I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but here it is. I just called the trailmasters in the Groveton and Stratford area. The rain came down heavy today and it basically created a coating of ice in a lot of places. Where it was thin, we did lose the base, but where there was a good buildup of hard snow, we got ice. Stratford's groomer was out today opening up the Cree notch trail (without a drag). On their way back, it was so icy they could not make it up some of their hills so they had to take a less steep route back through our trail system. If we get snow tonight, it should stick to the ice and give lubrication to the sliders so there will be riding. If we do not get the snow, then there will not be any riding because there will not be any lubrication for your sliders or traction for your track. I suggest looking at the GTB Webcams (www.grovetontrailblazers.com) on Thursday morning. If you do not see fresh snow, then I would check further north to see if any snow fell in Pittsburg or Colebrook. I will be going up at noon tomorrow and I will drive by several sections of trail and post a detailed report on the GTB Website by 6:00pm tomorrow night so you can all make an informed decision about this weekends riding in our area. As it stands right now, neither Groveton's or Stratford's groomers will be going out until we get some more snow. There is simply nothing to groom at this point.

Unfortunately we did not get the snow that Diamond Pond got. I suggest you head north of our area for riding this weekend.

:cn: As bad as the conditions are it's great to see that the conditions are being reported accurately.........Unfortunately the NH Bureau of Trails is so arrogant that, knowing that no one now believes their report, they have taken to calling individual clubs who do their own report...such as this one, and have been strong arming them to "sugar coat" their report "because we need the tourist dollars"!! Apparently Mr. B.P. is so short sighted, that he doesn't realize that people come to NH to enjoy the trails and if you get them here and they CAN"T..they will NOT come back. Keep up the good reporting. A former NH rider!!:div20:

Right now the NH Bureau of trails report says that Pittsburg & Swift Diamond areas are "Fair to Good", and everything else is listed as Limited, Marginal, or Closed. That sounds accurate to me.
Where is the "sugar coating"

Of the reports that I keep an eye on, I think that the Pittsburg and Swift Diamond clubs and the So NH Snow Slickersclubs do a good job of telling it like it is, and also they continue to give regular reports regardless of whether the conditions go downhill or improve. Twin mtn reports often seem over optimistic, but I don't ride there often - it's just the impression I get.

Some reports that I like to check in Maine - the clubs only post a report when there is something to rave about. If there is no major snow they will go for weeks without updating the trail report. That sucks - tell it like it is on a regular basis. Good or bad.

Saturday night and its been snowing for about 3-4 hours, and is starting to stack up. :div20: Temp 22 degrees, and I hope it continues to make up for the recent impact of the rain earlier in the day. Temps went from 54 down to 22 in about a half an hour. Mother nature sure has a twisted sense of humor, but I hope she is done jerking us around for awhile!

pathfinder58 :fluffy:

In the Groveton area, we only got an inch of snow after the rain stopped on Sat. night. The only real base we have left is in the Nash Stream Valley and everything else is essentially down to bare ground again.

Regarding the post above about Trails Bureau reports, I was present at the County meeting on Thursday night when the Coos County clubs gave their last report. There was no "sugar coating" going on. But the problem is, since that report was given, conditions have gone downhill dramatically. Many areas that had marginal riding last Thursday have no riding now. In Groveton, we have been trying to keep up with changing conditions by updating our trail conditions page daily. The Trails Bureau only updates their conditions page twice a week and that is not enough to deal with the large changes that have been occuring this winter.

Another miss on Mon's. snowstorm. Only got 1-1.5 inches. Not enough to get the groomers out. Hope for more snow mid-week.

We got 4"-5" of new sticky snow on Sunday night and the groomers were out first thing this morning. The club had decided not to groom over the past 2 weeks to preserve our base. That decision will allow our trails north of our clubhouse to be back in great condition in a couple of days. Its too early to tell about our trails south toward Lancaster and Berlin. Those trails did lose some of their base in places, so we will have to see how they survived. I can tell you that our club is committed to getting rideable trails to Lancaster by Thursday (including trucking snow if needed) so riders can make it by sled to the Easter Seals Ride-in this coming weekend. We hope many of you northern riders will make the effort to support the Lancaster club by attending one of the events or donating to Easter Seals through your club. This is the first time for the Ride-In in Lancaster and if all goes well, Lancaster will be selected to host the Ride-in again in 2007. We will be serving food at the GTB clubhouse all day on Saturday with all proceeds donated to Easter Seals. Please stop in on your way to/from Lancaster. Also on Saturday, Lancaster is holding a radar run and there will be two snowmobile parades in downtown Lancaster as well as a Steak Feed at the Jefferson clubhouse. On Friday, there is a free spaghetti dinner followed by fireworks and a comedy show. Check the schedule of events at www.grovetontrailblazers.com or www.lancastersnowdrifters.org

