We rode out of Root Cellar on Tuesday and Wed. From there, trail access is either 13N, 13S, or ride across the lake to pick up a trail. The problem was that nobody knew whether it was safe to ride the lake and we didn't see anyone on it, 13N was closed due to logging and 13S hadn't been groomed and was under construction.
We had heard a number of reasons why 13S was supposedly unrideable; they had cleared the brush and branches earlier in the year, but the heavy snows in October required further clearing work and they haven't been able to get to it, a massive culvert that they installed or replaced essentially washed away due to heavy rains, this required reroutine of a portion of the trail, and they're building a new bridge but it isn't complete yet.
Between that and the fact that the best snow was to the north and east, our best option was to start out on 13N. However, 13N out of Root Cellar was closed for logging, but never got a clear answer why. This meant you have to take East Shore road 10 miles toward Bergland to get to Trail 8; brutal. With very little snow on the roads, a couple of our sleds were overheating on this stretch, despite the fact that the air temp was -4.
13 between Berglund and Rockland was really rough but otherwise fine. It wasn't grooomed at all during our trip. 13 between Rockland and Mass City was groomed, and the only groomed trail we came across both days. In fact, we only saw a groomer once while we were riding.
I get that they could use more snow, but I've certainly seen clubs do more with less. They also need to improve their signage. Most of the signs were missing or unreadable due to fading. We brought a couple other experienced sledders as guests because we like the area and have generally had good luck with conditions in the past. They weren't happy with the poor maintenance of the trails and the poor signage and most likely won't be returning.
