Waukesha County Snowmobiling

[BoosTT]

I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a snowmobile for several years. I finally have enough garage space and live about ¼ from a trail to make it happen. I’m also on the lake, but doing circles on the lake would get old quick.

In past years, around how many days were the trails in Waukesha open? I know it’s a short season, but I’m wondering how short.

Is loading a machine into a truck bed difficult to the point I would need a trailer to make a trip up north? My truck has a 6.4’ bed.

How many other riders do you generally see? Ie: If I break down, is the machine left there till spring lol.

[michelle]

I'm in Washington County, but this winter seemed like a decent winter for snowmobiling. The trail is in my backyard, just on the other side of the railroad tracks. A friend broke down around Holy Hill and the newb that I am, didn't have a tow rope with me. Within a couple minutes, another guy drove by and had a tow rope to take my friend to the nearest main road so we could load it up on the trailer.

I haven't loaded a sled into my truck (5.5' bed), just on a trailer. I am picking up another sled in MN soon and plan on using my truck and not bother with a trailer. A 6.4' bed should be just fine.

[JC70SS]

Save your money, short season, expensive as hell and the new ones still have issues. Motor meltdowns(e-tec), overheating and blowing $150 belts every 200 miles (cats), Polaris is ok 800's burndown a lot too. I have owned about 13 different sleds since 1994. Oh yes and the raging drunks on the trails are everywhere.

[tommyt5078]

Save your money, short season, expensive as hell and the new ones still have issues. Motor meltdowns(e-tec), overheating and blowing $150 belts every 200 miles (cats), Polaris is ok 800's burndown a lot too. I have owned about 13 different sleds since 1994. Oh yes and the raging drunks on the trails are everywhere.


That's why you get a Yamaha..................If you live in New Berlin Muskego the trails suck every year no matter what, and going south is just as bad "some spots to dover are great but over all they SUCK yearly".....If you live north west Dousman etc and can get to the drumlin trail and go west to Jefferson County then I would say get one for sure!!!!!

[spooln30]

Skip the death machine and buy yourself a atv or SxS. Much more fun to be had on a atv Imo.

[BoosTT]

As the trails around here are already closed, we rented from Trackside in Eagle River. Rental was $185/day plus gear ($25). The rental machine was an 2013 Skidoo MXZ 600 grand touring 2up.

It’s hard to justify the cost to get into snowmobiling when you can rent them for a reasonable fee. Two decent machines and an trailer is $7,500. You could rent two machines and gear 18 times for the same amount and that does not factor in repairs, registration, storage and poor mpg from hauling a trailer around.

With that said, I’ll probably be buying an machine in the next year or so. LOL. We had a blast.

[jbiscuit]

There are a few sleds for sale sitting out in yards down here by my house if you want me to get info. Couple really nice ones. Probably bought new this season, rode a few times and now are selling before it warms up

[JC70SS]

ATV's are boring as F***. Yamaha a heavy tanks, but not many problems. IMO the trails around here don't hold a candle to the north woods.

[BoosTT]

I put around 300 miles every season on my ATV and snowmobiling is a different experience. The riding experience/rush is much better on a snowmobile, but any stops are basically at bars. It’s pretty common to see a group chilling at an intersection on ATV’s. Being all bundled up in gear on a snowmobile kind of sucks too. The dust when atv’ing in a group is awful. There is at least twice as many old dudes on sleds compared to ATV’s, so you may prefer one over the other depending on your buddies ages.

Riding a sport atv on the trails vs an 4x4 in the mud bogs is a different experience too. I do agree that side by sides are lame though.

I’ll need to save some more coins to get a nice snowmobile setup… hopefully within the next season or two.

[SSDude]

The UP is the place to ride. I rented a ride and went with a group a couple weeks back. We headed out around 9am and didn't return until dark. Besides a couple gas stops each day we only hit a bar for food at lunch. Put on 360 miles in two days. It's good to go out with at least a small group in case you do have a breakdown. We did have one sled loose a piston around 3 miles from the cabin on the last day. She was able to ride it in. No doubt it is an expensive sport$$

[03Mach1]

You can trailer to the Drumlin out by Saxe's on Hwy 83 and 18. That is where the trail starts and from there lots of options. We did a couple rides out of there this year and had a blast. A good ride is out to lake Koshkonong and a place called Norm's Hideaway. Nice 100 mile loop with varying trails.

With that said, has been an unusually good year around here. In this area, you have to be able and ready to ride when the snow hits. It usually does not last that long. That or trailer up north. If you are not willing to do either, you will just be frustrated waiting for snow.

