Hayward Powersports, Wisconsin

If you're searching for a place with nearly endless snowmobile trails then look no further than Wisconsin, where they have 25,000 miles.

Join Jared Christie, Polaris Adventures Content Manager, on a visit to Hayward, Wisconsin as he chats with Hayward Powersports about their network of trails. 

Book your next adventure @ www.adventures.polaris.com 

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 © 2026 Polaris Industries Inc.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Flairs Adventures podcast. I'm your host, Jared Christie. We're right in the middle of winter, and for much of the country, that means snowmobile season. Whether you like to ride on the mountains or on the trails, there are plenty of options. But if trail riding is your thing, then the state of Wisconsin has you covered with over 25,000 miles of groomed trails. Yes, 25,000. And joining me today is the person who grooms all 25,000 of those trails by hand with a shovel. Please welcome to the show, Ashley Schroeder, operational manager of Hayward Power Sports in Hayward, Wisconsin. Ashley, how are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Good. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:40

I'm good. Now, Ashley, how long does it take you to groom those trails by hand?

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Um, it only takes me a weekend. I'm a pretty hard worker. I do have some clouds that help me out too.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

So you have some mad skills, absolutely. How is winter going so far?

SPEAKER_00 0:56

It's going great. It's been a much better season than the last two seasons have brought us. Everything kind of fell into place this season, so it's kind of exciting. So it's fun to have our riders back up in the area and to have winter again.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

When there's snow in the forecast, how crazy does your life get?

SPEAKER_00 1:12

It gets very crazy. People are just excited. They're they're always chomping at the bit. So the month of December has just been really crazy with all the snow. And then we got a lot of snow, but then we got a lot of ice and some cold weather and then snow again. So it kind of came just in the right order and it gave people the fever, especially because they've been patiently waiting for two seasons for this to happen.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Yeah, it's been a couple of rough winters. So when the snow's here, people are just ready to go rip.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Yes, they are. Come August, they were ready to rip. So I'm glad that they still had faith in the winter.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Yes. Now, for those who don't know where Hayward, Wisconsin is located, where are you at?

SPEAKER_00 1:52

We are kind of in the northernwestern area of the state, central western part of the state. Um, we're about an hour south of Lake Superior. So we're kind of just right in the middle of dense forest and awesome trails.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Very cool. Describe the town for me.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

We are very much a touristy town. Right now, with the winter, we don't really stop Christmas. At Christmas, we our downtown still has all the lights, everybody has lights through the winter. Um, so it's kind of very like that Norman Rockwell feel, but it's a small town, you know, about 2,500 people, but because of the resorts and our our awesome lakes, we have so many second homes and and VRBOs. And so um a small town feel, but a lot to do. So it's it's a pretty great area.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

What makes Hayward such a popular winter destination?

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Well, we have a couple different things. There's a lot to do, obviously snowmobiling. Stowmobiling, we are kind of a mecca of stone mobiling in the north part of the state. We have hundreds of miles of trails, so and it has it's been this way since I don't know, this early 70s, if not before. So that's one big thing. We also do um Sawyer County specifically, we do allow winter riding for UTVs, which is pretty great. Um, there are a little bit more limited trails because we do have some dual trails like in our county forest that once grooming starts, we don't have UTVs. We do allow ATVs in anything under 900 pounds on those trails. Um, but that's kind of just a smaller area. Otherwise, we do have some really great areas that we do still have UTV riders all season. Um and then another big thing, which isn't our sport, but I think it's fair to mention because it's a pretty great um event, is the American Berkey Miner, the largest North America cross-country ski race, and that's hosted in Hayward and the finish line is in Hayward, and they bring in snow across Main Street and cover that up. And that's a pretty exciting, even if you don't do skiing or anything, it's it's so fun to watch and the energy there is really fun too.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Yeah, you get you get international athletes for that one.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Yes. Yeah, all over the world people are coming for that that events. That's a pretty exciting event. So I mean, there's just there's never nothing to do in Hayward area in the winter.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Once you hit the trails, where can you go? What places can you visit?

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Well, you pretty much can get anywhere around the county. We have a ton of lodging. We have a ton of lakes, like I said, so uh a lot of our trails are on lakes, so you can get to pretty much anywhere that you're staying and and you're lodging. You there's trails that take you into the town at Hayward. You can get to all the surrounding counties, you can get up to Bayfield. Bayfield County is a really big riding area as well. Um, so you can go all the way up to Lake Spear, you can go all the way to Dilut. You can go anywhere. Um, and and we have a lot of leeway to get to just this Wisconsin state law does allow you to get from a trail to your lodging as closest the closest point A to point B that you can.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

For those who haven't ridden the trails in Wisconsin or Sawyer County, why are they so special?

