Riding with Dan & Dylan, Weekend of February 23, 2008

Friday, February 22, 2008. Temperature was 12 degrees at 8:00 pm.

We left the Pond with Szablu on the Bonita Creek trail and headed south on 7 S railroad grade past Suring to Klaus Lake Sports Bar for a fish fry. The grade was in good shape in most areas. We left Klaus Lake and headed back north to Suring, where we got gas at Flynn's BP and headed north out of town through the golf course onto the pipeline trail. The pipeline was in excellent shape as we headed north to the turn west into Chute Pond trails. We took the 18 W trail back to Chute Pond. The wooded trails were in very good shape. We had a very nice ride of 51 miles today.

Saturday, February 23, 2008. Temperature was 5 degrees at 8:00 am.

Today was our second Club Breakfast and Ride of the season. We met 9 (Keith & Deb, Mark & Barb, Dan, Jenni, & Adam, Bubba, and Szablu) other riders at Mountain Top where Sylvia served us a very tasty breakfast. At 9:30 am, we got gas at Parkside BP and headed north on 7 N railroad grade. The grade was freshly groomed and in very good shape as we headed north into Paul Bunyan trails to the turn towards Maiden Lake. We took the Mountain Lakes trail south to four corners and the to the tunnel and 2112. These trails were all freshly groomed and in very good to excellent condition. We took the railroad grade 7 N back to Mountain where Szablu's sled broke down right outside our snowmobile shop.

We parked his sled there and doubled back down the grade to the Pond where we picked up a spare sled. We took 2112 back through the tunnel and stopped for a visit at Boulder Lake Lodge. After some smart talk there, we headed west on 18 W into Langlade County and the Boulder Lake Sno Goers trails. These trails are normally in excellent condition, but today they were unusually rutty and bumpy as we headed out to Gator's Country Bar in White Lake for some great pizza. After lunch we headed back east into Oconto County and back down to four corners where we took the 18 E trail to the railroad grade 7 N. These trails were in good to very good condition in spite of the heavy traffic we experienced on all trails today. The 7 N grade was very bumpy and rough as we headed north to O'Neil's Halfway Bar for a pit stop. From there we headed north on the wooded trail towards Maiden Lake, then back out to the grade to Bode's Rawhide Bar & Grill for Saturday night "Italian Night". Bart and Chris served up some delicious Italian and other specialties for our dinner. After eating we headed north on a very rough railroad grade to Firelite Lounge in Lakewood. We had a nice visit with the owner Jenny before packing up and heading back to Chute Pond down the 7 S railroad grade. Luckily, the groomers had flattened out some of the moguls in a few areas before we rode back, but there were still plenty of stretches of pretty rough trail. Overall the trails were in good shape today, considering the very heavy traffic and large amount of snow on the trails. We rode 154 miles today. Trail grooming will continue, and we will continue to ride. Next weekend is the Cancer Crusher Cruise Benefit Ride for Katie & Della. Hope to see you on the trails.

Sunday, February 24, 2008. It was only 6 degrees at 6:00 am, but warmed up quickly to the low 40's.

We made a short late morning ride with Szablu before he had to leave for home. We took the Kitty's trail off Chute Pond to 2112. We followed that east to Water's Edge, then crossed Anderson Lake and ditched to the trail at South Shore Dr. We made the loop behind Rhode's Junction, through the business park, and back to the lake. All 23 miles of trail were freshly groomed and in great shape. The temperatures were now in the low to mid 40's, so we waited until about 4:30 to ride again. We stopped and visited with Della at Doze Inn before leaving the lake on the Doze Inn trail to 2112. We followed the trail to Rhode's Junction for gas, then checked out the connecting trail behind Mountain Springs Motel. We took the 18 W trail to Crooked Lake, cut across Crooked Lake and took the pipeline south. The trails so far were freshly groomed and in excellent condition. We made a turn east on to the Bagley- Brazeau trails, which were very rough, rutty, and bumpy. We followed this trail until it made a turn south, and then thankfully the groomer had been through this section Saturday night. We followed this trail south, which was in good shape, connecting with the pipeline trail just north of Suring. We headed north on the pipeline, which was rough and bumpy, until we connected with Chute Pond trails (in excellent shape) and headed west towards the Junction. We ditched from South Shore Dr to Anderson Lake, cut across the lake, and headed home on 2112 to the Doze Inn trail. We only saw 4 other sleds this afternoon. The Chute Pond trails were the best ride by far, but we enjoyed all 85 of our miles today.

Monday, February 25, 2008. Temperature was 31 degrees at 6:00 am.

We left Chute Pond on the Bonita Creek trail at 6:00 am and headed north on the freshly groomed 7 N railroad grade. We took the small connecting trail to 2112. This trail had been rough for the past month due to logging, but was in great shape today as we headed to 2112, then the tunnel trail. Both 2112 and the tunnel had been groomed Saturday night, so they were in great shape as we headed west and north to Hwys 64 & T. We entered the freshly groomed Paul Bunyan trails, then into Langlade County and the Boulder Lake Sno- Goers trails, which were so freshly groomed that we were the first and only riders. It doesn't get any better than that! We headed back south and east, back through the tunnel to 2112 to the lake. We did not see any other sleds out during our 50 mile ride this morning. We are looking ahead to cold nights and moderate days this week, which will have our trails in great shape again this weekend for the Cancer Crusher Cruise Benefit Ride for Katie & Della. We hope to see you at one (or more) of the three events or on the trails this weekend. You don't need to ride to attend the events, so come on out and help us Crush Cancer!