trail condtions

[polaris 04]

hello ,well year started out great but with the rain does anyone have reports on conditions?looking for someplace to ride around hayward ,valhalla areas'what about other parts of wisc.or mich. thanks much and HAPPY NEW YEAR.

[typayne]

it's looking like the only GOOD places to ride is north of minneapolis as of now. They got 7 inches of snow instead of the rain that we got. everywhere in wisconsin is either ruffer than a cob or mud!

[Dirty Birch]

Here east of Hayward people are out. I'm not sure why, but they are. You will encounter solid ice most every where and frozen dirt in a lot of spots on our trails. I am not a fanatic about my equipment, but even I won't be heading out until we get more snow. I'm guessing we have 3 or 4 inches of crusty snow left off trail.

You might be able to boondock the Hurley area...or watch Bayfield Rider's (http://www.snowtracks.com/wisconsin/valhallatrail.htm) report of the fire roads up in Northern Bayfield County? It hasn't been updated since the day after Christmas but you may be able to call him at Woodside Cottages (http://www.snowtracks.com/cgi-bin/nav.cgi?target=http://www.woodsidecottages.com). He always has accurate reports. Ask for Gary.

[kelor]

just east of Birchwood the trail conditions are down to poor. Rusk county report says they are now closed. Southern Sawyer is shot for a while. Too bad as the conditions were above good.

[Polariswoman21]

Around Iron River it's very thin and ICY! we had gone south from Iron River before the rain and it was ok but very very thin in many spots so I would think what was there is gone. We were up all week but the riding ended on Thurday when the rain hit. We ran into a few on Saturday who ventured out but one said they turned around because the sleds were over heating due to lack of snow and they didn't see the point of recking a new sled, and the other three said it was like a skating ring and hard to find a spot to hit some snow to cool everthing down. So well I"m sure you can ride the quality not be there! Keep doing that Snow Dance and praying to the Snow Gods!

[hollyt]

Had a rider that was set to stay with us here in Eagle River. He said it looked good northwest of Duluth. They got snow when we got sleet & rain.

If anybody has any other ideas on riding please get 'em to me. Getting lots of calls.
hollyt
715.479.1411
Bayside Motor Ldoge

[bayfield rider]

Like other areas of northern Wisconsin and Western Michigan and other parts, the Bayfield area received rain over the holiday which put a damper on riding and downgraded the trail and snow conditions. However, we rode on New Years Day with very cold temps and -20 to -30 wind chills and found that conditions were better than anticipated. We did get up to 2" of grainy type snow New Years Eve that provided adequate lube for the suspension ans softened things up a bit..

The groomed trails are hard and some are icier than others but they did not get full of ruts like I had thought. I would rate the trails from poor to good. The west end of TR19 and TR40 towards Cornie were the poor rating as they were very icey and lacked the fresh snow.. TRT40 west of Valhalla has finally been cleared of downed trees but TR1 west of Bayfield has not been groomed due to wet conditions.

The Forest Roads saw their base shrink from up to 16" to the 8-12" range so there is still a good base. I would rate the Forest Roads good to very good and that is where the best riding is. We did not ride south of TR40 which is west of Valhalla. The warming house at Valhalla provided a great place to warm up a bit with the large open fireplace.

At this time, the NWS is saying continued cold temps through the next seven to ten days. No major snowmakers are in the forecast but there is a chance of our area getting some light snow and possibly light LES. That is important for the groomers to get back out there.

We appreciate those who braved the road conditions this weekend; Doug/Gloriann; Mike/Mick/Tom/Stacy, Marisa/Brady, Todd/Lori, Jerri/Becky and Brian and family. Others considering coming up this week will find good but not great riding.

Gary
aka Bayfieldrider
www.woodsidecottages.com