Took a ride today around noon and headed south on ITS 87 into Solon, then continued on the secondary ITS 113 trail, then to the Solon Snowhawks Club trail #23, to the Iron Gate Rd. Then continued on the Windmill Loop around to the Bald Mountain trail. From there I followed the Pleasant Pond trail back to ITS 87 and followed it all the way back to the shop. Here is what I found. The 12" of fresh snow we received has finally got some moisture in it and is now more like mashed potatoes. A little cold weather to follow will set them up nice for the start of vacation weekend!
ITS 87 south down to the Solon Dam was in good shape with minimal bumps. Solon had not been out to groom by the looks of it Saturday night, or there was a tremendous amount of traffic Sunday as there trails are usually in great shape.
ITS 113 was much of the same bumpy conditions but had good coverage.
Iron Gate Rd was in great shape, with excellent coverage and groomed after the storm. There were studder bumps up the middle but they were small and consistent enough to get a good rip down that 2 mi stretch of straight.
Windmill Loop had great coverage but was very rough and irregular. Good news is the logging operation appeared to finished up as you last leave Rt 16 at the top of Cook Hill.
Once hitting the section at the end of Austin Pond where we join with Northern Outdoors, the trails were fantastic all the way back to the shop. The upper portion of Bald Mtn was not groomed yet but the Pleasant Pond trail and ITS 87 south back to our system was in great shape despite the fair amount of traffic on Sunday afternoon on it.
Once hitting our club section on ITS 87 south I found much of the same great conditions. Even some of the thinner spots coming in town were covered up pretty well and iciness was minimal to non-existent.