Michigan Trail Report


Western U.P. Trail Report – Western U.P. Bureau – 12/22

Lake Gogebic Webcam

Lake Gogebic Webcam

Date of Report: December 22, 2017
Area Report: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Our temps for this coming weekend will be in the single digits to below zero. Overall conditions are poor to fair. The base is thin but well packed. With our colder temps, it is starting to firm up our water problems. Remember it is still early season riding so please use caution. PLEASE STAY ON TRAILS. WE HAVE BEEN GETTING COMPLAINTS THAT SOME HAVE NOT BEEN STAYING ON TRAILS, RIDING ON ON MARKED TRAILS CAN LOSE EASEMENT FOR OUR TRAIL SYSTEM SO PLEASE STAY ON TRAILS!!!!!!

The Gogebic Range Trail Authority reports:

12/22/2017

Trail 2 from Hurley to Ramsay: is good with some thin spots, but overall the trail is flat and smooth. Please slow down in the city of Ironwood & Bessemer, be respectful. The rail-bed trail ENDS on the east side of the Keystone Bridge. The club grooms the bridge to maintain it for local access. The “old” trail to Wakefield is closed east of Verona Road and anyone caught riding it will be prosecuted.

Trail 2 from Ramsay to Wakefield is poor to good. From Blackjack to Indianhead snow was pushed into the water, mud and thin spots where ever they could. Please use extreme caution in this area because you will encounter some rough spots along with good.

Trail 2 from Wakefield to Marenisco the trail is good. The pipeline from Trail 2 & 8 intersections has holes and should be travels with caution, Please Slow Down. There is a slushy wet spot 2 miles west of Marenisco. Snow depth will diminsh as you travel from Watefield to Marenisco.

Trail 8 from Bingo’s to Tula Crossing is good. There are several wet areas on the trail that have now turned icy, use caution. Trail 8 from GRTA turn around at Underwood Tower Rd. and east is currently not groomed. The trail is a marsh and water is deep. Travel at your own risk. Police are ticketing riders using the shoulder of the highway. The safest route to Bergland is to use Trail 2 to Trail 1.

Trail 160 is closed hoping to open this coming week.

Trail 11S (Wakefield, MI to Winchester, WI):

Overall Rating: OPEN!!!!!! GOOD CONDITION

Last groomed 12/21, for the first time in 6 years it has been groomed! The final 4.4 miles to Winchester, WI state line is ungroomed at this time. We’re hoping very soon we can groom it. Just need temps to plummet, which is forecast early next week! There are poor sections where the snow was used up to freeze the mud/water spots but they are small. Please enjoy this reopened trail responsibly, thousands of 100% volunteer hours were logged to do this!

Lake Gogebic Area Groomer Report;

Groomers have been out and will continue to be out on the trails daily. We have two re-routes which we hope to have wrapped up by Christmas. There is signage out on the trails and we’ll post a map in a couple of days.

Trail 1 North to White Pine is reported to be in Good condition.

Trail 13 North to Rockland is also reported as good and no major issues.

Trail 1 North on the West Side of Lake Gogebic is temporarily closed.

Trail 13 on the East side of Lake Gogebic is temporarily closed on the North portion and East Shore Road is being used as the temporary bypass.

Trail 13 on the South end of the lake is temporarily closed as they are backfilling today and hope to have the trail open by the weekend.

Trail 8 to Wakefield has very deep water holes and not recommended for riding until after Christmas when the water holes have had an opportunity to freeze up.

Trail 102 North – has a large hole that is also getting fixed today – use caution!

Trail 8 East to Ewen is in fair condition with marginal snow.

Overall – the Lake Gogebic Area trails are reporting Poor Conditions until we get more cold temps to freeze up our swamps.

Two areas experienced challenges due to conditions created by unforeseen logging and we are working on correcting these re-routes. While we are dependent upon cold weather and snow right now – we remain confident that me will have our trails groomed and operational by Christmas.


U.P. Thunder Riders of Watersmeet Groomers Report:

Groomers went out and panned the whole system, so we have a start on a base. We will be waiting for more snow before we run again.

Please use caution when riding you may come across wet areas where the groomers have broken through the ice. It is still early season riding.

THINK SNOW!

PLEASE STAY ON MARKED TRAILS RIDING ON UNMARKED TRAILS CAN RESULT IN THE CLUB LOSING EASEMENT OF THAT TRAIL AND YOU POSSIBLE GETTING A TICKET…..

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