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Well, I think one, like I said, you can get to really anywhere you want to go. You want to go to dinner or fish fry, of course. We're in Wisconsin, so you gotta mention the fish fry, but you can get out to dinner, you can get out to lodging, there's ice fishing, so you can fop around on the lake out there. And then just our trails are gorgeous. It's all we've got national and county forest. Uh there's an elk herd in our area that a lot of people get lost sightings on on snowmobile off the trail, the elk herd. And it's just really a beautiful, it's just a beautiful ride. It's a little bit different than where, say, I grew up in central Minnesota, where it's a lot of like field. So you just get a little more scenery. And then our businesses are so welcoming to the snowmobile and the UTV population. Like they want them here. They're an exciting crowd. They kind of just bring a bit of life to our community.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

I have to imagine outside of your hand grooming the trails, there's a lot of work that goes on into trail maintenance. There must be tons of people out working to make sure the trails are in good shape all the time.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Yes, glad that you mentioned that because they really were put to the test again this year as they were in 2022. Into November, the month of December, we got a ton of snow with ice that really did some damage out on the trails with low-hanging branches, trees, and knocking a lot of debris down. So it was just and then trudging through the the snow besides to get to those areas, it would take three hours just to go 400 yards. All of those guys and gals that are part of the 10 different clubs we have in the county that make up our Sware County Alliance were out there picking up debris by hand. They were chainsawing things down that were not safe, that were low-hanging before they could even fit through with that grooming equipment. They are just always out there just doing the thing. And it's 100% volunteer. So they do it just because they have a passion for the sport and they they want people here to ride.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Absolutely. I don't think people have maybe sometimes have an idea of how much actual work goes into that. So when you show up on a Friday or Saturday in in Hayward and you're gonna ride the trails, all the stuff that's happened all week long to make sure those are open and safe.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

Yeah, they definitely um they definitely don't. I think there's a big turn in that now. I think a lot of people are understanding that. I actually work specifically with our social media for our Sawyer County Alliance. And again, that's made up of the 10 clubs in the county. So all of the trail captains and clubs report to me to get that information out there to riders on our Facebook page. And that is kind of one thing that we've really tried to do is kind of educate the public on what goes into making these trails and what goes into getting them, um, getting, you know, county approval or DOT or those kinds of things if it's you know in the right-of-way. I trying to kind of educate people and people really, they really are responding well to that. They really appreciate and they're really interested in what goes into those trails and they have a better understanding. And they're they're so grateful and they're again, they're just such a great group of people. So it's it makes our job easy. We want to do it. They're so appreciative and great.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Obviously, you have a large amount of riders from Wisconsin and probably Minnesota as well. But I imagine you get people from surrounding states. Where do people come from that ride your trails?

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Um, definitely, yes, around the state, Wisconsin. Um, Minnesota, Illinois, and Iowa are probably some of our biggest riders. I would almost, you know, I don't know if it's safe for me to say. I have no, I have no um hard numbers to prove this, but I would say Minnesota, Illinois, and Iowa probably make up more of our riders than Wisconsin people, to be honest. Um, but we do get them from, I mean, we even get them from the south. I I actually sit with our board for our visitor center, and some of our biggest hits for for like our social media is like Texas. I don't know where they're coming from, but they they're ready to escape and check out the snow as well. I think they enjoy it even more because they can leave it here.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Guarantee you. Now I got to visit Hayward Power Sports this summer, and what I really liked about your location is you guys are right on the trail system and leave right from the dealership.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

Yeah, we kind of, you know, they say location, location, location, and that idea has never died. We're pretty lucky historically, prior to us being Hayward Power Sports, this was a very small Polaris dealership that started in the 60s by one family. We're a second family generation. Um, and they actually did snowmobiles and and and eight three wheelers when it was Blackwith Three Wheelers and ATVs, and then they also did horse stables um and trail rides. So I kind of joke that it's just moved into a different horsepower now. But so we got really lucky that the people that formally started this place and owned it, um, they were really essential in getting the trail system started back in again, the late 60s, early 70s. And so it's just grown from there. So we've kind of always been a hub of this wagon wheel of trail system for both ATV, UTV, and snowmobiles. So you can just pop out our gate, it's super easy. You have no excuse.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

When did you guys join Polaris Adventures and what has that been like so far?

