Trail Update for March 29 weekend

Light rains are predicted today/tomorrow, so trails should be fine for the weekend. Snow is gone (YEH!!!!). Temps in mid 40's. It will be windy Saturday, but Sunday should be decent. I've GOT to get a picture of the weather station this weekend. It's really, really neat looking. jill

Weather Link

You'll see a new link at the top of this page...thanks to Joe Daversa, he found the link with "Wolf Pond" on it when he was checking his weather links. Yes, we believe its the newly installed weather station on top of the mountain. So now you can get the weather, straight from the top of the mountain! How cool is that. Thanks Joe for the link!

Trail Conditions - Easter Day

Got out with the chainsaw and cleared a few trees on Preserve Line and Shale Run Trails. A thin coating of snow left on trails in most places. Ground was frozen with temps near freezing by 10am. When trails start to thaw out they will be a little soft. The sections of trail we were on today looked good with little washing and still some leaf cover on the trails under the snow.

Saturday Evening, Post snow Trail Update

We can see whitecaps on the mountains, even though most snow melted in the valleys. The trails may be snowless by noonish on Easter, but expect soggy conditions. Ride with care. Rick, me, and Keith plan to get out with a chainsaw tomorrow and get rid of the nastiest of treefall -- the spear on Preserve line, and then we'll proceed up Shale and clear any other downed trees. jill

Trail Conditions Mar 22, 2008

Spring is here ???? Not according to Mother Nature !!! Woke up to freezing temps and a few inches of wet snow here in the Lykens Valley this morning. Trails will be wet and snow covered for a day or two. FYI.

Good Friday and Easter Weekend Riding

It's on! You may encounter some very cold temps and snow on Saturday morning (calling for 22 degrees and chance of snow), but Good Friday should be decent and possibly Easter if the weather stays away for Friday evening. Watch for downed trees in fast sections. Don't get speared on Shale Run.

We DO have some trail gods to thank. I really don't know who they are, but there's always evidence that folks stop and clear what they can off the trails. Rick carries a saw with him, obviously others do too - so THANK YOU! I'm trying to talk Rick into riding on Friday and if we do, we'll try to clear as many trees off the trails as we can. The majority of trees will need a trail crew and a chainsaw, but there's a couple we may be able to do ourselves. Possibly the Earth Day weekend we could clear trees with chain saw.

Space Ship Update

Rick didn't want to drive to the top of the mountain yesterday just to get a picture of the spaceship, so I'm improvising and sharing a picture of a similar ship. Yes, I know its not something from Mars -- its a weather station. But its the biggest dang weather station I ever saw and it really is funky looking -- like a martian is about to crawl out of it. As soon as we get a picture, I'll share. In the meantime, this is a similar-looking weatherstation. If you didn't read the other post, it is located on the top of Broad Mountain near the hang glider launch area, in the huge field on the very top. It sits dead-center in the middle of the field.

Snow was Short-lived - Trails should be ok

The snow came and went yesterday. We saw white at the tops of the mountains up to about 1:00 pm, and then gone by 3:00 pm, so the trails should be clear of snow. You'll still encounter a bumpy ride from rain washing and downed trees. Keep an eye out when riding some of the faster sections - there may be a tree in front of you. jill

Sunday March 16 Trail Update 7:30 am - Snow

If you are planning to head to the Weiser State forest to ride the RCST trails today - don't! Well, if you really want too you can, but expect snow, wet and cold conditions. It's currently snowing at 7:34 am. It's a wet snow, but it'll make trail riding less than fun today.
jw

There's a Space Ship on Top of Broad Mountain In Weiser

It sure looks like a space ship...I was wishing I had a camera to get a picture. It's in the huge field on the very top near the hang-glider launch. Rim Trail acutally circles around the field where the ship is sitting. I'm sure Rick and I will be over there tomorrow to get pictures. Its really cool. Big...weird...all kinds of gadgets on it.

I FINALLY got on the trails today and have much to report.

