Hard Miles

It finally snowed in New England this weekend! Whoopee - we got a whole 4-6" inches overnight on Friday. We decided that we would head out early on Saturday morning to take advantage of the new snow, and try and beat some of the crowds onto the trails.

We ended up trailering to Gorham, and decided to ride from there to Lancaster -> Groveton -> Millsfield -> Nash Stream -> Dixville Peak -> Errol -> Milan -> Berlin -> Gorham. As we started our ride, we were the first to track in the new snow, which was great. The trails from Gorham through to Lancaster were fairly good, and we tracked a good amount of the way. The snow was thin, but there was no traffic, and the fresh snow helped.

We hit the Groveton trails behind the groomer, and the trails, while thin, were good. Again, we were the first to run these trails both before and after we passed the groomer. Because of the lack of base, there were a lot of rocks and logs hit along the way. The going was slow. Mike had a rare bobcat sighting on these trails - he didn't quite get the camera out quick enough, and I didn't see it at all, but did see the tracks.

There is a bobcat in this picture somewhere...

Once we got further north, we started to hit trails that had had quite a lot of traffic, and were really bumpy. We also started encountering more riders, some of whom were a little crazy. We got out of the area as quickly as we could, stopping in Errol for gas before heading South. The remainder of our trip was pretty miserable - bumps, thin cover, rocks and logs. By the time we got back to the truck (160 miles and 8 hours later), we were tired and sore. We did have some great views today though.



Mt Washington (early AM), Groveton Parking Lot
Freshly Groomed (Trail 5), Riding the Trail
Errol Buffalo Farm, Weather Closing in on Mt. Washington (late afternoon)

I have to say that I'm not anxious to go out and repeat a ride like this. We simply need more snow. The clubs are doing a great job with what they have, but they could use a helping hand from Mother Nature.

Our day ended with a delicious dinner at the Sudbury Inn with Alexis and Susan. Good food, good company and a great end to the day.