Sunday, January 31, 2016

Maybe...........

I shouldn't have fixed the trail cam problem.  Because it sure was looking down right depressing this afternoon.  But now that it's night time and the cam is in black and white mode, it doesn't look as bad.  But the sad thing is it's still going to look bad in the morning again.  As there is no cool downs or snow in the forecast for at least three days.  There has been a few people out giving it a try today.  But conditions went down high pretty fast with the temps in the 40's.  So cross your fingers things turn around soon or you may be looking for something else to do this upcoming weekend.

Today's Video...........

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Short lived.............

I'm sure most of you have seen the forecast for this upcoming week and I'm just hoping that it's short lived.  Because just like last week, we really can't afford to have to much of a warm up.  The trail cam went down this morning and I'm not really sure why.  My first guess is it's something to do with the wireless link.  So if it's not back on by tomorrow afternoon I'll take a hike out to see what the problem is.

Today's Video.........

Friday, January 29, 2016

Is anyone.............

Not sure if anyone is left at home to watch this.  Because there's been allot of sleds running around town today and many others looking for rooms for the weekend.    On my ride last night, it was great to see the groomers having enough snow to work with, enough that they left a wind row in between passes.  With conditions like this, they can really do wonders in no time.

Today's Video.......

Thursday, January 28, 2016

1st Annual................


Again..........

Headed out of here for a ride.  Can you believe it, twice in one week.  So what's that tell you about how the conditions are.  I've seen it better and I've seen it worse.  But I'm taking advantage of what we got.  Because who knows how it's going to be by next week.

Ride Report:  There's something to be said about mid week riding.  Nothing better than cruising down trails, that are counter top flat and drifting around the corners..............Sweet!

Today's Video............

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Forecasts..........

There a funny thing and many times aren't very close when it comes to north country weather.  Look at today, the forecast was calling for an inch and we saw half a foot and other areas saw a foot.  You may not think it, but Tuesday's warm weather and R in some ways was a blessing.  As it helped make some more base and things should freeze up very nice tonight with the temps in the teens.

Today's Video...........

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Lost it again !

The power went out just before noon and it came back on around 7:30pm.  The only two cams that are online right now are the motel and Stillwater.  The rest won't be back online till the morning.  As I can't get into the buildings they are in till then.

As for the weather we had a mixed bag today.  Freezing R, sleet, snow and just plain old R at one point.  But none of it was in any great amount and we really didn't loose that much snow.  Check out the railing on the motel cam.  There is still some snow on it.  The temp has dropped back down below freezing at 8:15 and things should start to freeze back down.  So cross your fingers that we see some new snow in the next few days and we'll be back riding again by the weekend.

Wednesday Morning Update:   It's snowing at 9:00am and we have three inches of new snow on the ground.  No it's not allot, but it's enough to cover the ice from yesterday and make it rideable again.  Because yesterday there wasn't enough loose snow for cooling of the sled or the slides.  I'll have more for you later.

Monday, January 25, 2016

Cross your fingers...........

Tuesday's weather is going to be the make it or break it day of the week.  Ice pellets are fine and even wet snow, but we really don't need to see any R.  Conditions are rideable now and yes they could be better. But a day of R, could make things ugly really fast.

Today's Video.....

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Just got back..........

Went out for a ride this evening and stopped at Stillwater for dinner.  On the way up, we caught up to one of the groomers on upper trail 1.  As I said yesterday, traffic was very light this weekend and it was no different this evening.  We only saw maybe a dozen sleds all the way up and back.  I didn't see the groomer on our return to Old Forge.  I'd guess it was on the Brantingham cut off trail.  Cross your finger everything we see on Tuesday is frozen.  Because we really can't afford to see any R at this time.

Today's Video............

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Been quiet..............

With as crazy as it was around here last weekend, it's been just the opposite this weekend.  Traffic has been very light and I think many people stayed home because of the storm coming up the coast. The guests we do have in are making a day of it.  Because very few of them have turned yet at 6pm.

Today's video........

Friday, January 22, 2016

Stay on the path...........

People have started going out on Stillwater.  How much ice is there and is it safe?  I can't tell you for sure.  The one thing I can tell you, is stay on the beaten path.  Because in most cases that is where the ice is going to be the thickest.

Today's Video...........

Thursday, January 21, 2016

A good sign...........

