Woodland Snowmobile Rentals » Trail Conditions

Not enough for this weekend, Sorry

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:29:31 +0000

It doesn’t look like we got enough snow to replace what we lost from the rain on Sunday night. There is still some slushy spots in the low areas that need cold temperatures at night to firm up.

We will let you know when it is worth making the trip up again.

Diane and Rob

Woodland Motor Lodge

Winter can not make up its mind.

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:28:34 +0000

Yesterday (Jan 23rd) the temperature reached 40 degrees. Melting was the name of the day. So sad to see so much of the snow become puddles and then turn into ice.

Today the snow is back falling. Fingers are crossed that we get enough to make up for yesterday and that this coming weekend can be as good as last.

This is the view out our front and back door.

Here is what the next couple of days should bring according to the National Weather Forecast:

Today January 24
Snow showers in the morning with a chance of continued flurries later. High near 25F. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of snow 40%.

Tonight January 24
Scattered snow flurries early. Clouds will linger later on. Low 19F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.

Tomorrow January 25
Cloudy early with partial sunshine expected late. High 32F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.

Thursday January 26
Considerable cloudiness. Highs in the mid 30s and lows in the mid 20s.

Welcome Winter – We have missed you !

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:27:21 +0000

Winter and snowmobiling season has finally arrived.

Here is the Giere Party as they take off from the motel this morning for a perfect day of riding.

Last weekend (Jan 13th and 14th) there was plenty of people up snowmobiling but it was really too early in our opinion. If you called, our advise was to wait. The wait is over!!!

Surprise — 5″ of new snow in Grayling

Woodland Snowmobile Rentals — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 16:34:43 +0000

We were a bit surprised to wake up this morning to 5-6″ of new, heavy, wet snow. It looks like enough for the groomers to go out today to pan the snow down. Prior to this new snow trails were in poor condition, down to ice and dirt in many places. So the first few riders today will find nice new snow, but we’ll have to see what sort of conditions are out there after a weekend’s worth of groomers and traffic.

It’s been a long time since the last update, since there hasn’t been any good snowmobiling news to report up here, so this is nice for a change.

It looks like the highest snow depth is from Grayling south to Houghton Lake and west from there toward Cadillac.

Current Snow Depth:

Last 24 hours Snowfall:

Snow!

Woodland Snowmobile Rentals — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 14:26:46 +0000

OK, it’s finally starting to look like winter has arrived. Only a month or two late, but better late than never.

In the last 3-5 days we’ve gotten about 8 inches of new snow. The National Weather Service Snow Depth Map (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/apx/depthimage/Daily_depth.png) shows about 9 to 13 inches on the ground in Grayling and to the north, south, and west of here. Some of the snow was light and fluffy, but some was wetter and heavier, so we hope it will pack down to a decent start of a base on the trails.

There is a lake effect snow warning today and tonight, with 6-10 inches forecast by Friday afternoon.

Groomers started running again a few days ago. We’ve only heard one or two stories from people that have been out on the trails this week. Reports were generally good. It might sound surprising, but we heard and saw that trails were a bit rougher in the Mancelona and Gaylord areas than around here. I think that’s a result of Mancelona and Gaylord inviting the whole planet up last weekend, with a result of too much traffic there for the light snow cover we had at the time.

Hopefully we’ll see you soon!

Winter is Here!

Woodland Snowmobile Rentals — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 15:34:36 +0000

But not enough snow for the trails to open yet. The National Weather Service agrees with a look out the window and a walk out in the woods, that there is about 6 inches on the ground around here. It’s a bit more over around Mancelona and the center of the snow belt. All of this snow is pretty light and fluffy, though, and isn’t packing down very well into a trail base. In addition the ground isn’t quite frozen yet.

There have been some overly excited reports of several feet of snow that have drawn some snowmobilers up to the area from here to Mancelona, but I think these reports were overblown. There are many brown spots already on most all the trails, as snowmobiles attempt to ride on 8" of light fluffy snow without a base underneath, and churn up the unfrozen ground beneath.

Wait a bit, please!

The Grayling trail groomers haven’t started running yet, as we’re waiting for enough heavy snow to productively groom.

