UP of MICHIGAN.......snow conditions??

journeyman

journeyman

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Aug 11, 2003
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Prior Lake,Mn.
I'm heading to Greenland,MI on Sunday the 28th. Has anyone been up there recently? I called the cabin owner and they said it was snowing alot lately and that all the groomers are running. The strange thing is the snow cover sites like johndee.com don't show alot of snow cover. At least not what I'm used to seeing. :letitsnow
 
A few of us just returned from Muni. There was at least a foot and a half of snow in the woods but it was all powder. The trails had any where from 1 to 4 inch base. My buddy on his 02 srx blew through a set and a half of hi fax in 400 miles. Off trail was great if you have any secret spots to hit.
 
It warmed up to about 35 last night which they said helped settle the snow.
Where is Greenland, MI.

Did you know that it's green in Iceland and icy in Greenland? I just thought I would share that.
 
Greenland/Mass City is on the west side north of Bruce Crossing and south of Twin Lakes. We'll probably ride towards the Copper Harbour.
 
Journeyman, I was just in the area last weekend. We stayed in Silver City and rode all around the area. It snowed off and on last Thurs. - Sat. There was sufficient most everywhere. It was a little thin the closer you got to the lake. Silver City was getting really brown by the time we left. We heard Ontanagon wasn't good either. I would say the areas with the most snow where Mass/greenland, Twin Lakes, Wakefield and Bergland. We didn't get over by Bruce Crossing but heard it was very rough. There was a lot of traffic everywhere that beat things up pretty bad by the end of the day. It wasn't the best riding, but it was riding which is something I can't do close to home. A little more snow will help the groomers up there.
 
J-man, If you want the best conditions in the U.P. (Low traffic, most snow, awsome off trail) take a trip east of greenland over to l'ance, M38 east to Baraga, then around the bay too l'ance. You will need to take dynamite hill road about 5 miles out of town, as the trails in town $uck (low snow). Once you get out twards mount arvon, there is so much snow even the long tracks that were riding with us got stuck breaking trail. You can ride to big bay, or south to champion, they are awsome!!!. There is low traffic due to the fact there is low snow from marquette to big bay, and the trails out of baraga/l'ance are poor. I was sitting on the trail from 8:30am to 10:30am sat morning, and saw a grand total of four sleds, thats low traffic!!!!!!!!!!
 
vipertripplexxx said:
J-man, If you want the best conditions in the U.P. (Low traffic, most snow, awsome off trail) take a trip east of greenland over to l'ance, M38 east to Baraga, then around the bay too l'ance. You will need to take dynamite hill road about 5 miles out of town, as the trails in town $uck (low snow). Once you get out twards mount arvon, there is so much snow even the long tracks that were riding with us got stuck breaking trail. You can ride to big bay, or south to champion, they are awsome!!!. There is low traffic due to the fact there is low snow from marquette to big bay, and the trails out of baraga/l'ance are poor. I was sitting on the trail from 8:30am to 10:30am sat morning, and saw a grand total of four sleds, thats low traffic!!!!!!!!!!
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Your saying there is good snow from Big Bay to Champion? Are the water crossings covered? Same question between Champion and Michigammie? Are the water crossings crossable? I don't want to do this to my Viper again;
DSC04303.jpg
 
I rode yesterday from Grand Maris to Newberry and it got better the closer I got to Newberry. For the most part the area around Christmas was best. The snow was great in some spots and snirt in others (grand maris). Tracked 300 miles, 50% decent. Need more snow.
 
JeepTherapy,
The trails from Champion to Big Bay are great, same with Big Bay most of the way too L'anse, excellent! Champion to Michigammie are only about 6 miles apart???? We did not go to Michigammie so I don't know?
 
vipertripplexxx said:
JeepTherapy,
The trails from Champion to Big Bay are great, same with Big Bay most of the way too L'anse, excellent! Champion to Michigammie are only about 6 miles apart???? We did not go to Michigammie so I don't know?
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I rode from Negaunee toward Champion yesterday. There was a lot more snow than I thought there would be. No bare spots. There were a lot of potato size rocks turned up. I am going to try and make a run to Big Bay this weekend if all goes well. Thanks for the trail report tripX.

This is between Ishpeming and Champion. Trail was pretty good. But that is an example of the rocks. There were also some big holes in the shadows that were a little hard on the back.

rock.JPG
 
Jeep Therapy i have a pic like that of my old VMAX 600 during TY ride weekend during MLK weekend. Still have to clean it. It actually has gotten cold and is staying this way.
 
sandmanmike1 said:
Jeep Therapy i have a pic like that of my old VMAX 600 during TY ride weekend during MLK weekend. Still have to clean it. It actually has gotten cold and is staying this way.
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Glad I have a heated garage. If you look close in the pic you will see the ski of my VMax 600. It looked just like the Viper. :(

I ended up loading them on a trailer and making a trip to the car wash.

That was why I was asking about the water crossings. There are a few between here and Big Bay. Here is one from last year.
Picture+050.jpg
 
JEEP THERAPY, DID YOU GET OUT AND CHECK THOSE HURON MTN'S TRAILS?

IF YOU LIVE IN NEGAUNEE YOU WOULD BE SOOOOO CLOSE!!!

I HEAR THEY HAVE GOTTEN ANOTHER 2 FEET IN THE PAST WEEK!
 
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I haven't made it up there :( But.... we have plenty of snow around here to trail ride! I talked to my kids roomate in Houghton and he was going to head out that way. Pretty funny, I think that is too far to go to ride.

We got about 8" over the weekend and another 4-5" last night. I can only ride about an hour before my body gives out so I am happy. Out my back door, hop on my sled and 2 blocks to the trail.
 
Tripple xxx, can you get me a map of where you are talking about. We are heading up on Monday, and bag tripping around till sunday. Sounds like a great place to play for a while. Maxdlx
 
Well, I took a ride this past weekend from Newberry to Houghton and then out to North Dakota to pick up a new puppy (German Wirehair) and I got to see a lot of the U.P. snow conditions along M-28/US-41/M-26/US-45/US-2. The best snow that we saw was definately on the West end of the U.P. All along M-26 there was a boatload of snow south of Painesdale down towards south of Mass City. The snow started to thin out a little around Bruce Crossing, but as you started heading west towards Wakefield, it picked up again. On our return trip on Saturday night, there was a healthy amount of snow that came down in a 12 hr period. From Ashland, Wisconsin back into the U.P., up to South Range, there was anywhere from 6-14 inches of fresh snow ON THE ROAD at night, so who knows how much they actually got. In fact, in-between Donken and Painesdale, there were several people that had been riding down the shoulder of M-26 and looked like they were laying down carves in the middle of the road. If you're looking for a ride with lots of snow, head west.
 
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