This winter has been uncharacteristically warm.
Temperatures have regularly been above freezing and we’ve had little snow.
As a result, most snowmobile trails aren’t open yet.
In Vilas County, most snowmobile trails are open for an average of 83 days.
In Oneida County, the average season lasts around 80 days.
This year, those seasons will be shorter than normal.
That’s because we’ve had an unusually warm winter.
Mark McDonald is on the Board of Directors for the Northwoods Riders Snowmobile Club in Tomahawk.
The Northwoods Riders are waiting for permission from Lincoln and Oneida County.
“We probably need in our area another six inches or so before there would be a consideration on the county's part to open them,” explained McDonald.
McDonald says late season starts aren’t unprecedented, but they are unusual.
“Typically, by the first of the year, by the first of January, we're typically grooming and can open trails. We'd like to get open earlier than that,” said McDonald.
He says that the club does what they can to open in the week between Christmas and New Year’s, since there are so many people interested in the area.
“But again, Mother Nature is kind of gonna dictate that. This year we're a little slow out of the gate,” he said.
This slow start affects the region economically.
“It's having a huge negative impact. The dealerships that are trying to sell snowmobiles, they're bursting at the seams with inventory that isn't moving. And just all of the motels and the gas stations and restaurants, bars and whatnot that expect to have this time of year be hopping with snowmobilers, it's hurting them,” said McDonald.
This year, he says that some lake trails may never open, since many bodies of water simply haven’t frozen over enough for them to be safe.
“We had some cold weather. We got some frost in the ground, which is what it takes to freeze swamps. But then we had warm weather and we lost that. So a blanket of snow on unfrozen ground does not help us with the swamps freezing,” said McDonald.
Right now, most snowmobile trails are not open.
“It's definitely illegal to be riding the trails at this point, since they're not open. And indeed, it's trespassing,” explained McDonald.
80% of snowmobile trails are on private lands.
“We stay on the marked trail because our right to land use with these private landowners is only for the 16 foot width of the snowmobile trail. We have no rights beyond that,” said McDonald.
Riding off trail is trespassing.