The local National Weather Service office has a new web page for winter snow updates, http://www.crh.noaa.gov/apx/?n=winterbriefing. They have added new content and improved some of their maps, in particular:

Daily Updated Snow Depth: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/apx/depthimage/Daily_depth.png
In-Depth Winter weather forecast videos: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/apx/?n=multimedia
Latest Detailed Snowfall reports: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/product.php?site=apx&product=lsr&issuedby=apx

No More Rentals

As you may have heard already, we have decided to stop renting snowmobiles, at least for now. I’ll repeat here the explanation on our home page:

We have decided, at least temporarily, to discontinue rentals. This wasn’t an easy decision. We’ve rented snowmobiles for the last 8 years and have built up a group of customers and friends that we are reluctant to disappoint.

Why stop? Lawyers. We thought common sense and a liability clause in our contract would ensure that renters assume responsibility for dumb things they do and accidents out on the trails. A recent lawsuit has taught us that we were wrong in that assumption, and that common sense has no place in a courtroom. This makes it too dangerous for us to continue in this business and face additional future lawsuits.

To our previous and potential future customers and friends: We are truly sorry that we’ve had to stop renting. We will still be here with our motel, cabins, and ATV rentals. We’ll likely be out on the trails more (now we can ride our own snowmobiles again), so we’ll still be doing trail reports.

–Rob

Warm Weather, Marginal Trails

Woodland Snowmobile Rentals — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:35:14 +0000

36 Def F and sunshine right now. It’s a beautiful day, as long as you’re not snowmobiling. This warm weather and sun is really going to beat down on the exposed trails that are already a bit brown. That brown snow will absorb the sun’s heat better, and pretty soon it’s wet mud. It looks like this started to happen Friday on Trail 7 south and north of Gaylord — they looked pretty bad at 5pm Friday.

We sent all our snowmobiles out this weekend, with a group with long-standing plans to come up here. This may be the last trip of the season, though, depending on what the trails look like on Monday. There is a little snow in the forecast, but not really enough to build up a rideable base starting with mud. North of Gaylord might even be worse – check out the photos we just uploaded to our web site.

Off trail riding is still probably OK, and we’re thinking of sending next week’s groups off-trail in the army lands east of Grayling. Yep, that’s you, Herb.

–Rob

Poor to Fair Conditions in Grayling

Woodland Snowmobile Rentals — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:53:03 +0000

I’ve put off updating for a while here, because it’s a bit unclear what to say. There is a bit of snow on the trails. Not too much, but enough for the groomers to run. Ice is still a major problem, and the frequency of accidents the past few weeks is what holds us back.

From Ilene at the Visitors Bureau and Keith from the Snowmobile club:

Groomers are running. From Keith, groomer driver for the AVSA…Trail #47 to Lovells is in good shape most of the way but the snow gets a little thin the closer you get to Lovells. Trail #7 is cleaner with the addition of the couple of inches we received this week, but still with some snirt showing. Trail #679 and #79 are white and mostly smooth with very few bumps at the moment. Traffic should be light over the weekend. Be very, very careful of the ice under the snow. There have been accidents because in some areas you can stop easily, and other areas where you just slide. Err on the side of caution and slow down!!

We had an ice-induced accident just a week ago, so we’re still a bit nervous at having our sleds out there. I think we’ll let them out this weekend, but Be Careful!

Winter is back, but not quite enough snow yet

Woodland Snowmobile Rentals — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:23:19 +0000

9 Deg F and a 20 mph wind right now, it sure looks and feels like winter is back. We’ve had lake effect snow the past 2 days, but not much total accumulation. If you are out riding you’ll probably blow through this new snow and find ice / icy hardpack underneath on the trails. I didn’t see any sled traffic out today as I drove to Petoskey and back, but that may be because I could only see 100 feet in the blowing snow.

Not sure if we’re renting out machines for this weekend yet. We’ll have to see if we get more snow tonight and Friday, or if we get some positive reports from people out there.

If your snowmobile has studs or you are riding off-trail, perhaps conditions would be better.

More updates soon as we learn more about the conditions.

Warm Weather and Poor Conditions in Grayling

Woodland Snowmobile Rentals — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:04:43 +0000

32 Degrees now, and things are warming up too much to recommend riding this weekend. 37 was the high yesterday, with a low of 30 overnight, not low enough to really freeze everything back up. Snow that is on the trails gets real mushy at these temperatures, and conditions can deteriorate rapidly. Temperature forecasts are for nearly 40 degree highs both Saturday and Sunday, that’s just too warm.

For example, the stretch of trail south of Gaylord along Otsego lake normally gets quite a bit of traffic and looks more worn. Thursday afternoon, though, it looked nearly as brown as the paved road next to it.

We’re letting a few rental snowmobiles out to a group that will be riding over around Mancelona / Alba. I think we’ll leave the rest of our machines parked, though.

More updates when winter returns….