Moses Bring your hip boots if this warm weather persists there should be some good water holes developing out there. We still have about a foot or so of snow in the back yard. have fun Mac

 

Wow! It’s good to see so much interest in our “main” riding area. And so much accurate information. Even though we live about 4 hours south of Iron County we ride there year-round. From April to X-mas we’re there every-other weekend and January to March we go up about every third weekend, joining the sleds on the trails with our quads. The travel trailer we have permanently parked at Island Lake Campground is our base camp, but we go there to ride so it’s basically just a place to sleep. It’s been our “playground” for riding, camping and exploring since 1993, so to say we know the area well would be something of an understatement. Most of the locals don’t even know about some of the trails we ride.

ATVing brings a sizable percentage of dollars to this county’s economy so you can expect fair and friendly treatment at the local establishments. The local warden, John Windt, has become a friend of ours and is a very reasonable guy. During last year’s rally with between 1500 and 2000 participants he wrote less than a dozen tickets. That’s not to say he isn’t watching. Like most wardens he seems to have a knack for being everywhere.

The Rally (15th annual this year, that tells you something) means different things to different people. You can stick around town and participate in the radar and mud run etc., you can eat the dust of the Poker Run or you can enjoy the beauty of the county having the most waterfalls in the state without even knowing a rally is in progress. After years of experience we lean more to the latter. With so many riders out and about you might think that hard to do but on the majority of the trails we rode last year we actually had to go looking for company. Even if you’re riding alone, with that many other quads on the trails on the same weekend there’s a kind of electricity in the air (along with all the dust).

If you’re planning to go I suggest you e-mail the CoC at hurley@hurleywi.com and request their county info packet including the ATV and snowmobile trail maps. Comparing the two maps you’ll readily find the trails are one in the same, with one big exception. There are far more sled trails than ATV trails. That doesn’t mean you can’t ride the sled trails, it means the ATV association wasn’t able to secure permission from some land owners for what’s likely a small portion of a trail. Without permission they can’t include it on the map and won’t maintain it as an ATV trail, which means ATV signs and clearing fallen trees. By using a combination of these two maps you’ll double your riding trails and see some fantastic country you’d otherwise miss.

As already mentioned, Trail 6 and its scenic overlooks (they call them vistas) is a must. I agree, it’s probably the best trail in the state. At the west end of 6 by Upson Lake there’s fresh water for wilderness campers, if you know where to find it. Trail 7 from Upson to Saxon is a good ride that goes within 2 minutes of Foster Falls, a real beauty. In real wet conditions the north end of 7 is impassable to Saxon (great mudding if you’re in the mood) unless you know the bypass. A 2 minute detour off Hogsback (11a from Island Lake Road to the Gile Flowage) will take you to Springcamp Falls. Trail 8 between the north end of Hogsback and Iron Belt is a must for serious mudders. I could say so much more about riding this area but I don’t want to fill up the server ;}

On the last two year’s rallies dust has been a real problem. Many wear dust masks but we prefer bandanas that you can wring out in the rivers. And yes, wet conditions can make hip boots as desirable as gold. Campsites at Island Lake may still be available. They have quarter-operated showers there and electricity and water at each site. Call Red or Jean at 715-476-2220 for reservations. Keep trying. If I can help with any other info just email me from the link above this post. We’ll be there from Thursday night through Tuesday morning and aren’t on any schedule so if anyone want’s to hook up and ride we’d be happy to show you some country. The link in my signature shows some pix taken from past rallies and rides up there if anyone’s interested.

 

Floodrunner, glad to here from ya. I looked at all your pictures, very nice.

I thought that you could not run the snowmobile trails in the summer as a lot of them use gravel roads as there connecting routes?

Your pictures from the WI river makes me want to pull my boat out of storage.

I Forgot to mention one other thing. If you make the trip to the shores of Lake Superior, be very very very quite and slow once you see the lake. The dozen or so houses along the road and across from the lake hate the DUST and NOISE. One year we came up two weeks after the rally and were confonted by a few of them asking when the dust and noise will stop. I quess they were fed up with all the traffic from the rally. Just be curteous.

