Things been a little quiet around here so thought I'd post today's run up the Mississippi to St. Croix.

Launched from Prarie Island nuke plant. 

 

Edited July 17, 20224 yr by X2700

1 hour ago, Bontz said:

Should be good ... although I'm not sure how soon the groomer will go back out (hoping Monday?).  I know we have everything groomed and cleaned up - or at least it was as of Wednesday.  Not sure if this wind today will help or hurt things, but I'm hoping everything will be awesome once the drifting is knocked down.

Any word on ice thickness of pepin or anyone cross at Kelly’s yet?

15 minutes ago, X2700 said:

Any word on ice thickness of pepin or anyone cross at Kelly’s yet?

I haven’t heard any reports on the ice but man … given the past few days it’s gotta be dang close to being safe!  If/when I see tracks I’ll be sure to report back. 

County’s across the border looking good!!

looking forward to crossing!!

They're at it again. 

Looks like Twin Cities and southwest if the track doesn't shift.

1 hour ago, Sled_Hed said:

Looks like Twin Cities and southwest if the track doesn't shift.

Yeah it already shifted south.  At first they said 4-8" for our place and now they are saying maybe 2".

 

3 minutes ago, mnstang said:

Yeah it already shifted south.  At first they said 4-8" for our place and now they are saying maybe 2".

 

One of my wx apps says 3-5 and the other one says 5. Not that we need more snow on top of the swamps that can't be groomed.

We have gotten 13"+ so far, nice wet heavy snow that won't blow away!  

@Bontz @X2700  Any word on that Lake Pepin crossing?  Already planning a trip that will take me across there in two weeks... Yes, I'll be riding before then, just looking to the next possibility!

Edited January 4, 20233 yr by Mag6240

No news yet.

lots of rain down here!!

unfortunately no real cold in forecast!!

was going to head that way last weekend but closed county across from lake city Sunday morning!!

Just now, X2700 said:

No news yet.

lots of rain down here!!

unfortunately no real cold in forecast!!

was going to head that way last weekend but closed county across from lake city Sunday morning!!

Oh crap, I didn't realize the rain came that far north... I drove through Osseo/Mondovi/Durand/Ellsworth on Monday, and though I didn't see any sleds, the trails that crossed 10 still looked pretty good.  I know those Sconnie counties like to "Save the base", hope they got more snow than rain.

Sorry that I can't report anything noteworthy on the Lake Pepin crossing.  There were tracks coming off Kelly's (the old Waterman's restaurant) last week, but the combination of rain and warmer temps probably have put the kibosh on it for now.  Keep an eye on the Travel WI website to see what the counties across the river are doing - like you mentioned, they tend to go into "Save the base" mode pretty quickly.

1 hour ago, Mag6240 said:

Oh crap, I didn't realize the rain came that far north... I drove through Osseo/Mondovi/Durand/Ellsworth on Monday, and though I didn't see any sleds, the trails that crossed 10 still looked pretty good.  I know those Sconnie counties like to "Save the base", hope they got more snow than rain.

Yep they were open Saturday and closed Sunday!!id say they will open back up by end of week.

wet heavy snow here but maybe 4-5”?

will freeze Good Friday.

headed your way instead sunday.

launched from Elko.

ran down through shieldsville,

Kilkenny which had a great brunch going!!up across Minnesota river to cologne and back to Elko.

185 miles.a little dirt on tops of a few hills but overall great ride!!I’ll be back for another tour!!

 

 

30 minutes ago, X2700 said:

Yep they were open Saturday and closed Sunday!!id say they will open back up by end of week.

wet heavy snow here but maybe 4-5”?

will freeze Good Friday.

headed your way instead sunday.

launched from Elko.

ran down through shieldsville,

Kilkenny which had a great brunch going!!up across Minnesota river to cologne and back to Elko.

185 miles.a little dirt on tops of a few hills but overall great ride!!I’ll be back for another tour!!

You did start/end on our trails!  We groom Elko... We rode that loop last Wednesday except we didn't cross the river, and I'm on the East side of I-35 from where I started and ended.  It was mostly pretty good then.

Where did you cross the river, Belle Plaine??

Edited January 4, 20233 yr by Mag6240

3 hours ago, Mag6240 said:

You did start/end on our trails!  We groom Elko... We rode that loop last Wednesday except we didn't cross the river, and I'm on the East side of I-35 from where I started and ended.  It was mostly pretty good then.

Where did you cross the river, Belle Plaine??

Yep Belle Plaine.

fun fast trails.

kicker806 led me around!!

Nice to hit places I go to for my real job!!

On 1/2/2023 at 12:21 PM, mnstang said:

Yeah it already shifted south.  At first they said 4-8" for our place and now they are saying maybe 2".

 

I'm guessing around 10"+ here.

2 hours ago, Sled_Hed said:

I'm guessing around 10"+ here.

Yeah I was watching the radar most of today and it looks like the farm caught some so that's good.  I have a cell cam out and can see new snow but I don't think 10" but a nice fresh coating to fill over the old tracks anyway.  At home probably got over a foot and still going.  

There's plenty of snow around especially for this time of year.  This is going to be an epic winter.  Clearing snow till 10:30pm on consecutive work nights I could do without.

Edited January 5, 20233 yr by mnstang

8 hours ago, mnstang said:

Yeah I was watching the radar most of today and it looks like the farm caught some so that's good.  I have a cell cam out and can see new snow but I don't think 10" but a nice fresh coating to fill over the old tracks anyway.  At home probably got over a foot and still going.  

There's plenty of snow around especially for this time of year.  This is going to be an epic winter.  Clearing snow till 10:30pm on consecutive work nights I could do without.

Yep, bad thing about this time of year. Almost dark when I get home and cleaning up snow in the dark isn't great.

1 hour ago, Sled_Hed said:

Yep, bad thing about this time of year. Almost dark when I get home and cleaning up snow in the dark isn't great.

At least it's been warm.  Usually after the big snows there's high winds and brutal cold and it's so nasty at my house, it's open to my west and north so just get pounded with that wind.  I get home at 7pm at night so it's almost always dark and shitty I feel like I'm in a movie sometimes when I'm out there like I'm just going to fall over and freeze 

10 minutes ago, mnstang said:

At least it's been warm.  Usually after the big snows there's high winds and brutal cold and it's so nasty at my house, it's open to my west and north so just get pounded with that wind.  I get home at 7pm at night so it's almost always dark and shitty I feel like I'm in a movie sometimes when I'm out there like I'm just going to fall over and freeze 

 

24 minutes ago, Sled_Hed said:

 

 

 

We got screwed this time in Itasca County.  Our base is good, but the swamps aren't frozen yet and grooming is limited.

I've ridden on Lake Mazaska a few times to go ice fishing, but never been on the trails over that way.  Glad to hear that area is rideable.

27 minutes ago, p51mstg said:

We got screwed this time in Itasca County.  Our base is good, but the swamps aren't frozen yet and grooming is limited.

I've ridden on Lake Mazaska a few times to go ice fishing, but never been on the trails over that way.  Glad to hear that area is rideable.

Fished Bowstring last Friday and i agree.

To be honest I'm not sure after this when they'll be able to groom swampy areas around here. Not seeing any real cold weather in the forecast either.