Groomed

• Many Underdown ski trails are groomed nice and solid, and the parking lot is plowed.  No track has been set yet, but that should happen soon.  The Blue trail wasn't groomed yet, and trucks are still making tracks on Horn Lake Road.
• Snowshoe trails are established to Dog Lake, powder to Mist Lake.  No more slush.
• Nothing is good for fat bikes yet.

All For Snowshoes

• Underdown has about 8 inches of beautiful new powder.
• Snowshoe trails are well established to Dog Lake.  Slush has been dragged and should freeze up tonight.
• Anyone who hikes to Mist Lake will find lots of powder and slush.
• Some ski trails have been skied in, but no maintenance has been done.  I'm guessing the ski trails will get groomed and the parking lot will get plowed this week.
• Fat biking might be good in a week.

Snow Coming Soon

• At this hour Underdown is pretty, but does not have enough snow to do much with.  
• Hiking is still for boots.  
• Some ski trails are skied in, but gates aren't open yet.  
• Trails A and Z were OK on a fat bike if you like it loose.
• New snow starts falling at Midnight.
• The annual snowshoe hike is set for January 24th at 10AM.

Great for Bikes

• All the trail dragging done a few weeks ago has finally paid off.  Underdown bike trails are a bumpy sidewalk with trails open all the way to trail CC and Dog Lake.  Lakes are frozen, and bogs are lumpy.
• Boot hiking is great, but there is no place to ski.
• Harrison Hills is great for exploring now with numerous accessible lakes.  The channel from Beaver Lake to Kordick Lake has never been higher and easier to ride numerous lines.
• Sunnyvale Park has been closed by some high water.

Freezing Up

Last night I found that Bridge Lake was solid enough to walk across, but I sunk past my ankles on the bogs after the lake.  For a while more it would be best to stay to high ground.  Gates are still closed on ski trails so skiers will have a chance to make their own way.

Looks Like Winter

As gun season draws to a close, Underdown has plenty of beautiful snow.  Ski trails are still do-it-yourself, and there is a lot of water in the bogs so snowshoe hikers should stick to the hike-bike trails for a while.   Lakes aren't safe yet so the regular snowshoe routes won't be established until around Christmas. Some fat biking might be good in a week.

Snow Time

• Underdown got plenty of snow this week.   Some skiers have tried the powder even though the gates aren't even open yet and grooming is a long way away.
• Snowshoeing is wide open  on land now, but lakes and bogs aren't safely frozen yet.  It's best to hike using the bike/hike trail map for a while until the regular snowshoe route is established some time next month.
• Another bypass around a too steep hill is finished, and a loop was dragged from the parking lot out to trail CC and back.  Fat biking could be good out that far later this week.  Loop Road has had truck traffic and could be ridden by bike.  Trail A & Z might be ready to ride already.
• Remember not to ride during daylight next week.

Ready for Some Snow

Steve, Paul, Beth and Pat helped me take the steepness out of the Heartbreak Ridge climb on the fat-bike & snowshoe trail.

Ready for Work

Underdown trails are great to ride now that Steve helped me turn Kelly's deck into a boardwalk and Paul helped me blow all the leaves off.
Sunday November 9th at 10AM or will be a great time for a bunch of us to get all the trails repaired. We'll start around Heartbreak Ridge where the Ice Age Trail crosses Loop Road on the snowshoe-fat bike trail.  Trail X is in the area and should be ready to repair as loggers are almost out.  The agenda:

1. Rebuild the Heartbreak Ridge climb so we don't have to hike out fat bikes
2. Clean up Trail X - if the loggers were as gentle there as elsewhere it should go fast and be an opportunity to make the trail even better than before
3. Clean up the south edge of trail KK with a new boardwalk - a 1 hour job
4. Tree down on KK plantation east
5. Clean up the end of G coming off of Roundtop - under an hour
6. Trees down on C
7. Tree down on the Neccessary Evil part of trail S
8. Clean up trail L Ice Age Trail with a rebuild of the steep west end

New Boardwalk on Trail U

Leaf blowing will be done this week.  All trails will be open except for X, L, and LL because of logging.

Taking the boardwalk for a walk.

No more mud. Beware of dogs.

Coming Attractions

1. Logging on trail X and bits of KK and G this month.
2. Some made over corners on trail U.
3. Leaf blowing at the end of the month.
4. More bull dozing at the new city forest trail.

Secret Site

A peek at the Underdown's new neighbor.

Tomahawk 90 and 33ish

Meet at the Sarah Park boat landing on September 27th at 10AM for the 90 mile fall ride that features the Hiawatha Trail before heading into the Willow and Newwood wild country.  A detour to Tripoli will get us resupplied half way. 66 of the 90 miles are gravel.

The 33ish course also starts on the Hiawatha before diverting back to Tomahawk via the cozy Rozell Road, McCord ghost town turn around, and crooked CC. The route is all scenic and just under half gravel.

Cue sheets are here.

The Garmin File


P.S. We took Ruth Road right to the nice BP station at Tripoli and then used the gravel Tripoli Drive to get back on course.

Taking Putnam from 86 at the second RR crossing in Tomahawk brought us to a nice jaunt past Mirror Lake in Bradley Park on our way back to Sara Park.

Ready for Fall

• The most beautiful time of year is almost here, and the Underdown is ready to ride.
• Raspberries are still good and blackberries are ripe now too.
• Bears are out turning over logs, and I saw a hawk eating a worm on Loop Road.
• Trails U and W are now all mowed so all trails in the 2013 and 2014 race courses are good to ride now.  We'll start blowing the leaves off after they fall is October.
• Avoid trails L and LL for now because LL isn't mowed and loggers are just finishing up on L.
• Ride trail X while you can because loggers will hit it this fall.
• Come out for some gravel on September 27th.  The Tomahawk 90 uses some Hiawatha Trail before heading west to Price County and south to Newwood.  Cue Sheet.

Get Out There

• Raspberries are bountiful in the Underdown.
• Kelly spent a couple days mowing the Oktoberfest trails that weren't in the race course.  Jason was there too.
• Riley and I worked on the Yin Yang* hill and mowed one side before the the mower broke.  Kelly has agreed to get back out there to attack the brush once the part comes in.  It's an aggravating job so we're lucky that he's willing to suffer through the heat and flying debris for us.
• This month we break ground on the new Merrill City Forest trail system across Heineman Road from the Underdown.  This fall we'll work on a 3 or 4 mile loop that features the beautiful marsh and hills of the city forest.  Next year's goal is a connection between the Prairie Dells and the Underdown.

*The name that Wausau borrowed for their trail.  I should have copyrighted it, but that wouldn't have been very Taoist.

Thunderdown 2014

Thunderdown