UPPER MICHIGAN

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Ontonagon Michigan Snowmobile Trail Report

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TRAIL REPORT

3/18/2025
We will not return to grooming with this week's storm due to the risk of getting equipment stuck. Lots of water moving and we've lost just too much snow. Ride safe if you choose to chase the snow!!

3/10/2025
Grooming is paused. It's 60 degrees today. If grooming resumes it will be on a limited basis (13, porkies trails). We will issue a season wrap up report later this month.

3/7/2025
Trails are incredible. Download Groomer Tracker to see the trails we groomed over the last 24 hours. We did a few passes down Rock Hill trail 13 to set it up for a great weekend. Great snow on the trails!! Be careful of water hazards opening up, but they'll be navigable. Cold temps last night helped trails freeze in hard during our grooming. Trail 12 from 101 North/NE to Ontonagon is not groomed.

3/3/2025

We did the Porkies and our main corridor route Trail #13 last night. Gogebic Area Grooming and The U.P. Superior Snowmobile Club were out, Gogebic did north of the lake and Superior hit everything except 13 so it looks like a good day!

If the weather forecast holds we will be shut down Monday & Tuesday and doing a little maintenance.

Keep your fingers crossed for the system coming in Tuesday night into Wednesday!!!

Ha e a great day and be safe.

2/25/2025

HOW ARE THE TRAILS?

Well - they are hanging in there, but took a major hit. Images from The U.P. Superior Snowmobile Club trail 3 trestle bridges. Snow is thin on the road to Lake of the clouds. Trails in the ditch and anywhere that had snow-cancer deteriorated significantly yesterday. The forecast of 46 and clouds turned into 52 and sun with wind. Grooming remains paused. We will evaluate the temperature forecast for grooming tonight and we will try to get out there, but TBD. Trails are rated in FAIR condition with POOR areas and EXCELLENT areas. But, the entire system is full of bumps. We are seeing the return of northern Wisconsin riders as their trail systems shutter. We currently have 1 Pistenbully down that we hope to get back online for the weekend. SNOW IS FORECAST ALMOST EVERY DAY. A little shot of snow and our groomer operators can do magic!

2/19/2025

SNOWMAGEDDON CONTINUES

Snow depth is reaching epic levels! Snow along Lake Superior shoreline is the deepest we've seen in many years. Depth in the Porkies, trail 101/13 areas are incredible. Cold temps is keeping the fresh snow ALL POWDER through to this weekend. THE TIME TO POWDER CHASE IS NOW!

Thank you North Country SC Volunteers!!!

2/11/2025

Condition: Excellent. Cold temperatures and a dramatic reduction in snowmobile traffic is leaving our trails in incredible shape. They are the best they've been in a long time. The time is NOW to get up here and ride!

Base: 12-36"+

Groomers Online: 3 of 3

Trail 13 from Rockland to 101 Intersection with Gogebic Area Grooming: The trail has been widened and continual work on the bazillion 90 degree corners happens every night. Groomed 2/10-2/11 Overnight by Mike C. of Lake Geneva, WI.

Trail 101: Excellent, groomed last night.

Trail 12 from 101 to Trail 1 by Konteka Black Bear Resort White Pine, Michigan and White Pine’s Yooper Diner: Groomed last night, excellent condition.

Trail 12 from 101 NORTH to Scott's Superior Inn and Cabins in Ontonagon: Groomed two nights ago, will be groomed this evening by Mac in the tractor as we return it to the shop for routine maintenance. The ditch trail is improving with grooming. PLEASE SLOW DOWN ON NORWICH ROAD. The MDNR is ticketing riders for speeding.

Trail 1 from White Pine to Silver City: Groomed last night. Nightly grooming by the Lulich Implement, Inc. New Holland Tractor team has the trail in amazing shape. Groomers will be on the trail this afternoon getting a jump start on their evening plans.

Trails 1 and 11 inside the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park - the Porkies: Will be getting extra attention to flatten corners and cut down bridge snow tonight. Ride with caution, groomers may have windrows this evening as they roll snow from the outside to the inside of the trail.

2/6/2025
Trails are rated in good to excellent condition. Finally, we are not resetting the trail base completely every night. Traffic is subsiding! Thank you Ontonagon Scott, White Pine Nick, and North Coast Steve for your time last night fixing trails up for our guests. We have been relieved to see the lack moguls on our trail system, thanks in large part to our amazing mechanic team! Please have a safe Super Bowl weekend, ride right, ride sober.

1/26/2025
A sight for sore eyes!!! After a week of trying to keep up with two machines down, our tractor is back!
Big shout out to Dan Lulich at Lulich Implement, Inc. And Greg of Greg's Towing for all of the extra effort needed to turn her around in 4 days!
We groomed all 109 miles last night and expect to do the same tonight.
Snowing pretty good right now, get up here and ride!

