12/05/2024
We have snow. There's around 4' on the ground. How are the trails? Well considering a week ago we didn't have anything on the ground... there is no base under that snow.
The clubs have been out straightening the curves and flattening the hills. The only way they know how.
So there are rocks, water holes, etc on our trail system. So if you're looking for smooth trails with zero hazards, you won't find that anywhere in the UP yet.
If you're a back home ditchbanger and looking for powder to ride, we have what you're looking for and it will be great riding.
The Snow Chasers crew is coming up from Southern MN to play. 4ft is better than the dusting we have back home. If we had this in MN we would be banging ditches all weekend long.
The forecast looks great for the weekend and the perfect recipe to setup trails over the next week. A slight warmup this weekend with a slight chance of rain, then right back to freezing temps will allow all this snow to create an awesome base for the rest of winter. Groomers will continue to be out packing. Early season sledders also help this packing process. Add some more snow on top of all that and now we're looking at trails smooth enough for your Prius to drive on.
So, come on up now if you're not afraid of early season riding and a few hazards and you want to get your sled legs broke in. If you can only ride smooth highways this weekend might not be for you.
Things are shaping up for an awesome season and all of the UP businesses are ready for you!
We see you! Even if we couldn’t “see” you sitting at your computer right now, trying to check forecasts and trail conditions for all the areas, we know so many of you are! This is evident just by the sheer amount of messages and calls we are getting regarding “is it worth it to come up and ride”. As we always say, everyone’s “worth it” is so subjective and different!
A great deal of the U.P. received upwards of 30 plus inches of snow in the last week and there truly isn’t an end in sight! As wonderful as that sounds it is still “early season” conditions. Each and every club across the U.P. is dealing with the fresh snowfall, getting trails opened, wet areas, trees down, etc.
There have been numerous riders up riding and we haven’t seen or heard from any saying they were disappointed. They knew to expect early season conditions.
A few points we can highlight regarding the Keweenaw:
✅No matter what forecast you look at - a good amount of additional snow will accumulate by Friday and then new clippers next week!
✅ Superior Snowmobile Club and Keweenaw Snowmobile Club have been out opening/panning/grooming trails
✅Trails 3 from Mass City to Copper Harbor, Trail 109 from 3 to Alston, Trail 17 from Hancock to Calumet, Trail 134 from Clear Lake to Trail 135, Trail 135, Trail 134 from Copper Harbor to Trail 135, Trail 122 from Trail 3 to Post Road are all open (Trail 122 has large open wet areas - not recommended at this time)
⚠️Trails 130,150,151 do not yet have enough snow on them to be groomed
⚠️The short spur trail to High Rock Bay also has not had any reports regarding condition, there is usually a pretty decent sized water hole early season
🚫Trail 124 is temporarily closed for logging (hopefully be open by Christmas)
🚫Trail 133 is closed until hunting season has ended and conditions improve (very wet areas)
🚫Trails 120/121 The Freda Loop is still closed from extensive damage resulting from the The Father’s Day Flood of 2018 (action is currently being taken for the hopeful opening next season)
🛑 The Portage Lake Lift Bridge has not opened yet for sled crossing, this means you can not ride from Hancock to Houghton or vice versa without trailering across
✅ All area businesses are eagerly anticipating seeing all of you again or meeting you for the first time after the lack luster season we had last year!
Request a free copy to be mailed to you of the Keweenaw trail system here: https://www.visitkeweenaw.com/plan/free-area-guides/
Please download the Groomer Tracker app and subscribe to the trail systems where you ride for real time/up to the moment grooming operation information! For a nominal $10 fee ($5 comes directly back to the club to help support trail operation) you have valuable information to help you plan your routes.
⚠️ There has been a glitch for the first time (in no ways a regular occurance) with the transponders in the grooming machines and they have been working on resolving this - should be fixed within a day or two!
