Well after a busy vacation week with lots of traffic, and fresh snow the trails are in fantastic shape. We have received over another foot of snow since our last report and even with all the traffic riders reported good to excellent conditions daily. You can quite literally ride out of Bingham north, south, east or west and return from a completely different direction. The one recent downside unfortunately is that the Wind Mill trail has been shut down on our southern end due to a logging operation. If entering from the Palmer Pond rd end coming from the Dead Water rd, Breakneck Ridge trail, or Bald Mtn trail, you can go up to tower 30 and do the loop around them, head towards Abbott (but not sure what grooming conditions are like) or dead end yourself at the Rt 16 crossing just before the Wind Mill office building. So if traveling from the Forks and looking to do that loop, just realize that you either need to take a left off the Austin Stream bridge on to the Dead Water rd. Within 100' on the plowed Dead Water rd you will notice the groomed section on the Palmer Pond rd. This take you about 6 or 7mi before you can head in to the Wind Mills. It is about 5-6mi to the Wind Towers which you will have to back track and then continue up the Palmer Pond Rd, past the Breakneck Ridge intersection and back on the Bald Mtn trail. Do be careful...we had significant winds this week that have created drifts in different places that can cause issue. In our system the most common is when traveling past Austin Pond between the Breakneck Ridge and Bald Mtn trails. A potential positive we were made aware of this week was a new club attempting to get formed for the coming year or next in Kingsbury. They are hopeful to meet all abutting clubs and work together to better connect our systems! ITS 87 North: Is groomed in good shape and has good coverage. ITS 87 South: Groomed all the way to Skowhegan and has been in great shape with limited traffic the last few days! ITS 84 East: Is groomed and in great shape all the way to the power line section where you would meet the Solon and Athens clubs. ITS 84 West: Also groomed to the Solon Dam from our club is in great shape. We have been told it is excellent riding all the way over to Kingfield and beyond. Wind Mill Trail: From ITS 84 taking a left on what some call the Sunshine trail and others the old upper Lake Rd that was closed for most of ATV season, was open and groomed but is now closed due to a logging operation. Town Line Rd: This is now closed again due to a new logging operation. The northern end just before Dead Water rd is still open access for ITS 87 across the Austin Stream bridge or continue to the Palmer Pond rd taking you to the Breakneck Ridge and Bald Mtn trails. Iron Gate Rd: This trail is open but not groomed by our club. The first part of it has been groomed to the Stagecoach rd but has not beyond that connecting the Wind Mill trail which is now closed for the season anyway, so riders should not continue past the Stagecoach Rd that takes you into Brighton. Lexington/Highlanders clubs: Groomed with access to Kingfield and Stratton. If looking to get to Carrabassett Valley, trail signage will indicate heading toward Kingfield as the assumed shorter route. Just realize the old trail that went straight to Carrabassett Valley past Happy Horseshoe has been re-routed towards Kingfield. As always, ride right, ride sober and ride safe!
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