SAULT STE. MARIE AREA UPDATE via Sault Ste. Marie Snowmobile Association >> 01/14
1/14/25 trail 49 update-
🚨🚨As you can see, there are some areas that opened back up. This is on 49 between 12 mile and Gaines Hwy. Please use extreme caution!!!
We have a couple of days of warmer temps coming, then back to a deep freeze. This will freeze up solid in the coming days, but we wanted to get the word out for our weekday riders.
Thanks all! Be safe!
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1/14/25
Hello everyone! Steve, Chris, and Dennis ran the Soo to Kinross route on 49 last night. I always look forward to Steve’s reports, and it’s always an adventure on this trail!
Here’s what he had to say-
“Last night Passenger Chris and I headed out to groom Trail 49 from the Soo to Kinross. There was light snow falling and we had some recent snow to work with. It was setting up to be a nice night.
Before leaving town, we opened up the courtesy trail to Chippewa Motors. We made one pass and panned the powerline where all the recent utility work has been done. Snow is thin but the trail is useable.
We then headed south and made use of our Limbmasher in places that needed trimming. We took down a lot of limbs on our way through.
We stopped at the M-28 crossing to check things over and clean off the drag. Chris tripped on something while walking behind the drag and we realized we were tangled in a bunch of old fencing and dragging a stop sign. We were not able to undue the mess so we set it all on top of the drag and continued on.
Things went well until we dropped into the swamp south of 12 Mile. The same couple hundred yard stretch we have been battling all winter opened up again and is open water. We made our way through working with the little bit of snow we had leveling up the best we could. Trail is rough but is getting better. There are thin spots with dirt showing.
We crossed Gaines Hwy and headed towards our turnaround in Kinross. I did not realize it, but while crossing the Hwy, I dropped some snow and large ice chunks off the drag. I apologize to the vehicles that hit the mess.
We made the return trip and had plans to meet Groomer Dennis at the 7 Mile Rd crossing to help remove the wire from the drag. We had the stop sign we were dragging labeled with the road name so we knew where it had to be reinstalled. We were able to replace the stop sign and get the wire removed from the drag.
Dennis continued from there back to the barn. His return trip was uneventful.
Overall, the trail is coming along good. It is still a work in progress. The ditches are still showing water and the snow is thin in places. We are working with what we have and just need some more cold weather. The ground is still melting the trail base from the bottom up in our bad spots. Hopefully we keep making improvements as we go along.
Steve Lawson
Chippewa Motors, Inc.”
Definitely always a story on trail 49. We sure will be grateful when this trail receives the approval from the state for much needed permanent improvements to mitigate the water issues. Still way ahead of where we normally are on that stretch in early January👍🏼
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- Chief Meteorologist Joel Fritsma
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