Riding with Dan & Dylan
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Date and time of this report: 08/17/2008 05:17:24 PM
Friday, March 14, 2008. Temperature was in the mid 40's at 1:30 pm.
We had 2-4" of fresh snow here Wednesday, but there was no snow on our back porch when we arrived today. There was very little trace of that new snow left, even in the shade, so we decided to check out the trails. We left Chute Pond on the Bonita Creek trail and took 7 N railroad grade up to Kingston Rd, where we took 18 E trail to Crooked Lake. We met two sleds at Crooked Lake- a family of four who rode up from the Lee Lake area. They agreed with us that the trails were all in surprisingly nice shape- flat and smooth for the most part, and although there were a few bare and brown spots (only about 5 or 6 all the way to Crooked Lake), there was more than enough very nice trail to make up for it. Any time we got near a road, especially Hwy 32, there was little or no snow, and lots of mud and gravel- this was the only down-side to our ride. We took the lake trail across Crooked Lake and took the pipeline south back to the Junction area. We found logging activity along Jack Pine Rd from Swamp Rd to Twin Pines Rd, and the trail was rutted along here. We got gas at Rhode's Junction, and ditched from South Shore Dr to Anderson Lake, then took 2112 to the tunnel west. The logging activity has increased on 2112 from Hwy 32 to Mc Comb Lake Rd, and the trail was pretty rutted up in some stretches along here, too. The tunnel was reasonably smooth as we headed west to the "Y", where we took the 18 E trail back towards the railroad grade. The 18 E trail was in decent shape for the most part, but the railroad grade 7 S back to Mountain was poor. Standing water and bare spots were common, and it was a rough ride south back to Chute Pond. Not many years will you find decent or better riding conditions on the 14th of March in this area. We found the ride today to be all of that and more, and we were glad we decided to take that "one last ride" of 68 miles today. I'm not sure if we'll ride again this year, but if we don't, we'll know we ended on a positive note.
Saturday, March 15, 2008. Temperature at 7:00 am was 18 degrees, warming up to mid 30's today.
We met Mark, Dave & Mary on the lake as they were heading out for a ride west towards Langlade. Mary promised to give me a report on how the trails were today. We only rode 6 miles today- out the Bonita Creek trail to 7 S railroad grade to the small connector trail to 2112 and back home, to take pictures. We all know what a bad section of trail looks like, and there were a few we had to drive around because the sun is doing it's damage, but we wanted to share these pictures of how nice many parts of our trails still are on Saturday, March 15. Here is the 7 S railroad grade, looking south at Bonita Creek:
Here is the 7 N railroad grade, looking north at intersection 64, along West Shore Dr (this stretch of the railroad grade is in better shape than most other areas):
These pictures were taken on the wooded trail that connects 2112 and the railroad grade, and are very representative of how nice many miles of our wooded trails still are:
I spoke with our club President yesterday, and he told me we will keep the trails open as long as the weather and conditions allow. We will try to keep them open through next weekend if possible. We will announce the official trail closing on this website and on the Oconto County Website . As far as our riding, mechanical issues on all three of our sleds has convinced us that we are done for the year. Dylan finished the year with 2458 miles in 13 weekends, and I had 1959 miles in 11 weekends of riding. Hats off to our Groomer Boss Keith Uhlenbrauck, Trail Boss Dan Huth, and their outstanding crew of groomers. You could tell exactly when you were back on Chute Pond's trails- they were always groomed to perfection. When we met someone on the trails or at a pit stop, we were proud to say we were from Chute Pond Snowmobile Club when people told us how nice our trails were. Hope to see you at the Annual Banquet on Saturday, April 5th at Black Bear Trail Golf Club in Suring. This event helps raise funds to keep our trails groomed, and is open to the public.
We hope you enjoyed our trails this year, and have a great summer.
Dan & Dylan
Comments and questions welcome at info@chutepondsnowmobileclub.com
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