18 replies to this topic

[camosled]

Trailered up to Boscawen hoping to find the railbed freshly groomed and boy was it ever. Parked at Depot street and unloaded. Had the whole parking lot to myself...Wooo Hoo.

Headed up 11 through Franklin then jumped on 2 headed to Canaan. In what felt like no time I was in Canaan. The entire length of the railbed was groomed, flat and fast. Did not see a single other sled the entire way. Topped off gas in Canaan and headed up 5N. Got to the intersection of 5N and 24 and called Skully at work to rub it in...LOL . Took 24E and MAN that trail was SICK today. I was in awe of the conditions and couldn't help but smile. This trail came down into Hebron and the Hardy club. The Hardy club has some seriously incredible trails. I was like who needs Pittsburg.

From there I headed north to Rumney via the powerline trail.....more giggles....not a single bump...not a single other sled all the way to Rumney. Once in Rumney tried to find something to eat but Plain Janes was closed and I didn't know what else was around accesible by trail. Stopped at a hot dog stand, talked with the guy behind the counter and he gave me a free map...

Headed back 151 towards Hebron and then towards Newfound lake. I was having such an awesome day right up until I was just about to exit the Hebron trail system...then things turned sour. I was cruising down a nice straightaway when I happened to glance down at my GPS, my eyes returned to the trail and saw the stop sign and a road (there wasn't the typical stop sign ahead warning) I applied the brake hard, the rear swung out and I rolled it over... Got it upright and fired it back up and that is when I noticed my GPS screen had broken.....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO :sad:

Now I was totally bummed out. Headed south on 11 and 11S through Bristol is a Horror show. I had spent all day on awesome trails that were well marked with signs and now I was on some seriously beat trails that either were poorly marked or not marked at all. Came to several junctions with no signs
and had to guess (made not having my GPS working even worse). Luckily I guessed right and made it back to the State Park north of Franklin Falls Dam where I hit freshly groomed trails again.

Checked my watch and it was still early so I wanted to check out what was on the other side of the Dam. I crossed the dam and on the other side saw a sign that said Subway/MacDonalds....so I headed that way..this trail soon became single sled wide and was crazy bumpy...came to another intersection that was unmarked and got fed up and turned around.

Back to the Dam and down the railbed towards Boscawen. Took a right and headed to Blackwater dam. Turned around at the dam and tried to head in a loop through the TLTD system. Some of the TLTD trails are marked really well and some are a horror show. I got to intersection 13 and tried to head back to the railbed but ended up at several unmarked intersections. Finally came out in the SAME spot Skully and I ended up when we got messed up last week. That area needs some attention.

Back to the railbed and then I went to see where Dave said the NEW 11s was, saw it, and went back to my Jeep. 152 miles. 90% of the trails were unreal while 10% were God awful (Bristol).

Here are some pics.

Edited by camosled, 21 January 2009 - 09:53 PM.

[camosled]

[camosled]

[camosled]

[camosled]

[skully]

Hey Matt
Sorry to hear of the roll over !
Hmmm ... You sure you didn't do it on purpose ?
Didn't you say on the ride up last week you wanted a new GPS ;-)
Remember I can get a deep discount for you on a new one !
Great pictures and I remember almost all those spots.
Expecially the ones of Corr.2 (been there only a KAZILLION times ....lol)
So I guess you won't be sending any GPS map of your ride :-(
Ohhh Crap ....
Does that mean I have to lead again next Wednesday ... LOL .....
Well I guess with you behind me you will see all the intersections I blow
through (miss) that I was SUPPOSE to take .... LOL .....
Give me a buzz at work tomorrow sometime !
Mr. Sandman is calling me right now ....
Rob .....

[rivercat]

camosled, on Jan 21 2009, 09:40 PM, said:

Matt you had a heck of a day..... Our pres and I were out for a bit... but I knew this STATE was too big for us to bump into you! we will be working on our signage,,,, this year has been the 'test" of a whole new approach,,,, obviously the good intersections are the system working, the rest we will MAKE work!,. your comments are well heard, I nominate you for "Diehard sledder" of the year!
I am glad YOU got to have so much of a great trail system to yourself!

[camosled]

Hi Dave!

I hope I didn't come across as being critical about the TLTD system. I LOVE the trails you guys have andthe VAST MAJORITY of them are fantastic. You guys are obviously putting in some serious work and it is really showing. I have done 3 100+ mile days in the past 7 days there for a reason.

I think the issue stems with the old corridor 11 and your new maps may adress the situation, I only have an older map. The big green and yellow signs you guys have on the main trails are great.

Crazy how much land there is out there and how you can go that far without seeing another person.

I got lost near the pond (the big one) and a guy with a TLTD jacket on led me back to the trail. I asked "Are you Dave, Rivercat"? LOL...he said no..

[rivercat]

camosled, on Jan 21 2009, 10:28 PM, said:

Hi Dave!

I hope I didn't come across as being critical about the TLTD system. I LOVE the trails you guys have andthe VAST MAJORITY of them are fantastic. You guys are obviously putting in some serious work and it is really showing. I have done 3 100+ mile days in the past 7 days there for a reason.

I think the issue stems with the old corridor 11 and your new maps may adress the situation, I only have an older map. The big green and yellow signs you guys have on the main trails are great.