SPEAKER_00 9:58

Um, I believe I want to say it was 2018 when we joined. Um, we had been renting um UT well HTVs for many years, and then UTVs when Wisconsin went into a pilot program and then eventually made it legal. Um so we've been renting UTVs for many, many years, and uh Polaris had reached out to us and said they have this great new program. And so we thought, well, let's give it a try and didn't look back. It's been it's been so great to have to have nice machines that we're proud of that Polaris supplies for us and that are reliable and we're not having having just like the system that Polaris has set up, having the insurance for both the writer and for ourselves, just that peace of mind. And then uh the the system, the checkout system, just um is so streamlined. So it's been a really great program to be a part of.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

I was gonna ask you, how easy is it to rent and then ride?

SPEAKER_00 10:52

It's so easy. It's so easy. It's and it helps us because prior to Polaris adventures, we were a lot of paper trail. Um, a lot of us are old school and we liked paper trail, so it was a little bit overwhelming for us to go into a technology and trust that system. And it was so easy. It's right there supplied on one iPad, everything is right there for the rider. And and it's nice for them because they can take the pictures and it's attached to the reservation and they know what they have before they leave as well. So it's just so easy. It it takes five minutes at the most for the checkout process and they're on the trail because we don't want to cut into their experiences either and get them out there.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Is everything the same for renters in the summer as it is the winter? They can just take off right from your place and go?

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Yes. Yes and no. We do again, we're like in the hub of a trail system. Um so we do have a couple different trails that go in different directions, one of which goes into our county forest, which again, like I mentioned, that one does shut down to UTVs once the grooming starts for snowmobile season. But we have another direction that they can go and travel that is not part of the county forest. So they still can get out there. They just have to go a different direction. So still definitely have the option to ride and get to where they need to be.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

Once the snow melts and the off-road season heats up, what's that like for you guys?

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Again, crazy and busy and fun. You know, I think during I think COVID, which you probably hear this a lot, but you know, it just kind of reintroduced people into the outdoors and things that are offered in the outdoors. So I think that we garnered a lot more people who enjoy the sport because they tried it during that time. And so then they return year after year and it just keeps growing, like that that rental program and the number of people that are out there riding have just grown. So we just get really, really busy. Um, it's a little bit slow in the month of May, I think, because kids are getting out of school and such, because we do a lot of families in our area, but it seems to go later in the season now, the last couple of years. They're going all the way through November now, which is awesome. We love that.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

The trail riding in the summertime and into the fall, what's it like?

SPEAKER_00 12:57

It's gorgeous. Um, again, we're in the dark woods, so it's all colors. We got to have you here during uh the fall. We were kind of just we just hit that peak and we're just kind of down on the downslope. So it's still colorful. It's not quite as colorful, but it was still just beautiful. Um it it's just it's almost like relaxing, like just to be out there and just kind of shut off from the world. So it's it's it's awesome. It's so much fun.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

All right, Ashley. I'm gonna put you on the spot here. If you had to choose between winter and summer riding, which one is it?

SPEAKER_00 13:30

That's not even fair. We're not comparing apples to apples here.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

I know.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

Yeah, you know, I'm I'm gonna throw it back at you. I'm not gonna choose. I I love snowmobile. I love snowmobiling because I like to just put my helmet on and not answer a phone. But I love to UTV because I get to just visit with a friend. We like to go out with our friends around the area and we get to stop and visit, and I can visit with them side by side and without interruptions. So, you know, I don't know. I'm putting my foot down. I'm not gonna say one thing or the other, you're gonna get me in trouble.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

So you are so not helpful right now. I'm not. No, not at all. So you put your helmet on, you take off, and you're on your sled. Where's the one spot you're like, I love to go? This is my favorite spot to ride.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Well, I actually think I have two for two different reasons. I are Chippewa Flowage, which is just a huge flowage of water. It's beautiful, it's not packed with homes or anything, so it's very wilderness around the lake. And then we just have like the great, the greatest resorts around that area. And then our Seely Hills, which is right across the road from us. It's our county forest, and it's just gorgeous. Um, and there's so many trails that go through there, and you can shoot off on any side trail and see something different all the time. So I think those are my two favorites.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Well, it is shaping up to be a great winter. It's been a couple of years, so everyone is excited. Ashley, thanks so much for being on the show and enjoy the rest of your season. Thank you. Be sure to like and follow the Polaris Adventures podcast wherever you listen to your podcast, and we will talk to you again soon. Remember, you belong out here.