Saturday's rolling the rocks report.

Lots of trail work and rolling got done today.  Not seen in this post is the gate at the chalet was opened.  Since it gets grown in with grass, this job is harder than one would imagine. Big thanks to Mark R. for taking care of that!

In the morning, we went to work getting a couple of boulders
out of the way that the payloader operator seemed to have missed moving.

Next summer we'll install a gate here to block the trail, so the land owner
won't need to build this barrier, and we won't need to have the rocks moved for us.

Big thanks to Scott L. for lending a hand!

Later, a couple of us took care of two trees that were across the River Trail.
Many whole trees had fallen across the trail the past week.

Some of it was put to use as corduroy in a near by water hole.
Yes, plenty of wet spots remain.

The canal overlook on Mud Lake Loop.

Its quite rough but rolled!

As seen at the Triangle.
Sorry to announce we could not cross this deep water to get into the rest
of Churning Rapids.

The snowy pines were sure pretty.

Both gates were officially opened today.

Due to slight repositioning of the rocks in the ditch on the river trail,
just a few scoops of snow allowed the ATV and roller to get over them.

Yes, plenty of wet spots remain. Ice was repeatedly chipped off the roller today.

Trails are packed, no tracks yet, but skiing is great!

Several passes were done on most of the system.

The gorge is rough, but gee it's always a fantastic place to be.

On the River Trail north of Tomasi Rd

Cascades between RR Ravine and Sidewinder

Out today and rolled!

We were out twice today and rolled the city side, all the gorge trails, Vista, plus the reopened Outback. Snow depths vary greatly throughout the system. For sure use your rock/root/stump skis!

Always great to see Swedetown Creek trail groomed again.

This was the bottom of the Pine Loop descent.

Snow mushrooms already!

Caution skiers: there's not much base on Pine Loop descent and other trails.

Lotsa water spots everywhere...no shock, after the rain just before this snow came.

Now on the New River Trail Extension.

The last hill of the New River Trail Extension, where it meets the old trail.

There's a tree down near Dam Meadow that we'll get off this weekend.

 

Sisu hill gate opening ceremony.

On Sidewinder.

Could it get any prettier than this!

Looped out on the Outback Trail, and back in on Trail 9.

The packing will make the base more durable. We'll re-pack this weekend. 
Water spots like this is why we're working to get a tractor, to fix the trails to eliminate such issues.

Early snow report!

We went around the Tomasi loop today just to check the snow depth out. The snow is a tad shallow for us at this point.

With snow falling, equipment needed to be shuttled to proper positions and ready to go.

Next to an equipment shed, snow looks rather shallow.

Out the roller goes.

And back in it comes.

The 6" of snow was packed to an inch or 2.
Once we get a bunch more snow, we'll be able to pack the system.
Hopefully the cold and snowy conditions will just keep right on going!

Pretty shallow indeed!

Outback post planted. Report #33

In this mild December weather happening here,  4 of us went to the starting point of the Outback trail and got a post planted.   Must give Bob J. credit for doing the hardest part:  digging this hole yesterday.  It was rocks and roots here!

We scraped up a little bit more before planting the post.

Looks deep enough to me!  Lets get it planted.

Arly added a finishing touch.  A map holder will be added here soon.

Some 4-legged helpers always come in handy.

We'll also add junction signs here sometime in the future.
Behind Sandy you can see the trail. Please get out there and check it out sometime.

Martin! We love seeing you out here. You're always good for some ear scratching.

Trail reopening report #32

As stated in past reports, we're reopening the "Outback" trail that starts near the top of Sidewinder and intersects with trail #9 along Mud lake.  On Saturday we had a crew out to remove slash, rocks and cut limbs that were left on Friday.

Carolyn is in the lead here, pulling slash off.

Josh pulls brush, while Sandy lops here.

Gromit found hunting was good along the way.

This crew moved right along.  This will be such a pretty addition to the system.

Bob and Dave worked to pop some rocks off the trail.

Some were quite large!  These were remove so as to not hook implements on them.

These guys rocked at this job!
The couch sized rock will need to be marked so the groomers can avoid damaging
implements on it.

The sun even came out in the afternoon.

Arly, trimming down stumps that are close enough for implements to strike.

Bob is seen in the distance, hauling off slash.  This section passes by few cedar trees.

More corduroy was lain on this wet spot.  Happy to announce that this trail is 80%
ready to be reopened.

This was taken earlier this week, while removing leaners in the gorge.

More sign posts being added.

We are really working hard to improve our trails signage.

 

Corduroy added over yet another, wet spot.