Trail Reports

Reported by Forest Riders Club President Jerry Wakefield

It looks like we are going from extreme cold to warming, with possible temps above freezing in the coming days.

The trails currently are in very good condition, with corners and high traffic areas starting to wear, and becoming icy. If temps rise above freezing, the trails will deteriorate quickly; especially as the forecasts have little snow in the near future.

There are signs of logging starting on Trail 12 south of Trail G and still some logging activity on Trail 5 south of the spillway. This could continue for the rest of the season.

Just a reminder, please approach our grooming machines SLOWLY! We do not pass snowmobiles! You must pass our machines while the machine is stopped. We will sometimes have to get to an area that is wide enough to pass. So please wait for the operator to signal you to pass, and stay back and let them get to a safe area to pass. You might even have to turn around as we will not back up.

Finally, it’s been a great season so far! Let’s keep it that way moving forward and pray for more snow!

Jerry

All the reports from last night’s and this morning’s grooming runs report trails to be in Very Good to Excellent condition.  Groomer who did 8W and 8B says “gonna give them an Excellent – I don’t see how they can be any better”.   Trails 10E, 12E, 12W, Club Trails, Kobart Trail all reported to be in VG to excellent condition.  Temperatures are moderating.  Get out and enjoy aride; stop at one of our map ad sponsors and buy some snowmobile raffle tickets.  Ride Right!

Here is the Trail Report from Club President Jerry Wakefield:

It’s still very cold here, but it appears the weather is going to moderate this weekend. Hopefully with more snow.

We suspended grooming operations last week as the extreme cold is not good for either man or machine.

We resumed grooming this past Monday, and the trails are in very good condition. The trails are starting to show some wear on corners closer to high traffic areas. The trails are also very hard which could result in some overheating. So, if you have scratchers you might want to use them. This does create a larger than normal snow cloud behind the machine so please leave some space between machines for visibility.

There is logging being done on Trail 5 south of the spillway.   We have also been told that Trail 12 near the Willow Flowage will be logged, but we haven’t seen any signs of it so far.
As I said before the trails are very hard so be careful! Many of our sharper corners are slick and can cause you to lose control at excessive speeds.

We are out grooming 6 days a week and remember a grooming machine will never pass a snowmobile. So please approach a machine slowly, and pass the machine when the groomer signals you to pass. You might also not want to stop very close to a machine as the trail is only so wide, and sometimes we are not able to move over and allow you to pass. Sometimes, you might even have to turn around as we will not back up a machine so we can move forward to give you the space to pass.

Happy Riding!
Jerry

From Jerry Wakefield – Forest Riders President

The weather forecasts were wrong again, and this time we got more snow than anticipated!

The trails are in very good condition, and there’s no doubt it is plenty cold to sustain the snow we have.

Speaking of cold, the upcoming Friday and Saturday forecast is for temps in -20’s with wind chills in the -50’s.  This extreme cold is not good for our equipment, and not safe for our volunteer groomer operators; so we are going to suspend grooming operations both Friday and Saturday because of the extreme cold. It is just a precaution, and grooming will resume this Sunday.

There is still some logging being done on Trail 5 between Lamer Springs and Muskellunge Rd, and logging scheduled to begin on Trail 12 just south of trail G. It looks like they are going to use Flowage Rd as a route. Flowage Rd has been plowed down to the gravel

Jerry