Nothing makes this girl as happy as getting my birthday wish. We just returned from an awesome afternoon ride. We headed south on trail 7.

Gaylord Area – February 13
A beautiful day. Mild temps and off/on sunshine. Becky and Dave from Ohio enjoyed this ride with us.

We had been told by our guests that trail 7 along Old 27 was very rough last night. We did see the groomer pass last night about 6 pm, but we also observed that he was moving along at a fast clip which does not make for good grooming.

Mike spoke with the DNR and was informed that they had cut back Gaylord’s grooming which has been noticed by several riders. Mike did remind her that Gaylord gets alot more traffic than alot of areas, and it needs to be groomed enough to keep riders coming to our trails.

The worst part of our ride sadly was the Gaylord trail. We rode down to Frederick on trail 7. When we crossed over old 27 (following trail 7 south)our ride improved 100%. Grayling’s trail was awesome. Such fun for our first real ride of this season. We were able to glide along easily.

As we rode thru Grayling following the trail behind businesss, in front of motels it was rough going. Some area down to pavement. It wasn’t long and we were on ‘Boogey Boulevard’ – the straightaway stretch along I75 – and sailing along in the breeze. We continued south onto 782. There was a straight stretch that was very icy. 782 to 482, short bit of 487 and then 7 onto 79, 679 and back onto 7 to the home stretch north.

This is my story about my ride. There are many more miles of trails. Two riders just stopped in to tell us about their ride. They rode from Waters up to the bridge. They report it was a great ride. Indian River’s trails were awesome smooth. Snow is expected for Valentine’s Day. Happy Trails to You
Snow is in the forecast for Valentines Day! Happy Trails to You.

The freezing drizzle did turn into snow, and sooner than they predicted. By mid morning it was white coming down from the skies. The snow was a very wet/liquid snow for the first hours. It continues to snow as the temperature is dropping. Groomers have been spotted on the trail today. We have riders out that have yet to return. So I can’t tell you their assessment of the trail conditions.

This has been a beautiful winter season. We are enjoying the business. Its been much too long since we’ve had a profitable winter. The downside of that is that it becomes more difficult to get out ourselves and ride. I have to depend on our guests to give me their opinions of trail conditions. I have never lied or even stretched the truth when it comes to conditions. We have always been brutally honest. Any rider who has booked with us will tell you that we even call and advise you to stay home if we fear it is not worth a drive north. We understand that you are depending on us. Each person’s opinion, is just that their opinion. A more positive person who has missed being able to ride (like the previous two winters) may not be quite as critical about their ride. They might just be enjoying Mother’s nature’s generosity and being able to actually ride the trails. It seems that has been the case with our guests. I would also point out that in any 24 hour period conditions change drastically.

The trail system is hundreds of miles so what the area of one persons’ ride may not be the exact ride you take. So again, the report might not be accurate according to your ride.

My birthday is this week. I have just one birthday wish – and that is that we can get out and ride. We are trying to work it out so we can go Wed. afternoon (I almost feel like I am jinxing it by writing it) so hopefully things will go as planned and Wed evening I can write a first hand trail report.
Enjoy this winters’ snow, have fun and ride safe!