This weekend was an interesting weekend for snowmobiling. The trails took an awful beating because of the ice storm we had earlier in the week. I went out on Friday afternoon to see what kind of shape the trails were in between Heartwellville and Harriman, and to clean up what I could. What I saw was amazing. There were a fair amount of broken limbs down in the trail, both large and small. That I expected. What I didn't expect, was the absolutely massive number of trees that weren't broken, but were so full of ice that they were bent over into the trail. I was able to move all of the stuff that had broken and fallen into the trail between Heartwellville and Harriman. Most of it was either small enough to just move, or was small enough to cut off the trail and move the remainder. Unfortunately, I couldn't do anything with the stuff that was leaning over. For a while I was smacking them with a stick to break up some of the ice, and that helped to lift them up, but some of them were stuck right into the snow. We need some warmer temps to melt the ice off those trees in order for them to straighten up. There were also a few bigger limbs that were partially broken, but were broken too high up and were too large for me to deal with, so I had to leave those to the groomers with their chainsaws. The Stage Coach road out of heartwellville was a disaster. There were dozens of large trees leaning over all over the place.

On Saturday I decided to go for a regular ride. I headed out of the Heartwellville lot and took 7A north to George Aiken Road. This section of trail hadn't been groomed yet since the ice & snowfall during the week, but wasn't in real bad shape. There were no broken limbs blocking the trail, just some bent over stuff. At the top of Aiken road, I picked up the groomed trail, and it was in great shape heading to the power lines. The power lines were decent, but still had some bent over stuff in places. The trail to A-Z was not groomed, and was tight, but passable. I think VTsnowman cleared that trail well enough for sleds to pass. I had my usual sammich at the Patty Wagon, then headed north. I went up 7A to BN5. That was groomed, but still had a lot of bent over stuff in the trail. A very common theme. After heading north from BN5, I approached an intersection and saw orange cones in the trail. When I got closer I saw that the police were set up and making sure everybody was keeping right. I didn't run into them last weekend, so this was my first time coming up to one of these setups. I pulled over and had a chat with one of the Bennington officers who was there. Unlike the state trooper that I talked to a few weeks ago, this guy (and presumably the rest of his crew) seemed to be quite interested in what was going on, and in finding ways to keep the trails safe. It was a good chat and it was good to see that these guys are listening. I continued north on 7 and between BN5 and the bottom of Airport Rd, the trails were in good shape, but did have some stuff bent over that was partially blocking the trails. Because of this the trails were only 1 sled wide in spots, and required a cautious type of ride. Once I got to Airport road, there weren't any trees leaning into the trail. Airport road was full of smooth, sweeping moguls. I absolutely love those! If you're riding slow and easy, they won't be bumpy at all, but if you want to turn it up a notch, you can really enjoy the ride. They weren't choppy or "brutal" or anything else. These were nice, big, sweeping moguls that were left over even after being groomed, and man... I loved it!!! I could have ridden Airport rd 10 times and not gotten bored iwth it. I looked over at the Glastenbury loop and couldn't tell if the groomers had been down it or not, but I don't think they had been as of Saturday. My guess is that getting airport road clean was an all night effort for them. I stayed on Airport Rd headed north. It was in fantastic shape, though the last couple of miles before coming to Kelly Stand did have a few trees bent over into the trail, but they could be seen from far enough away that they weren't any kind of safety threat. I headed over to where the Weenie Wagon sits (it wasn't there), then back down kelly stand toward arlington. I headed up Branch Pond road. That wasn't groomed but was in good shape, except for a few trees leaning over near the end of it.

After that I headed back. I stayed on Airport Rd instead of the Glastenbury loop. When riding back, just north of BN5 I saw a great example of why you need to take it easy when the trails are littered with bent trees. I saw a sled come around a corner ahead of me, coming my way. He was on his side, but there was a tree leaning into his side of the trail. He couldn't go around it because I was on the other side, so he had to slam the brakes, and he almost wound up going right into the tree branches! I think he got stopped in time to be able to go around. If he was going any faster, he would have been in trouble. About 30 seconds later around another corner, the tree was leaning in on my side, and because there was a sled coming, I had to ride through the branches.

I decided to take 7 home from the BN5 intersection, and turned left at BN4 to stay on 7. That hadn't been groomed, and was an absolute mess. I made it about 1/4 mile and decided to turn around and get back on the groomed trail. I took 7A home instead.

Overall, the trails were in tough shape. The ice did some major damage last week, and the groomers weren't able to fix all of it by Saturday. I can only imagine how difficult (and time consuming) it was to get 7 and 7A cleaned up.

For anybody heading out this week, all of the trails should be passable to some degree or another. If the ice melts off some of the tipped trees, most of the trails should improve drastically. I should be able to get out once or twice this week and if I do I'll give updates. Once these bent limbs can lift themselves out of the way, I think the trails are going to be in very good shape, and should stay that way for a while. There's still a LOT of snow on the trails. When I stepped off of the Stage Coach road to cut a limb on friday, I sank up to my crotch in snow, and my feet weren't touching anything solid. On the same trail, the groomed base was only about 6 to 10" below the top of the bridge railing that is at waist level (or higher) during the summer.

Nice read yet again. While you were busting ice branches I was cruising in my S2000 through CT What a difference 40 miles can make.

You don't even need 40 miles. From home to work today I didn't drive through ANY water. If it wasn't 2 degrees at the house this morning I would have considered taking the Corvette to work. I may take it for a ride tonight. There's nothing like getting to use the winter toys and summer toys at the same time.

You should have asked the Easter Bunny for a digital Camera!!!!!!!

Nah, I should have asked him for enough brains to remember to take the one I have. I intended to take it both times, and subsequently forgot it at home both times.

I'm going up thurs. if weather permits. Just bought a 800 want to try it out. Do you think the trails will be ok I usually go to belmont from a to z By the way did you make up there? I know I posted some info for you. As always thanks for trail report

I only went as far as kelly stand last weekend, but my guess is that things will be fine up to belmont. The only place that might be tough is the skinny section where you cross 11-30.