Dates where picked and time off from work was granted. Now where to go? Northern Minnesota was the place of focus for another snowmobiling trip. Ever since visiting Voyageurs National Park a couple of summers ago, I wanted to return in the winter to see this winter wonderland. Searching for snowmobiles to rent and other things to do brought even more interest to this adventure. Ice fishing would be fun and there are ice roads typically plowed through Voyageurs for vehicles to drive on providing access to areas otherwise only available by boat. More research yielded few options for snowmobiles to rent and once putting together the costs to rent a sled and getting ice fishing equipment along with lodging made this less appealing this year. There was another option. An invitation by some friends to visit the Upper Peninsula of Michigan could be taken up. They had offered up a place to stay and continued to boast about the great snowmobile trails available.
Checking into this option, this seemed like the route to go for this reprieve from work. Locating snowmobiles for rent was easier than in Northern Minnesota and all of the trails were open and groomed. At least for the moment. Watching the forecast was somewhat disappointing as warmer weather and no snow were predicted. Would the trails remain open after some nice melting was occurring? How about the condition with ice forming after melting and refreezing. I continued to watch the updated forecast daily with anticipation hoping for some fresh snow to show up. A coating did end up falling but not enough to make much difference. Fortunately there was such a great base of snow from earlier in the winter that the conditions where still really good. Off to the U.P.!
I’ve never had so many good trails to ride on. It didn’t really matter where the sleds went, the trails were in really good condition. While there hasn’t been much snowfall in recent weeks, the quantity of snow from earlier in the winter combined with constant grooming of these trails made for some great riding. And to be able to travel through the beautiful landscapes of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan made for a couple of really enjoyable days. The first day started off a little on the cold side with temperatures starting out below zero Fahrenheit with wind amplifying that cold but it warmed fairly fast into the 20’s for the afternoon under a sun filled sky. The next day started out warmer and reached above freezing by midday making it almost a perfect day of snowmobiling. The only thing that I could think of to make it better was a fresh round of snow. Back to reality after this nice break.