Like most days, just about everyone was out of here by 10am for a day of riding and the first ones didn't start returning till around 4pm.  So that's usually a good sign, that things aren't all that bad out there or they would of started coming back in sooner.  I'm heading out for a ride in a few.  So I'll be able to tell you better how things are later.

Ride Update:  Went over to Pine Tree.  Found Old Forge trails in good shape and saw two groomers on the return trip.  We made the right off of ten mile road in to the Flats.  The first mile or two aren't anything to talk about.  But the rest of the Flats made up for it.  Took ten mile on the return, the beginning is ice/hard pack with enough snow to keep the slides cool.  Only felt them try to stick a few times.  The rest of it was in good shape.  Do watch out for some of the corners, as they are ice.  I'll fill you in more about the rest of the ride later.  Let's just say it reminded me of the old days.

Today's Video............

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Back online..............

Fastrac has it's pumps back online and they added something new.  They now also have ethanol free regular and it's 15 cents cheaper than the high test which is $2.669.  Not much else to report today, it's been pretty quiet.

Today's Video..............

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Hard to tell.................

Most days I can give you a good estimate on how many people are in town by the traffic going to get gas.  But with Fastrac getting new pumps installed there was no sled traffic today.  NC Dave said he didn't see all that many sleds out and that's helping the groomers get things back into shape.  The snow we had today wasn't coming off of the lakes, it was coming out of the north by what I saw on the radar.

Today's Video..........

Old video refresher............

Three years ago I posted a video about getting around town on some of the back roads.  So I thought I'd repost it for anyone that may have any questions.  The road part starts 45 seconds into the video.

Road Video........

Monday, January 18, 2016

What can I say.....

Conditions aren't at their best after the big weekend, but the groomers are out fixing things up and there's no question that they are rideable.  You'll see in the video we got about 3 inches of snow over night, but we haven't seen any new snow during daylight hours.  This evening the temp has been dropping and there is light snow in the air at 6:30pm.

Today's Video.....

Two things.........

One, Fastrac has a sign up that they won't be selling gas on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.  It looks like they are unloading new pumps today.

The second things I keep forgetting to pass on is the pizza discount they have going.  For every pizza you buy you get 25 cents off per gallon of gas (up to 20 gals.) and it can be for more than one pizza. (not sure on the limit of pizzas) All you need to do is ask for your receipt and us it within a week of purchase.  They are also offering a cash discount of  7 cents during the week and 10 cents on Sunday.  Ask inside how to get the discount card.  Not allot, but a family of four sleds it could add up.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

What's that saying?

Just like the trails, things have been busy around here today.  So I'm just a little behind schedule.   But better late than never......so here it is. 

Today's Video............

Saturday, January 16, 2016

What a day !

This has been one of the busiest Saturday's I have ever seen over at the Fastrac.  Most days there is the morning rush and then in the late afternoon you see people filling back up after a day of riding.  But today it has been a constant flow almost all day. Funny what happens when lake effect gives the area rideable snow and it's a free weekend on top of that.

Today's Video.........

Friday, January 15, 2016

Above freezing..........

The temp went up to 37 today, but in some ways that is a good thing.  Because dry fluffy snow doesn't pack very well and today's temp put some moisture in the snow.  Yes it would of been nice, if it didn't happen just before a weekend.  But things don't always come together the way we would like them to.  The temp at 5:30pm is 31 and things should start to firm up.

Today's Video..........



Thursday, January 14, 2016

Four hours ago......

I started working on this over four hours ago and I'm just now getting it posted at 9pm.  Which is a good thing, because it means the phone is ringing and there are people in and out of the office.  Amazing how a little snow can change your day around.  We had snow in the air all day and we picked up another 4 or 5 inches.

Went out riding last night, did 65 miles and I'd give the Old Forge trails an overall good to fair.  Even the cut off trail from trail 1 to the Brantingham trail was good.  But the Brantingham trail wasn't anything to talk about last night.  But I did hear they groomed it today, good thing because it really needed it.

Today's Video.........

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Wait and see.............

I don't know about you, but I always find it interesting to see what we really get compared to what is predicted.  A week ago they called for one to two feet and we got 6 inches.  Monday called for 5 to 8 inches and we got a foot plus.  So it's a wait and see game in my book.  Yesterday we had light snow all day and by this morning I'd say we got 3 to 4 inches.  Today we saw the sun most of the day and things look like a Christmas card around here now.  The snow stick out front is right at the one foot mark of settled down snow.

