1/22/10 Trail Conditions

[rider]

Any trail reports for the lakes region?

[Ryan]

I rode yesterday.

The recent snow definitely helped boost trail conditions. I took a quick run from Patricks to the Belknap Point yesterday morning and I would say the cover and riding is good in that area.

After that, we crossed Paugus Bay and took the tracks to Plymouth. The tracks are rideable, but need more snow to groom. It was ungroomed all the way up to Plymouth. From Paugus to Meredith, the riding was marginal. After Waukewan, it was poor.

We ate at Plain Jane's diner in Rumney then came back down 11S to 300 back to the tracks in Meredith. Conditions on 11S range from good to just downright terrible. I also found some of the signage to be poor. The junction of 11S and 300 is unmarked and we had to turn around in Franklin to get back to that point and I still had to find where it crosses the Pemi river myself.

300 also had a lot of really great riding and some poor riding as well.

In all, we did about 160 miles yesterday.

Hope this helps!

[VitaBene]

Wow- the lake is NG for sleds and the trails are mud here in Moultonborough. There is virtually no snow left on the ice.

[captbart]

We must be coming up on derby weekend! Some times we just cant catch a break up here.

[hazelnut]

What a shame this rain has killed what was a good base waiting for another foot of snow to set up what would have been GREAT conditions.

I did a couple hundred miles + from Friday through Sunday.
Prison Loop/Southdown Loop were decent and just needed a slight hit of snow to become great.

Tracks were washboard but again a decent base that I am sure has eroded.

Moultonboro Neck was ok and the Mount Shaw to Ossippee was great. 19 was difficult as it is RR Tracks but some good trails from Polly's Crossing back to Moultonboro that I am sure are now washed out.

Sunday I went looking for the 15 from Meredith to Center Harbor and was surprised to see that from the lake the trail dead ended in the marsh. I found some nice people across from Cumberland Farms who told me the trail entrance was moved and went along the road to the park and then in and up. I found it and rode it and it was good to marginal in some spots.

So sad and disappointed to see that the trail to Kanasatka is dead ended as was reported. No way to get to the Moutlonboro Neck or Red Hill trails from 15. This is a BIG loss to all of us in the area. It seems with a giant leap forward (Swallow Point Trail Open) we take an even bigger step back with the loss of the 15 connection to Kanasatka.

Is there any way to convince the owners of any property to allow access? Would $$donations$$ for landscape support help? We're talking about 50 feet here that has dead ended and halted easy access to tons of trails. As of now you must use the lake to go all the way around to Salmon Meadow Cove trail but that is a risky proposition as the channel is iffy at times. So that really pushes you out to Braun Bay and the Kona Loop. Again a real round about way to access Red Hill from the South.

Thanks to all who continue the great work. Groomers had been out all over but alas we are at the will of Mother Nature.

On a positive note the weather forecast is hinting at a "Snow Event" for Saturday. Anyone care to chime in on that one?

[Belmont Resident]

I drove from Belmont to 1/2 way down Moultonboro Neck Rd. yesterday and everything from Laconia to there was pretty much down to dirt.
Lots of open water around town docks and river inlet.
Temps forcast to be at of near zero by Saturday morning.
Good skating ice but not good for driving on.