UPDATE: It is getting harder and harder to tell you guys to make the trip to ride. Maybe it will be better out in the outer trails then around town. One minute I hear good things, another I hear bad things. I know we lost 1/2 our snow in my yard so far this week. The thing is, we have not been above freezing in over 2 months, pretty much since we first got snow in January, so everything we have has never been compacted down, it was still all fluff or granular, and with this weeks warm temps it is settling as fast as it is melting.

Reality in the form of pics tomorrow.

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What a fantastic weekend of riding it was! Mild temps, and great trail resulted in the heaviest traffic that we have seen all year for sure. It started last Thursday and ran right through Sunday afternoon with nothing but sled after sled after sled. The traffic definitely took a tool on Saturday as both groomers reported the roughest trails that they have groomed this season. The strange thing is I went to check the trails at 6pm Saturday near town and they were is decent shape. Loose, and some bumps, but that that bad for the traffic that we had.
Here are a couple pics from that time:
SEE OUR WEBPAGE FOR PICS AND ACTIVE DISCUSSION

Now onto what you all want to know, looking into my crystal ball, what is the coming days and weekend going to look like. Well the forecast did change over the weekend, and not for the better on the sledding community – BUT it could be worse and it is not going to kill our fun, however since it is now the second week of march, I do believe that it is the beginning of the end of the season.

So looking at the available forecasts and combining it with the info on our trail system, here is the skinny:
If you are looking to ride this week, go ahead and continue your plans, you will have zero issues, and have a great trail to ride on. Please be easy on the trails as they will be really soft, and will tear up easily. The forecast is showing 35-40d temps from today through next Sunday-Monday, all with mostly sunny skys, but the important this is, no rain at all in the forecast. It will get cool, but not cold at night, just below freezing, which will help things out some, but I think by next Tuesday we will loose approximately 1/2 of our overall snowpack on the trails. That is OK, we can survive that, we are storing snow on the side of the trails and can bring that in next weekend to have a workable trail.

The following week, we are looking at a long-term forecast so the exact temps are no known, but the places I have looked at are putting us back into the 20d temps for the next week, with maybe just a little snow. It will take a full fledged storm to being the trails back to what they are now, so don’t look for miracle. Will the trails still be ridable, I certainly think so through the weekend of the 21st. Beyond that the March temps and sun are going to take a toll again, and you will have to be hunting for snow on the final weekend of the 28th.

So break it all down, what do we have, well in an effort to save the trails, I am suspending grooming until this weekend. Right now, I am thinking only 1 groom before Saturday should do it. We have good trails now, and there should be fairly light traffic this week, so things will be all Set for Friday night, and Saturday you can let her rip. Saturday things are going to get tore up bad. I am worried about 2 short sections of problematic trails, and I will be getting pictures of those trails for you on Thursday so you know what to expect and have all the information before your weekend trips. Anything with pavement is going to melt down this week, so getting into and out of towns is going to be the typical March riding. I built trails around St. Ignace last week so it will help, and I will report how they held up on Thursday.

If you make the trip up to ride this weekend, I know there will be an information get together of a bunch of riders at the bowling alley – Freds Pub on Saturday night from 8 till? If you are in the area stop by for some war stories!

The next big question will be about the ice bridge. I think that this week is going to take a toll on the ice. I am not going to report how much ice is out there, and if it will be safe to ride next weekend, but I will predict that the crossing will still get heavy usage next weekend. Take that for what you will, check conditions locally before crossing. Have a plan, let someone know your plan, and stick to your plan and be safe.

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