[spooln30]

Atv riding is far from "boring as fuck". Maybe if you just ride in your yard or at that stupid Bong Rec area down in Kenosha. You clearly have never been to the trails I ride. The only snowmobiling that is even interesting is mountain riding otherwise trail riding is lame. You can't even stop on the trails to enjoy the outdoors because for one its cold as heck and everything dead. Atv riding in the fall is the best if one likes being outdoors. Northern Wi, caves in MN and bad ass Drummond Island are just a few examples of a great time. I going to be getting the new AC Trail is year and can't wait.

[jbiscuit]

I still can't believe more people don't head down to Caledonia area to pick up the trails. They look to be in awesome shape! The little bar in Husher usually has 15-20 sleds parked outside every night. You don't NEED to venture to the UP to ride however, it IS much nicer up that way! I hear sleds from my house all winter long. If I had one, I could pick up the trails 1-2miles from my house!

[JC70SS]

Atv riding is far from "boring as fuck". Maybe if you just ride in your yard or at that stupid Bong Rec area down in Kenosha. You clearly have never been to the trails I ride. The only snowmobiling that is even interesting is mountain riding otherwise trail riding is lame. You can't even stop on the trails to enjoy the outdoors because for one its cold as heck and everything dead. Atv riding in the fall is the best if one likes being outdoors. Northern Wi, caves in MN and bad ass Drummond Island are just a few examples of a great time. I going to be getting the new AC Trail is year and can't wait.

Ahhh....ok so my family owns a cabin in Mercer I think you should respect my opinion. ATV's are B-O-R-I-N-G! I have been on them enough on real N.WI trails.

[blackmage]

man it sure is nice having snowmobile trails through the back 20 of my land and being able to ride right over and onto them. On top of that ATV trails arn't a far haul from here and are fun as hell too!

Rather live in Eagle River right now than down in a city where I would have to haul my toys whenever i wanted to do something.

[USMARINE1108]

Ahhh....ok so my family owns a cabin in Mercer I think you should respect my opinion. ATV's are B-O-R-I-N-G! I have been on them enough on real N.WI trails.

How much fun can you have on a sled for a couple of months vs something like a Raptor for 9 (or so) months out of the year? I have a lot of family north of Mercer (Bayfield county). Guess what? Local people invest in something they can play with 3/4 of the year vs something they can use 1/5 of the year.

But no disrespect intended to your opinion. :rolleyes:

[spooln30]

Lol I'm sorry but the atv trails in the Mercer area or Iron/Price/Bayfield counties suck and are the second worse in the state next to the Cheese County Trails down in Darlington. So if you did your atv riding up there then yes I would be bored after a day or two as well. When I say Northern WI I met NE Wi, like Marinette, Oconto and Florence counties to name a few. You should respect my opinion when I say snowmobiling is lame. In my first post I did state "imo". Again "imo" snowmobilers or most of them just go from bar to bar getting wasted, ride over 100 mph and kill people. Oh wait that's actually a fact. Not really my idea of a good time. I am not saying atvers don't drink or get wasted but the death rates for each tells the story.

[BoosTT]

Lol I'm sorry but the atv trails in the Mercer area or Iron/Price/Bayfield counties suck and are the second worse in the state next to the Cheese County Trails down in Darlington. So if you did your atv riding up there then yes I would be bored after a day or two as well.

I was going to say this also, but don't want to turn this into an snowmobile vs atv debate. Black river falls has some of the nations best atv trails.

[JC70SS]

Well that is one of the reasons I hung it up....too short of a season and too many drunks. However, ATV's are painfully slow and the fact that there are no good riding areas around here and up north you cannot go from trail to lake and what not I would never own one.

[penji04]

Well that is one of the reasons I hung it up....too short of a season and too many drunks. However, ATV's are painfully slow and the fact that there are no good riding areas around here and up north you cannot go from trail to lake and what not I would never own one.

I've got you covered :durr

8345

[spooln30]

I've been to the trails in the Black River Falls area and I don't agree with that statement. Their OK trails but not the best in the state and far from the best in the nation. Not enough actual trails you ride on roads too much. The last time I was up there the trails seemed like they weren't groomed in months and took a toll on my back. Super rutted and it was like riding over nothing but whoops.
A much better system is the ones I mentioned, for example you can start off in Oconto county and ride all the way up to the UP. It's a good 100 miles one way and I've done it a few times. Plus there's a few different ways to get there and back so your not riding the same trail both ways. In Florence there's a split and one way is very technical trails with some rather large rocks to cross and a few steep hills to climb. The Hills also have large rock or a better word is boulders to climb. Great times and it's funny when people get freaked out then try to turn around half way up the steep hills. It's not a smart move. Lol

[spooln30]

QUADSKI yeah ill pass. Lol