I took a st. pattys day ride last night after work. The temperature had already dipped below freezing by the time I got home from work, so the trails were as hard as cement. The trail down to the heartwellville parking lot had been groomed on Saturday, so the water hole at the bottom was filled in... as was everything else. This section of trail has been hit or miss for most of the season, but last night it was in great shape. Once I got up to 7N it was very bumpy, and very hard. These conditions make you want to go fast because the track has so much grip, but the handling can be unpredictable because you're constantly catching ruts and bumps. Riding north on 7 it was hard and bumpy until I got to BN4. The groomers were out, and one had gone by here already. However, with the snow the way it was, the groomed trail was harder to ride than the ungroomed trail. The big bumps had been smoothed out, but the whole trail was full of snowballs the size of footballs. It was like riding a dried up river bed. I continued north until I got to BN 12. I was taking a beating even though I was the first one over newly groomed trail. At BN 12 I decided to turn around, but after I did I couldn't help but think that the trail would be better up ahead, so I turned back around and continued north. As I headed north, the trail did smooth out and the snowballs were a lot smaller. I guess the farther the groomer goes, the longer the temps were cold so the snow behaved. I caught up to the groomer just before the bottom of Airport rd. After I went ahead of the groomer, I found that airport road was just absolutely blasted. It got pounded hard on sunday and froze that way. It was a brutal ride. I made it to the intersection of C 7 100 and decided I'd had enough. As I turned around, I noticed that the sled took such a pounding on Airport road that one of my hand guards had loosened up and started to come apart. I headed back down Airport and took the Glastenbury loop. That was beat, but not as bad as Airport Rd. I had gotten almost to BN14 when I saw what I'm always afraid that I'm going to see when I'm out by myself at night: A moose in the trail. I came around the corner and saw the ass end of a moose in the distance on the trail. He was running away from me. I stopped the sled and tried to decide whether to turn around, or just give him a chance to get off the trail. The last thing I wanted was for him to turn around and charge me. Since I was so close to BN14, I didn't want to turn around and take a 10 mile detour. I waited a minute, then continued. I caught up to the moose running down the trail again, so I slowed down and continued on. Eventually I had gone far enough that I was convinced that he must have left the trail, so I sped back up, and thankfully, didn't see him again.

I got back onto 7, headed south, and came up to the 2nd groomer of the night between BN 12 and BN5. It was Scott, the trail master. I stopped and chatted with him for a while, then continued home. After I got by him, I noticed that the trail was significantly better. With this hard crappy snow, it seems that the 2nd pass makes all the difference. I enjoyed the better trail down to BN5, then headed left on 7A. This was a bit choppier since this only had one pass on it. I headed to the power lines, then down the power lines back to 7 south. I headed down George Aiken road, which was also freshly groomed. There were sections of that road that were flat and smooth, so it gave me a good chance to goose the throttle a few times on the sled.

I continuted down 7, and then back onto 9 to head to the parking lot. I could see from the groomed path in the trail that the groomer was out this way. Sure enough, just as I was going down the steep part of the trail to the parking lot, I saw the lights in the distance. I pulled over and waited for him to go by. He stopped and we had a short chat, then I continued on. This section was in such nice shape that I didn't want to stop when I got to the parking lot, and with 45 miles on the sled, I just had to take a ride up to the end of the Stage Coach and back to get my sled up to 50 miles. That section was mostly smooth with a few sections full of snowballs, but still a lot of fun.

Since everything was groomed last night, I would expect that when the snow warms up today, as long as there are a few sleds riding it to smooth out those snowballs, that the trails should be in great shape for the rest of the week. There is still a LOT of snow up there, so there's no question that riding will still be good this week, and unless we get a lot of rain, I think they'll be fully ridable through the weekend and probably for most or all of next week. Anybody who wants to take another ride should do it soon because we're on borrowed time now.

All in all, I wound up with 50 miles, 2 conversations with groomers, and one moose on the trail. A good St. Patty's day ride!

Awesome! I didn't realize the trails were still so good up there.

I went out on sunday, that was a very... interesting experience the trail seemed to get better as the day went on, i wish we could still ride out in snow valley

Even though I haven't been back to Woodford since the non-groomed disaster on January 1st, I always like reading your in-depth reports on the place. I went there at least 7 times last winter, and just twice this winter. If I do get out once more this year, It'll be back in Woodford.

I just got back from Lyndonville yesterday and I know what you mean by the big freeze up. Burke groomed their trails Sunday night and they were awesome - smooth and very fast yesterday...they were fantastic!
Everywhere else was like riding down a rocky river bed after everything froze up from the weekend. It was brutal.