Planning 1st U.P. trip and looking for thoughts....

About 5 guys, 3 nights (Dec 26-29), as much riding as possible! and beer at night!

Please see attachment for trails we are thinking of riding. Please share if you think it is realistic, not, not enough, your experiences, etc. Really appreciate your thoughts!!

Backpacking it from parking in St. Ignace....

Night 1 - Hulbert Lake Lodge - http://www.exploringthenorth.com/hulbertlk/hulbert.html
Night 2 - Sunset cabins - Grand Marais - http://sunset.grandmaraismichigan.com/
Night 3 - Manilak Resort - http://www.exploringthenorth.com/manilak/man.html

In my opinion that dont seem like very much riding, we always park in ignace and can easily make it to grand marais and back in one day. My goal would be grand marais the first night, and then werever you want to go after that, you could go a little further west or do some off trail riding. There are alot of logging roads and places to have fun just south of grand marais.

I have to agree with the above. I ride from Seney alot and we can head out of Seney towards Newberry then up to Paradise, over to Grand Marais then back to Seney in one day. It is a little over 200 miles, but it is not that hard to do.

For leaving out of Hulbert, it does not look like you are going to hit Taquahmenon falls (worth the trip if you never seen it in the winter), back track up towards whitefish point loop then head over to GM like you planned - once you hit GM, there are several loops that you can take that you have not included on your itinerary. The trails are pretty awesome in that region from GM south down to Seney. I would put a spend some time on those trails if you are worried about putting more miles on. have fun.

One other thought, I see that this is at X-mas time. South of M-28 (in my opinion) can be pretty sketchy at that time of year. I don't know if it is just me, but I have had several melt downs at this time right after X-mas. (2 days of rain 27th, 28th - last year). Again depends on the weather, I have had some very good riding times before and at X-mas - but have has some pretty rough times at X-mas......good luck

We too are planning an after X-mas trip to the UP (27-31st). Probably gonna stay in Ishemping (sp??). Where would be good to ride from there? Should we go west or east? And I too have had bad experience with the after X-mas weather but what can ya doo? Just hope and pray that it works out!

For what it is worth, as most people have stated, some of legs of your trip are a little short, depending on how many miles you like to put on in 1 day. Maybe post an idea of how many miles you want to run in the course of a day and you may get some additional ideas.

With that said, my wife and I rode out of Newberry last year starting on New Years Day and the trails were great with very little traffic. I will admit that the rain and warmer temps heading up to that were a bit concerning, however it all turned out great.
From what the bartender at Timber Charlies was telling us, many of the people who used to come up there to ride between Christmas and New Years are now planning their trips for later in January simply because they had several seasons in a row where the conditions were poor, so the safer bet was to go later. On top of that, you will see a good number of families riding during this time and some people like to avoid that.
Again though, we had great conditions and rode about 150-170miles each day, which is pretty normal for us.

I will be going on this trip with JJ. We are used to riding in the lower in pretty congested areas where trail conditions deteriorate pretty quickly. We usually put on about 100 on those trips. None of us have riden in the upper, but hear that the trails are a little wider and usually better snow so we are hoping to be able to rip and take advantage of that. I don't think we would be opposed to riding 150 miles or so in a day if the conditions are right. We want to hit all the "must go to" spots in the Eastern UP while we are up there. Thanks for all the help guys.

If you are staying in Ishpeming , you really should ride north and west , this is one of the wildest places left in Michigan , full of granite outcroppings and vast roadless expanses . It's an easy trip to the Keweenaw Peninsula as well , traffic is light and the scenery is superb , try not to ride too fast to see it

Just some of the places you will want to see along your route and I am certain others wil chime in:
1) The Falls - the brewery and pub are great and the view of the frozen falls is photo frame worthy.
2) Pine Stump
3) Whitefish Point
4) Grand Marias: It's cool to just look out over the frozen lake and see nothing but ice as far as the eye can see. The brew pub across from the lake is pretty good too!
5) Curtis: Stop in at the Hunt and Fish shop to check-out the latest SkiDoo's.
6) Timber Charlies in Newberry is a good place to relax, grab a beer and some good food.

Again, these are just a few and others who have a lot more experince than I will probably be able to provide more info.
No matter what you do up there, you will enjoy the trails.

Sounds like a great place to ride! How is the off trail riding? And what about gas stops??

These are great places to visit but I have found them to be very congested. That's why we're headed to Ishemping. Don't get me wrong, these are beautiful places to go, especially the falls. But once you've been there, you'll see what I mean.

Try to start your ride on Monday or tuesday if your schedule allows. A LOT less traffic. GM is one of my fav places. Taquahmenon IS worth it for the sites and the food.

Thanks guys for your input! Cashed out and I are going to meet later this week and revise a bit. I think we definitely want to see the sights, and not just fly through the trip....

See Miner's Castle/Point in Munising, take the scenic lakeshore trail on west side of Grand Marais.

Just reserved our cabin in Ishemping. Going on the 27th and retuning on the 31st. Now lets pray for snow!