The good and Bad in Vilas!!

[upnorthman]

Just came back from a weekend in Eagle River. I do not normally ride over there due to the amount of people and derby racer wanna be's! But i will say i was extremely happy with the trail conditions and the hospitality and awesome food wherever we stopped. I recomend the Log Cabin for fish and pizza if anyone is ever in Conover!! The snow is as deep as advertized and we really had fun. I am normally a Townsend, Lakewood, Price county guy but with the kids gone we are starting to ride the whole state and giving some other areas our bussiness. I highly recomend the Best Western Derby Inn, great rooms hot tub and breakfast in the morning. My only question / concern is about the Phelps area. No grooming due to breakdown Thursday night, and with the use of social media i would have thought this would have been posted sooner than today. Trails were terrible over there at 10am saturday. I noticed the equipement they were using was not what i would have thought being up there in Gods country. Clubs in the south that rarely ever get to use them have better machines. Ride Waukesha or Walworth when there is snow and you will see what i mean. I also was wondering why they plow trail 5A west of Bents Camp down to the road? A little warm sun and that trail is a gonner! This is not a Bit-h rant just telling it like it is. Great weekend, great trails, except late Saturday night. We will be back to the area again. Just an FYI to all who roam the state, Eagle River is a great place to ride with even better food and hospitality, and looks like an upgrade to grooming equipement make the trails right up there with other areas. Just my 2 cents....

 

[SledTL]

Can't speak for other areas, but I know ER just got a brand new Piston Bully last month....

 

[soxfan3]

Phelps has been not good all season. Was told they have had club issues. No new volunteers.

 

[bob k]

Yep,We try to ride to Bents only after it snows if going that way on trail 5. They scrape that road raw. Best coming from the east most times. Or come down across the Cisco chain. Just don't do that at night if not familiar.

 

[zr600]

I base out of Eagle River multiple times a season for years (20+). Its always good except downtown (like most other communities).
All of the clubs up there do an great job- normally with low snow- this year they get to show then can handle high snow conditions.
Phelps/St Ger/Star lake/Three Lakes/Sayner/etc all do a great job.

 

[whitedust]

I told all of you Phelps has had grooming issues for many years in a row. Finally the bottom dropped out this season due to lack of volunteers and aged membership and equipment. I don’t know when Phelps trails will be groomed again this season and neither does anyone else. Eagle River is now grooming trail 17 which allows a rider to access North Twin lake then you can take the lake to Dublin’s access Conover trails work your way up to Lando. Forget about trail 6 hasn’t been groomed for over a week doesn’t even show up on Gts trail app. I live inPhelps area and avoid their trails just awful conditions. Until you see green on trail 6 it’s horrible. I asked if Lando could help out with 6
same as what ER is doing on 17. I don’t have an answer but I tried to get help but I’m not a member of Phelps I’m a member of Frosty and support Lando businesses. I hope this helps to inform JD members.

 

[bob k]

Thanks for the update. Was nice after leaving Dublins to cross North Twin and ride 6 a short bit to jump on LDV and come out by Sunrise. Oh well maybe next year.

 

[Cirrus_Driver]

I agree, they all do a great job in Vilas, but I'd have to disagree on Sayner and Star Lake. They have the heavy sand content in their trail base, so it's almost always snirty, unless the snow is really deep. (like this year)?
Usually their snow doesn't hold a groom very well. I'll check it out this weekend when I'm up there, and report.

 

[erkoehler]

I agree, they all do a great job in Vilas, but I'd have to disagree on Sayner and Star Lake. They have the heavy sand content in their trail base, so it's almost always snirty, unless the snow is really deep. (like this year)?
Usually their snow doesn't hold a groom very well. I'll check it out this weekend when I'm up there, and report.

I've heard Sayner has been fighting some equipment issues this season. Their trails are usually good in AM, but they see a high amount of traffic due to their location.

Eric

 

[whitedust]

Phelps 17 is in pretty good shape ,thank you Eagle River,and North Twin is ok with the wind whipping today so low vis out there on the lake. Trail 6 is still a disaster so whooped out the groomer was unable to knock the moguls down terrible condition so best to stay off 6 use the lake and Conover trails to get to Lando. I used 8 and it was pristine this morning rejoined 6 at the Lando, Conover, Phelps 6 junction. Lando 6 was also pristine hard set flat ribbon in very cold temps. This work around route of Phelps poor grooming on 6 worked well I’m don’t know when I’ll retry Phelps 6 again it’s going to take many more groomings to be worth riding. I’m back to Lando tomorrow afternoon but I’m NOT using Phelps 6 needs lots more time and attention.

