After a few inches of fresh snowfall, Oneida County is opening snowmobile trails Tuesday at 5 pm.
Oneida County Snowmobile Council President Steve Moran says there are some rough spots on the trails.
“Well, we could use more snow. Hopefully we’re gonna get the snow they’re predicting. Mostly they’re white, there’s gonna be some wet spots, that’s the biggest concern we have. Swamps are not frozen with all the warm weather we’ve had, and the insulating snow we had earlier in November.”
There are a few trail segments remaining closed. Those include the Minocqua Forest Riders Trail 5 in between trail 10 & trail 5A; Minocqua Forest Riders Trail 10 in between trail 9 & trail 10A; Three Lakes Trail 13 in between trail 217 & Alternate 13 trail, and Willow Region Trail 5 in between trail 5b to the Lincoln County Line.
The trail openers come just in time for the holidays. The weekend after Christmas is typically one of the most important for winter tourism.
Iron County trails reopened late last week after closing for a few days due to warm temperatures.
Vilas County trails have been open since December 12th but were in poor condition as of last week. The latest trail information is that trails are now in fair early season condition, with more cold and snow in the forecast.
Moran notes riders should use particular caution when crossing lakes.
“Many of them are marked. And I’m hearing there’s good ice on many of the lakes, but if they haven’t been marked, there’s a reason – the club’s haven’t had time to get it done and there may not be enough safe ice out there. So stay off those lakes if they’re not marked.”
Meanwhile Forest County trails are still closed.
