Archive for February, 2016

Snowmobiling Presque Isle WI to Marenisco MI to Bergland MI to Watersmeet MI to Kenton MI

Thursday, February 18th, 2016

We took yesterday off after our V500 ride.  Today is was the fun ride for Snowballcancer.org.
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The pace was a lot slower and we had some fun stops along the way.
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The trails were in decent shape and everyone had a great time.  There were kids that rode along as well as adults in their 60’s.
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A great time was had by everyone!

fun-ride

Distance: 220
Previous: 1,402
Season Total: 1,622

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Valentines 500 Snowmobile Ride for Snowballcancer.org

Thursday, February 18th, 2016

This ride always holds a special place in my heart, especially the last 2 years.  With several family members and friends who have battled cancer (including my daughter) there is nothing more I’d love to see than a cure!

The ride is 500+ miles to raise money for Snowballcancer.org.  A foundation that helps families that are battling cancer.

My brother Brian and I woke up at 3am and were out the driveway at 4:11am to start our long journey.
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We were meeting our group at 9am in Watersmeet so we wanted to get some miles on before we met up. After putting on 150 miles we met up with the group and headed out for the rest of the day.
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The first 350 miles were pretty easy, but there were some break downs and mishaps that slowed us up a bit.  Most of our riding was to the East, you can see the map I included below.  Overall the trails were in great shape until we made our way back to Bergland, MI.

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Distance: 517
Previous: 885
Season Total: 1,402

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Snowmobiling Presque Isle WI to Marenisco MI to Bergland MI to White Pine MI to Silver City MI to Watersmeet MI

Saturday, February 6th, 2016

This was our last day of the trip.  Everyone was feeling very comfortable so we decided to run up to Lake of the Clouds on Lake Superior.  For as bad as trail 1 was beat last night, we all mentally prepared to beat and bang through the woods for the first 10 miles, but to our surprise they actually groomed it!  Nice job GAG (Gogebic Area Grooming)!  When we turned on to trail 2, it was in great shape as well.  We took trail 1 north into Bergland.  For a Saturday morning the trail was in surprisingly good shape.

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(If our buddies don’t show up for the snowmobile trip, we make sure to remind them what they missed out on)

On our way into Bergland I decided to check on trail 1 north out of Bergland towards White Pine.

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It was in great shape so we kept going north and stopped at Konteka in White Pine.  The staff there is always so helpful and friendly I always enjoy coming back.  After a bite to eat we gassed up and headed for the Porkies!
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Our rookie riders had a couple sled problems, after we got those worked out we hiked up the hill and enjoyed the view.
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Then we took the boundary road to trail 102 towards Bergland.  The road was in awesome shape, 102 had a few ruts, but nothing too bad.

Rant warning – I can’t understand what happens to peoples brains when they get on a snowmobile.  All common sense goes right out the window!  While coming down trail 102 around a blind corner, there were 3 sleds parked with a toddler running around on the trail.  I have kids of my own and know they need to play and have fun, but come on people, not in a blind corner!  If something happened to that kid, everyone involved would feel awful.  This was just one example of people doing dumb stuff on the trail that we saw over the last few days.  There were others (all adults) with their machines parked all over an intersection, literally blocking the entire trail.  Let me put this into simple terms for you people that don’t ride a lot:  Would you park your car / truck in the middle of I-90?  How about Lake Shore Drive?  Not a good idea, use your head!

After fueling up in Bergland we took trail 13 towards Watersmeet.  The northern half of 13 was in great shape, it got worse the further south we went (probably more traffic down there).  We stopped at Rogers bar for a beverage, then made our way home to pack up for the trip home tomorrow.

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Overall Trail Rating: 9 out of 10

Distance: 212
Previous: 673
Season Total: 885

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Snowmobiling Presque Isle WI to Watersmeet MI to Land O Lakes WI to Iron River MI to Kenton MI to Marenisco MI

Friday, February 5th, 2016

After our “break in” day yesterday with my buddies who have never ridden a sled, we decided to venture out a bit further on the rail grades.  Both guys did great and rode like old pro’s by the end of the day.
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Trail 1 from Presque Isle to Marenisco was really rough and hasn’t been groomed for the last few days.  Obviously with the amount of traffic and limited options to get to Michigan (trail 11 is closed) it takes it’s toll on this trail.  Hopefully GAG (Gogebic Area Grooming) can get things together and keep this trail groomed for the rest of the season.  Once we got to trail to and headed for Watersmeet, things improved considerably.  The UP Thunder Riders ALWAYS do an amazing job on their trails!

We grabbed breakfast at the Pine Cone Cafe in Land O Lakes WI which was great as usual!
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(chicken and dumplings)
Then we headed north to trail 2 and took that east to Iron River.  After we got east of trail 107 it was smooth sailing the entire way.  The closer we got to Iron River, the more rocks we saw on the trail.  We decided to get gas there and head back.  The further east we went, the more the snow thinned out.

On our way back we decided to check out trail 107 and crossed paths with the groomer.
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We stopped at UP Chucks for some soup and then made our way back to Presque Isle.

Trail 1 from Marenisco to Presque Isle was beat to hell again!  I gotta give a shout out to the Presque Isle Sno Bunnies!  For the first time in SEVERAL years, they did a better job on their trails than GAG did on trail 1.  Thanks, we sure do appreciate it!

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Overall Trail Rating: 9 out of 10

Distance: 236
Previous: 437
Season Total: 673

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Snowmobiling Presque Isle WI to Bergland, MI Watersmeet MI to Marenisco MI

Thursday, February 4th, 2016

We rode a loop up trail 1 to Bergland, had lunch, then back down trail 13 to Presque Isle.  Trail 1 was in amazing condition (just groomed) and trail 13 was in decent shape.
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A few bumps in the corner, but nothing terrible.
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Overall Trail Rating: 9 out of 10

Distance: 142
Previous: 295
Season Total: 437

Check us out on Facebook:
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