Say hi to Red for me. -------------

Do you ride at Black River Falls, Clark County?

 

The river opened here last Wednesday. Already made a few fishless casts from the deck just to say I did. Won’t be long though and we’ll be eatin’ fresh walleye.

When we first started riding in Iron County we could still ride the Lake Superior beaches. As often happens with something that good, it was ruined by discourteous riders. We haven’t been up there since they closed them to riding but a visit to Montreal Falls is worth the trip (90 footer right on the edge of the lake). If you were confronted by “locals” they were probably “transplants,” tree-huggers from urban areas who want to fence the land and change the culture.

Have you ever ridden the Graveyard Trail up there west of Saxon Harbor Road? It’s on the Res and is supposed to be off-limits but it gets ridden a lot. We haven’t done it but I hear it’s very challenging. I hope to ride it with others who know it during the Rally.

I’ve never been hassled about riding any gravel road in Iron County. Even once years ago when we made a wrong turn at night and ended up riding the shoulder of 51 the state cop who stopped us was decent about it. Until we found/made trails to Wren Falls we used to ride the shoulder of Hwy 77 for a few miles without a problem, although I don’t recommend it.

Since we have a place to stay and more miles of trails in Iron County that’s the only place we ride anymore. We’re supposed to be there this weekend but Red discouraged us from coming. A week ago Wednesday they had about 32” of snow on the ground and a 6” base on the roads. Monday it hit 59 degrees up there and has been above freezing all week. The base has turned to slush making driving very difficult and closing some roads. We’ve ridden in deep slush before and it’s just a cold wet mess. Very unfun, one of the few conditions that’ll keep die-hards like us off the trails. I’d say this weather has pretty much ended sleddin’ for the season so from here on out it’ll be just us wheelers.

BTW, we went around the waterhole behind Sidekicks last year, and that was deep!

 

Glad to see some of the folks off this list going. One thing I hadn't thought about is ORV stickers. Does Wisconsin require them. I tried checking their website for regulations, but it leaves alot to be desired.
Floodrunner,
Can you ride from the campground you mentioned. That seems to be the biggest pitfall. Finding a descent campgound in the area.
Anyway thanks for all the good info. We are looking forward to it.

Brian

 

No ORV stickers needed, just meet the current license/registration requirements for the state you live in and you’re legal to ride in Wisconsin. No helmet requirement either except while participating in the mud & radar runs. Helmeted riders are by far the minority around here. And another thing I’ll mention to MI and MN riders, in WI they don’t bust you for carrying empty beer cans like they do in your states, so please don’t litter the woods with them. I’m not pointing a finger at anyone here but we’ve ridden with those who’ve developed the habit and it pisses me off to have to carry other peoples trash out of the woods.

Trail 11 runs right through the Island Lake campground but it’s a good 45 minute ride (20 by road vehicle) to Hurley. So if you want to partake in the prize drawing, mud & radar runs, the brat feed and the night life you’re better off staying closer to Hurley.

There’s another campground up in Cedar called the Frontier. That’s on the Iron Horse Trail on the corner of Hwy 2 and Saxon Harbor Road. I don’t often recommend it because Bart, the owner (son of the owner) is such a *****. It’s amazing to me that someone who’s livelihood depends on tourism can have such a bad attitude about tourists. But it’s a place to stay and they’ll take your money as long as it’s green and might even pretend to smile while doing it. Don’t expect a warm & fuzzy reception but who cares, you’re there to ride.

 

Floodrunner, the first year we where up in Hurley, we rented a log cabin in the middle of the woods right on the Montreal river. This thing was beautiful, hot tub on the deck, sauna, loft, fireplace, even a place to put our half barrels of cold brew. We had about 15 riders and at $ 200.00 a night, it was a deal. The trails left right from the cabin and we could let it all hang out after riding all day. Unfortunately the owner ( a real ***** lately) decided not to rent it to atvers due to the iron ore dust. Oh well, thats why last year we stayed at the days inn. Us older guys (me 35) liked the hotel better since we could hit the hay went we wanted to without the younger guys keeping us up till 3 am. LOL.

