Hans Isaacson
Western Upper Peninsula Trail Conditions
Back to Top of ListDNR Newsletter regarding trails 12/2
Gogebic County
- Gogebic Range Trails: (12/15) 🥰 The trails were pretty decent from Bessemer to Bergland a few wet areas and several low branches but really overall worth making the trip Trails are definitely early season yet but for December 14th it sure is nice to be sleddin to lunch at Antonio’s Bergland, MI
- Lake Gogebic: (12/14) Your Sunday evening 12-14-25 Groomer's report from the Bergland Area. We received around 8"to 10" over the past 2 days from the latest storm. The snow and cold have been helping out tremendously!! I was waiting to hear from one of our operators out currently who had just groomed 8w to see if thing's had improved but he hasn't replied. However 8w and 1n are currently being groomed. Today we finally punched through 102. We'll let 102 set up for a day or 2 and run through her again without a drag. Then 13 from Root Cellar north is the last section to open up along with access trail's.
Mother Nature cooperates! We are moving forward and some sections are beautiful and other's just need time. Thanks everyone! - Watersmeet: (12/11) UPDATED 12/11/25- Crews finally pushed through and cleared all the trails on Wednesday and we sent our two groomers out today (Thursday) and were able to pan everything. Still had a few more trees come down and small stuff to clear but they are all groomed. This is early season and with the storm damage don’t expect things to be great. We have a good start to building a base but it is thin now that everything is packed down. So time for some normal snow. Early season conditions, Ride Right , stay safe and again a HUGE THANK YOU to all the crews with there equipment and the snowmobilers who helped with the cleanup.
Ontonagon County
- Ontonagon/Silver City/White Pine: (12/15)
- Trail 1 was groomed from LP Walsh Road to Silver City and back with some wet spots North of White Pine. A rider ran up to Lake of the Clouds and advised us that there is a large tree on the trail just past the split to Trail 11 (South Boundary Road). Snow is thin thru the woods in The Porkies, but the wet spots have frozen up nicely. Thanks for the detailed info, Nick!
- Trail 12 was groomed between White Pine and the split to Trail 101. There are some wet spots along the LP Walsh Road, ride with caution. The trail is not groomed or cleared of hazards beyond that split going East to the NCSC Clubhouse.
- Trail 101 is in great shape!
- Trail 13 from the 101 junction to Rockland is cleared thru and groomed, but narrow in spots, ride with caution.
- Trail12/137 (The railroad grade) between Rockland and Ontonagon is in good shape, but Trail 12 going East to Greenland has not yet been cleared.
If you are running Groomer Tracker please keep in mind that some of the groomers are still running with no drags, clearing trail and or rolling and compacting. Please check with individual clubs to get the full scoop B4 you ride.
- Rockland/Mass City/Sidnaw, Bruce Crossing: (12/11) Groomer Report: Trail Condition: Fair. Last Groomed: December 10th, 2025 Our trails took a hit with the storm on the 26th of November. We have been clearing fallen trees and limbs on the trails since the storm.
- Our part of trail 8 from Ewen to Sidnaw is open and groomed as well as trail 174 and 3 south of the railroad grade.
- Trail 3 north from Bruce Crossing to near Rockland is still not groom able, there are crews working on it every day.
If anyone would like to lend a hand clearing the trails it would be greatly appreciated. Please ride on the RIGHT side of the trail and STOP at the stop signs! Stay on the trail, if you don’t we could lose trail permissions on private property. Groomers have the right of way on the trails, pull over and stop to let them safely pass! We now have Groomer Tracker installed in our groomers. We groom every day that the weather conditions and equipment allow. Unforeseen circumstances may prevent us from going out, like a major blizzard and being snowed in at our homes or equipment breakdowns.
Houghton County & Keweenaw County
- Current Conditions: (12/11)
- Open Keweenaw Snowmobile Trails:
- Trail 3
- Trail 17
- Trail 132 (132W & 132E)
- Trail 134 from Clear Lake Junction to 135 Junction & Copper Harbor to Trail 136 Junction
- Trail 135
- Trail 136 High Rock
- Expect large water holes up to 2 feet in depth the last 1.5 miles to the point. We will not be able to fill and freeze them until the point receives more snow. We do not recommend riding this trail.