Crazy how much land there is out there and how you can go that far without seeing another person.

I got lost near the pond (the big one) and a guy with a TLTD jacket on led me back to the trail. I asked "Are you Dave, Rivercat"? LOL...he said no..

Gosh Matt you didn't come across critical at all,,,,,,,, heck I have been lost in our system.... and that should NOT happen,,, I feel in years gone by that each system was ridden by the locals only,,, and then bit by bit starting in the north "you visitors" started appearing, and thats a good thing,,,,,,, puts us on our toes,,,, and gets us up to speed,,, but getting it finished is every clubs wish,,, we just ran off a few of our new style signs the other day ,, it was 80 signs,,,, and hardly scratched the surface,,, now I have to figure out who helped you today,,,, I do not even have a TLTD coat! maybe it was our TA norm.. I will investigate, , I'm glad your enjoying the tails!

[camosled]

rivercat, on Jan 21 2009, 11:00 PM, said:

Gosh Matt you didn't come across critical at all,,,,,,,, heck I have been lost in our system.... and that should NOT happen,,, I feel in years gone by that each system was ridden by the locals only,,, and then bit by bit starting in the north "you visitors" started appearing, and thats a good thing,,,,,,, puts us on our toes,,,, and gets us up to speed,,, but getting it finished is every clubs wish,,, we just ran off a few of our new style signs the other day ,, it was 80 signs,,,, and hardly scratched the surface,,, now I have to figure out who helped you today,,,, I do not even have a TLTD coat! maybe it was our TA norm.. I will investigate, , I'm glad your enjoying the tails!

He lives by a unmarked trail (.from powerlines)near the pond

[NHsledin]

Nice ride! Wish I could have joined you. Some day...




And please remember...shine side up!

[camosled]

NHsledin, on Jan 22 2009, 09:44 AM, said:

Nice ride! Wish I could have joined you. Some day...




And please remember...shine side up!

Yeah, tell me about it.....LOl Man was I PISSSED...felt like a dweeb...LOL

[bucky]

How do you think those trails will be for a Friday ride? I want to go early and head towards Rumney. They look awesome......You say there is parking at Depot Street. The trail is right off that I assume. How do I get there from I-93? Is it the same exit as the county pen?

[skully]

bucky, on Jan 22 2009, 01:47 PM, said:

How do you think those trails will be for a Friday ride? I want to go early and head towards Rumney. They look awesome......You say there is parking at Depot Street. The trail is right off that I assume. How do I get there from I-93? Is it the same exit as the county pen?

Exit 17 off Rt.93
The Depot Street is just a bit up from Dunkin Donuts (on the RIGHT).
On the corner is a Motor Lodge. Oil company is down on the LEFT and
the R/R bed is right where you park. Just please do not block oil company
access. This place is a GREAT place to park. If you want you can even gas
up the sleds easy. Go RIGHT on the trail and you will see a trail on the
RIGHT side of the trail. It will go beside Dunkin Donuts and cross the
road to the gas station. There is plenty of snow in that area !
If you head North on Corr.11 just be aware there is logging going on
just past the Franklin Falls Dam. Also that is the way Matt came back
and he said Bristol had the lousyest trails of the day.
Check this post too ....
Boscawen
Rob ....

Edited by skully, 22 January 2009 - 12:13 PM.

[Steam Man]

Awesome pictures, makes me want to ride instead groom, oh well.

Rivercat, nice talking to you the other night.

[camosled]

Yeah...about Bristol......I would really try to avoid corridor 11 through Bristol if at all possible...it is really bad..it is weird because there are spots with hardly any snow left and it seems odd because everywhere else is so awesome. If you have the time, just go back the way you came although that will be a pretty decent (long) ride back. If you do want to finish the loop it is only like a 25 minute or so ride through Bristol (if you stay on the right trail..just follow the most sled marks..LOL) so you could just bear it out. Yo might even want to do what I did but in reverse so you get the crap out of the way first then the rest of the way it is

Get out during the week..simply awesome.

Skully. Picked up a NEW GPS today. I called Garmin and they wanted $99.00 to rebuild my whole unit to like new. Found a newer version that accepts an SD card to allow me to carry around even more map data for $119 on Ebay. No more constantly updating maps based on where I will be. I can pick up a couple of gigs SD cards and have the entire US of City navigator at all times. Should be here sometime next week. Garmin would have taken 10-14 business days..no brainer.


The whole rest of the ride yesterday I was saying to myself "Is my sled handeling right?" Once I let that creep into my brain I was soooooo over analytical about every turn and just wasn't riding the same....I got home and really gave it a look and she looks perfectly fine so it was all in my head. It was cold and the trails were set up HARD so the skis following the other ski ruts was just normal.

[camosled]

I would love to see a groomer in action..I think it is an art form..those trails on Sunday were beat up..amazing what a groomer can do.

[camosled]

This is where I rolled it over. I was going 45 from the far end of this picture and when I hit the top of the hill saw the stop sign and road.

[camosled]

Oh, I did see a bunch of guys working on the groomer in Bristol there was a big tractor repair truck parked 100 yards away and the guys were hunched over it. Hiope they get that thing fired up quick.