Ride-in Report: In spite of mother natures best attempts, all except one of the ride-in events went on as planned. Friday afternoon, people arrived en-masse at the Cabot Motor Inn. They were treated to a free spaghetti dinner put on by the Common Man restaurant chain. Absolutely first class meal with all the trimmings and desert - totally free. Dinner was followed by a 30-minute long fireworks display. Were talking professional as in the fireworks guys have done the 4th of July fireworks in Boston in years past. Absolutely fantastic display. Then we attended a comedy night. The comic played an electric guitar so it was not a conventional show. I would rate this show just OK. On Saturday, they had 2 groomers and about 40 snowmobiles (including antiques) ride down Main Street in Lancaster for the snowmobile parade. This was followed by an antique snowmobile show and drag races in Munces field out near the bridge to VT. Again this event was well attended and I even got to try out the new Yamaha Apex courtesy of Dalton Mountain Motorsports. This was followed by a charity auction back at the hotel. The only event cancelled was the torchlight parade through downtown Lancaster because there was not enough snow on the RR tracks to get the machines from the hotel to downtown Lancaster. But if any of you drove through Lancaster this weekend, you could not help but be impressed by the amount of snow the town trucked in to build a "trail" along Main Street. I spoke to a Lancaster club member and he said all the businesses in town have been saving snow all year in large piles. Then they got a bunch of trucks and loaders to truck it into downtown making a one-foot thick, nine-foot wide trail through downtown. We really had a great time even though the weather was not cooperating. For those of you who did not attend, hopefully you will try it next year. It was a really fun time with lots to do for the entire family.

Trail Report: This last weekend's warmup was a killer. All of our connector trails (117, 28, 7, 109) got wiped out as they leave the Nash Stream valley. In the Nash Stream valley, there is still a base on most of our trails, but that is hard and icy. We really need 6" or more of snow to get our groomers back out on the trails. Right now its mostly dirt to get from the clubhouse out to the trail head. Worst January that anyone can remember in our club. At least its cold now and that should freeze up the waterbars which have been open all winter. Keep the faith, we usually get our biggest snowfalls betweeen now amd mid-March.

The groomer rodeo scheduled for this coming Friday in Groveton has been cancelled due to lack of snow. Also our Poker Run scheduled for this coming Saturday has been postponed. Unfortunately there is not enough snow to get from the clubhouse to the trail head. After that there is thin cover with limited riding in the Nash Stream valley. Also got a report that some riders went to Errol with no problems once they had ridden over the 1/2 mile of gravel from our parking lot to the trail head. No gravel to ride if you park at the Nash Stream parking lot but trails are ungroomed and have not seen a groomer in over 2 weeks.

Both the Groveton and Stratford groomers have been out since last Friday working with the 6"+ of snow that we got last week and over the weekend. We never lost the base on many of our trails in the Nash Stream Valley so they are in great shape. For those of you who want to ride up to the Snodeo, I would recommend that you take Cor. 28 (Trio Ponds Trail) over to 19N and then up through Errol. Going north on Cor. 5 you will run into thin snow cover with little or no base in Columbia and parts of Colebrook. There is supposed to be some more snow coming on Thursday and if that materializes, then conditions may be OK to head straight up Corridor 5. Detailed trail conditions and directions to our parking lots are located on our website at www.grovetontrailblazers.com

The riding in our area continues to improve every day. One guy emailed me to say he went into our parking lot, saw thin snow and turned around and headed up to Coleman State Park. Well if he had unloaded and drove 1/2 mile down the trail, he would have had great riding. There is a big difference between the open areas near the road and the trails in the woods. The Groveton and Stratford groomers have been out continuously for the past week and the trails are in great shape. Up to 6" of flurries are supposed to fall today and tonight which may allow us to get some of our southern trails open. The Groveton Club is having a bean feed on Saturday from 4pm to 8pm. You can ride to the Snodeo via 5N through Colebrook or via 28 east to 19N through Errol and there is lots of free parking near the clubhouse. Check our website at www.grovetontrailblazers.com for trail conditions and directions to our parking lot.

thanks for the update... heading up that way tomorrow twd nash stream.... heard it was in good shape.

After looking at the warmup predicted for this coming weekend, my wife and I decided to come up for what may be our last ride of the season. We left the Groveton Clubhouse and after 1/2 mile of snirt hit the main trails which were groomed to perfection. Went up Cor. 5 to Columbia, which was very thin in many spots until we got to Trail 110. Once back up in elevation the snow filled in and we found excellent riding to the top of Dixville Peak, then back down a freshly groomed Trail 110 to Cor. 19S. Cor. 19 was starting to come apart in may places. The logging roads around Millsfield were great, but any south facing parts of the trail were almost bare. We took Cor. 28E back to the Nash Stream Valley which was also freshly groomed. Did some off-trail riding in the higher elevations of the Phillips Brook Valley, but only a foot of snow even in these locations. Total ride was 75 miles with about 95% good to excellent and 5% very thin going. We are planning another day of riding tomorrow, but after this next warmup, I doubt there will be any riding left in the Groveton area. The base is just too thin to survive an extended warmup. Get it while you can!

The midday sun and mid-30 temps of the last few days has really taken its toll on the trails with exposure to direct sun. Trail 117 has very little snow left with lots of bare ground (I rode 300' of gravel yesterday taking down signs). Riding from the clubhouse is basically done with both access trails mostly dirt or snirt. Park at the Nash Stream lot to get access to the trails. Nash Stream road is snirt in several places on the southern end. There is still good snow cover on our northern trails and around Stratford Bog and in the Trio Ponds area. Trails were groomed flat everywhere in the Nash Stream valley, but they will not survive the next warmup. We are supposed to get a little snow, followed by some rain and temps in the 40's. If this happens, that will be it for our area this year. The good news is lots of you skipped work this week to get your last ride in. Everyone I spoke with seemed very happy to be out. For some people, it was their first ride of the season! Financially this will be a bad year for most clubs and with registrations way down, grant money for summer construction projects and new grooming equipment will be scarce. The clubs need your help now more than ever so please make an effort to get involved and lend a hand. Stay tuned to our website www.grovetontrailblazers.com for info on summer and fall projects.