I have not been to the montreal falls, we tried on year but could not find it and did not want to get lost. If you have some tips I would appreciate it. One year, we did end up in the indian reservation by mistake and got alot of strange looks from the indians so we keep the wheels rolling till we found the right trail.

I have a picture of the guy who dumped it into the waterhole behind sidekicks, I just dont know how to post it on this sight?. I do have a scanner at work. We always liked to stop at stubbies down the road and shot the **** with stubbie and flo. I dont know if you knew them or Al the local a$$hole. We have taken roads ourself and have never got stopped. In fact we take the road from Whitecap Mountain (off of trail 6) into iron belt so that we can get to sidekicks.

We have riden Clark County trails just North of BRF, these trails are excellent. They have tight woods that turn into gravel roads that turn into a watery trail that end up in a mud bath. Woo Hoo, we like that trail alot. We stay at the Arrowhead Lodge in BRF and trailer them up to Hatfield for the Day. If you ever need info on that area, just let me know.......

Enough for now. Take care. Hope to see ya one day on the trails.

 

That log cabin you describe sounds more like a steal than a deal. Very Nice! The red dust is awful stuff though. Once our dealer tried everything he could think of to get the reddish stain off the engine case of a quad we’d traded in and he finally gave up.

You must’ve started going up there a long time ago if you remember Stub. He had already passed on when we first went up there in ’93. Flo was a real piece of work; great fun to talk with but her constant hacking over the food on the grill made the idea of eating there a little unsettling. She’s gone now, almost two years. After she sold the bar to Dennis and Terry and moved into a nursing home she only lasted a couple months. Den & Terry split up so now she (Terry) owns and runs the Hideaway. The only local we knew up there named Al is now in prison for child molestation.

You have to just barely cross the border into the U.P. to see Montreal Falls. It’s been 5 or 6 years since we’ve ridden to it so I can’t give you specifics but I remember we had no trouble finding it. We were riding our Max IV up there at the time and couldn’t resist taking it out onto the “big lake” just to say we did.

It sounds like we’re going to be sharing some of the same dust/mud on Memorial Weekend. Maybe as it gets closer we can figure out a way to hook up. Each of the last three years we’ve made attempts to get together there with folks we’ve met on forums and by e-mail. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Iron County is a big place as you’re looking at it from the seat of a quad and we stay pretty mobile while there. That weekend there’s a lot to do and everyone has their own idea of how to enjoy it. We don’t participate in the doin’s in town anymore, preferring to spend our time on the trails. We usually leave Island Lake between 10 and noon and return between 11 and 2:am. If the black flies are bad, riding at night is the only way you can enjoy stopping on the trail. They seem to give up their “blood-hunt” a couple hours after sundown. On occasion we’ll stop at bars but we bring our own “refreshments” on the trail, and we ride heavy. Sharing brews around a big campfire at Wren Falls is more our idea of a good time than hanging out in town.

 

floodrunner we were up there in Hurley the 2nd week in August last year and there were no biting flies of any kind, but this year I'm going t3rd week in July. How is the black fly population at that time.
Steve
98 Grizzly

 

Black fly season is usually only about 2 weeks at its peak and normally hits sometime in May, although we’ve seen them appear in mid April and stay around as late as the first week in June. Last year it seemed to last about 6 weeks altogether.

For those who are uninitiated to black flies, we aren’t talking about house flies here. They’re little black swarming bugs that draw blood and leave festering welts behind. Bites don’t hurt until you’ve already been bitten. They swarm in groups of hundreds and will fly up your nose, in your ears and your eyes. Very unfun. DEET has almost no effect on them. As long as you’re moving they aren’t a problem. We keep headnets in our pocket when riding in late spring. Some years they’ll swarm you so bad you’d almost jump off one of the Trail 6 vistas to be rid of them. I’ll take mosquitoes any day.

We wilderness camp on the trails up there in July. While there’ll be plenty of other obnoxious insects to swat, the black flies will be long gone by then.