I headed out for a ride hitting some St. Germain, Eagle River, Sayner and Lake Tomahawk trails. The St. Germain and Lake Tomahawk trails I rode had been groomed. Some of the Sayner trails I rode were groomed but others hadn’t (including one that hasn’t been groomed since the foot of snow Tuesday). The Eagle River Trail I rode wasn’t groomed. The groomed ones were so nice. I wanted to ride all day on those trails. These were very good to excellent. The ungroomed ones are getting bumpy and some corners are getting pushed out and icy. I did scrape the carbides a few times. Trails that had snirt before have it mixing in again but they’re whiter than before. Branches continue to break off from the ice and snow falling on the trail so I stopped many times to move them.
Now that there’s plenty of snow on the trails what you see will depend on when the trail was last groomed and how much traffic has been on it since then. More traffic will lead to more bumps and pushed out, icy corners. Less traffic will mean smoother trails. As the trails get groomed more times it should help to pack in the snow making it better each time.
Lakes are bumpy from drifting snow and there’s slush coming up in spots – especially off the marked trails.
Just a comment or two on some safety issues. 5 sledders died this last weekend in WI. Two of them were hit by vehicles on state highways. We’re not sure what happened but lets use this as a reminder that whether you ride fast, slow or in between, stop signs mean stop and look both ways before crossing a road or driveway. Also, with all the snow we’ve gotten there’s a lot of high snowbanks limiting visibility for vehicles pulling out of driveways or roadways. So if you’re on a plowed road trail slow down and be aware someone pulling out might not be able to see you coming.
