Good and Bad!

The trail this morning had some good and bad news!
Much of the trail is either bare or covered in snow/ice that was fairly pitted and fairly easy to run on, especially with screws in your shoes. Areas that are open to the sun, such as the Monarch Trail, were down to the dirt.
Unfortunately, many of the slopes are solid dangerous ice.
The trail down to the bridge crossing and the switch backs on the Main Loop were unpassable.
I cut short today so did not make it up to the top of Headwaters to view the conditions there.
The snow tonight might help to improve the conditions somewhat.
The temperatures are supposed to hit the plus side again by mid week.

Dangerous conditions

I was unable to get out to the trail all weekend. Was home sick in bed.

I'm told however, the trails were very dangerous and spikes were highly recommended!

Trail conditions Thursday at noon hour

I have gotten a couple of questions about the condition of the trail now.

I have not been on the trail since Saturday but here's what I found when I stuck my head in at a couple of spots along the trail today.



This is the trail leading from the pool house parking lot.



The tail here was pretty icy and I image any spot on the trail that is exposed to the sun will be in a similar situation.
The trail below the slow down from the pool centre was covered in wet snow and I mean very wet. The weather forecast I've heard for the rest of the week predicted freezing temperatures which could turn this stuff to ice.



This is the red main trail leading down from the parking lot at the gatehouse. The dark spot is mud that had been deposited by dirt from water that had been running off the parking lot in what appeared to have been a heavy stream.
There was a lot of wind in the area overnight and I did not see if any trees were down but would not be surprised if there were.



This was the trail leading back up to the gatehouse parking lot where the run off had cut a stream through the ice on the trail. I can only speculate that the hill leading up to the farm field on Headwaters Trail is going to look much the same.

Overall there's snow, ice, mud and water!

Have fun!

Hoping to get out for a loop on Saturday to see what it's like then for myself.

Nice to day while it lasted

The warmer weather today made for some great running conditions this morning.
The snow melted enough to give you a stable trail to run on. The temperatures were warm enough to be more than comfortable. The only way to improved the conditions would have been with some sun shine.
The usual trail blockages are still in place---mainly on Headwaters. There was some evidence someone was clearing some dead falls on the Lookout Trail.
A group of coyotes had managed to make a meal of a deer on Headwaters. The nearly picked clean carcass was still on the trail when we came through. It has now been moved from sight.

Temperatures sound like they are going to yo-yo for the next couple of days with minus temperatures Sunday and back to plus 9 on Monday.

Warmer today but.....

Temperatures were definitely warmer on the trail this morning.

The snow on the trail was still cold enough to be granular and loose under foot.

The sunshine where it reached through the trees, definitely was helping some of the snow to become sticky and more stable under foot.

Headwaters still had the deep snow along the edge of the farmer's field and still has not had enough traffic for a well worn path.

All I want for Valentine's Day is some nice WARM temperatures!