Trail Report: The warm weather today definitely didn’t help the trail system. Things got a big ugly in places, read on..

We started out at IndianHead ski resort and down to 11N which was recently groomed, assuming by the ski resort. 11N didn’t appear to have been groomed last night, was a bit choppy, but no water. The chop was pretty much gone once on the east side of 519, much nicer. Good snow but was wet and sticky. South Boundary, aka 11, was nice as usual. We decided not to torture ourselves by going thru Silver City which is never any good and with the warm weather I expected it to be dirt not snirt so we took 102 down to Bergland. 102 was very nice, corners blown out by the amature racers but good overall snow cover and pretty smooth.

Not too much traffic either which is always nice but a few that couldn’t hold their line around the corners and coming at us. I shook my fist as usual, for what its worth. Pretty thin coming into Bergland so we took the spur by Maple Ridge and down to the lake and ran that to town to eat at Antonios. Good lunch as usual.

Back to the lake and headed south, nice and smooth but watch out for the wet slushy spots and the ice heaves. Grabbed #1 to head over to Marenisco which was not in good shape, not much snow, dodged the snirt & dirt all the way, nothing resembled white snow. Not what I would run again until it snows some more.

GAS IS PUMPING AT MARENISCO!!!

We didn’t need gas as we planned for it not being open yet but we filled up all 3 sleds to show our support and talked to the new people leasing it to tell them how much we appreciate them getting it back open.

#2 back to Wakefield was pretty good, good snow cover but has had plenty of traffic but nothing that would make you avoid it. I would run back up & down it without hessitation. thru the woods on the other side of the road was good snow cover too but all the curves were pushed out and could use a grooming. #8 back into Wakefield was pretty good too, plenty of snow but choppy from heavy traffic.

Maybe we’ll run to Houghton tomorrow…. Not excited about how it might be coming into Mass City, expecting snirt and dirt, maybe someone can comment on how that is holding up under these warmer temps.

Pantera

Hi Everyone, I’ll be taking the next week off, so the next report will be 1-25-10. If you have a room or snowmobile reserved call before you come up. There has been very light traffic this week, so I think that and the fact that the day time temp has only been 34 (not forty like they forecasted)and cloudy and the night time temps in the upper 20’s is why the trails have held up so well. All guest have been happy with the trails except trail 344 east is tore up. There are spring like conditions right now, so as long as you have realistic expectations while you’re out there, you will have a decent ride for Saturday and Sunday is still up in the air. They are forecasting the day time highs this weekend to get to the upper thirties to fouty degrees and sunny, night time temps in the upper twenties, with the high temps to fall on 1-18-10 to 20 degrees and some possible snow, but again with any forecast, I’ll believe it when I see it. The grooming clubs are rating the trails from fair to good, with the exception of some ice and snirt in some of the curves and where the sun can get. So slow down and enjoy the area. Paved roads and bridges are bare. When the temps stay above freezing and the trails are slushy, I doubt that any grooming will continue until we get colder and more snow. One thing that is nice around here, we are in the middle of 6 different grooming clubs, (which we are members of 4), if one isn’t grooming, one of the other Clubs are grooming and we have maps right in the Office. If you don’t have a snowmobile or yours is broken, no problem, WE HAVE ON-SITE SNOWMOBILE RENTALS right here at the Resort. Most county roads are snow covered, so getting fuel or food shouldn’t be a problem except right in the little Village of Baldwin, south of us. There is good snow in the woods, so two tracken and seasonal roads are a blast right now. (Which there are tons of). 231 745 4101 8am until 10pm

Rooms and ON-SITE Snowmobile Rentals are available.