Snowmobile Trail Conditions

We took it pretty easy today and spent more time talking than riding. It was a fun day though! All trails are still in great shape but are a little on the loose side (due to the recent foot of snow that fell). We stopped at the Bergland Bay Bar for their famous beef sandwiches, then hit Bam Bam’s (in Marenisco) on our way back.  Trail 1 from Presque Isle north had plenty of snow, a few bumps from the weekend traffic.  Lake Gogebic is in great shape, plenty of snow and smooth.
WARNING – trail 11 from Winchester to the U.P. is closed.  As you can see on the map below, we rode over there, saw the sign and turned around!

Be sure to LIKE our facebook page if you’d like to follow our trail reports, snow gauge and photos!

View Larger Map

Overall Trail Rating: 9 out of 10
Distance: 110
Previous: 541
Season Total: 651

Check us out on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SnowSnakescom/175179815834100

Watch our trail videos on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/snowsnakesdotcom

Follow our live trail reports on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/snowsnakestrail

We got a late start this morning and thought the trails might be a little beat up, but we were wrong! If you look at the map below you can see we hit lake Gogebic, Trail 8 East to Kenton, Trail 107 South to Watersmeet and then trail 2 West to Marenisco. Throughout the day we saw 3 or 4 different groomers and enjoyed a very smooth ride. The only “chop” we saw all day was near the trail 13 and trail 2 intersection headed East. That’s typical for that area though (high traffic).  Lake Gogebic has 12+ inches of fresh powder on it and everywhere else picked up AT LEAST 6″ including the northern Vilas County (Wisconsin) trails.

Be sure to LIKE our facebook page if you’d like to follow our trail reports, snow gauge and photos!

View Larger Map

Overall Trail Rating: 9 out of 10
Distance: 170
Previous: 371
Season Total: 541

Check us out on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SnowSnakescom/175179815834100

Watch our trail videos on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/snowsnakesdotcom

Follow our live trail reports on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/snowsnakestrail

We rolled out of our place at 10am. Got gas and grabbed breakfast. We cut the first tracks on trail 6 into Presque Isle then took trail 1 north. We saw a bunch of sleds while eating breakfast, but most of them must have stayed in Wisconsin. On our way up trail 1 we saw 3 or 4 sleds tops. After passing Marenisco we passed the groomer and things were excellent. The roughest part of the day was riding lake Gogebic between Gogebic Lodge and Fish Tales. Since we were a ways from shore there were snow drifts that had melted and refroze. Each time you hit one was like hitting a rock and it tried to buck you off. After we got past Fish Tales it smoothed out and we were on our way. We made a quick stop at the Ski-doo dealer then gassed up and headed to Rockland to grab “half a heifer” (a sandwich on their menu). The ride was unreal, trail 13 was smooth the entire way and the scenery was perfect.
After we ate we took the same route back. The visibility dropped a bunch due to blowing snow, so we took our time. It was much colder on the trip home, around -20 without the windchill. We decided to stop at Bam Bam’s in Marenisco to warm up. After that stop we rode the last 20 miles into WI and made it home.

View Larger Map

Overall Trail Rating: 10 out of 10
Distance: 157
Previous: 214
Season Total: 371

Check us out on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SnowSnakescom/175179815834100

Watch our trail videos on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/snowsnakesdotcom

Follow our live trail reports on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/snowsnakestrail

It was -26 when we woke up so we waited until 10am to hit the trail. Needless to say there weren’t many sleds out this morning. We got gas and ate breakfast, then headed north on trail 1 towards Bergland. Trail 1 was in great shape and Lake Gogebic had plenty of snow on it.

After a lunch stop at Bergland Bay Bar we dropped by Timberline Sports (ski-doo dealer). Then we headed south on Lake Gogebic, got off the lake at Root Cellar and took 13 south to trail 2. 13 was in excellent shape (especially for this time of year), lots of snow, very flat and not much dirt mixed in! We made our way to Rogers Bar and got a drink. After that we took trail 2 west to trail 1 south back towards home. Trail 2 was also in excellent shape!

View Larger Map

Overall Trail Rating: 10 out of 10
Distance: 130
Previous: 84
Season Total: 214

Check us out on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SnowSnakescom/175179815834100

Watch our trail videos on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/snowsnakesdotcom

Follow our live trail reports on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/snowsnakestrail

View Larger Map

We took off at 1pm and headed towards lake Gogebic.  We stopped for gas in Presque Isle, but they were out of premium gas so we had to call the Marenisco gas station to see if they had any.  Luckily they did.  Trail 6 into Presque Isle had it’s usual ruts from traffic, but overall it was in decent shape.  Trail 1 to Marenisco was also rutted up from traffic, but we passed the groomer, then it was great!  After getting gas we made it to Gogebic Lodge to watch the Packers vs Bears.  When the game was over we took the same route back.

The lake has snow on it, but some spots are down to the ice due to the wind drifting the snow away.  We got lucky again and followed the groomer for quite a ways.  Our tracks were the first ones since the groomer went through, needless to say it was excellent!    As I write this, the temperature is -7 (without the wind chill).