1/20/2025
A foot of fresh snow was down by 11am today. Trails have rebounded remarkably, GROOMING NIGHTLY. They are excellent. We expect to get our tractor back this week and return to all rigs online. THANK YOU CLUB VOLUNTEERS FOR YOUR EFFORTS!!!

2/6/2025
Trails are rated in good to excellent condition. Finally, we are not resetting the trail base completely every night. Traffic is subsiding! Thank you Ontonagon Scott, White Pine Nick, and North Coast Steve for your time last night fixing trails up for our guests. We have been relieved to see the lack moguls on our trail system, thanks in large part to our amazing mechanic team! Please have a safe Super Bowl weekend, ride right, ride sober.

1/18/2025
Groomers are on the trails today during daytime, please ride slowly today!!! We have 2 of 3 groomers online playing catch up. Trail 13 west of Rockland and trail 1 and 12 around White Pine will have active grooming in daytime. Stay safe with these cold temps and Groomer TC Troll Joe reports great fresh snow near our turn around in Greenland with The U.P. Superior Snowmobile Club . Image from this morning at 101/13 intersection with Gogebic Area Grooming . Please be patient wherever you are today. Lots of new to the area riders, at capacity trailside stops, slow down and enjoy the day!

1/15/2025
Last night we let the Dubie talk....
Josh Ramsey was out flattening 13 on Victoria road last night and sent in this video. We are day grooming in the Porkies again to try and keep up with traffic with a downed groomer. We plan to recover the tractor tomorrow and return it to service! We hope!
Trails are looking amazing! Thank you to Wyatt, Joe, Kurtis, Steve and Justin R. From the Keweenaw Snowmobile Club. We are grateful for the folks who keep us moving forward!

1/14/2025
Good Morning!

Today is 1/14/25. Be alert for groomers on the trails during the day today and tomorrow as we work to catch up on grooming. We still have a downed groomer out at 102 and trail 11; 18 miles from a plowed road inside the Porkies. It should be nearly buried in lake effect snow by now!

NEW SNOW? - LOTS! Trails are rated GOOD TO EXCELLENT! Some thin spots, but WOWIE are we back in business!!

TRAIL 12 FROM ONTONAGON EAST TO Pat's Motorsports IN GREENLAND: GOOD CONDITION. Groomed up last night! We believe the wet areas are resolved and regular grooming activity (Nightly) resumes this week!

TRAIL 137 FROM 13 TO Roxey's Bar & Grill IN DOWNTOWN ONTONAGON: GOOD TO FAIR CONDITION. A few spots are thin, but it's in fantastic shape. Excellent option to get you into and out of Ontonagon!

TRAIL 12 FROM ONTONAGON WEST TO Hamilton's North Coast Adventures: FAIR CONDITION. Thank you to the Scott's Superior Inn and Cabins team for brushing the ditches for us! We have a lot more to do, but Wyatt is working his way down the ditches today. PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL OF THE NORWICH ROAD RESIDENTS. Do not fly down the road at 70mph. PLEASE keep your noise and nuisance to a minimum. Remember, we live here, you are a guest! We need to improve signage and way finding on this route.

TRAIL 13 FROM 137 WEST TO TRAIL 101: GOOD TO VERY GOOD CONDITION. The drag broke just after Joe groomed down Rock Hill by the 137 intersection yesterday. Josh Ramsey will be grooming it tonight to make it all better!

TRAIL 1 FROM WHITE PINE TO LAKE OF THE CLOUDS: GOOD CONDITION. It was groomed today.

TRAIL 11 FROM SOUTH BOUNDARY ROAD TO 102: EXCELLENT CONDITION. Being groomed today. Be alert for our groomer that is broken down out in the porkies. We are working to get it back online ASAP!

1/11/2025

Please enjoy this view of trail 13 finish groom from early this morning courtesy of Hamilton's North Coast Adventures. This is between Norwich Road and Old Victoria Road. The area has seen 8-12" of fresh snow, more towards White Pine and the most at the intersection of 102 and 11 in the Porkies. We have a groomer down out in the Porkies, only one pass down South Boundary Road trail 11 was completed. The boys had a long night rescuing the operator out of there. Trail 1 south from White Pine, trail 12 east of trail 1 to trail 101, trail 101, trail 13 from 101 to 137, and 137 was groomed into Ontonagon. We are SHOCKED at how much 137 has rebounded! There are some sections with no base where the LES skipped out, but it's the most rideable we've seen in a few weeks. Ontonagon is doable via 137/13!

We plan to recover the groomer today (expecting to drive it out), TC Troll Joe is back in country here and he plans to fill holes and push open 12 to Pat's Motorsports !!!

