Current Trail Conditions 01-10-06

[Snow VP]

Well, this is more of an information update, rather that trail update. The trails have not really changed in the last 30 hours. They are ridable, but thin, and are ICY in spots. Please be careful if you ride.

We are moving Groomer #5 out to the Brevort staging area tonight, and it will now begin its runs out there. Groomer #6 had its computer fixed today, and is on training runs out of St. Ignace for the next 3 days. It should be running full boar by next week.

:censored: NEW HAZARD: on the Caffey Truck Trail, all the way up by Rexton, next to the roadway. This is the only wet spot on our trail, this is where the big Cat got stuck last year (it took a big bulldozer to get her out) Well Groomer Dave broke through Sunday night, got the Deere stuck. Luckily he got it out under its own power, but we will be bypassing this stretch until it get really, really cold. Don't worry, it is only 100 yards long, and you can easily go around it, just follow the groomer tracks.

:help_wsig PLEASE HELP: Tire ruts on the push-pull road (just as you leave the RR Grade) toward Cedarville again. If you catch someone on the trail with a truck, please please take the time to get a license #, and description. (you can get me the info, I will take it from there) I am ticked, and it is time to prosecute. They tore up a fine trail over the weekend, and the groomer almost went into the ditch/trees trying to cover up their ruts. It is January, they have no business on the trail, period.

Message Board Tip: The statistics I have checked say that most people are viewing this board without logging in. If you enter your username and password there are some benefits. (you can also hit the "remember me" so you don't have to do that all the time) The biggest benefit is that after you log in you have full use of board features, including viewing pictures, and other functions. My favorite function, is a tool that in in the main menu, between calender and search, it is called New Posts. This function will list all of the new posts since your last visit. It saves a lot of time for me :)

And now, how about a little something for those who have logged in today:

[Snobooger]

Love the pics! I think i found my new background...Thanks!
Josh

[SPEED RACER]

Seems as though this style and size of tractor is the mainstream in use today for grooming.

New Holland, Ford
John Deere.

You really don't see those tucker style groomers anywhere anymore.

[Snow VP]

Update: Trail report and Poker run info will be posted later this evening when the machine gets in, and we see an updated forecast.

Temp right now is 35d, but things do not seem to be melting much. It was been alternating from freezing rain to flurries all morning.

Speed,
It depends on your type of trail system. Most clubs around here can not run machines of this size. We have no swamps or twisting/turn areas in our trail system. Everything is either forrest road, pipeline or RR grade. I talked to several guys from different clubs at the groomer show last year. Our new machine was delivered there for guys to check out. Everyone commented on how big it was, they all seemed to run much smaller machines, and 8' drags. Our machines are 9'wide, and the drags expand to 13'!
Our club started out with a tucker type of groomer, I believe it was used. That was replaced with another. They used to have problems with that type of groomer, mainly because of our RR grade. That always seems to freeze very hard, and the grade was destroying the metal cleats on the track. Further they were a maintenance nightmare. Tons and tons of grease fittings, full grease job twice a week, major work at least 2 times a year. That is very difficult to accomplish with volunteers.

Next came our Cat Challenger, expensive, but a wonderful machine that served faithfully for 9 years. Very few problems, but it was starting to nickle and dime us toward the end.

Next came the Ford/New Holland wheeled farm tractor. A good machine, and much cheaper than the Cat, just not built to take grooming our trail system. Continually got it stuck, had problems with the 4WD and some electrical issues. Finally we blew the transmission 2 weeks before it was supposed to be traded in for JD#5.

We were going to get 2 new Cats, but Caterpillar sold the challenger model to FABCO, and we were not too sure where the service would come from. So we checked out the John Deere. It has a jump seat for a second person, a little better cab layout, supposed to be a bit better on fuel (we will see) and slightly less $$ than Cat, and service comes out of Lake City. So far everyone loves the machines!