SRXChris Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 IMO some trails shouldn't be updated till they are driven. Going north from Kaladar yesterday to Mazinaw lake on E101 was pretty good. Tons of powder but still rideable for my old sled. We reached 1009 to loop around and went no further than about 2km and turned around. It was very rough and grinded stones the whole way. Trail was marked yellow but was brutal, see today it has gone green. Just a heads up, be wary. Rest of E101 was good. Good ride yesterday and today around here even better as trails are freshly groomed. Loving this snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
signfan Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 Yeah I figured that when I saw the update. Whoever updates Mazinaws trail conditions is very optimistic. Then you get other clubs with a pessimist. Tough to find balance. I laughed last year there was one weekend when all of cottage country was yellow. Mazinaw was green. They got nailed with traffic like the area never sees. Worst part is they aren't used to it, so they don't have a Saturday night grooming program like a lot of clubs that regularly see large traffic numbers. Ruined their trails for the weekend while there was just as good of riding in other areas all around them that had no traffic. Surprising how many people look at that one line on the ITG. Do some homework and you'll find there is more snow west of Hwy 62 right now as opposed to east of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbakernbay Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 Our Club has 225 Kms of Trails or thereabouts. Do you really think there is someone that goes out every day and evaluates every km of trail. Even then with this weather there are many problem areas even within the one trail number, how do you report that? Most likely by leaving everything Yellow = Limited. This Weather is really tough on Club Volunteers and of course everybody is anxious to get out there and put some Kms on which makes it even more problematic. It is really a Can’t Win Situation for Everybody involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
signfan Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 I disagree. Proper procedure is for the groomer operators to report back what they found based on their last run out. This worked extremely well in our club. The person reporting on the ITG just needs to be the collector of information. The trail status is not intended to tell a rider of every last problem they could encounter. Just a general consensus of what each trail section is like based on the last time the club saw the trail. Full of rocks leave it limited. Plowed for logging for 5 km leave it limited. If you get a major weather event bump then all down or close them completely. I think the argument here was they shouldn't all be bumped directly back to open just cause it snowed 8". The groomers should actually cover every trail first which I know didn't happen in this case as Mazinaw only has 2 groomers and there is no way they covered the entire 400 km system in 24 hrs. This said they have a great club and do a great job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whits-end Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 As a sometimes groomer I can tell you that what you see is either covered or not. At least on our rocky trails, the only good way to evaluate is by sled riding. And as bbakernbay states, that's just not practical. Sometimes it's gonna be a guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zertrider Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 And in the end, if I hear a few rocks scraping under my skis, who gives a crap, I am riding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AC+YA Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 The groomers will always dig up a few rocks and that means everyone can help out a little and throw a few off the trail. I have stopped maybe 30 times this year and done just that. I was glad to have the opportunity to ride while waiting for more snow. I was happy to be a little more careful and reduce speed to be safe and protect my sleds while having fun and riding. We also have folding saws which we use! We try to eliminate any spears or hazardous trees unless they are too big. Then the flagging tape which I buy and carry comes out to protect the next riders from what we cannot handle ourselves. Don't get me wrong, when its -40° I don't do as much to better the trail. If everyone would actually fix one little thing on every trail they ride, there wouldn't be much to talk about except maybe the lack of good weather which no groomer can fix. ........and that is what this guy is thinking about as I watch all those guys race past what can be fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRXChris Posted February 8, 2018 Author Share Posted February 8, 2018 8 hours ago, Zertrider said: And in the end, if I hear a few rocks scraping under my skis, who gives a crap, I am riding. Few rocks? Close but a little off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRXChris Posted February 8, 2018 Author Share Posted February 8, 2018 This area as the other poster mentioned is very optimistic when reporting. Same district or area earlier this year was yellow but should have been red. As mentioned earlier people trailer there and turn around after seeing what they are really like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetorches Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 7 hours ago, AC+YA said: The groomers will always dig up a few rocks and that means everyone can help out a little and throw a few off the trail. I have stopped maybe 30 times this year and done just that. I was glad to have the opportunity to ride while waiting for more snow. I was happy to be a little more careful and reduce speed to be safe and protect my sleds while having fun and riding. We also have folding saws which we use! We try to eliminate any spears or hazardous trees unless they are too big. Then the flagging tape which I buy and carry comes out to protect the next riders from what we cannot handle ourselves. Don't get me wrong, when its -40° I don't do as much to better the trail. If everyone would actually fix one little thing on every trail they ride, there wouldn't be much to talk about except maybe the lack of good weather which no groomer can fix. ........and that is what this guy is thinking about as I watch all those guys race past what can be fixed. I was out today on the Port Perrry trails. Removed a 4 ft. long log that was half buried coming around a corner. They must of had the brusher on, so stopped a couple of times to remove big pieces of brush. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
signfan Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 Rode a 380 km loop today. Started at home east of Ptbo. Rode to Campbellford, Styrling then up to Tweed and Kalidar. From there headed north to the cottage on Skootamatta Lake outside Cloyne. From there headed west to the heritage rail trail and into Coe Hill. From there to Chandos Lake, south off the lake down to Stoney Lake and returned home on the Rice Lake club trails. Great day. Saw a little of everything. Some early season riding (mainly the rougher bush trails and the rail lines in the south where stones are still coming up through) and a lot of riding I would call mid season mid week trails (ie. absolutely awesome). The Mazinaw trails were 95% mid season mid week conditions. Same with Old Hastings trails. Groomers have been moving and they have snow. There's more snow west of 62 Hwy, but not a great deal more. I'd recommend everyone get out and ride in cottage country. Trails around Ptbo are getting better too and will be good by the weekend once they get another groom over everything. Not as good as Bancroft, but close. Bon Echo loop would be a good choice for a ride this weekend if you're looking for your best option. I saw three groomers today running (Old Hastings, Stoney Lake and Rice Lake) creating white carpet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 How was it from Chandos down to Stoney (the Nephton area)? Stoney Lake posted that the logging on E107 (north of where you rode) is supposed to be finished. Im still seeing log loads being hauled out to town so I dont know what is going on thru there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
signfan Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 I'd call the trail from Chandos down to E-107 and E-107 over to Stoney an 8 out of 10. Still feeling the group need underneath some. Another groom will make a big difference. They have the snow now. You wouldn't be disappointed to go ride it. I met the groomer near the nephron mine at the trail intersection into Kashabog Lake. So they are on it. No idea what E-107 between Apsley and there is like as I didn't ride it. I just know the groomer had come from that way so I would say it would be ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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