Last Friday we attempted to get our entire system groomed up in good shape before the weekend, but unfortunately had a machine breakdown on the way up to the Forks turn around, making it so that only half of the nroth section done. After getting the operater rescued and leaving the machine, we returned to town at 1am and met the 2nd machine that had completed the south half of our system with just enough time to get ITS 87 finished of but did not make it out to the Windmills in Mayfield and Kingsbury area.
Saturday evening was spent getting the Windmill section done that was missed, and all of ITS 87 from the Solon Dam and to the Forks turn around.
Sunday we were successful in getting the broke down machine to drive out and was even able to groom on his way back to town, and met our demo groomer that arrived from Prinoth Sunday morning. We took the Prinoth Husky up to the Forks turn around on ITS 87 and just shy of our turn around on the Moxie Mtn loop trail and back to town. We did not get the former Jack Pine Connector that is the reroute of ITS 87 from the Dam, nor the railbed.
Yesterday the demo Husky did half the railbed to test out the machine on the steep hill known as block hill and the rest of ITS 84 to the Iron Gate Rd where we meet the Athens club but unfortunately did not make it all the way to the dam. We are hopeful of being able to get our broke down machine warmed up to be looked at the so we can make a trip to Auburn to get the needed parts and get it back up to par ASAP.
Tonight we will attempt to get another run on our 3 connector trails, (Iron Gate Rd, Lake Rd and Jack Pine Connector) as well as down to the Solon Dam, which may be being done throughout the day on our last deom day with Prinoth.
ITS 87 is still thin in the woods and powerlines but is otherwise in great shape on the roads and riders are reporting satisfaction.
ITS 84 being the railbed and road system is in great shape, as is our club connecting trails.
Kingsbury has been out and connected with nicely groomed trails, but we do need to get another sign at the top of bulldozer hill where we meet them at tower 22. At the moment traveling that direction from town you will only notice 1 arrow that leads you to the Tower 30 lookout, which you can use to get to the Kingsbury system at Tower 32 and continue to make a loop back to the Kingsbury Dam, or peel off sooner to the connection to Breakneck Ridge on the Thanksgiveing Rd. But we need to place a second arrow at the top of bulldozer hill showing that you can go over to Tower 22 and down the Cemetary Rd to get to the Kingsbury Dam more directly and make the loop connection.
Surrounding club information:
Solon has been out and grooming pretty consistantly, but rumor has circulated that there may be some broken connections due to logging when trying to get to ITS 84 through club trail 22 or ITS 113, so riders may need to travel north to the dam and follow ITS 84.
If you havent seen it on our map this year, the trail in the Embden system that will take you to the lake to cross is closed for the season due to logging.
ITS 87 just shy of Pleasant Pond there is a water hole that has been passable to most and troublesome for a few folks. And as far as we know, Pleasant Pond trail is still closed, as is the Palmer Pond Rd in our system to connect, with no clear answer on when they will be done logging so we can open them up, providing a connection to the east of the Deadwater Rd.
We still need some more snow for sure, but the good news is we are finally going to get the ice building cold temps we have needed all season. That being said, this weekend is supposed to be extremely cold, possibly creating record low temps, with a much higher possibility of frostbite present. Ridres are going to need to dress appropriatly with plenty of warm layers and make sure they have no exposed skin if they are out in the elements.
Traffic and weather with most likely play a huge role in our grooming schedule this weekend as we don't want to put our operators in unnecessary situations of danger. We are going to attempt to get everything ready before Friday so that operators are not out Friday night in -20F temps, with wind chills on top of it, but we will plan to try to get back out Sat night.