Before I go any further, on behalf of TASA, I want to thank all of you that purchased trail permits in Michigan this year. If it weren't for you, we would not be able to maintain the trails and equipment. With it being in the low 50's yesterday and plenty of sun, the snow and ice is mush in many places. You can still ride but you are going to want to do it VERY, VERY early a.m. while it is still cold or extremely late at night. Please be advised that getting gas and food (but especially gas) is going to be very tricky at this point. Many places have closed and those that are open, it will be difficult to get to due to lack of snow coverage in and out of towns.
TASA groomed # 9 North the night of the blizzard (and the heavy, wet 10" of snow). There were so many downed trees on the north trail that it took Groomer Louie twice as long to just get to the north end of the trail. He had a lot of tree trimming to do. By the time Groomer Jeff relieved Louie at the other end and Jeff was making his way back, the sun was already getting high in the sky and snow was balling up, even just panning.
Groomer Dan headed out on #45 (The Falls trail) Wednesday night (after it finally got down to about 33 degrees). He also had a chain saw with him and managed to pan and cut trees as far as CR 500 before he ran out of chain saw gas. It never got below freezing the whole time he was out there. Dan did not encounter any sleds but he said it looked like there may have been about 4 "fresh" sled tracks through the trail.