Overall Trail Rating: 9 out of 10
Distance: 70
Previous: 14
Season Total: 84

Check us out on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SnowSnakescom/175179815834100

Watch our trail videos on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/snowsnakesdotcom

Follow our live trail reports on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/snowsnakestrail

Today was my first ride of the 2013-2014 season.  It was short and sweet!  My Dad and I took my daughters for breakfast in Presque Isle at the Last Wilderness Cafe.  We rode trail 6 East all the way to town.  There is plenty of snow (over 12″) and the trail was groomed!  We saw a LOT of traffic on the trail (around 40 sleds in 7 miles) going to town and 30 sleds on the return trip.  There are definitely a lot of riders out this weekend, so keep your eyes open!  On the way home the trail was beat up pretty good, mainly due to the traffic.

Overall Trail Rating: 8 out of 10
Distance: 14
Previous: 0
Season Total: 14

Check us out on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SnowSnakescom/175179815834100

Watch our trail videos on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/snowsnakesdotcom

Follow our live trail reports on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/snowsnakestrail

Wow, hard to believe we got to ride today.  I’ve never seen snow this late in the year before!  We started off in Bergland and our first task of the day was to find gas.  The gas station was out of gas so we hit a few of the bars.  We needed 91 octane and they all had 87.  Finally we got a hold of the gas station in Marenisco and they had what we needed.  After getting gas we headed to Watersmeet and stopped by Rogers bar along the way.  They happened to be closed so we continued on and hoped to get some food in Watersmeet.  Everything was closed other than the casino, so we went there.  The trails were great the entire way and we made the only tracks.  The groomers stopped grooming on April 1, but the ride was still incredible!  After eating we made our way back towards Bergland.  Trail 8 was beat up pretty good with 70% snow and 30% dirt.  We decided to take 3 North to Rockland then 13 back to Bergland.  All in all it was a great day on the sleds and a fantastic way to wrap up another great season.

Overall Trail Rating: 9 out of 10
Distance: 175
Previous: 2,058
Season Total: 2,233

Check us out on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SnowSnakescom/175179815834100

Watch our trail videos on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/snowsnakesdotcom

Follow our live trail reports on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/snowsnakestrail

We got up bright and early to make our way back home.  On the way back, we didn’t see a single sled until Rockland.  The trails were perfect (we were the first sleds on them since they were groomed).  We rolled into Bergland in only 2-3 hours with a couple breaks along the way.  After fueling up we headed south and enjoyed the ride.  We were back at the cabin by noon.  This capped off a great ride and a fun season.  The year started off slowly and I had my doubts about how much riding we would get in, but the late season riding was unreal.

Overall Trail Rating: 10 out of 10
Distance: 140
Previous: 1,918
Season Total: 2,058

Check us out on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SnowSnakescom/175179815834100

Watch our trail videos on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/snowsnakesdotcom

Follow our live trail reports on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/snowsnakestrail

This ended up being our final ride of the season and I couldn’t have asked for better company, my dad and my brother. We hit the trail around 8am to get breakfast at Gogebic Lodge. After the first 10 minutes of riding I started to pick up ice on my shield. I stopped and asked if everyone else was getting it and they were. My dad has a heated shield so we hooked that up and continued on. After gassing up, we headed out of town and the ice kept getting worse. I figured it would turn to snow at some point, man was I wrong! Every 2-3 miles we had to stop to clear the shields off (including the heated shield, it couldn’t keep up). We arrived at Gogebic Lodge and got some food and a drink. The groomer operator was eating also and he commented on how the ice was clinging to the groomer also. We figured the further north we went the colder it would get and it might start snowing. After we got out of Bergland the ice let up and it was smooth sailing. The entire ride to Copper Harbor was smooth, lots of groomers and not many sleds. After reaching the point we turned around and headed to The Gay Bar. We rehydrated there and then made our way to Centennial Cottages to spend the night.

Overall Trail Rating: 10 out of 10
Distance: 280
Previous: 1,638
Season Total: 1,918

Check us out on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SnowSnakescom/175179815834100

Watch our trail videos on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/snowsnakesdotcom

Follow our live trail reports on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/snowsnakestrail

View Dan in a larger map

Our buddy Dan showed up last night and was ready to hit the trails today. We rode up to Bergland and got a few small maintenance items fixed. Then we headed north on trail 1 to Lake of the Clouds.

(you NEVER know what will run out in front of you on the trail, check out the above video at 0:45 and watch what jumps out on the trail, completely random!)

We ended up blowing a belt on the boundary road. After that was replaced we took trail 102 back to Bergland and made our way back into WI. It was an awesome day of riding with a good group of guys!

Overall Trail Rating: 9 out of 10
Distance: 175
Previous: 1,463
Season Total: 1,638

Check us out on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SnowSnakescom/175179815834100

Watch our trail videos on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/snowsnakesdotcom

Follow our live trail reports on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/snowsnakestrail