TRAIL REPORTS

[BoxMN]

Kid Rock and Bob Seeger Friday night, awesome!

Drive up to cabin from 1:30 am till 4, not too bad, slightly slippery.

Wake up at 10 Saturday morn and the sledding was great! Fresh snow, trails great, lake great! Almost ran out of gas!!!

Couple bloody mary pre-Crosslake St. Patty parade - nummy

Parade was great, post parties were great!

Got up at 9 am and hit the trails with couple buddies, trails were GREAT! Freshly groomed, not many folks out yet, perfect!

Now a bit more snow and cold temps, getting one more weekend of sled fun in!!! I think it will be a bunch of little nieces and granddaughters up, so should be fun!

[LABS4ME]

St. Croix county western wi, trails groomed and still in nice condition...

Good luck!

Ken

[leech~~]

Ok Meat-Run how about a report on last weekends ride with your Bro. We need pics' too!

[LoonASea]

Leech check your email

[leech~~]

Leech check your email

Reply sent. Have fun up there wish I could have made it.

[Meat-Run]

Leech,

So heres my report. We started out Saturday morning after it warmed up, holy cow was it cold, and Sunday morning (-20). Left from Walker where my parents live near the Walker airport and traveled over to Lake George, down to Itasca State Park and around the park. Made a nice little camp fire just off the trail between Itasca Park and Two Inlets and had lunch. From Two Inlets we traveled further south to Park Rapids and back to Walker. The trail closer to PR where it ran along the county roads were not marked as good, but we figured it out with the help of our Polaris Trail app on our phone which worked perfectly, the downer is that app uses allot of battery power. The trail system half way between Walker and Lake George was beautiful and south of the Park. Over all the trails were in perfect shape and the snow was unbelievably deep. We got out on one lake and it was flooded so we stayed away from lakes when possible. When we returned back to Walker we hit some bog swamps and Tamarac swamps with excess of 4ft of snow making boon-docking and carving perfect, we managed to put over 200 miles on our sleds. The pictures don't do justice to the snow depth, I feel there's a solid two weeks of good riding to be had in the Detroit, Park Rapids, Walker, Bemidji, Grand Rapids direction with existing snow levels. Leech, sorry we didn't make it happen, if I can firm up my schedule for this weekend and get new hifax on my sled this week I'll TRY and make it up to you....if I can get a pass!!!!! (disclaimer: for some reason I can't figure out why my images are turning that way when I forward from my phone to my email address, sorry)

[leech~~]

Nice report and yes, fix your Pic's!!!! Walleyehooker and I are trying to setup a ride this Sat going out of Melmo above Mill lacs if you want to hook up with us? More details to come on what the plan is.

[MinDak Hunter]

I hit the trails in eastern Stearns Co yesterday, they were very RoUgH aNd DrIfTeD,only St Stephen was out grooming and their section was nice where they had groomed.

What happens to all the trail sticker money? $36 X 250,000 sleds (amount of sleds registered in MN 2010/2011) = $9,000,000 a year, isn't that money supposed to be used for grooming?

[leech~~]

I think most of the trails are groomed on Thursdays. You just missed it!

[Walleyehooker]

I always heard and maybe not even true that they got paid for the hours they ran the groomer. It just seems to me after sitting mostly for years that on good years they wouldn't step up and run them more. Maybe someone on here is with a club and could tell us how they pay for some of those high dollar rigs.

[clKiekhafer]

I was out grooming today in McLeod County today. We were grooming yesterday and will be grooming tomorrow getting ready for the weekend traffic. The state is divided into different sections depending on the snow season length. The longer the season the more the club receives per mile of trail and the shorter the snow season the less the club will get. We have been told that last year the sled registration was down significantly and the clubs will not be getting all the money there were expecting this year. The money each club receives is divided into four payments with the last payment being a small one (~10%) which normally comes in the fall of the next season. There was a comment about $9+ million for the clubs from the registration, well I don't believe that is all for the clubs. There are many more places for that money to go then the grooming clubs that are supported that need their share.

As I said earlier I was out grooming and I wan't to say the tractors/groomers that pull the drags can really drink a lot of diesel fuel and at $4 a gallon that counts up quickly. We groomed 16 mile stretch and dropped in $60+ worth of fuel and this with a fairly fuel efficient groomer. We also use a John Deere tractor and that consume fuel at the rate of 6-7 gallon per hour. That 50-75% more fuel per hour than out groomer.

