Greetings and welcome!
We had some warm days this week. Yesterday got up to 40 and the day before was sunny and in the high 30s. The usual bad spots got a little worse but it was nothing catastrophic.
There are definitely some bad spots but the vast majority of the trails held their base and are nice and flat. The worst of it is on plowed and treated roads. Those are now mostly bare. I would avoid long road stretches like Ranch Road or Caldron Falls Rd. There are some bare corners and high sunny spots in high traffic/high wear places. Overall I wouldn’t hesitate to ride at all, just don’t expect magazine cover perfection everywhere. My survey today was just a very small part of the trail system, roughly from Thornton’s down to Tall Oaks. More remote trails likely fared better than the high traffic trails that I saw.
We are under a winter weather advisory for tonight and tomorrow. After sunset we should see some snow from a clipper system and the outlook is for 2-4. The more the merrier.
One set of thoughts that I had was that with minimal snow in January the trail base got pretty worked by the groomers and traffic. There is some staining and snirtiness in high traffic spots. Unless we start getting meaningful snow soon, the February sun is going to be hard on the darker trails. We are gaining about 3 minutes a day of sunlight. There is a bigger snow storm possible for about the 19th. That isn’t a lot to base my hopes on. I’d suggest riding sooner than later.
This weekend is the big High Falls Radar Run, Winterfest, and Fish-O-Rama. There is also a Glen Lake fishoree up by Amberg being run out of the Northwoods Bar on Old A and Benson Lake Rd.
Next weekend is the Crooked Lake Fish-O-Rama (Slab of Bacon & a bottle of Booze..), and the huge Red Arrow Townsend Fishoree.
That’s news. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB