Reports

Reporter:haywardlakes

Trail Conditions: Fair

Snow Cover: 6-8

Date of Report: January 18, 2021

Area Report:

Hello Riders!

Being such a large county and being blessed with hundreds of miles of trails that include different terrains i.e. woods, lakes, swamps, etc. our report is a bit detailed, this way you can decide your route and if/when you take your ride.

We need snow and cold temps, that’s quite obvious. It’s been an odd year in every way so why should the weather be any different. We did get about 4″ of fresh snow Friday in much of the northern part of the county, however it was wet and heavy and our temps were just below freezing so things would not solidify like we hoped. We had a lot of traffic on top of that new wet snow. Groomers were not able to go out because the weight of the groomer would do more damage than good. Our weather just has not allowed for much grooming this year. The few, very experienced groomers that tried some stretches this weekend had the snow lay down flat but again, with it being soft they didn’t hold up to traffic and we had heavy traffic. However, the temps have dropped last night and today and the high for tomorrow will be 10 degrees. A bit of fluffy fresh snow today, not much but anything is great and helps keep machines cool.  Many groomers did start yesterday and today and will continue through tomorrow. The groomers report that with the cooler temps the trails, even with the minimal snow are grooming nicely. There is snirt in areas and some gravel in others, we do need snow. With the grooming many of the trails to the north are in fair condition, some areas are a little better and some a little worse. Below is a breakdown of where has been groomed and where will be groomed in the following days;

Trails 3/5 between Moose Lake and Lost Land Lake.

Trail 5 to Spider Lake

9 to Twin Lake Tap – Trail 9 between the Tap and Hayward Power Sports is a VERY heavily traveled trail section and is in the open and near the road, even with a lot of snow this trail gets rough and they constantly groom it in the season but it is hard to keep up with its traffic. The plus side is it isn’t a very long section but more of a connector.

Trail 18 south of the bridge between Tiger Cat and Callahan is groomed, north of the bridge will not be groomed until more snow.

3/21 to the north groomed today and 3/21 to the south to River Road will be groomed tomorrow. Trail 5 to the south will not be groomed yet due to there being rocks on that trail and the groomer will uproot them into the trail but also break cleats and other parts of the drag grooming over.

Tonight and tomorrow trail 77 and 8 will be done Trail 5 to BlackIron Trail 22 and 31/77 will be done tomorrow.

Trail 31 south from Hayward to Grindstone was groomed but rough due to the need of more snow.

Trail 9 south to the Flowage will be groomed.

Tuscobia reported to be flat and white.

Southern area near Flambeau Forest and Birchwood will not be grooming until more snow falls.

These areas, from the Chippewa Flowage to the north are rideable. Again, some areas such as lakes and wooded areas will be better and some in the open and corners will have more dirt and ice. We are happy to report that due to the long holiday weekend we still have riders here today who have been riding since Friday and they are pleasantly surprised and find the trails rideable and are happy to be out riding, not to mention that WI has open establishments! The trails as they usually do, continue to improve the more north you ride. Again, we would say most trails from the Flowage to the north are fair.

The Chippewa Flowage reports to be in good shape. Other lakes report to be in fair shape. Spider Lake has been rough this season. LCO remains to not be safe for staking. Lake Hayward trail exiting/entering the lake behind Market Place is closed as it has opened area. Please use the entrance/exit behind Holiday Inn. Trail 18 entrance/exit on the Flowage at R & R is also closed, this has a very large open area of water, please to not attempt to use this area and think you can go around! For your safety please use an alternate route on and off of the Flowage.

Riders also, please STAY ON the marked trails! Trespassing and going off approved trails on private property has been huge issue this year.  This is how we lose trails that we can never get back. Please do not ruin this, ride smart and be respectful.

Thank you for following our page, this is a long and detailed report but we want you as riders to find the best trails and avoid the poor ones if you are choosing to ride. We want your experience to be a great one in Sawyer County and should you chose to reschedule your trip or ride we want you to know our conditions the best of our ability and know we are working with the circumstances at hand.  We need some fresh snow but know to stay optimistic because the Northwood’s weather is unpredictable! Can you remember when we didn’t have trail reporting and we all had to just get on our sleds and ride and deal with any bumps?! Thank you to all the volunteers, clubs, business and trail checkers for all you do including such great reports to share!=