- Trail 122 open to Gay
- We will be sharing a small portion of 122 with logging this winter—from the post road through Camp 4 road. It is well signed.
- Please yield to log trucks and proceed cautiously through the area or risk having the trail closed. Expect low snow, water holes, and extensive tree debris on the trail.
- Trail 152
- Trail 153
- Gates may be closed on private property until the groomers make it to open a trail. Please respect these closures until the groomers open gates.
- Keweenaw Snowmobile Club Groomed:
- Trail 3 from Toivola to Calumet and Mohawk to Copper Harbor
- Trail 17
- Trail 135
- Trail 134 from 135 junction to Clear Lake.
Watch for early season condition- rocks, tree limbs, water holes, and drifting.
- Please visit the Keweenaw Snowmobile Club Facebook page for additional info
- Snowmobile Trail Closures
- Portage Lake Lift Bridge snowmobile trail is CLOSED.
- CLOSED due to logging— Please stay out of these areas or risk permanent trail closure:
- Trail 130- Between Eagle Harbor and Eagle River. We anticipate the trail opening mid-December.
- Trail 124- Between Trail 3 at Vansville and the 122/124 Intersection. We anticipate the trail opening January
Please respect private land owner rights. We can't have a trail system without their support.
- Open Keweenaw Snowmobile Trails:
Baraga County (12/13)
- Groomer is on 159, Season Starts!
- (12/14) Just got word there’s a large tree down on 15 making it impassable from Baraga to L’Anse. So use caution. We will get it cleaned up soon!
Iron County
- Iron River: (12/15) Here we are on December15th. Our trail system is open and some trails are rideable thanks to many hours put in by groomer operators, club members and volunteers clearing trails after Thanksgiving snowstorm. Here is the conditions by trail:
- Trail #2 is cleared from Minnie Lake to the Trail #107 intersection.
- Trail #107 to Kenton remains blocked by downed trees. There is a crew out working on it today with an excavator. Once the blockage has been cleared, it may take a few days to get a groomer on it due to upcoming warmers temps.
- Trail #15N to Sidnaw is open and cleared. There is concern about swamps that are not frozen, so this trail has not been groomed.
- Trail #111 to Amasa is open and cleared. This trail has not been groomed.
- Trail #116 to Young's has been groomed up to the Chicagoan Lake Inn. There is a big mud hole just before Young's Complex that is not frozen, so this trail has not been completely groomed.
- Trail #15S to the Wisconsin border is open but not groomed due to a large swamp that is not frozen enough to get a groomer through by the Caspian City Hall.
I will continue to update conditions as they change!!
- Crystal Falls: (12/2) Following the Thanksgiving Blizzard, trail crews are working hard toward a December 15th opening date.
Central Upper Peninsula Trail Conditions
Back to Top of ListMarquette County
- Big Bay Trails: (12/15) All trails have some water spots. Watch for debris and low hanging brush. Many areas have very little base. Ride carefully
- Big Bay to Andersons corner is groomed and in poor condition
- Big Bay to moose country trails is groomed and in poor condition
- Big Bay to Marquette is groomed and in fair to poor condition
- Hiawatha Trails: No report available
- Moose Country: (12/12) Trail 5 from republic to the Big bay turn around is open and groomed. Trail 82 Ishpeming to republic is groomed. Trail 8 from ishpeming to Michigamme is partially groomed but sleds have been through the swamps and packed the trails. Still need a couple of more days of cold nights to help freeze the swamps so we can get the groomer across. Still some wet spots behind Michagamme and in the Diorite swamp area. Trail 8 and 14 to Marquette have been groomed. Trail 5 south and trail 32 to Kates grade have been packed. Need more snow in some of the area's south. We will be going out this weekend to cut trees off of trail 5 and pack in the trail to the turn around down by Sagola. Trail 18 from Republic to Amasa still has Logging operations ongoing so we have not been on this trail yet. Hopefully next week once logging operations are completed. Snow is still thin in spots, consider early season riding conditions.
