Return of the Snow

  I went out Thursday afternoon and found the southside trails, the main roads, have been rutted up by a four-wheel drive vehicle. Not sure if there was actual logging going on. I doubt it. The side trail were okay, but packed out and crusty.

 The main trail going in was really messed. Anyway, the side trails were skiable, but the snow coverage was an 1" or 2" over a hard base. I skied around for a half hour and then walked over to the Northside trails, and things were much better. I was basically breaking trail through a few inches and the only thing about the Northside trails is that they are not as nicely maintained. So I had a few blowdown to go around. But overall, the Northside was the place to be, with unbroken snow, while the southside trails were packed out, or with bareboot holes or four wheel tracks.

  With the new snow we got Saturday into Sunday, things will be even better. I'm looking forward to further explorations on the Northside of Rt29.

New Powder Snow on Top of 3" Base

Fulton County -- Precipitation Reports
Town	Amount	Type	Since
Ephratah	11.50"	Snow	01/2/2014
Perth	9.10"	Snow	08:00:00 AM
Broadalbin	8.00"	Snow	07:00:00 AM
Caroga Lake	8.00"	Snow	05:00:00 AM
Fish House	8.00"	Snow	05:00:00 AM
Gloversville	9.00"	Snow	01/2/2014
Johnstown	11.00"	Snow	06:00:00 PM

Breaking Trail

Swung into Rockwood, (well not exactly since the parking lot wasn't plowed), around 1pm. I parked along the road. We received a good 12" of fine grained snow, pretty lofty and staying that way with the cold temps, over Saturday night. I had to wonder who else was turned away from snowshoeing or skiing Rockwood due to the parking lot being inaccessible. I parked along the road. I figured I'd let the plow know where to go next ;) So I broke trail all the way to the Shorty Cut-Off trail, then skied the Ridge trail for the first time. If anyone followed my tracks later, they would see the Ridge trail is pure fun. If you're on the Shorty Trail (Southwest Map), you might start along the ridge from where the Shorty crests the top of the ridge, but I skied down the Shorty toward Big Bowl and then picked up the Ridge Trail at the bottom. It was a challenging climb to the ridge while breaking trail at the same time. After skiing the ridge east, I descended to the main trail and came out right where the old gate and sign stand in the woods, which is an old town marker of some sort. It was a nice loop. On the way out, I skied the Camp Road Trail to the chimney and then did the loop back to the main trail. A few chickadees and woodpeckers keeping me company in the woods. Was out about two hours. Skied my Fischer Snowbounds with three pins on them this year. Nice day, 21 degrees. All the trail are clear in Rockwood as far as I see it. Thank you to whomever cleared them of downed trees.