As of today, Fri., March 18, 2022, all Vilas County snowmobile trails are closed. Thanks to everyone who came to ride in Sayner-Star Lake, the “Birthplace of the Snowmobile”! We can’t wait to see you again next winter!

As reported by the Barnstormers Snowmobile Club

The Vilas County trails will officially close at 8:00 am on Friday, March 18, 2022.

Overall, it's been a great season. Businesses I've talked to have indicated higher amounts of traffic this season. Vilas trails were open a total of 81 days this season as compared to only 66 days last year.

A special thank you goes out to all the businesses that have supported our clubs through donations and map ads. Your support is absolutely necessary to continue our trail maintenance.

And, of course, thank you to all the riders who chose to enjoy our trail system. We hope to see you all again next season!!

As reported by Will Maines

I guess you never say never but given the warm-up that has started and is predicted to last for a week or more, we have decided to suspend all grooming at Razorback Ridges for the year. Skiers are welcome to continue skiing with ungroomed conditions.

As reported by the Barnstormers Snowmobile Club:

Mother Nature hasn't been kind to us this past week. The "ice storm" last weekend wasn't nearly as bad as expected, but the snow that was supposed to follow didn't produce much of anything.

Temps have dropped back down and will remain fairly cold the rest of this week. There is still good riding the further away you get from towns. You'll put your carbides to the test trying to get to the good spots, but riders are telling me it's worth it!

The forecast for more snow later this week has been reduced and we are looking at temps in the 40s next week. There is no official word yet, but this could easily be the final weekend. Come on up and take advantage of it!

LOGGING UPDATE: Logging operations have started on portions of our trail 11. They’ll be logging from Nebish Lake Road to Starrett Lake to Mystery Lake. IMPORTANT: Loggers have the right of way. They have the authority to close our trail, so please be respectful; don’t get in their way, and don’t give them a reason to shut us down!

We'll be limited grooming from here on. Right now Ridge Trail, Will's Crossing, and Roller Coaster are groomed for skating. Shortcut and Will's Crossing are groomed for classic. The rest of the classic loops are still very skiable from the last time we groomed, but please take great care skiing, especially on bigger downhills with curves at the bottom because the deck is very hard and in places icy.

With the warm-up forecast for the coming week, it's possible we will be done grooming for the winter but that could change if conditions allow it.

The storm earlier this week brought us 6" + of fresh snow! We are expecting that this will bring extra traffic through the weekend. The Sayner/Star Lake Barnstormers will be out nightly to keep our system groomed. The new snow didn't have as much moisture content as we would prefer, so we'll still have the same challenge of getting it to stick to the trail.

There is some great riding to be found, so get out there and enjoy it!

LOGGING UPDATE: Logging operations have started on portions of our trail 11. They’ll be logging from Nebish Lake Road to Starrett Lake to Mystery Lake. IMPORTANT: Loggers have the right of way. They have the authority to close our trail, so please be respectful; don’t get in their way, and don’t give them a reason to shut us down!

After 6”+ of new snow this week, all classic trails were rolled and set excellent track on Short Cut, Hair Raiser, Pine Hollow, and Lions Pride. Ridge Trail is groomed.

Additional grooming will not take place until Monday of next week at the earliest. So, until then, classic conditions will be very good to excellent on the loops named. Skaters could skate all their loops, but it won't be optimal conditions until the remaining trails are groomed.

As reported by the Barnstormers Snowmobile Club

The updated forecast is calling for 9-12" of new snow between tomorrow and Wednesday! This would normally be great news, but we currently have one of our tractors broken down (axle issues) on Trial 7 between TIN markers 217 and 218. It could be a few days before we can get it out, so please be extra cautious in this area.

We will be doing our best to keep the Barnstormers system groomed with just one machine. You can expect that some of our trails are not going to get groomed every night.

LOGGING UPDATE: We’ve been informed that logging operations have started on portions of our trail 11. They’ll be logging from Nebish Lake Road to Starrett Lake to Mystery Lake. IMPORTANT: Loggers have the right of way. They have the authority to close our trail, so please be respectful; don't get in their way, and don't give them a reason to shut us down!

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As reported by Will Maines

Beautiful tracks today, although yesterday's high winds have once again brought down a lot of oak leaves in places.

Lots of snow is predicted for tonight and tomorrow, 9-12 inches. We'll start grooming on Wednesday and plan to finish up Thursday morning if necessary.

There will be no grooming next weekend.

As reported by the Barnstormers Snowmobile Club:

Snow conditions over the past few weeks have not improved. The little bit of snow we have received has been dry and fluffy, which doesn't help the trails. Most of our trails remain flat, but the limited snow cover creates some very icy conditions. Please be extremely careful when approaching corners. If you are riding responsibly, you'll be fine. If you're riding too fast, you'll likely end up sliding off trail in the corners, or worse yet, causing an accident.

The forecast is calling for 3-5" of new snow tonight! We can only hope that the warmer temps will make this a wetter and more productive snow.