- Trenary Trails: (12/12) We are getting snowmobile traffic through the 41 tunnel and it is EXACTLY what we need to get that entire corridor froze in! Huge shout out to the beavers for always making things difficult….
We will be making our way through the entire length of the trail soon!
Dickinson County
- (12/14) Our Trails are closed.We do not have enough snow at this time.Stay tuned to this site for updates when conditions change.THINK SNOW!!!!
Menominee County
- (12/10) We have about 6″ to 8″ before we rolled after rolling is about 3″ base and with rocks coming up. Hopefully weatherman is wrong about next week and we get some snow. Think snow!!
Alger County
- Munising: (12/11) Good overall conditions Light lake-effect snow. Trails are in good shape for this early in to the season. We have only had groomers out for packing in swamps, filling water holes, and some early season shaping. We are monitoring and will determine what is best for the trails. Possibly some groomer runs tomorrow – evening. Riders are reporting positive feedback.
- 8 East - Shingleton: Fair. 8 Across the board is being reported to be staying flat. There is some chop in some spots.
- 8 West - Chatham: Fair.
- 7 South - CR440: Fair.
- 7 North - Christmas: Fair. Some thin areas. Nothing you have not seen before.
- 419 East - Wetmore: Fair.
- 419 West - Munising: Fair. Still thin in areas. Swamp is locking up.
- 418 - Au Train: Fair.
- 417 - Brownstone Jnct.: Fair. The North end of this trail going from Chatam to North 417 418 brownstone intersection does have some rocky areas that you should use caution when riding. Trail 417 TO MQT Carp River - Very low traffic being reported. Should be a good ride with some possible gravel spots.
- 422 - Miners Castle: Fair. When Riding H58 HWY please respect vehicle traffic. Ride single file on the right shoulder. Do what you can to minimize road damage.
- Wetmore Spur: Fair. New Trail 420 - The groomer did cut this trail in to establish the trail.
- 8 North - Shingleton: Fair. Swamp still a factor - ride with caution through there. There are also a couple of water holes to be aware of further North.
- Grand Marais: (12/14) From driver Jim. "The snow is piling up and with the cold temperatures it’s making a great base. You gotta thank mother nature it’s been a great start to the season." We continue to keep packing and building a base. The steady but not overwhelming snow amounts have perfect for early season work. The new drag is impressive.
Delta County
- No report available
Schoolcraft County
- Seney: (12/12) Trail 43 heading up to trail 8 has a few water holes just south of Fox River Road. Once you get up towards the grade after the first bridge they’re about three or four water holes still they are starting to freeze in. Nothing that’s gonna sink a sled but they are there after you pass that it’s pretty good all the way to the Bear Trap. There are loggers on trail 8 around petrol lane but they are usually gone by 5 at night so if you rid during the day keep an eye out for them. Trail 440 is in pretty good shape until you hit the hardwoods by the groomer turnaround. There are a few water holes in that area also. Trail 431 pretty good shape, but there are loggers up there and they will be there until Christmas. We tried to fill in the water holes the best we can, but we’re gonna need more snow and colder temperatures to get everything frozen and good. We do have around 20 inches of snow on the ground and the base is about 6 inches thick on the trails.Remember to ride right and stay safe out there.
- Manistique: No report available
Eastern Upper Peninsula Trail Conditions
Back to Top of ListLuce County
- Newberry/Tahquamenon Falls area: (12/14) So ya, had to stop. Just putzin along wondering if it's possible some folks may have Moth in their blood...dunno, just pondering out loud.
While I was pondering it occurred to me that I failed to explain is our rules, state, insurance blah blah blah require the machine to be fully, completely Stopped 
when you go by! EITHER WAY! So two things, if you're coming at us, we'd be delighted if you could find a spot preferably on the opposite side to plant it, and take your fingers OFF THE TRIGGER! back out after, nail it. But Please After you see us smiling when we go by. 
If you're behind, trust us, we want you gone too!" but your youngsters could be out on they're first trip down trail 9, and we're going to find a safe spot you can all get by and enjoy the Groomer Experience, it won't take long! 
