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Forestville: Continued warm overnight with rain in the forecast. The trail head will be closed today. Winter is not over. Trail head is scheduled to reopen tomorrow.
Fit Strip: We groomed the lighted loop last Thursday. There is ice in the sunny spots and a bit of dirt in the hemlocks.
Big Bay Pathway: The Big Bay Pathway was groomed last Thursday. Don’t know how many more times we can groom.
Boe😎👍👍🇧🇻🇧🇻🇧🇻🇧🇻
Saux Head: Yesterday’s thaw may have left us with some icy ruts. Let us know if you have first hand information.
Snow Bike Trails:
NORTH TRAILS
Trail Conditions Highly Variable.
Sunny afternoon skies created freeze thaw conditions. Trail surface ranges from perfect hard packed snow to bare ground with stretches of icy glazed snow and sheet ice thrown in.
Trails at lower elevations and along the river where the base was shallower most affected.
Blue Heron Trail from the river up to the dam is very icy and treacherous, probably best avoided by those without crampons or studs.
Collinsville, Peter’s Sandbox, SilverLead and Wildcat in overall very good shape with limited icy areas.
Use caution
South Trails Grooming: I expect variable conditions similar to the comments above on the North Trails.
Way Too Long Grooming Report
That first unabashedly warm day in spring. So we would badger our dad to bring us to our grandmother’s house to get the bikes out of the basement. I’m sure near the bottom of his list of things to do but we prevailed. Bikes were a freedom machine for a ten year old. You could go all over town and find ice floes to ride and ice caves to explore. Spring break up was and remains magical. Having gritty affairs to attend in the morning I missed skiing’s Goldie Locks zone. Cycling we passed the lower harbor in time to watch the plastic ice cross the harbor in waves like Galloping Gertie of Tacoma Narrows fame. One has to see a large sheets of ice or steel bend to believe it. Within a few minutes the entire harbor was clear of ice.
Riding along the lower stretches of the Dead the trail was mostly bare but there were large sections of ice. The icy areas with standing water were especially exciting. Many sporting injuries occur because the victim fails to understand the danger. When more than one person falls victim to an avalanche for example. You send one at a time through the risky chute. Wet ice is especially risky. I remember asking a climbing buddy if they summitted. He explained how he was telling some novices on the trail they needed crampons to go over that section when they scoffed at him. Seconds later they were on what turned out to be a recovery mission. Having just last week regained my ability to sneeze without wincing, I endeavored to remain upright.
There was actual snow to ride once near Kirby’s Hill. Surprisingly even late in the day it was firm enough to support 5.75” bike tires with 8 lb PSI. Once near the Forestville ponds I was leaving about a 1” artifact so I snuck onto the RR tracks to reach the FV intersection. Riding between the rails was fun too. There was just enough snow to make it interesting. You could push through but once every few minutes a jack knife would jump at you. You could normally jerk back out of it but once in a while not so much. The game became, can you unclip in time to keep your ribs from kissing the tracks. I was so happy to win that game.
Looks like cycling again today given the forecast.
Sondo