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Forestville: Andy let the trail sit last night. Hard snow and light traffic mean yesterday’s ‘Bully grooming will still mean very good skiing to 17k and good skiing everywhere else. Joe offered some first hand information from yesterday’s ski. It seems my reportage has lacked the flavor of first hand knowledge. Joe commented he can’t tell from reading the WTLGR if I am actually doing any skiing these days. Busted. I have not been out since the Tuesday thaw. One gets the bit in their mouth on some project and the important stuff falls by the wayside. I do plan to ski this afternoon after being shamed. So, Joe says, “I went to 510 today [yesterday]. 26 degrees and sunny. Fresh PB to the first bridge. Above that was slightly icy but not dangerous. I’m so out of shape (or is my age catching up with me?) I had to single-stick up some of the steeper hills. Took the Mead bypass coming back. Saw tracks of one other soul who had been to 510 before me.”.
Fit Strip: We groomed the lighted loop yesterday but only cleaning up the skate lane as the tracks were still firm. Conditions are very fast. There is ice in the sunny spots and a bit of dirt in the hemlocks.
Big Bay Pathway: The Big Bay Pathway is freshly groomed. Meditation and Hidden Grin are in good shape. Don’t know how many more times we can groom.
Boe😎👍👍🇧🇻🇧🇻🇧🇻🇧🇻
Saux Head: Tuesday’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
I used to get feelings of remorse after sending a particularly venerable pair of skis to the dust bin of history; not anymore. One time I tried to give some 19th century hickory skis to a museum only to be turned away. They had a room full of such skis and suggested the outside of a barn or maybe a wood stove. Egyptian mummies were so plentiful in years gone by they were used for firewood. One never knows what will mark a given era; and then it’s gone. Remember that Honus Wagner baseball card you threw out? Sure, you can try to pick the item that will become valuable but good luck with that. The ones that bet their Atari computer would be worth something were right. There’s a name for people that keep things with that in mind. Not wishing to be called a hoarder, I try not to let the basement fill with stuff like gas fills a chamber. That being said, I have great remorse over the Palm Pilot charger retirement. It seems our other reader has one. Not only does he have it but uses it! Some day he will need another charger and I won’t have it. Maybe I should stop throwing out those boxes of old chargers that keep turning up.