February 9, 2015 – Although the weather predictions were off for snowfall amounts this past weekend we are holding out hope that the snowfall predicted for Tuesday through this upcoming weekend comes…we need snow.

What a crazy winter…too much snow too early, not enough snow in January! What can you do? We’re looking at 20’s for highs until Thursday, which has a predicted high of 1 degree! Pack your long johns, looks like we’re in for some pretty cold temps off and on past the middle of February.

Our 3 groomers are out on trails every day, and doing the best they can with the amount of snow we’ve received. The cold temps are helping, but more snow would really help. Please do not confuse our grooming entity with Gogebic Range Authority to our west, we are Gogebic Area Grooming. They have had some problems with their groomers and we’ve been getting a lot of calls about this situation lately.

The logging is finished on trail 13N and the reroute due to logging on 13S was completed yesterday

***VERY IMPORTANT – EFFECTIVE JANUARY 26TH THROUGH MARCH*** -The big news is a reroute over the area where trails 1, 102 and 8 west meet, north of Merriweather and west for about 5 miles. Please watch for changes and new signing (and there is plenty of it) in this area and heed all trail signage. There will be many pipeline workers plus a lot of heavy equipment in the area formally used for trails in this area so for their safety as well as yours please heed the new signing and don’t take any “short cuts”. This reroute will be in effect for most of the remainder of the snowmobile season, but we will post any changes as they occur. You will also want to top off your gas if headed north through this area as the reroute will add on an extra 10 miles (there and back) to your trip with no gas stops between Lake Gogebic and Silver City. YOU CAN NOT USE THIS AREA FOR ANY RIDING.

Keep in mind that we continue to groom our trails typically until the last day of March. Of course that depends a great deal on the weather as we’ve had years where we had to stop prior to that date but then again we’ve had years where, after receiving special permission from the DNR we groomed as late as April 8th! There’s a lot to be said for snowmobiling that late in the season!

You can legally ride any county road that does not get plowed, but check with the Forest Service for a map to these roads. They have a waterproof one for $10.00. Call 906-932-1330 or go to www.fs.usda.gov/ottawa for more info.

The new snowmobile maps are out and available at most local businesses. Please remember that only money put into the wooden map money boxes with the photo of the groomers on it goes back to the trails – so please be aware of this and watch for this.

That’s all for now from Carolyn at the Hoop! Keep checking back for more updates as conditions change. For additional information about the Lake Gogebic area please visit the chamber website at www.LakeGogebicArea.com or call them at 1-888-464-3242 (888-GOGEBIC). Have a great day and a great ride.

<>

Lake Gogebic Area Chamber of Commerce –

<>