Today's Video..........

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Do you hear it?

It's the sound of a fresh foot of lake effect and more to come this week .....it's time to ride! 

Today's Video.............

Monday, January 11, 2016

Could of been worse.......

You'll see in the video that we got the R on Sunday.  But I'm happy to say it didn't wash everything away.  We still had a solid ice base in the driveway and I would say it was the same out on the trails.  So yes we took a step backwards from the R, but the lake effect today put us right back to rideable conditions and it looks like more to come this week.

Sorry again about the late post.  But with the power being out for 16 plus hours, the battery back ups just didn't cut it on the webcams. So I spent most of the morning getting everything back online and this afternoon plowing, snow blowing and getting the generator ready for the next outage.

Today's Video.....................

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I didn't forget..........

We lost our power around 11am yesterday and it came back on sometime between 1 and 5 am this morning.  So it made it a little hard for me to keep you up to date on what the weather was doing yesterday.  I'll have a full report later on.  Now It's time to get everything back on line and the back up power ready for the next outage.

HOLY COW!!!  Take a look at Stillwater's cam.  They are on a different line and their cam is up.  Looks like close to a foot and still coming.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

24 and 32 Hours........

Sorry about not getting a post up yesterday.  I got tied up with things around here and ran out of time.  We haven't seen that much R today and  I'd say the snow level has dropped about an inch so far.  Sled traffic has been next to nothing, with only a few giving it a try.  In the past 24 hours we've seen conditions go down hill and in a 32 hour period, Billy Boy put on 270 miles this week, amazing how fast things can change. Cross your fingers and hope we don't see all the R they are predicting.  Because if we do, we could be starting from zip again.

Today's Video.............

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Think long term...............

The forecast still isn't looking any better for the weekend, than it was before.  How much R will we see?  Only time will tell, hopefully we only see a little R and people respect the thin base we do have.  It could be a blessing, as they are calling for temps to drop back into the teens by Sunday night.  So the base we have now, could become a solid ice base for the season.

Today's Video.............

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

It's quiet..........

Traffic has been so light today, you wouldn't even know it's snowmobile season.  I don't think I saw more than a dozen sleds getting gas all day.  I'll let you know later how it is.  Because I'm heading out for a ride now.

Ride Up Date:
We headed over to Pine Tree and did 74 miles.  I'll list what trails we took and my rating on them.  Overall I'd say conditions are fair with some good, but I don't know how they would hold up to really heavy traffic. I can say we had a nice ride and I'm happy I went.

1 F-G
pipeline F-G
Cut off trail to Brantingham ends poor center good
Brant rd good
trail at Kovaks  mostly poor some fair
9 G
89 G
8 G
Lower 5 F - G

Today's Video.......

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

How low............

It went down to 20 below this morning and that sure helped with freezing things down.  You'll see what I mean at the end of today's video.  Traffic was very light today again, so that also gave everything a good chance to freeze down with today's  low temps.

Today's Video.........

Monday, January 4, 2016

It's amazing.............

You wouldn't think it, but it's amazing what 3 to 4 inches of snow can do for the conditions and it showed it yesterday.  Is it perfect?  Heck no, but it was good enough to go out for a 45 mile ride last night.  I've gotten a few calls on this one today........the weather for the end of the week.  Who knows!  Give it till Wednesday and then worry about it.  We all know it'll change a few times before it gets here.  Let's just hope it's for the better.

Today's Video....................

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Looking better.............

We didn't see much of anything, when it comes to snow overnight.  But late this morning we had a bank of lake effect set up and it stuck around long enough to give us a good 3 to 4 inches of nice wet snow.  Nothing to go crazy over, but the snow stick is closer to the foot mark than it was yesterday at this time.

Today's Video...........
 

Saturday, January 2, 2016

No question.........

We need more snow, there's no question about it.  But what we do have, seems to be enough to keep things cool and keep the track from sticking.  However I'm sure it's doing a number on the carbides.  As for traffic, there isn't a thousand sleds around town, like most weekends in the winter.  But I'd say there's a hundred or two by what I saw.

Today's Video.........

Friday, January 1, 2016

Happy New Year !

The lake effect has been moving all around today and so far we haven't seen all that much from it.  But as you can see in the below pic, Stillwater was getting hammered at 3pm.  So cross your fingers and get a dancing, so the bands of lake effect stay in the area for awhile.

Stillwater

Today's Video..........