Wednesday, December 31, 2014

SWNSC Trail Update 12/31/2014

Happy New Year!  Hopefully, the first day of 2015 will see some new snow.  We need it.

But...  things are finally taking some form after the massive blow-down of many, MANY trees before Christmas.  I think it took Dave and me a total of 20+ hours to get all that cleared.  Sorry to keep mentioning that, but dang, that was an awful lot of work to clean up!

OK, onto the trail conditions:

Things are covered and the trail is quite skiable, but bring rock skis.  There are some thin areas and a lot of debris from the tree cutting, etc.  Rocks are just beneath in a few areas too, especially the main trail between the intersections of Dave's Dogleg and TJ's loop.

It's lumpy and bumpy, but not bad for skating and pretty nice for classic touring.  There's no classic track set yet, but with just a little more, we'll be able to set it.  The lower road is also in good shape out to Point O, but not so great above that due to rough trails underneath and of course the meadow always needs more snow to be skiable.  You can can back into the woods at Point O, or turn around and take "Clay's Cutoff" at Point B (groomed).

There are lots of aspen shoots still thriving on the edges of the trail, especially on Dave's Dogleg and the upper meadow.  Please take a little time to cut a few if you can -- 10 minutes can do a lot of good.  Be sure to cut them down below the snow line!  That really helps a lot.  I kept running out of time during this fall's work days and it would get dark, so I missed a few spots.  Now, my 44 yr-old back is worn out from lifting logs and I don't feel like bending over to cut any more aspen shoots!

We'll try to stay on top of the grooming with the new snow, but be patient.  We are down to almost no groomers now.  Hopefully, we'll get some more reinforcements in January sometime.

Resolution Race will be on Sunday, January 11.  I'll send out more details later.  We'll do a kids fun thing too, after the adults event.


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