 

[erkoehler]

Phelps 17 is in pretty good shape ,thank you Eagle River,and North Twin is ok with the wind whipping today so low vis out there on the lake. Trail 6 is still a disaster so whooped out the groomer was unable to knock the moguls down terrible condition so best to stay off 6 use the lake and Conover trails to get to Lando. I used 8 and it was pristine this morning rejoined 6 at the Lando, Conover, Phelps 6 junction. Lando 6 was also pristine hard set flat ribbon in very cold temps. This work around route of Phelps poor grooming on 6 worked well I’m don’t know when I’ll retry Phelps 6 again it’s going to take many more groomings to be worth riding. I’m back to Lando tomorrow afternoon but I’m NOT using Phelps 6 needs lots more time and attention.

If if they had a Tucker I’d volunteer to take a shift or two this weekend to help get things in shape. Haven’t run a tractor groomer, although I bet I could figure it out quickly.

 

[whitedust]

If if they had a Tucker I’d volunteer to take a shift or two this weekend to help get things in shape. Haven’t run a tractor groomer, although I bet I could figure it out quickly.

Difficult to know what Phelps will do last year it warmed up and Phelps stopped grooming 2 weeks before the rest of the county and trails were unusable. Maybe they will wait for fresh snow, maybe they will ask Lando for help?

 

[1fujifilm]

I base out of Eagle River multiple times a season for years (20+). Its always good except downtown (like most other communities).
All of the clubs up there do an great job- normally with low snow- this year they get to show then can handle high snow conditions.
Phelps/St Ger/Star lake/Three Lakes/Sayner/etc all do a great job.

Rode 45 from Monico to Eagle River last night, perfect.

Bear

 

[whitedust]

Difficult to know what Phelps will do last year it warmed up and Phelps stopped grooming 2 weeks before the rest of the county and trails were unusable. Maybe they will wait for fresh snow, maybe they will ask Lando for help?

Received notification that both Lando and Eagle River resources are helping groom parts of Phelps 6 and 17. 17 was goodish yesterday 6 needs a lot of work but Lando on it at least for this week. Yeah!

 

[roc]

Vilas

Received notification that both Lando and Eagle River resources are helping groom parts of Phelps 6 and 17. 17 was goodish yesterday 6 needs a lot of work but Lando on it at least for this week. Yeah!

Thanks Whitedust I wish I would have seen your post before we rode Phelps on Friday my back is still paying for it
We started out of Boulder as you prob know, great trails to Lando for breakfast at the Pine cone always good then Phelps was so happy to finally get to Elvoy and Forest county and then down to eagle river back through sayner conover and loop back to Boulder all the trails were great except the Phelps
Groomer breakdowns happen is what it is Thanks for all the Hard work to all the clubs in Vilas Co

 

[whitedust]

Thanks Whitedust I wish I would have seen your post before we rode Phelps on Friday my back is still paying for it
We started out of Boulder as you prob know, great trails to Lando for breakfast at the Pine cone always good then Phelps was so happy to finally get to Elvoy and Forest county and then down to eagle river back through sayner conover and loop back to Boulder all the trails were great except the Phelps
Groomer breakdowns happen is what it is Thanks for all the Hard work to all the clubs in Vilas Co

Sorry about that Roc. I live here and try to avoid Phelps Trails. Lol Yesterday we trailered to Lando rode to Lanse for lunch and conditions were delightful.

 

[snopro7]

How have trails held up in 3 Lakes and Eagle River over the past day?

 

[swampcat]

They went down the crapper.

 

[harvest1121]

I would trailer to Forest County they did not seem as beat down that was 3/13 but we left St Germain looked bad in town but who knows in the woods

 

[dfattack]

I'm further to the east of Vilas, but just as far north and around here it's going fast. Lost at least 8" in a little over 24 hours. The base is still there and solid to some degree but once it gets cold the base will be rock hard ice with little to no loose snow to cool the sled. We are supposed to ride this Saturday but we have already started to realize it may not happen. One of us is already not coming up for sure. If we don't get a couple inches of fluff then we won't be riding. I know some will and I hope you have a good time.