Riding with Dan & Dylan, New Year's Weekend 2010

New Year's Weekend- Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Dylan left for the Pond a day before the rest of us. He rode to the south central part of our trail system- Bonita Junction, and took these pictures at 3:00 pm today:

Photos above taken by Dylan at Bonita Junction on 12/30/09- where 2112 (Bonita Rd) crosses the RR grade . Click to enlarge.

Left photo looking east on 2112. Center photo looking north on the RR grade, right photo looking south on the grade.

There is plenty of snow, with a good, hard base in this area, which is in the central part of our trail system.

Thursday, December 31, 2009. Temperature was 15 degrees.

Dylan rode with our neighbor Geoff and his family. The rode west out to Boulder Lake, then west into Langlade County. The trails were fresh groomed, smooth and fast. The headed back into Oconto County, then north to Kathy's Valley Inn, north of Townsend. They returned to Chute Pond via the RR grade and some back trails east of Lakewood, including going past the Ski Hill Bar. The group of six riders rode 84 miles and rated the trails good to very good. When he returned, Molly & Emily took the Pantera, I took the ZR600 and we headed to Mountain with Dylan to fuel up. On the way, my temperature light came on, and anti-freeze was leaking onto the ground. We parked the sled at the snowmobile shop and retrieved it later with our trailer. Bummer.

Friday, January 1, 2010. Temperature this morning was 12 degrees.

Dylan & I rode north on the RR grade to the 18 trail heading west. The grade was freshly groomed and in very good shape. We have a rock solid ice base, with a nice snow cover on top. We took the 18 trail west to Boulder Lake, then north and west into Langlade County. Our trails were freshly groomed and smooth (see below), but the Langlade trails were bumpy and in need of grooming.

Click on the above photos to enlarge.

We made the loop around 9 Mile Resort, and then east and north to Kathy's Valley Inn. We fueled up at the Townsend Shell, then headed south on the RR grade. We went west at O'Neil's Halfway Bar, and took the Mountain Lakes trail south past Pine Grove. Our trails to the "Y" were groomed and smooth, but the trail from the "Y" to Pine Grove was very rough. We continued on south and east on the tunnel trail to 2112, then back to Chute Pond. The tunnel and 2112 were flat and smooth. We picked up Molly and Emily in the cutter (since the ZR600 is on the trailer), and Sherri took the Puma.

Click on the above photos to enlarge.

We went off the Pond at Bonita Creek and headed north on the RR grade to the 18E trail to Weller's Green Lake Tap for lunch. This trail was pretty rough- it needs a groomer, but the snow is pretty thin on this trail. Doug served us up a tasty lunch, then we headed back to the Pond. We rode 96 miles today, and were overall very happy with the trails we found. The ice base will go a long ways towards great trails for the rest of the season. Our Groomer Boys are off to a great start this year. Our trails are in mostly good to very good shape, especially considering the limited amount of snow in some areas.

Saturday, January 2, 2010. Temperature this morning was -2 degrees.

We took an afternoon ride up Bonita Creek and then north on the RR grade to fuel at Parkside. Dylan was riding the bullpen Puma because Rodney will be coming to pick up his ZL 600 SS to check the broken speedometer, and my ZR 600 with the antifreeze leak. We headed north of Mountain on the grade, which was pretty rough. We turned east at the Halfway Bar intersection and headed towards Crooked Lake. We made a wrong turn and ended up in Lakewood, which was ok, because the Paul Bunyan trails were all freshly groomed, flat and smooth. The wooded trails were also very pretty, with lots of snow still hanging onto the trees. The photos below were taken today on our ride through the Paul Bunyan trails east of Lakewood. Click on photos to enlarge.

We came south down the trail by Maiden Lake, then headed south past Halfway Bar back into Chute Pond trails. We rode south to Pine Grove, and this stretch of trail was in need of grooming. It was a pretty rough ride. One of our LMC tracked groomers broke through a swampy spot along here last week, and they're waiting for things to freeze up better before grooming again. Once we made it to the tunnel, it was smooth sailing back to the Pond. We rode 53 miles today, and we cut our ride short because we have a bowling party at 4:00 in Suring. Trails were fair to very good. Our neighbor Geoff reported that our 18 trail from Chute Pond to Crooked Lake is pretty thin and pretty rough. Seems a hunter was driving his pickup truck on the trails before everything froze up. Now the trail is rough and rutted. We can use some more snow, especially to the south- that will help things a lot.

Sunday, January 3, 2010. Temperature this morning was 9 degrees.

We didn't ride today. We packed up and headed home to be in time for the Packer game. We heard from Rodney and his crew about our sick sleds. My ZR 600 has just a broken coolant line- no big deal. Dylan's ZL 600 has a bad lower drive bearing along with the broken speedometer. Hopefully the drive shaft will not need replacing, too. We'll find out when they pull it apart this week. The word from several riders is that the trails by Suring are pretty bare. We know the trails towards Boulder Lake and north of Chute Pond are in good to very good shape. Let's hope we get a little snow this week to improve things all around.

Next Saturday is our club meeting 11:00 am at Vollmar's Trailside in Suring, followed by a chili dump. Hope to see you there.

Drive safe, ride sober. Don't become a statistic.

See you on the trails,

Dan & Dylan

Comments and questions welcome at info@chutepondsnowmobileclub.com