Trail Report for Lake City Area- 02/17

[GoggleEye]

Went down to Mazeppa and unloaded the sled from the trailer, got on the trail right in Mazeppa. Rode to Zumbro Falls, trails were fair to good. Areas down in the basins of the bluffs were great. High points of open fields were pretty thin. Areas in the woods were good, except some of the corners. Left Zumbro Falls and headed to Lake City. Trails were much better towards the river and overall I would rate them as good. Some thin spots in the wind blown field tops, but the blowing wind (was around 20-25 MPH later in the day) was actually putting a lot of snow back on the trails which made it fun to 'drift bang'. It was kind of weird to hit spots that had 2 feet of snow and then hit an area that had only an inch. Trails really were not as icy as I was expecting. Just a lot of drifting and a few bare areas. The scenery is nice in this area, I would definitely go back again. Not too many sleds out and that is kind of nice. This area doesn't get pounded hard like up north and the metro. The trails were marked ok, but there could be some better signage for directions to certain towns. I left Lake City and headed back to Mazeppa as it was starting to get dark. The deer were everywhere and I found out they are not afraid of snowmobiles in this area. Even though I must have seen less than 10 sleds all day. I think I saw over 50 deer on my ride back and most of them were right off of the trail within 10-30 feet of me and didn't budge an inch. Be extra careful out there during the hours of 5-7.

GoggleEye

[22x]

Nice report Google.....sounds like fun!! Is there a park & ride spot right in Mazeppa somewhere?

May have to head down that way yet this year too...

[GoggleEye]

I just parked in a little park right there in town. It's just a baseball field down in a sunken valley with a parking lot up top of the hill. I stopped and asked the people at the gas station in town there on Hwy. 60 where people accessed the trail and they said all the locals just park in the parking lot at the park and drive down the road to the trail. So that is what I did and I had no problems. There were other rigs there, so it must be ok.

GE