on this kind of issue, and you can bet on that. Sadly, with having no trails to ride, businesses have no riders for business, eh? There are no guarantees on the weather. We don't like it, but it is what it is.
hermie
Well-known member
Also just looked at underground weather. I see 33 Thursday and 32 Friday then upper 20's. The computers seem to be all over the place. I will take it day to day and try to be positive instead of negative. In the end the weather will do what it's going to do and there isn't anything any of us can do about it.