3AM just turned around at Holland Lake, scrape the blades again, head south. It's Perfect out here, best in a long, long time, you're all still being really nice to her and it shows! Base is building up very nice and it's packing very well tonight, 17⁰ blend it all together should set up nice. 8:59 Back in, wide flat and wonder from one end to the other both ways! The Holland Lake leg along 407 has come a long way in the last week, just one more pretty good bump the next snow should fix., the rest, nice. Hope you took the week off to enjoy it! Photos link
Chippewa County
- Sault Ste. Marie: (12/15) Hey guys! Rider report from Greg regarding trail 49. If you subscribe to our system on Groomer Tracker, you can see that we have not been through there since Lane set the trail a week ago, but we’ll update once we are able to get in there. For now, good advice from Greg
“The trail to Kinross is a disaster right now (trail 49 from Alberta Ln in the Soo to Gaines Hwy) The power line just as you get out of town has a big wet hole and once you get past that there are holes in the farm fields. Stay out until they open it. The big swamps are fine they just have no snow. The trails in kinross are good. Everything other than Soo to kinross is amazing” We’ll keep you posted! - Paradise: 12/14/25 10 degrees this morning and cloudy. Mother Nature FINALLY blessed us with a good dumping of snow! We have picked up a solid foot or more in the last 36 hrs. and its been COLD. Following up from my last report......the tech did finally make it out and went through our computer problems on all 3 machines. 2 of them are up and runnin good now and we just got the parts we need for the third one and that will be good to go today. Now, on to whats been happinin with the trails...... Yesterday we took 2 machines with 4 guys but no drags and headed south on trail #8. We skipped the swamp just south of town and started at the river mouth. We ran across just some minor water holes at the south end of the power line and a touch more severe in the Federal Forest section. We kept the gates closed in the Federal Forest section to give that a chance to tighten up. Tomorrow we are gonna send the same set up around the Point Trails #452 & #453. The other machine will hit the Pine Stump trail #8 doing a full groom. After we see how all that goes we will hit the Falls trail #45 hopefully by the end of the week. I'm sure ya'll have seen we have a slight warm up coming this Tues. for a couple days so that will dictate what we do on the Falls trail and the Swamp south of town. All I have for now Groomer Chris
- Eckerman: (12/13) We went and groomed the trails last night. Rudyard trail is starting to look good now, thin getting into Rudyard. Trout Lake trail is doing good. Did not do the Molly Gibson yet there is still to much water. Hulbert trail still has one spot that is wet it has snow fence up you need to go out on the road and come back in on other side. Trail 47 and Trail 8 are doing good the snow is definitely better north. Ride safe and ride right. We finally got all the trackers working so enjoy. Get the groomer tracker app. Ride Right and Safe.
- Drummond Island: (12/11) Both groomers have been out have been out the past few days trying to freeze in what waterholes are out there. It’s a necessary evil. Over all the trails are drier than they have been in the last copped if years, which is a great thing. Basically they aren’t ready to be ridden on just yet but with the cold temp and more snow coming that should help improve conditions. Keep your snow boots and start dancing!
Mackinac County
- St Ignace: (12/10) Trail conditions update: With the continued cold temps we have been preparing for better conditions to come by grooming and brushing all of our system. Early season riding conditions is exactly what we have. One section would be considered nice and a mile later it will be thin. We have some sand mixed in between trout lake and cut river. We need more snow to be able to upgrade our conditions. Although currently you can ride the grade out of St ignace with very little issues. We will update this report as soon as conditions change.
- Curtis: (12/14) Trail 43 between McGahn rd south to Sherman drive still remains closed .Huge efforts by multiple volunteers made it possible to get the groomers thru. We need cold temps and snow!!!! Please be patient while we try to get this swamp passible…
- Les Cheneaux/Cedarville/Hessel: (12/14) With muzzle loader season wrapped up, we are able to open the rest of our trails. The trail into Cedarville is now open, and DRY! We will get into Hessel early this week. Trail 49 north from Trail 47 to Kinross and the Soo is not frozen yet. Please avoid this area. The picture is just one of the many trees that had to be cleared tonight. We will keep our fingers crossed that this upcoming warm up will not hurt us too bad. Stay tuned!