UP: where to ride

[XC-Rider]

I'm planning on going up to the western UP this sun-tue and I'm wondering if anyone can help me out with suggestions on where to stay/ride. I'm wondering where the best conditions are to ride. I'm thinking of staying in houghton/hancock and curious as to what the conditons are there. Is it a hassle to cross the bridge between those two towns? I'm keeping my options open (lol, what options!?!?) and am planning on getting last minute lodging and going whereever the snow and best trails are.

[MxZ MoonZ]

I am heading up to Paradise Friday. I haven't been there before. It's a first time for me XC. I've heard really good things about Houghton though.

[catmaster]

The bridge is definitely crossable. I go there 3 times a year. Good town(s) to stay in also, although I usually stay in Bergland. Last I was there was through Jan. 4, 2002. Good areas - Rockland, White Pine, Silver City, Ontanogon. Bad areas - Bergland, Ewen, Bruce's Crossing, anything south. Things may have changed for the better, but probably worse, due to temps. When I was up, Lake Gogebic was not frozen yet to safely ride.

[karni24]

I was just up to Houghton last week. We stayed at the Best Western-Franklin Square Inn downtown Houghton. It has a seperate fenced-in area for your trailer, and a car-port parking area for your sled. The trail runs right behind the hotel. It's like a 1/2 mile ride to the bridge that crosses to Hancock. The bridge is a double-decker, cars ride the top-layer, and sleds ride the lower-layer. The trails north of Hancock were pretty rough. The trails south of Houghton (Trail 3) were pretty good. Like I said, this was last week and a lot could have changed since then. MM700 usually has postings for this area, also www.johndee.com is a good web-site to check for snow-conditions,