Trail 12 east of White Pine still has some water hazards that we're trying to freeze in. Your trail report writer is about fed up and will be placing some culverts in there tomorrow if they don't hold!

Trails improved Friday night with grooming and fresh snow. Trails are rated in FAIR TO GOOD condition with early season hazards existing. We continue to seek help brushing the west side ditch of Norwich Road so we can get into it with the groomer for our trail 12 detour.

We're thinking of you Kevin; we sure miss you dude.

North Coast Steve

1/6/2025

Please be mindful of:

TRAIL 12 LP WALSH ROAD has a bad washout at the base of a hill 3 miles east of Konteka Black Bear Resort White Pine, Michigan. We will work to resolve it this week, but please ride slowly!

Trail 1 to Lake of the Clouds unplowed road, from the trail 12 intersection, is thin but rideable with grooming on going. Being a marquee stop on our trails, it is heavily used.

We will update more as we know it, crews will be out all week! Fresh snow has fallen day after day and grooming continues to bring trails back into shape. Overall conditions rated Fair, some excellent stretches, some poor, some mud and water on different sections of trail 12, you get the idea!

1/3/2025

TWO groomers heading out tonight! Seems 6-12" is down across the area with more in the higher terrain areas. Trails are VERY ICY, PLEASE SLOW DOWN. Groomers will continue to run this weekend! If things work out we may get all three groomers out cutting bumps tomorrow! Think snow!!

NCSC Groomer Nick is headed to The Porkies' South Boundary road trail #11 and trail #1 to Lake of the Clouds overlook. The final 1/4 mile up to the overlook parking lot will not be groomed. The final 1/4 mile we are going to give the sleds a day or two to pack in the snow to help keep our tractor from spinning out.

There are open mud/water hazards on trail 1# along the lake to the park.

TC Troll Joe is headed from Ontonagon to Silver City to start fixing up trail #1 from the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park - the Porkies ski hill back south to the Konteka Black Bear Resort White Pine, Michigan. From there he will work east on trail 12 LP Walsh Road to trail 101, 13, and finally 137 back to the barn...if he can get that far!

Shout out to Groomer Mikey and Wyatt - They did full services to our PistenBully North America machines while they were up here, so we're not missing a beat! Thank you!!!

Image from our first grooming runs a few weeks ago.

-North Coast Steve

12/28/2024

We're suggesting you guys better not be adventuring out on the sled trails rights now. We've had light rain, 34*F temps, 39* high today, more light rain/drizzle through midday. Trails along road ditches will be very hazardous with ponding from the rain/melting. We did seem to get spared somewhat with the heaviest rain!!

ARE TRAILS RUINED? NO! Trails along roadway ditches and in the swamps will need major attention once the flowing water subsides. Trails in the woods on good surfaces will rebound quickly with some fresh snow, much of our Porcupine Mountain trails remain WHITE! Early January riding is totally in the realm of reality as long as we get a good blast of snow.

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas to our faithful sledders!

We will be working on trail signage, brushing, and our club house over the warmup.

Groomers will be offline throughout the warmups. Cold temps slide back into our lives at the start of next month. Get your trips booked!!

12/23/2024
Trails are good for early season. Ride safe. Get up here and enjoy!

12/20/2024
GROOMERS WERE OUT ALL NIGHT! 6" of fresh snow out @ Hamilton's North Coast Adventures but only 4" at the Konteka Black Bear Resort White Pine, Michigan! COLD TEMPS AHEAD! We are out gathering media for a trail report, but riding conditions will be poor to very good in spots! Water hazards exist, Groomer Mikey did his magic on trail 12 to Pat's Motorsports last night, that should be good to go! Groomer Mikey post an update when you wake up, sunshine!!!

12/19/2024

Hello Sledders! The club is preparing to get out grooming our trails today, tonight, tomorrow, and as long as the trails let us. Our plan is to groom up everything "worth grooming" ahead of the weekend. It looks like we're likely going to see trails deteriorate just before the new year, SO GET ON UP HERE THIS WEEKEND!

WHAT IS WORTH GROOMING? Every trail we have that won't risk getting our equipment royally stuck, abusing it on low snow, etc. We are planning to get trail 1 and LP Walsh Road Trail groomed back in. We stayed off of these areas to allow the sleds to pound the frost in and time for the areas to freeze solid for the heavy groomers. We continue to be AHEAD OF OUR NORMAL GROOMING SCHEDULE as compared to past seasons, so be patient, please.

We anticipate fair riding conditions this weekend. Temperatures look to be great for our mediocre snow. We will outline suggested ride routes and update trail closures later today. We will be out riding getting some pictures and images to share with you to help you make the best decision possible.

