Quote:
Originally Posted by bobio
I was disapointed to see all the washouts on the trails around South Down and the Prison Loop. There is plenty of snow but where did all the water come from? We did a number on the sleds by running over all those rocky areas.
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The snow that we got in Alton, while it was about 12 inches in one storm and about 7-8 inches yesterday, compresses down quite a bit, and the snowshoe trail we broke yesterday ended up being about 8-10 inches below the top of the snow, after just the pass going out and then coming back (2 adults). Some of our trek was on the "D" trail in the vicinity of Alton Mt. Rd in Alton, and there is a good amount of water running in this area. Considering that one "snowstorm" ended up being more rain than snow in this area, and the ground is frozen, the water will tend to puddle up in low places, like areas where snowmobiles and ATV's cause the lay of the land to be a little lower than the surrounding areas. Also, if the area where the water was would normally be a short-lived stream from run-off, you could expect the ground to be holding the water. All in all, with what we say over here in Alton, the trails seem to be in pretty good shape, especially for this early in the season. Don't forget, trails have only been officially opened for just over two weeks
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