Winter 2007 Logbook

Recollections of Large's Winter

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Fall 

Out signing and brushing  every second weekend all fall pretty much. Staked the Polo Farm with Darrell Oct. 15th, and just kept plugging on from there. Tried to pack the power line swamp but did not get too far, too wet.  Weather was actually below normal much of the time, and tons of rain. Ontario is in for its first hit of snow Oct. 28th.. big storm from Renfrew up. Calling for up to 30 cm. OFSC Trails course is my plan in Arnprior Sat. am... gave input to their 2010 trails strategy and met all the top OFSC brass.
 
December

First white stuff in Ottawa Dec. 1st.... rain/ice/snow... the usual. Still on the ground a week later, and -15C tonight, Dec. 7th.  Been brushing the last 5 weekends in a row, but at the same time still fighting landowner issues, and not all trails are yet free and clear to open. Black Lake at my parents almost froze at this time, but then everything warmed up and it was +10 Dec. 17th!  Was 18+ inches of snow in Swisha Dec. 11th,  but snow is gone everywhere, even Mt. Valins. Forecast does not look good, and the ground is sopping wet once again. No snow in Sudbury or Elliot Lake at Christmas. Back to an inch or two in Ottawa, but plus 8 New Year's day.  Drove the groomer in the back fields on Dec. 30th, just enough snow to steer and get an error code out of the unit. Lovely freezing rain for New Year's Eve.

January

Calling for plus 10 Jan. 4th. Bright green grass and plus 8 on Jan. 6th.  Sunny, +5 on the 7th... worked on the groomer alternator a bit.. real nice day, for October. Still no ridable now except  at Mt. Valins.  All lakes are open... even the ponds at Nortel! 

Warm right through to Jan. 12th... 5 cm twice but melted. A full month of warm weather. -10C Jan. 13th, but not a stitch of snow on the ground. I spent a nice sunny Saturday on the E104 near Ashton, at Foster Road cutting trails. Cold and maybe snow on Monday. Only place to ride is one trail near Val Des Bois with just the track bed groomed. Should be good up there next weekend looking at the forecast. Kap just opened the A trail yesterday(12th)... first trail in Ontario.  Finally 12cm on Monday, the 15th, then -27 on the 17th. This froze the lakes up north( Black lake a few days before, and Penage) for good.  Need more though as there is zero base. Did operator training on the 20th, cold and windy. Brushed the Ashton swamp on the 21st, and opened all the gates to save them being cut off. Currently at 6 miles for the year woooohooo.   Packed the Ashton trail down on Tuesday, the 24th, but otherwise cold ( -20's all week) and sunny, no snow. Canal opened on the 25th..... just parts of it. Heading to Joncas in the am... -23C as I type this but it is supposed to cloud over and be about -14 Saturday. ... just read a message that the trail is awesome up there!  And awesome it was. Trail was sweet on the way up and then groomed again Sat. night, so it was a good as it gets. Only 71 miles from where we parked the trucks at km 34. From Swisha it was 167 km this year as the trail hits the 63 right at Joncas, and not 10 km to the east as past years. Sunny and cool both days... about -14C on Sunday.

February

Finally started to groomed Feb. 15th after getting 12 or so cm the day before. The main storm hit NY and Montreal... up to 40 cm there.
The whole system will have the once over by end of day Friday.  Mileage stands at 157 miles I think... very poor!  Up early Sat and out Hwy 7 to inspect the trails. TCT was perfect, but all else not too great... just no base. Trucked out to Mike's in CP, met Special Ed there, and put on another 50 miles down to Franktown, and up to Ashton Pub. All groomed but no good.  Unloaded at Hwy 7/Dwyer Hill Rd. Sunday am, -15 and windy. Rode to Almonte and back... again, lack of snow.. rocks on McArton Road...etc. About 130 miles for the weekend of the 18th. Starting to warm up ... and a bit of snow this week by the looks of it.  Surprise... two snow events turned into about 3 cm ( after warnings of up to 15cm) The sun is warm, and melting things fast.

Sledded out to CP on Sat. the 23rd as the northern folks were down. No snow on the trails... real poor. Sunny and cold. Back home for 5 and off to the Sens game. Awesome game... beat Buffalo 6-5 along with a few dandy fights. Late night at O'Connors.

Sadly closed the trails on the 26th... they were limited for about 10 days.... and poor even during that time. Too bad, as Feb. 27th as the first day above 0 since Jan. 9th... no thaw, but no snow either. Another snow event coming March 1st.

March

Managed about 15cm Friday March 2nd... enough to groom for another week.  Trucked down to Rideau River Pub on Sat. March 3rd to meet up with a few HCS folks. Solid day down to Morrisburg and back.. 105 miles that we have to work for. Varied from great, to moguls to mud. Took Tamara's sled out Friday March 9th for a last local run of 51 miles. TCT is great, but bush trails are so-so. Everything is groomed, but this would be the last day with a warm weekend ahead.

Up to Rolphton March 10. Sledded with Mike and Special Ed to Mattawa and back. 163 miles. Was the Missing Link poker run.. we gave them $15 each to enter. Mike got nailed by the coppers for speeding... 106 km/h just to add to the bill for the day. Stayed at the Bear's Den in Deep River. Up to Swisha and 100 miles toward Joncas on the Sunday under sun and +4 skies.... real nice day and lots of snow in Quebec. A great 320 mile weekend to end the season March 11th. Total of about 850 miles for the year. Poor snow all around kept the miles down.   Closed the trails for good March 12th... total of about 20 days of limited riding locally.

Tamara and I headed up to Lively March 17th weekend and trucked all around Penage. Lake was glare ice. Sunny, -2 and windy both days. Lots of socials, not so many fish. Made it to the back bay to see Ozzie, lost a ramp, dinner at Stump's both nights.. very sketchy weekend.

5cm of wet snow when they called for rain March 24th to make a mess... where the heck was this snow two months ago?

- Large

Winter, 2007