Current Trail Conditions 01-05-05

[Snow VP]

Well this is more of a weather update than a trail update.

The big snow that we were supposed to get yesterday, in St. Ignace was all rain. Over 24 hours worth and that did not help anything. The trail in St. Ignace is shot, you can not get through town anymore without lots of pavement. I did check the trail 1/2 mile out of town last night, and it looked like it was still holding, (how much thinner can it get?) and there was only 1 snowmobile track on it since grooming on Tuesday. That is good however, the trail is so wet, any traffic will completely destroy it in no time.

I have no report on the outer trail system right now, they may have gotten some snow, but I can't be sure - condition report from 1-03-05 will likely apply, with a little more snow loss.

Even more bad news is that we parked the groomer on Wednesday, with no more regular runs scheduled until this weekend.

At this point, I would call the trails travelable, but in very poor condition. Use caution if you ride. Think snow thoughts

[SPEED RACER]

Well i think i speak for everyone when i say, Thanks for the honest reporting.

Also i'm not too worried as of yet. I think a big storm is what the doctor needs to be ordering, and i hope we get one in the not so distant future.

Keep up the good work guys and think and pray for snow!

[conniver04]

I 2nd that! Neil thanks for the honest report. Is there any snow predicted for the rest of the week or the weekend? Thanks again and keep up the good work.

Think snow

[ToddMeister]

Thanks for the update Neil, was riding the fence on whether to come up this weekend, looks like we gotta wait for more snow...

[Snow VP]

Kenny,
forecasts around here this year have been horrible. Things have not been the same since Bill Spencer left 9&10 years ago. It seems like they are wrong more often then they are right nowadays. All the reporters go with a variation of the NWS, which I don't believe has a firm grip on the dynamics of the upper great lakes.
Anyhow, weather .com : http://www.weather.com/outlook/homeandgarden/home/tenday/49760?dp=precipdp is showing a chance almost everyday over the next week, but the entire state need a 12"+ storm to get in any kind of shape.

Oh well, at least we did get some grooming in December.

Next Tuesday or Wednesday a final decision will be made on the 1-14-05 Poker Run. If conditions do not improve, we will cancel the event, it is just too much work for a 10-20 person turnout. We have discussed replacing it with an informal trail stop with a bonfire and hotdogs some Saturday, someplace on the trail. I guess we will see.

PS
Todd, you could ride if you want to, heck you might be the only one on the trail! You just have to know what you are getting into. Personally I want a good base, I do not care for icy conditions. I just saw 2 Revs drive past the office, there are always diehards.

[ToddMeister]

Hi Neil,

Naw, I'll wait for better conditions. I am going to Munising next Thursday for a Yamaha Internet Group (totallyamaha.com) ride. Hope the Munising area conditions are better.

My 4-stroke sled needs some snow on the trail to keep it from overheating. Hard icy trails are not good for it. I put some ski-spray diverters on the simmons skies which does help to direct some snow/ice into the track & heat exchangers.

You got the weather forecaster situation correct, they couldn't forecast their way out of a one-way street. John Dee usually does a better job for a general Northwood's forecast, but he also blew the forecast for the past two days, at least he admitted he hosed on the forecast for the UP.

We were supposed to get 2" of snow last night here in central michigan. Woke up to wet pavement, rain/snow mix, which did change to snow, and ended up with a slushy dusting. All our snow is now gone here.

Hope the pattern changes soon....
ToddMeister

[conniver04]

Neil, The forcasters here are no better. We were supposed to get snow today and it turned out to be alot more rain. It has rained here foir the last 5 days with not even a trace of the sun. How depressing:( .

Well we are gonna head up anyway and hopefully things change like last
Friday did.

Thanks again Neil for all the info.

[Snow VP]

It is 6 PM, and groomer Dave just left with Groomer #5 headed to Cut River. He should be back between 1 & 2 am, and leave a trail report in the tractor for me. I will post that sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Our tractor tech will be here tomorrow to fix a wire short in the new machine, and give both machines a once over. I will go check things out with him so the trail conditions may be posted late.

PS Todd, I saw that you and another guy were bragging up our website on another message board - thanks for the good report!:thanx2:

I am adding a couple of new smilies, cuz I think they are cool...:wave: