Trail 12 south of Mass
- Thread starter sundown
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wiharley02
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I came through that section (South Laird Road) twice recently, both times coming from the east, heading west back to Mass City. This was on 1/18 and again on 1/20. It was plowed, but not to "bare" ground. The road/trail was still white. There was minimal snow dust for slide lube, some of the riders in the rear of my pack could smell hyfax. But very much passable, not bad at all in my book. The snow banks aren't too hard and lumpy so you can occasionally run a ski up a bit to make some snow dust. None of us had any cooling issues whatsoever. I would not let this deter you from including this section of trail in your route. Do watch out for an unplowed, ungroomed section of the road towards the eastern end, I remember heading west on the bare trail and came up on the unplowed rough section a little fast. It transitioned back to bare trail pretty quickly.
Trail 109 heading up to Alston (and continuing to Twin Lakes) was very thin through the woods from the junction with Trail 12, up to Alston/Village Bar "Church in the Valley". I'm not sure if they had enough snow since then to make a vast improvement. Lots of sections in that few miles that had bare ground, roots, and rocks. Got better a few miles north of Alston heading towards Twin Lakes.
Trail 109 heading up to Alston (and continuing to Twin Lakes) was very thin through the woods from the junction with Trail 12, up to Alston/Village Bar "Church in the Valley". I'm not sure if they had enough snow since then to make a vast improvement. Lots of sections in that few miles that had bare ground, roots, and rocks. Got better a few miles north of Alston heading towards Twin Lakes.
wiharley02
Active member
This post from a different thread offers a newer (better) report on this section of trail.
Yesterday, 03:16 PM #9 1fujifilm 1fujifilm is offline
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Quote Originally Posted by old abe View Post
1fujifilm; G4 600R Renegade in your plans for 2019??????????? Keep the trail reports coming!!!
Rode out of Houghton south on 3 today, 3 north of Bug bar was stutter bumps from pre-warm-up and 3 south of bug bar to 12 cut off was nicer. Took 12 east to Rosseau bar then rode the plowed roads for 15 miles (the northern 1 third of these roads are the worst) then rode excellent trails on 109 and then more excellent trails on 8-15 to Sidnaw station. Took 8 west to trout creek on excellent trails and snow but soon after was riding gravel all the way past Bruce's crossing and on to the 3 north cut off. After taking 3 north it took 6 miles to begin hitting all white trails again and beautiful by arriving in Rockland. Took 12 to ontonagen, this was the best trail of the day, lake effected all the way there and back to 3 plus groomed smooth as a baby's butt.
Took 3 north to Super 8 and was decent to Bug bar then it was concrete stutters back to Houghton. Strange that 3 south of Bug bar did not have stutters, must be grooming theory as south it seemed the dragged deeper to eliminate stutters.
Oh well, 260 miles and it was an ok day. 18.5 mpg today as I saw 80 plus more times than yesterday.
Stay away from Bruce's, it was horrible gravel.
17 Renegade 600 for sale in 2 days, 7.5 with 1,200 miles and warranty til December.
Don't know what I will ride next year, watch for their other new releases soon.
Riding tomorrow's then back to Green Bay.
Oh yeah, live riding the waterway to Super 8 as that access trail is like punishment for bad behavior.
Bear
Yesterday, 03:16 PM #9 1fujifilm 1fujifilm is offline
Senior Member
Join Date
Dec 2009
Posts
789
Default
Quote Originally Posted by old abe View Post
1fujifilm; G4 600R Renegade in your plans for 2019??????????? Keep the trail reports coming!!!
Rode out of Houghton south on 3 today, 3 north of Bug bar was stutter bumps from pre-warm-up and 3 south of bug bar to 12 cut off was nicer. Took 12 east to Rosseau bar then rode the plowed roads for 15 miles (the northern 1 third of these roads are the worst) then rode excellent trails on 109 and then more excellent trails on 8-15 to Sidnaw station. Took 8 west to trout creek on excellent trails and snow but soon after was riding gravel all the way past Bruce's crossing and on to the 3 north cut off. After taking 3 north it took 6 miles to begin hitting all white trails again and beautiful by arriving in Rockland. Took 12 to ontonagen, this was the best trail of the day, lake effected all the way there and back to 3 plus groomed smooth as a baby's butt.
Took 3 north to Super 8 and was decent to Bug bar then it was concrete stutters back to Houghton. Strange that 3 south of Bug bar did not have stutters, must be grooming theory as south it seemed the dragged deeper to eliminate stutters.
Oh well, 260 miles and it was an ok day. 18.5 mpg today as I saw 80 plus more times than yesterday.
Stay away from Bruce's, it was horrible gravel.
17 Renegade 600 for sale in 2 days, 7.5 with 1,200 miles and warranty til December.
Don't know what I will ride next year, watch for their other new releases soon.
Riding tomorrow's then back to Green Bay.
Oh yeah, live riding the waterway to Super 8 as that access trail is like punishment for bad behavior.
Bear