• Dismounted no less than 10 times to crawl over, under and around downed trees. We have work to do. Keith said he'll be "Trail Boss" now that he can't ride until his wrists heal.
• Was thinking how bumpy the trails seemed. Duh...maybe it's because it poured raining two weeks ago? And maybe the trails are really washed at spots. Yup...you will notice a much more bumpy ride. There's some serious washing at spots and rocks are exposed. Most noteable washed areas:
• Rattling Creek at the "gully" where the water is supposed to run (its one of the biggest rock gardens on Rattling Creek).
• Fawn Kill at the log pile -- there's actually standing water in there.
• Shale Run - watch for the tree on the downhill with a branch sticking deadon in front of you -- I wish i could have moved 'cause that one is dangerous if you don't see it coming and are flying down there.
• Schreffler to the turn on Dry Run. Very washed, still soggy, a tree or two will slow you down if the washing doesn't. Its not screaming fast anymore!

Will try to get out and get a pic of the space ship tomorrow. Amazingly, even with standing water in spots and several soft spots - there's no mud! I love our trails. I bagged a race today at Blue Marsh 'cause I knew after last night's rain Blue Marsh would be a quagmire of mud. I'm glad I bagged it...was a great day in the woods.

jill

Friday, March 14 Trail Update for Weekend

GO RIDE! With only light rains predicted for the area this afternoon and this evening, the trails should be ok (but not completely dry) for this weekend. Still watch for soft spots and don't go around them -- go through them. The waterfall on Doc Smith is running nicely, so you'll have that to contend with, and Rattling Creek is flowing nicely -- you'll want to stop and admire it! Rick was admiring it so much last weekend (it was up maybe 2 feet from normal) he was picturing himself in it with his kayak. ARGH!
Maybe I'll run into one of you this weekend sometime - Jill

Mo Rain, Mo Soft, Gooshie Trails - But Maybe Ok to Ride

Ma Nature is a bit unpredictable this month -- as suspected. The next few days will tell the story for weekend riding on RCST trails. Weather.com and Accuweather.com have differing forecasts - weather.com says showers and Accuweather says chance of a shower Saturday afternoon, so I can't say for sure what the conditions will be like come the weekend. It doesn't appear there will be a downpour like last week, so we may be safe in getting out and riding. BUT, if you do, you may encounter some soft spots and if you do, remember the golden rules of keeping singletrack singletrack:

• Ride THROUGH the center of the puddle or mud.
• Do NOT go out around the soft section. If you do, we'll track you down using CSI methods of analyzing your tire tracks.

Cheers!

ps. Rick and I had planned on getting on trails on Sunday since we haven't been there since who-knows-when (October?!), but appears its won't be warm enough for Rick (high of 40). So its a wait-and-see-game.

How's Keith?

Some of you may have heard Keith had surgery this past Monday for carpal tunnel and a related arm issue. He's doing just fine...he's checking out bands tonight to find a new one for the BASH this year. He ain't sitting still!

Trail Update - After the Rains

Rick and I got out and hiked some of the Rattling Creek Trails today. The trails are soggy, soft and there was some washing from the heavy rains. There's a bit of washing at some of the turns on Rattling Creek, but nothing serious that we saw. We recommend no riding singletrack for a couple more days -- definitely not tomorrow, Sunday. There's bunches of snowmobile trail you are welcome to ride. And the fire roads are in good shape too. Watch the pot holes!

March 7 Trail Update

Weiser Forest and the RCST singletrack has seen siginifant rainfall, snowmelt, and water washing the past few days and the singletrack is soft, soft, soft. Please, if at all possible, try to refrain from riding singletrack this weekend. Better days are ahead without a doubt. At least the snow is now officially gone and warming temps are coming back. I may get out on snowmobile trail sometime this weekend and if I do, I'll give an update on those. jill

More BASH Planning - SWAG bag planning about done

We're starting a little early this year to save some last minute rush when we want to be doing other fun stuff like biking and kayaking. The swag bags for registrants came together nicely this year. No water bottles this year, but something semi-similar and useful. And I'm waiting to hear from CLIF and I also have SIMBREE on board as a sponsor - so hopefully some samples from them. There's one other product I'd like to put in the bag, but I haven't heard back from those folks so they may not come through -- but we have enough (I think). And there will be a very fun surprise in everyone's swag bag too -- I think you'll all get a chuckle out of it. It relates to the Chili Cookoff. Say no more on that front :)

Trail Update - 3-2-2008

About 2 inches of snow is melting nicely. We recommend NOT riding right now -- slushy, wet, and with the warm temps will be muddy and could cause some trail damage. Will post back later in the week for the weekend of March 9.