Greetings and welcome!
My apologies that I haven’t been around much this week. It has been a rough week for work. I think that I will have 70 hours by Saturday night. Tonight won’t be much better, but tonight you guys are first in line, and we have some stuff to talk about.
First up- the weather..
This week has been pretty neutral. It has been reasonable for temperatures, but not out of hand. Today was the warmest, and I saw 39 on the bank clock in Wausaukee. There was some melting of the thinner ice in the parking lot at work. It probably softened the roads a little too.
While we are in a NW flow and should be getting clipper systems with 1-3 or 2-5 inch snows, it just hasn’t happened for us this week. A couple of mornings I had a dusting of snow on the car when I left for work, but that is about it.
The trails would look very different right now if we would have had a couple of 2-4 snows. As it stands, there are good and bad areas.
Over by 141 you will probably want to stay north of X for sure. Wausaukee is thin in spots and good in others. North is better.
Athelstane has fared pretty well considering the weather and last weekends traffic and warm days. The trails that I saw along the roads looked fine.
When I was in the Twin Bridge area Tuesday night The trail along parkway just north of the bridge between Caldron and High Falls Flowages looked really nice. I shined the mega flashlight up the trail just south of the bridge and that looked good too.
I haven’t been to Lakewood, Townsend or that direction since Sunday. Dan of Dan and Dillon fame took a ride and reported in a comment on Monday’s post and found decent conditions.
I didn’t have to read it on anyone’s website to know that the trails to the north took a pounding last weekend. A lot of groups that passed through Rapids were headed that way, and we had a decent amount of traffic. Everyone knows that the snow is better a little north, and they headed that way. They have been working away at it and trails will be in good shape for the weekend.
One place that we took a little bit of a hit this week is on plowed paved roads and road shoulders. I’d limit my road trails to those with good ditches.
Riders also reported a logging area between Rapids and Fisher’s Camp where the trail was plowed. Taking the flowage is the recommendation there. That comes into play with the radar run and fishorama on Caldron Falls at Boat Landing #9 Saturday.
We have a shot at a little snow tomorrow and tomorrow night, and the NWS is adding a chance that some will be drizzle or freezing rain.
We again have a warm weekend ahead. The forecast is for mid-30s Friday and Saturday, and mid-20s Sunday. Lows are expected to be in the upper teens to mid-20s.
With the warm weather and prime season traffic I’d expect the soft snow to make a few whoopties, along with good enough trails getting marginal, and the marginal trail line moving north.
If I had the time I’d saddle up right now and be good with riding anywhere around Athelstane, Twin Bridge, Silver Cliff, Lakewood, Townsend, or head north up by Hwy 8. About the worst of it would be scratching down some road shoulder on the way to the trail. Is it perfect? No, but id be more than happy to ride it.
Buckle up folks, this is about to get interesting.
Early last week I got about a 20 minute butt chewing by one of the way-ups in the local snowmobiling community. Several clubs are upset that I allow comments here, and they were particularly upset about several of Tim’s reports of Paul Bunyan not grooming when he rode there. They are sure that they did, Tim rode rough trails.
I am working too much to sort it out and until I do, Tim’s report got moderated.
That makes me pretty mad on a lot of levels. I really appreciate the reports and wish that there were a lot more of them. I also think that if the clubs don’t like a report they need to cue up their comments and say so. There is also the little issue that the very foundation of this site for 15 years has been an honest report.
The clubs make a valid point that one guy with a burr under his saddle can hurt a lot of people, and when you beat on people, most of them are volunteers. Likewise if a trail bites it should be known.
Right now I really don’t have time to deal with it, but my predisposition is that Tim’s comments will be un-moderated, and there will be a comment policy.
Anyway, saddle up, it will be a warm weekend, and there are riding opportunities and good times to be had.
RJB
.