Now depending on equipment age that a club may be using can also affect their grooming budget. Old equipment have a tendency to have more breakdown and they cost money to keep them running. Where does that money come from, the same pocket that they use for the fuel. There is also labor to pay and insurance, maintenance and equipment storage. Now who do you think pays for the equipment, the clubs do. The club needs to have the means to purchase the equipment.

As you can see it is more that just jumping in and making the trails ride ready there is a lot that goes into in.

If your looking for some great trails come to McLeod County and enjoy them, I can't remember the last time we were grooming this late in March.

[Walleyehooker]

So do clubs get money wether they groom or not? Some years and some places they probably didn't burn any fuel or even groom a trail with lack of snow. Im sure there is still stuff to use the money for and who knows what the state does with all the money it collects and if it all goes for snowmobilers. I still think they need to charge everyone else that takes advantage of the trail system. I am also still baffled on the millions of dollars they have put into that paved bike trail up north that runs by my place up there and I can count on one hand how many bicycles I have seen on it over the years. And they are still adding on to it.

[clKiekhafer]

Yep, they get the money. I know two years ago when our county had the most snow in the state we dipped into our snow-day fund to pay the extra expenses we had. We cash out two $10,000 CD's to keep the trails groomed and equipment running. It was very expensive that year on the equipment. Needless to say we got rid of the old groomer and purchase a new Piston Bully. Easier on gas and lots more power, but there is a loan on it at over $2,000 a month and that is after we sold the old and added some cash to bring it down to mortgaging 50% of the cost.

The horse riders have to buy a trail pass to ride, but the walkers, bikers, skateboarder and others don't have to. I hear you about paving paving and more paving of the old railbeds.

[icecold]

Does anyone have any info if trails are ridable in the Hutchinson , Kimbal area, Thanks

[clKiekhafer]

Does anyone have any info if trails are ridable in the Hutchinson , Kimbal area, Thanks

The trails are very rideable in the Hutchinson area. That is McLeod County. All of the trails SHOULD be groomed by today. I can't say about the Kimbal area that is another county.

Here is a link to our map system if you're interested.

http://crowriversnopros.org/Trails/trails.html

Ride safe and ride right.

[MinDak Hunter]

Looks like the groomers have been out in Stearns/Benton Co's, the trails look like highways!

Thanks to the guys out running the groomers.

[icecold]

How is the paul bunyan trail holding up going to ride from the baxter area trailhead, is the snow still okay???

[JeremyCampbell]

In Avon Mn.....Just wanted to thank the snowmobilers that stopped and asked if I needed there assistance at lower spunk lake yesterday.My black pickup got stuck in the parking lot I ended up calling a tow company.Thanks

[Meat-Run]

How is the paul bunyan trail holding up going to ride from the baxter area trailhead, is the snow still okay???

I haven't been over that way but the trail outside my back door is still in great shape and I'm just on the south end of Brainerd, get out there and ride. I plan to go tonight while I can.

MR

[leech~~]

I haven't been over that way but the trail outside my back door is still in great shape and I'm just on the south end of Brainerd, get out there and ride. I plan to go tonight while I can.

MR

3 days in a row!

You did tell us on our ride this weekend that you "were" married right?

[icecold]

so from fort riply to the east and north should have ridable snow ??? so what everyone is saying is that conditons will be okay for 2 or 3 days yet??

[Meat-Run]

Icecold, I would say YES. Most of the trails are in the woods and hills, mix in a few small swamps but I would guess you'll be fine till end of this week.

Leech, after the kiddo's go to bed I usually get a chance to ride for about an hour or two. My wife is very understanding and I usually don't take away to much time away from the family with the exception of last Sauturday and the weekend before up in Walker,we all know that the snow-dooms-day is fast approaching.

I literally have a major trail right out my back door so riding is convenient for me and my riding buddy.

MR

[leech~~]

Leech, after the kiddo's go to bed I usually get a chance to ride for about an hour or two. My wife is very understanding and I usually don't take away to much time away from the family with the exception of last Sauturday and the weekend before up in Walker,we all know that the snow-dooms-day is fast approaching.

I literally have a major trail right out my back door so riding is convenient for me and my riding buddy.

MR

Sounds like you need to get a two up like mine and a sleigh so you can take the whole family riding next year!

[icecold]

Thanks for report everyone, leaving tonight and going to ride Tues and part of wed, sounds like things are going to start heating up on wed. all in all a good year for riding.

[Meat-Run]

Icecold, I can definitely see the snow erode quickly, this maybe the last weekend to ride.

mr