We skied up the River Loop and then did the Lake Loop (total of 7.06 km). We left the parking lot at 10:30 and the day had already started to warm up. Going in was fine as long as your skis stayed on the snowmobile track. We saw very large cougar tracks, maybe a day old along the River Loop. The snow was soft. My friend used a red 'bubble-gum' wax and I used a klister (10 to -3 range). Both worked well. However, glide was intermittent through sunny and shady areas. The Lake Loop had some bare patches that we had to walk through and the snow along the lake was very soft (our dog was sinking to his belly when he ventured away from the ski tracks). At one point, it appeared that there had been a moose fight.....lots of deep randomly scattered tracks in a tight patch (we concurred that this time of year they might have been enjoying recreational sex :) We got back to the parking lot at 1:00
The folks at the Beaver Mines store showed me a printout from an internet weather channel and it would appear that we could get significant snow in the coming week.
Today, Sunday, starts sunny and cool. Some new snow at Castle Mountain apparently, but not likely at the Syncline Trails. It will likely be crusty for the first couple of hours.
Don't forget a trail map posted on this blog on January 26, 2013.
