Devils Lake Transportation

Hi,

Me and a couple buddies have a trip setup for Devils Lake in February. We will be bringing a four wheel drive truck and a couple wheelers (no tracks). Are we gonna be in trouble with all of the snow Devils Lake region has had lately? Has anyone had a expirrience out there running anything without tracks? I’d hate to trailer the atv’s out there to find out they are useless.

I read that they don’t recommend anything without tracks, it was also posted on another thread.

There are a few trails broke in a few areas around the lake, but very limited, in my opinion any atv without tracks is useless out there right now.
What we need is about 2 weeks of January thaw, to settle this, and we have had a few of them in past years.With the bitter cold we’ve been having not too many people willing to bust new trails.
I was coyote hunting on Pelican saturday and definetley gonna need tracks out there until snow settles.
When are you coming, I have seen these condiions change quickly over the years.

Thanks for the info Bill. Fingers crossed that what you say needs to happen, happens. Is Devils known for slush and/or pressure ridges? We are heading out the 3rd week of February. I’ll probably check back once we get a little bit closer too.

We always have our fair share of pressure ridges, usually in bout same areas year after year, not a big deal to get around, by using different access.
There are some slush pockets out there now,but also not a real issue right now.

We drove around on the lake on Sunday with our pickups, but it was really tough going if noone had busted a trail yet. I ended up stuck a few times, but a bit of shoveling and I was out pretty quick. Hopefully we get a thaw soon, so we can get rid of a bit of the snow. We didn’t find any slush pockets, but I’ve heard there are definitely some out there.

Hello, as it turns out the trailer has fallen through and we will not be bringing the atvs anymore. I’ve been watching the weather reports and there seems to be a lot of freezing and thawing going on in the DL area. Are people getting around with trucks better now?

Specifically how’s travel on the west side of the lake (minnewauken area)

Thanks for the replies

I drove out to Grahms Island last night seen a few trucks off the flats side, worked south of Minnewaukan today, few fishing around Mauvis on 19, didnt see many north or east of town driving by.
The snow has settled some and there are areas that got better for driving, but your still gonna have to pick your way around, you just have more areas to do that from now.

Thanks for the info Bill! Hopefully it won’t snow much more in the coming days. How’s the bite been?

It’s been pretty good, perch bite is better than it has been the last few years and size is pretty good, walleyes also good.Should just be getting better as we move into spring.

I would bring ATV or tracks if going that far for a trip up on Devils. Suck to get there and be limited to fishing spots. People are still getting stuck not in tracks.Would suck to have to shovel out all the time and be losing fishing time.

Found this posted yesterday on fishing reports for devils.

The unseasonably warm weather the past week has led us to not much change in our ice conditions. We still have areas of slush and the thickness of the ice has not changed very much.

It has warm enough to not add thickness but not warm enough to melt a whole lot of snow. Add to that the presence of the slush leads us to still recommend tracked travel on most areas of the lake with the possible exception of Stump Lake. Pick Up travel is possible on stump.
The areas with plowed trails that we are aware of is a pretty short list. Woodland Resort has a system of trails our on Creel and leading to Rocky Point and Military Point and a little ways down the Camp Grafton shoreline. The heavy snow and warm conditions however have deteriorated trails to some extent and we recommend that you proceed on them with caution and please don’t drill holes right on the trails or too close to them as this will lead to a lot of water on the ice.

The casino has a few trails out but these too have not faired too well with the weather conditions.

There is a limited trail our of the Acorn Ridge landing but it is not a trail network and is basically just a path our onto the ice.
There is always a silver lining, and that silver lining for us is as of today we plunged into an arctic air mass and below zero temperatures through early next week should alleviate some of the slush issues and harden up that snow pack. We are hoping it hardens it enough for us to get back to using trucks again. For the time being we will still be using our snowmobiles and 4-wheelers with tracks. We strongly recommend if you are planning an outing on Devils Lake that you bring a tracked vehicle with you. Some good friends were out with a Sno Bear recently and got it so stuck in slush they spent 3 hours and a call to a tow truck to get it off. We want to try to help prevent you from having the same experience.

Thanks for all of the info and replies! One more reason to get snowmobiles/tracks. I am hopeful that this dip in temps makes a big difference.