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Area Trail Conditions:
We’re going to
dissect the Trail Conditions, including what the meaning of
the terms are. Some of this may be familiar to you, but
there are always new people joining the sport, viewing the
site and traveling
to the area.
First,
the time of the report. The reports are done after midnight,
because the trails are more likely to be groomed at this
time. Traffic is at it’s lowest, so when you travel to the
area in the early morning, the trails should be the most
accurate.
Second,
is the temperature. I receive temperature readings from the
Highmarket, Flat Rock and Montague areas. These
temperatures tend to be within a couple degrees of each
other. If you travel from the Highmarket area, South to
Constableville, there is usually a five degree or more
difference, being warmer. Traveling just a few more miles
south to Boonville, could be seven to 10 degrees warmer. So
when I give the temperature, it’s an approximation of the
three on the Hill. If you are interested in staying in
Boonville, the temperature will be at least 5 degrees
warmer, than on the Hill. It’s the same in Old Forge. I
average the temperatures from Stillwater, Eagle Bay and in
the town of Old Forge. South towards Forestport, will be 5
degrees or more warmer.
Third,
I try and tell you what the weather and temperature were
during the day prior to the report. This could be very
important if the conditions are marginal or as we get towards the end of the season and the
temperature rises. In addition I let you know what’s
happening at the time of the report, which is when most of
you are sleeping.
The next bit of information is very important. Many sites
offer snow depths of the trail's base. This is useless and
unreliable information. Within 100 yards of North Road, on
Tug Hill or Trail 5 along Route 28 in Old Forge, has varying
depths for a base. It could go from one foot to 2” inches.
In addition, any trail that has a turn or a Hill, will have
less of a base then the straight-aways. I let you know how
much snow is on the ground. If the trail has 3“ inches or
less of snow, I report it as thin. If there's spotty snow or
bare spots, I report as thin to bare or bare. Bare
spots mean you can travel around the snow deficient area.
Bare areas means there's long stretches of bare
ground. There‘s either enough
snow to ride or there isn‘t.
I know some of you like to hammer down and skip across the
tops of the moguls, but most people don’t ride that way. On
average, what distinguishes one rating from the other is how
easy is it to maintain a steady speed. So if you don’t mind
the bumps and skip across the tops, what would be reported
as fair to good would be good to fair conditions to you. If
you ride slower on an older sled, a good to fair trail may
be in fair condition to you. The reports are based on the
average rider.
The
Ratings…
Because many of the area trails are many miles long, it’s
impossible to report every blemish on the trail, so I give
you the average condition of the trail. If there's a
significant difference, I'll report it.
The
Ratings & Their Meaning:
Perfect - Self explanatory. The trail is evenly groomed from
one side to the other. No bumps or rollers. Equivalent to
looking like a sheet of glass.
Excellent
- May have a bump or two, however the trail is flat for any
speed.
Good
- There is no sign of wear. The trail may have a powder
base, scattered rollers,
bumps, moguls or even be groomed uneven, however you can
maintain a steady speed without darting from left to right
looking for a smooth section of trail. Basically you could
ride all day without being sore.
Good to
Fair -
The trail is starting to show signs of wear. There are
probably rollers, moguls and bumps. The trail could be
choppy or what I refer to as shutter bumps. It’s difficult
to maintain a steady speed. You‘re darting from left to
right looking for a smooth part of the trail. A poorly
groomed trail could also get this rating. The trail could be
groomed at one level, going in one direction and a lower
level going the other direction.
Fair to
Good -
The trail is showing MANY signs of wear. There are MANY
rollers, moguls and bumps. The trail IS choppy or what I
refer to as shutter bumps. It’s very difficult to maintain a
steady speed and you may not even reach the speed limit,
because the trail is too bumpy. Riding this type of trail
all day will cause your body to be sore.
Fair
- The trail is worn, with MANY rollers, moguls and bumps.
The trail IS choppy or what I refer to as shutter bumps.
It’s trails like this that make you want to quit the sport.
Riding this type of trail all day will cause your body to
need a chiropractor.
Bad
- The trail is littered with bumps and moguls. There may
be bare spots as well. Riding this type of trail all day
will cause your shoulders to fall off.
Definition Of Terms:
Moguls - A series of bumps, one after another, over
6”
inches deep.
Choppy or Shutter bumps
- A series of bumps, very close
together, usually less than 6” inches deep
Rollers - A smooth mogul
or are
future moguls. When a trail has a lot of wear and
the groomer comes through and doesn’t use it’s front
blade/plow or drives too fast, they partially fill in the low parts of the
mogul and partially smooth over the bumps. These can be fun
to ride shortly after the groomer goes by, however the trail
will go back to being bad in a short amount of time.
The Lower Areas
- One of the unique characteristics of Tug
Hill and Old Forge is it’s elevation. There are many areas
in between that are much lower in elevation and allow you to
ride from one side to another.
Brantingham and Boonville are
examples of this. It could be raining in these areas and
snowing on Tug Hill and Old Forge. The lower areas usually
receive less snow than the higher elevations. As the season
comes to the end, these areas are always the first to loose
snow. During Winter these areas still get plenty of snow and
an added advantage... Depending on the conditions, you
have a a choice to ride either the Old Forge or Tug Hill side.
Finally
the weather forecast…
Another unique characteristic of Tug Hill and Old Forge is
how the weather can throw a curve ball. It’s hard to predict
the area weather with any accuracy prior to 48 hours. I have a
Bachelor of Science and a Masters degree in Aeronautical
Science (A Professional Pilot) from Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University, one of the best aeronautical
schools in the country. You might say I know a little about
the weather. So I use my knowledge mixed with weather trends
for the area, mixed with information from the weather
forecast. Another thing you might keep in mind is that a
majority of those weather based sites only give the
temperatures for the Tug Hill and Old Forge areas from Utica
or Watertown. Neither of these locations are considered
local to the area. Usually subtracting 10 degrees to these
sites, would give an accurate temperature for the area. Use
a combination of the weather links I've provided, the
Trail Reports page and the live cams as a guide for area
conditions.
Why do I use good bad and fare to rate the trails? Why not 5 Stars or a
scale from 1 to 10? I started using the current
version because I thought it was simple and easy to
understand.
During the 2005-2006 snowmobile season, I let you the viewers of
the site, vote and give their opinion on how you wanted
the trail conditions reported. I’d like to thank the
thousands of you
that took the time to take the poll and send E-mails with positive feed back
about the current system.
There is an overwhelming consensus to keep the current
rating system the way it is. So until a better way is
developed, we'll keep the current system. |
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