Temps were in the upper 30s Friday and mid 40s Saturday which really deteriorated the trails to the point we were done riding. Then yesterday morning/afternoon, we got 5 inches of snow. With the snow coming earlier in the day, figured the clubs would all groom last night and the trails would be better today. So I headed out for a ride starting on St. Germain trails. Fortunately, I was only on them for about a mile and a half because they didn’t groom. That trail was bumpy and the carbides scraped a lot. My spirits jumped and a smile came across my face when I turned onto Eagle River trails that had been groomed. They were smooth and packed in pretty good. I found some stretches that were beautiful but still found a lot of corners thin on snow so the carbides scraped on some. After several Eagle River trails, decided to try some Sayner and Lake Tomahawk trails. That turned out to be a mistake as they hadn’t groomed either. After almost a week of warm temps trails were mostly in the poor to fair range with a few good stretches. Then came the snow. It had some moisture in it but wasn’t the heavy wet snow which can really help trails lean on snow. The clubs that got and groomed the snow did make a difference. Those trails are smooth and range from poor to good with some very good stretches. The ones that didn’t groom remain poor to fair with a few good stretches plus they’re getting bumpy. If you ride expect the carbides to scrape quite a bit – especially on corners. There’s a lot of brown trails from snirt.
Some plowed road trails had a lot of melting last week and there was quite a bit of bare pavement showing. The snow we got did little to help that as once the plows went through, there’s very little left on the road. Expect the carbides to scrape a lot.
Some lakes are bumpy and slush has started coming up.
Since some clubs didn’t groom after the snow, we can only assume they are done and won’t be going out again.
Our trails this season never got a solid base so any warm temps will take a toll more than in other years. Today looks to stay cold but warm temps are predicted to continue starting tomorrow. My best guess is that riding today and early tomorrow will be okay – mainly on trails that were groomed after yesterday’s snow. Warm temps tomorrow will deteriorate trails quickly and by afternoon there will be more bad ones. Without more snow and cooler temps, it looks like our sleds are parked.