12/17/2024
Trails took a hit from warm temps and mixed precipitation, but we have got the makings of an amazing season ahead! Grooming is mostly paused until tomorrow. We have a brand new Dubie Groomers/Brush Cutter drag that we're running tonight down South Boundary road. Weather models continue to improve for better riding conditions this weekend. Stay tuned, stay positive, and think snow eh!

12/11/2024
It's wild out there. Be safe. We will be working slowly throughout the night. There is a ton of snow in spots, White Pine had a foot midday.

12/10/2024

Good heavenly snowy morning! We received several inches yesterday, maybe an inch today so far with temps hovering in the mid 20's. We did see some mixed precip at times, but the snow guns appear to be put on BLAST here shortly! No grooming equipment is rolling until the crew convenes tonight to set up plans. The water situation we hope hasn't gotten worse and we will be out in force with these cold temps coming to keep the freeze down operations going.

IS IT WORTH RIDING? If you are expecting white trails with no rocks, mud or water, NO. If you're dying to ride are you able to, YES. But, riders be warned trails have numerous water hazards yet.

Lakes are not safe! Ride with extreme caution if you choose to come ride. Not surprisingly, the dual use trails maintained by MI-TRALE in the summer are currently the best trails. South Boundary Road and 1 to LOTC are also likely to be good ride experiences. Getting to and from will be challenging.

12/9/2024
WOW! It was like a peak weekend in February here this past Saturday! We thank you all so much for spending your time and money to come and visit our region! We have experienced several inches of new snow, but it was mixed with rain in spots across the area. It's around 32 degrees with snow forecast all week, with spots of rain mixed in. With that said, we will not be doing any grooming work with equipment until at least mid week. It turns COLD midweek so think snow!! Image from this past Friday night as the team worked to set trails in for Saturday.

12/7/2024

Today's update is brought to you by Roxey's Bar & Grill in downtown Ontonagon! A fantastic destination today with great trail conditions to and from! Trails that are rideable are in good shape, the others, heed warnings! Please support the sponsors that support us!!!

Trail 137: starts thinning the last 1/2 mile as you drop north into Ontonagon. Plenty of snow and we even covered the bare spot underneath the bridge. Groomed last night

Trail 12 from 137 east to Greenland: Mega water holes. Likely impassable for most riders. Rolled and packed for first timers Thursday night. Riding not advised.

Trail 12 from Ontonagon WEST to 101: CLOSED, BRIDGE OUT. Opening Jan 2025.

Trail 13: Rated good to very good. Deepest trail we found. Groomed up very well last night. Groomed in road route ditch trail

Trail 101: Very good to excellent. Groomed up last night.

Trail 12 from 101 to White Pine: fair to good. Water holes will reopen today, but it had a ton of snow along the power lines! Be mindful of driveway crossings! Also groomed in road route ditch trail.

Trail 1 to Trail 11: Poor, but rideable. Snow farming operations turned it to snirt as snow levels dropped as you went north (very typical as you go to the lake).

Trail 1 to Lake Of The Clouds: Fair. Thin snow. Groomed last night.

Trail 11: Has not been groomed or rolled, but should be a great ride on the unplowed south Boundary Road.

12/5/2024
Numerous wet area hazards exist. Trail 12 is extremely wet from Greenland to 137, we'd say impassable. Trail 12 from Ontonagon to Trail 101 is CLOSED. We expect this to open in 30 days as we deploy a MDNR temporary bridge. More details when they firm up!

12/03/2024

Welcome to the 2025 snowmobile season! It's going to be a great one!

Groomer Mikey took Chad, Hollywood, and TC Troll Joe out for a nice 10-hour training/brushing session Sunday! Here's the team's notes! Thank you to our volunteers and Mike O. for sharing his depth of knowledge and expertise around our club.

Need More snow, but an EXCELLENT BASE is shaping up! Light freezing rain bouts swung through bringing much needed moisture to the dry lake effect snow, creating the excellent base

Snow settled Monday and Tuesday as temps warmed into the low 20's as the freezing rain swung thru

Trails 13, 137, and portions of trail 12 were brushed open, track packed, and rolled

Wet areas are VERY WET

If you want to ride, come ride! You will see dynamic trail conditions from good to mud. We are not grooming at this time, but sleds sure help hammer the frost in! Trails are full of hazards from early season conditions (Rocks, mud, flowing water, slush pools, low or no snow)

A nice clipper system is swinging through this week, and Michigan does seem to be Michigan-ing again, which is pretty neat. Lots of snow forecast this month!! BE ready!

11/29/2024
On Sunday, Groomer Mikey will be packing trails and opening gates; we will provide a conditions update following that. Groomer Mikey

Other Important Snowmobile Links listed below.