THUNDER BAY — Late-season snowmobiling remains available to hard-core riders in the Thunder Bay area.
But the arrival of milder weather has brought an end to trail grooming by the Thunder Bay Adventure Trails Snowmobile Club.
On Sunday the group posted on social media that there's "lots of good riding out there yet," while cautioning that conditions change rapidly at this time of year.
That held true on Monday when the club posted that the status of all its trails has been switched from green (available) to yellow (limited).
No grooming will be done, and snowmobilers should expect some hazards, bare spots on hilltops and roads, and rocks or stumps projecting above the remaining snow.
In addition, the group's "A" trail from Burchell Lake toward Atikokan now has a red status, meaning it is closed.
Grooming coordinator Adrian Tessier said conditions on the trails will be checked regularly and they will be kept open as long as they remain safe.
"We monitor the trails daily, and have a look at a few different ones. It's going to be sooner rather than later for sure, but hopefully people can get another couple of good days out of it."
Riders can check for updates on the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs interactive trail guide.
The guide shows that most of the trails in the Rainy River and Kenora districts are now closed, but trails east of Thunder Bay are still open.
After weather conditions caused a slow start to the season, Tessier said it turned around relatively quickly, to the point where the trail system was in the best shape it's been in for some time.
"In fact this was the first year in a number of years that we've had every kilometre of trail within Thunder Bay Adventure Trails open at the same time."
He also noted that this year there was an increase in the number of snowmobilers from Southern Ontario and the United States travelling to Northwestern Ontario to try out the region's trail network.
"People are starting to recognize the fact that we're here and we've got great trails," Tessier said. "Thunder Bay, for sure, had the most snow of anywhere. People saw our posts, and to the west of us trails were being groomed to perfect condition again. A lot of Southern Ontario trails never opened this year, and the same with southern Minnesota and Wisconsin areas. Their snow levels weren't anywhere near what ours were."
"Snowmobilers will ride to the snow. And they rode to us."
Tessier said people who trailer their machines to Northwestern Ontario for two or three days of riding typically bring along just their credit cards and a change of underwear.
"They buy everything else," he said, leading to valuable economic spinoffs for the hospitality industry.
Tessier credited the volunteers and groomer operators who worked hard this season to maintain the trail network, and noted that over 600 hours of on-trail grooming was done between the two machines the club used this year.
