We had 5 inches of snow in Hayward on Monday, and another 2 inches on Wednesday. Cable has about 8 inches, but it is reportedly very dry and won’t set up a good base until after we get some warmer weather. The Hayward situation is better in that the first snow was rather wet, so it seems to be setting up reasonably well. The snow in Seeley is somewhere in between the dry stuff in Cable and the wet stuff in Hayward, so it may or may not set up well after grooming.
The storm has dropped trees and branches onto the trails, and the weight of the snow is causing many trees to droop over the trails. We have been busy clearing them, but will not be done until sometime on Saturday, (hopefully.)
New this year:
We have some new equipment and an enthusiastic operator to groom the Hatchery Trail. We worked on it today, but broke a drive chain on the Rokon and had to abandon the effort. The chain is repaired, and we intend to finish grooming and clearing the trail tomorrow (Friday). It should be good early season riding on Saturday.
We brushed out several reroutes on the Big Fat Loop to facilitate grooming, eliminate some steep hills, and to eliminate a dangerous turn on Snowmobile Trail 31.
The Backside Trail has been modified a bit to accommodate an expansion of the North End Ski Trails. The ski club will be grooming nearly all of the old Backside route for cross country skiing. Even with the reroutes, there will be more shared use mileage on the trail. The plan is to groom the east edge of the shared sections of the trail for bikes, and the rest of it for skis. The CAMBA work crew installed a number of hefty 4×4 signposts, so we hope to have it signed better this year. Please do your best to stay on the bike portion of the trail.
The Cable Community Farm Trail has a new name: The Cable Town Trails. The trail system is doubled in size, and
now has snowshoe trails interspersed with the bike trails.
The 2-way section of the new Esker Connector Trail is on the list to be groomed this year, but it has a short section on a steep sidehill that presents a significant safety risk for the operators, so I am not confident that we can keep it groomed consistently. We need more snow!
Seeley Hills has a new trailhead on Old OO. The old “Dump Gate” parking area is being eliminated. The new trailhead is just west of the old one. Look for a driveway on the south side of the road. Parking will be down the driveway, close to the new warming hut now under construction.
The new Hayward Hospital Gateway Trail will be groomed for winter biking. The trail is designed to be an entry level trail for beginners, but it has lots of banked turns that are fun for everyone. The first phase of construction was completed this year, and consists of roughly 1-1/4 miles of trail. It is accessible from the northwest corner of the Essentia Clinic parking lot. Future plans will connect the trail with the Olson Road Trailhead. Please note that bicycles are not allowed on the groomed ski trails.
The green CAMBA-Fat trail signs are being replaced by blue CAMBA-Fat Winter signs. The new signs should be here next week, at which time we will start installing them. They should all be in place before Christmas, although the priority will be installing signs where none now exist before we worry too much about replacing existing ones.
Current Status:
Hatchery: should be groomed and fairly good by Saturday. The snow is thin in many places.
Hospital Gateway: not yet groomed.
Seeley Hills: no report.
Seeley Pass: not yet groomed, but a track is ridden in on some it.
Big Easy: we don’t yet have any commitments to groom it, but we are hopeful that it will be groomed at some point.
Makwa: not yet groomed.
Big Fat Loop: probably needs more snow before it can be groomed.
Westside/Backside: has been cleared and a snowmobile track laid down, but no drag yet.
Esker: not yet groomed.
Cable Town Trails: has a snowmobile track but no drag yet.
Gravel roads are very good now and should be good through the weekend.
