Well our most recent storm on 2.16 provided us with less than was advertised but we did recieve about 3" in town and 4" out of town. The consistancy was more than of sugar than snow, as most of it came in the form of sleet and ended with a short and light rain. This provided for excellent grooming conditions as the night cooled down allowing us to get ITS 87 locked down and firm. Within a few hours of riding traffic yesterday it began breaking up providing plenty of lubrication, and causing more work for the groomers last night. So ITS87 north of town was done again last night with little sleep for the operator, who will be going out tonight to get the Iron Gate Rd fixed up that needed the most help other than ITS 87 on 2.16.
ITS 87 north is groomed and in excellent shape. (This will not get groomed tonight to catch up on the south end of our system)
ITS 87 south to the Solon dam has good coverage and will get freshened up this evening.
ITS 84 east toward Athens was in good shape 2.16 but is probably showing some bumps after yesterdays traffic. This will be groomed this evening
Iron Gate road has steady rolling bumps until connecting with the Wind Mill trail near the Withee Pond intersection, but will be a top priority this evening.
Lake Rd to Withee Pond past towers 1-11 was in excellent shape on 2.16 but again probably needs some touch up after yesterdays traffic. This will also get a tune up this evening.
The Wind Mill trail that crosses Rt 16 several times was also in excellent shape on 2.16 and seems to be holding up for 2-3 days despite traffic, though we will also get this cleaned up this evening and ready for the weekend, providing good access to Breakneck Ridge trail system and Greenville.
The connector trail closest to town linking Jack Pine trail portion of ITS 87 north of town and ITS 84 at the top of Mahoney Hill should still be in great shape as it sees minimal traffic during the week, and was in excellent shape on 2.16. This will be touched up on Friday evening when we get back on ITS 87 towards the Forks.
Ultimately we are still working with just the 1 groomers for our major trail system and sleds with pipe drags for the Bingham in town trails and access to Wyman Lake through Moscow. So we are doing are very best to work with what we got to provide a pleasant riding experience throughout the busy vacation week that is coming to an end Sunday. Next week starts NH's vacation week, so while we will see a reduction of traffic per usual, we are still expecting plenty of riders in the area.
That being said, be safe, stay on your side of the trail and enjoy our system. And please stop by our shop to become a member of the Valley Riders Snowmobile Club and/or make any donation you can to keep our groomer moving nightly, and help us work towards purchsing a second groomer to make our system even better!