Unfortunately, one of our groomer drivers is not going to be able to finish out the season. He was covering 4-5 shifts every week, so this will leave a big void for us. We'll be doing our best to cover all these shifts, but there may be some nights where we aren't able to groom our entire system.

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As reported by Will Maines on 2/6

This morning groomed and tracked all skate loops which are marked for classic skiers only for our "Opposites Week" skiing through next Saturday. Groomed Lions Pride, Hair Raiser, and Wild Thing classic loops for skate only this week. Unexpected snowfall is coming down now with an inch or so already on the ground, so I expect to be out grooming again tomorrow morning.

Condition: All open/Groomed/Good Skis

As reported by the Barnstormers Snowmobile Club:

Not much has changed from last week's report.  We did receive about 3" of new snow in the past couple of days, but it was lacking moisture.  It helps, although we really need some heavy wet snow that will stick on the trails.

Most of our trails remain flat with minimal snow cover.  The worst section is the 2-mile stretch coming into Sayner from the south.  This gets hit extremely hard with traffic and is impossible to keep smooth.  Overall, though, you'll find many miles of great riding in the Barnstormer's system.  Just be very cautious of the corners as they are icy.

Firsthand report by Marc Plane via skinnyski.com on 1/17:

Excellent skate and classic conditions, plenty of snow, a good inch fell Sunday, another dusting today. Level trails, packed powder, no melt in two weeks. Hilly, somewhat twisty trails, nothing terribly difficult, beautifully wooded. These trails were changed a few years ago, now one-half of the trail system is classic only, with plenty of room to the side of tracks for snow plowing, or skiing two abreast. The other side of the trail system is skate groomed, with no tracks set. A central skate/classic trail runs the meridian through the two sides. Nice, warm chalet with flush toilets. Please leave a nice donation, their donations are down due to COVID.

As reported by the Barnstormers Snowmobile Club:

We received about 5" of new snow last week. While every bit helps, this snow was pretty fluffy, so it didn't really add to our base. Our trails still remain pretty flat, with minimal snow on top of the ice base. There is plenty of good riding to be found, but please be careful as the corners remain icy. There were a couple of pretty serious accidents this past week in Vilas county.

Due to the extreme cold weather these past two days, the Barnstormers only groomed some of our high-traffic areas. Beginning tonight, we'll be back on a full groom schedule again.

There is light snow forecast every other day for the next week. Let's hope it brings more than they are predicting at this time!

As reported by Robert Polic:

Groomed all the skate loops today. Conditions are excellent with a firm, flat skate deck with full coverage. Grooming plans: Classic loops will be groomed on Tuesday.

As reported by the Barnstormers Snowmobile Club:

The Barnstormer trail system has held up quite well even with the lack of new snow and the heavy traffic last week. Last night, I groomed trails 6, 9, and 51 and found them all to be pretty flat with minimum moguls. As of this writing, I haven't heard from the other groomers from last night, but I suspect they are all finding the same thing throughout our system. Snow coverage on the trails is still pretty light. There are areas where you may still hear the carbides scraping gravel. Corners are very icy under the thin layer of snow, so PLEASE be careful!

There is a winter storm warning for tonight through tomorrow morning, with our area expected to receive 4-8" of new snow! This will help tremendously if there is a fair amount of moisture in it. If it's all dry fluff, it's more cosmetic than functional.

As reported by Will Maines:

Got the broken part on the Ginzu fixed yesterday afternoon. Groomed and tracked all classic loops this morning. Best track I've been able to set all season. The only sketchy part is the last 1.5k coming in which is shared with skate grooming. In places where the base was so hard, it was difficult to set a consistently deep track. Overall though, I would rate almost all the rest of the classic tracks as excellent.

As reported by the Barnstormers Snowmobile Club:

Sunday night brought us around 5" of new snow, which was much needed for the opening day. Conditions are still early season as our base had previously melted down from the week prior. Snow cover is getting better, but please be aware that corners are going to be icy under the thin layer of snow. Also, don't be surprised to hear the gravel under your skis.

The Barnstormers are in full groom mode, so we'll be out nightly. With heavy traffic and minimal snow cover, it doesn't take long for the conditions to worsen. Early morning is certainly the time to find the best riding conditions.

We are expecting more snow tonight, but the forecast has been downgraded to 1-3". Not much, but it all helps.

Stay safe out there!!

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Cross-Country Ski & Snowshoe Trails:

As reported by: Robert Polic

We received 6+ inches of snow overnight and all skate loops were rolled this morning. Grooming plans:

We will work on having classic trails rolled this afternoon and plan to have all trails groomed on Tuesday.

All trails open/B Skis

Our trails officially opened today at 8am! Overnight we received another roughly 6” of snow. Stay tuned for a more detailed report with trail conditions soon!

