St. Ignace Trail Report – 02/21
We apparently got a bit hammered with traffic (for this year) over the weekend. Dave ran the North section on Saturday night and called me while I was still on Pond Hockey duty and said we needed the other machine. Cody was great and on an hours notice, and ran a quick loop on the South touching everything back up to what is should be.
How are our trails? Comparing them to what I am seeing across the state this year, I am going to rate them at a 7/8 out of 10. The big thing is almost everything is white, no rocks, no dirt mixed in. That goes for the majority of the RR Grade too. We still have a fantastic base, it hasn’t gone anywhere all year, it is topped with between 2 and 5′ of decent hard pack. On the Caffey you will see up to 12′ of base. There is some ice in the corners you need to deal with, there are a few places here and there, but overall you can out on a lot of good, fast and fun miles without tearing up your sled.
We do have some issues. There are just a couple of short almost bare patches on the RR Grade out of Iggy, near Hay lake, and Moran. The Truck Trail North of Brevort has a couple of patches that are easy to drive around. The side of Brevort Lake road is tough, but passable, and the pipeline is the thinnest of all our trails and where you may find a little sand mixed into the snow trail, but it is wide and easy to run around if you want to.
I have been downplaying the ridability of our trails all year due to the low snow. The wost thing I can do is say it is fantastic and someone have a bad ride. That is way I would rather report marginal conditions and let people have a better experience. Truth this year is we are fairing much better then the other areas with low snow. I am not sure if it will hold up to a tone of traffic, but things are really looking decent out there. If we can get just 6′-8′ we will be in tip top trail conditions for sure.
Extra Iggy Note:
We had a shuttle system using the old RR Grade North of the ice rink over the weekend, and crossing the trail just under I-75. All that area is trashed. If you want to ride out of Iggy, then trailer to the very North end of the Ice Rink parking area. From there you can skirt the side, and then you will have about 200′ of gravel to ride under I-75. After you get past that you are in good shape heading North. If you would prefer, you can trailer just North of town, and ride from Castle Rock Road. Just go to the Castle Rock overpass exit, cross I-75, and turn left onto Lant road. Drop at the first road on your right, that is castle rock road. It is in good condition, and will take you right to the main trail.