Grooming Report #1 First groom of the season!

Today the city-side, New River Trail, Meadow/Vista, Outback, and Mud Lake Bypass trails were rolled. Snow cover is very thin, so there are many areas of exposed ground, rocks and other debris.

Most trails have exposed ground and debris 

Good conditions on the New River Trail

Seen on the Quincy Trail

Maasto Hiihto/Churning Rapids Second Summer Mowing Completed

Yesterday morning we completed the second summer mowing of the Maasto Hiihito/Churning Rapids trails. In cooperation with the Portage Health Foundation we are making the trails more accessible for summer activity. Get out and hike, bike or do a little berry picking (yes, the raspberries are out with thimbleberries coming on). A 200 yard section on the west side of Mud Lake is too rough to mow but it isn't very brushy. The other portions of the west side of Mud Lake were mowed for the first time this year. The final fall mowing will take place in September. Happy Trails!

Washout Repair On Sunset

During the Father's Day flood this little ephemeral water crossing on the bottom of the Maasto Sunset trail took a beating. It got much worse during this spring's breakup. 

Earlier this week Colin Pekkala got out there with the new tractor and a culvert. Problem solved in time for the 2019 Chain Drive Race in just over two weeks. Now we can get the mower through there again as well.

Colin's next trick with the new tractor will be to begin improvements on the New River trail from just above the new gate to the top to improve drainage so we can groom the trails earlier in the ski season. Look for those to begin next week.

Pine Loop and DNR Trail gates installed!

Over the last couple weeks we installed a single 16' gate off of the DNR trail next to Tomasi Rd. and a double 30' gate at the entrance to the Pine Loop. These gates will help keep vehicle and ATV traffic off our trails and Tomasi Rd. We no longer have to go through the hassle of using boulders as temporary gates.

Each post was buried around 4' deep with 160lbs of concrete added to the top and bottom 

Posts are in!

Some holes that we dug were filling up with water too quick, so a pump was used

This job would have been very difficult without our John Deere 4044m and backhoe

A big thanks to Mark R for helping with the hinge welding

Another thanks to the Hancock Public Works Dept. for lending us a portable arc welder

Done!

New River trail gate installed!

Today we finished installing a much needed gate at the bottom of the New River trail. Our transition from fall to winter and winter to spring will be much easier since we no longer have to move boulders in place.

Posts were buried around 4ft deep and 240lb of concrete was added in each hole

A 4x4 post was added to support the weight of the gate

Grooming Report #48 Last groom of the season!

All trails were rolled and tracked except the River trail in the gorge and Mud Lake. We are not able to continue grooming this season due to the many open water hazards and areas of exposed ground. Conditions range from good to poor.

Exposed culvert near Ruby Marsh. It won’t be long before water starts flowing over

More water hazards are found behind the church

The 6” of new snow was just enough to freshen the trails up one last time

Get out and enjoy the trails while they last!

Grooming Report #47 City-side and Gorge Dragged and Tracked!

Today all city-side and gorge trails were dragged and tracked. Quite a few trails are covered in debris from the constant melting. Our forecast shows warm temps and rain later this week, so this may be the end of our grooming season. Good spring conditions.