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As reported by Will Maines on 12/24 - We got our groomer back from the repair shop Wednesday. Since then we've groomed all skate trails and all classic trails except Lions Pride and Oak Ridge. It took a lot of chainsawing on large trees last week's wind storm brought down. I set track this morning on Short Cut, Hair Raiser, and Wild Thing. The track is poor to mediocre for the most part. I recommend B or rock skis because of all the small branches, twigs, and other litter on the trails. It is skiable, but be careful. We are having to reroute part of Mary's Frolic, Long Rider, and Bruce's Roundabout this entire winter because of an ongoing logging project on the western part of our skate trails. New signage will be up tomorrow. It will be an easy and fun reroute for the skate skiers. Classic trails are unaffected by the logging project.

As reported by the Barnstormers Snowmobile Club: The storm last week had 2 significant impacts on our trail system. 1. The unusually warm temps took our base down to almost nothing. 2. The high winds brought down trees all over the region.

The Barnstormers have been out daily since the storm clearing dozens of downed trees. As of today, our system is clear and has been re-groomed!

The Vilas county trails are scheduled to open at 8:00 am, Monday, December 27! Conditions are very icy and will require cautious riding. Most areas are going to have minimal snow cover, and there will be some exposed gravel and rocks, so be extra careful.

We need snow dances from everyone!!

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As reported by the Barnstormers Snowmobile Club: Unfortunately, we wish there was better news to report today, but there isn’t. The fact is, in recent days we have experienced a major warm up that has depleted the snow base that we had going. The lakes and swamps are still not safe either. In addition, following last night’s windstorm, we now face downed trees, branches, debris, and power outages across the area.

As of right now, all Vilas County trails remain closed. Please stand by for updates as the conditions change.

Mother nature has done it again! Saturday morning, we woke up to another 10” + of heavy wet snow. Was it ever beautiful!

The not-so-good news is unseasonably warm temperatures are in the forecast for the first half of this week, which will further delay any lakes and swampy areas from fully freezing. However, the temps seem to taper off towards the end of the week. Let’s hope the trend continues!

For the most recent snowmobile trail and Razorback Ridges reports, see December 9th’s update and stay tuned for more to come soon!

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Trails Not Open Yet

As reported by Barnstormers Snowmobile Club: Last weekend brought us a good 8" of fresh snow.  The Sayner/Star Lake Barnstormers have been out panning trails and removing trees that have recently fallen.  The forecast is calling for more snow this coming weekend, but being followed by a week of warmer temps.  

While more snow is usually a good thing, right now it is slowing the freezing of swamps & lakes.  We really need more freezing before more snow!

As far as trail opening goes, a few things need to happen first.  We have to get through the final stages of deer hunting, which ends December 12.  All of the trails need to be officially inspected.  There are a fair amount of trails in the county that go through swampy areas, and until these are sufficiently frozen, the trails won't be ready.  All 11 clubs in Vilas county have to be ready, as we all open as a group.   

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Trails Open/Groomed/Good Condition

As reported by Will Maines: Groomed and tracked Short Cut, Doug's Folly, Pine Hollow, and Hair Raiser on the classic side this morning. Skied Doug's Folly this afternoon. Tracks are deep and stable, although with all the fresh snow I was working with the track is a little soft here and there. Otherwise, excellent skiing. Ridge Trail is the only skate loop currently fully groomed. There is an ongoing logging operation that has affected all the remaining skate loops. The good news is that the timber harvest company owner told me yesterday he expected cutting operations to be finished either today or tomorrow. Assuming he can sand a steep hill on Mary's Frolic/Long Rider well enough to get trucks up it, he hopes to have all timber hauled out by this weekend. That is if all goes well. As soon as the logging is finished we will resume grooming all skate loops.

Welcome to our winter wonderland! Over the last week, we’ve been blessed with a couple of snowfalls, totaling roughly 8-10 inches of snow - and it’s beautiful! We’re off to a great start and have more snow in the 10-day forecast. Our fingers and toes are crossed in hopes of continued snow and chilly temps ahead! Stay tuned for more updates very soon…

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Happy Thanksgiving week! Over the last few days, we’ve had chilly overnight temperatures and cooler days. Snow flurries have also fallen and given a thin white frosty layer. However, considering today’s temps and tomorrow’s expected temps in the low 40’s, it’s likely that it won’t stick around for long.

Some of the smaller lakes and bays have glazed over with a thin layer of ice, but for now, we’re patiently waiting on cold temps to freeze everything up. Stay tuned for more updates to come and think cold!

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We couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome you back to Sayner-Star Lake for the upcoming winter season! Although we’re still blessed with the beauty of the late fall, the temps are starting to drop, the forests are frost-tipped in the mornings, and we’ve already experienced a few light snowfalls. This is our friendly reminder that winter is right around the corner!

What does winter bring to the Northwoods? It offers snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, unbelievable sightseeing opportunities, and we just can’t say enough about the ice fishing! It also brings awesome shopping, the comforts of great Northwoods cooking, and that’s only the beginning!

Now is the perfect time to reserve your stay during our beautiful winter season. Request a FREE Visitor Guide and start planning your getaway today!

Check back soon for more updates!