Riding with Dan & Dylan, Weekend of January 10, 2009

Friday, January 9, 2009. Weather 17 degrees and sunny at 4:30 pm

We left Chute Pond on the Bonita Creek trail and headed north on the 7 N RR grade. We took the short connecting trail to 2112, and headed west to the tunnel. We ran into Sam Smith, a high school alumni classmate of Dylan's, at Hwy W, so we rode together with him. We took the trail towards Mountain Lakes at the "Y", and turned east to the RR grade at the Halfway Bar. The trails so far were all flat and smooth- great riding. We headed south and then turned east on the Paul Bunyan trail towards Crooked Lake. This trail was bumpy and in bad need of some grooming. Overall condition was fair at best- very disappointing seeing as it was the start of the weekend which is prime riding time. We came into Crooked Lake on Tar Dam Rd, which was thankfully the smoothest part of this trail section. We stopped in to say hi to Tim & Jackie at Randall's Resort. Sam went his separate way when we left Randall's. We headed back home on the 18 W trail, and it was freshly groomed, flat and smooth. We stopped for gas at Rhode's Junction, then cut across Anderson Lake and took 2112 to the Doze Inn trail to Chute Pond and home. This was my first ride of the year (Dylan already had almost 800 miles), and I was again pleased to find that the Chute Pond trails were the best trails around. We rode 57 miles today.

Saturday, January 10, 2009. Weather at 2:00 pm 10 degrees and sunny.

We had a club meeting and chili dump at Logan Roadhouse today, following a difficult night. Our furnace stopped working around 2:00 am, and we woke up to 37 chilly degrees- inside! Thanks to our friend Rick Antolec of N.E.W. Mobile Home Repair and John's Repair Service in Suring, it was working by the time we got home from the meeting. We left the lake on the Bonita Creek trail and headed north on the 7 N RR grade. We took the connector to 2112 and headed west to the tunnel. We were on a mission today to stop and deliver posters and gather donations for our club's benefit ride- R4RD- Ridin' for Robby & Dave. Please see our Calendar of Events or Community Service pages to learn more about this benefit snowmobile ride. We stopped at Pine Grove bar & Grill (one of the benefit's sponsors) and had a short visit with Rocky & Sally. the trails so far were in very good shape. From there we headed out to Boulder Lake Lodge, then out to Gator's Rockin' Country Bar in White Lake. The Langlade County trails were not as good as they usually are- they were fair to good, with signs of heavy traffic today. We took the 18 E trail to the 7 S RR grade and hit Animal's Bear Trail on our way back, then stopped and dropped off posters at Parkside Quick Mart, Mountain Top Bar & Restaurant, and Schoolhouse Bar (also another benefit sponsor) on Hwy 32 in Mountain. The 18 trail and RR grade were in very nice shape for as late in the day as it was getting to be. We headed back to Chute Pond on the 7 S RR grade, where we stopped in at Kitty's I ( the third benefit sponsor), Doze Inn, and finally Everbreeze Resort. We logged 75 miles today, and got a good start on the poster distribution. Traffic was reasonably heavy on the trails today, and in spite of this, they held up pretty well.

Sunday, January 11, 2009. Weather at 8:30 am was 6 degrees and cloudy.

We left Chute Pond on the Everbreeze Resort trail and headed to the 18 E trail to the Junction. We took the trail from behind the Junction to the pipeline, where we headed north. There is the same detour as last year on the southern part of the pipeline, and this year there is a new detour on the north end towards Crooked Lake. The detour takes you east on the 18 E highline trail about a 1/4 mile before it doubles you back towards Crooked Lake. This trail was rerouted by the County Forestry so the trail would be compatible year round for both ATV and snowmobiles during their respective seasons. The pipeline was mostly good, but there were some major dips that rocked us hard towards the north end. We continued on 18 E a ways before turning south on Butler Rock Road. We headed south into the Bag & Bra trail system and worked our way down towards White Potato Lake. Most of the trails were in fair to good condition. It was obvious that the groomers were not out last night. We went around White Potato, and headed south. Much of these trails are through cornfields with steep blind hills. Use caution on these hills, and always stay to your right. We headed south to Kelly Lake, crossed the lake, and headed towards Suring. Again, these trails were not groomed last night, and they showed the wear of heavy Saturday traffic. Bumpy and fair is the best way to describe them. We came into Suring through the golf course, and headed home on the 7 N R grade. The grade was groomed fresh and flat and we cruised comfortably back to Chute Pond. This weekend we rode every mile of Chute Pond trails, and they were all very nice. Our groomers are out every night, and it shows. Chute Pond trails were by far the best we rode. We rode 88 miles today, with a total of 220 for the weekend. I can't wait to get back up to the Pond and ride again next week.

Dan & Dylan