Christmas Holiday Condition, Black Hills

[sdsnocop]

The Trails office in Lead is reporting 6 inches new snow at their office, less along the trails next to HWY385. Rode 70 miles today found 1-2 inches of snow to the South, 2-4 inches around Buckhorn and Trailshead, 4-6 inches North with 6 inches around Spearfish Canyon and Cement Ridge. Groomers are out tonight in the Lead area, Central and North. Trail routes that had not been plowed will be in fairly good condition. The routes that been plowed will still be thin but are better with the new snow. Cross country travel will still be risky but the unplowed logging roads will be good. They are predicting warm weather on Christmas, I would expect some effect but should be minimal. Due to snow cover and elevation you can usually count on temps being 10-15 degrees cooler than Rapid City. The only exception would be an inversion which does not usually occure in dry sunny weather. If the temps does get up to 40 it is such a short period that it causes little damage. Overal the conditions are ridable in most areas, I have seen several Christmas Holiday's much worse. I have rode 600 miles so far this month, I rode some areas that were thin which due to the inspections I was conducting I could not avoid, My hyfax need replacing and I lost 1 lug on my paddle track but that is with a sled with 5200 miles original track and hyfax.

 

[travydog]

Just wondering what the total snow on the ground is. were heading up on monday staying threw the week. Thanks

 

[sdsnocop]

Snow depth varies greatly, Exposed South slopes are almost bare, North slopes may have over 2 feet. 10-20 inches will cover the vast majority of what you will find. The deepest I found is in the Cement Ridge area where 2 feet is the norm. I measured 15 inches in front of the cabin at Hardy Camp.

 

[travydog]

Thanks for the info

 

[Firetrail]

Trails

State trail conditions got moved here for those who lost it.
http://gfp.sd.gov/to-do/snowmobile/black-hills-conditions.aspx

 

[Ross Anderson]

What trails are thin and plowed so we can try to avoid them this next week. Thanks,Ross

 

[skidoo56]

More Snow

Does anyone know if you are able to ride from Deadwood Gultch Resort out to the main trail system with the current snow amount?

 

[wag13]

time to tebow for snow

 

[srx_600]

time to tebow for snow

I saw another person on facebook that was riding in the hills doing this same thing. This hope it works!

 

[vdo1948]

State trail conditions got moved here for those who lost it.
http://gfp.sd.gov/to-do/snowmobile/black-hills-conditions.aspx

I gather the state is now too poor to afford a spell checker (trail vs trial)!

 

[wag13]

This video is mainly for Highmark....but we rode all of trail 5T which goes from Stewart lodge at the top of terry peak all the way to rec. springs....so yes you could ride your sleds from your cabin....keep in mind this is not what the trails are like AT ALL on the actual trail system..like I say in the video multiple times this trail is extremely wind blown

 

[moonshiner]

Nice work Wag. Looks like a pretty sweet area, only needs a couple FEET more snow! Although that is still way more snow than anywhere in the upper midwest, supposed to be almost 50 degrees tomorrow!

 

[highmark2000]

wag13, You are awsome for doing this for us. I do think we will be able to ride from the house. If we do tailer, we naturally would like to unload near the best snow. Is that down around Trailhead Lodge? We are planning to ride Tuesday -Thursday next week. Thanks again.

 

[wag13]

Forgot to upload this one....This video is driving down trail 5A going to Dumont lot
(remeber to watch the video in 720p...its alot better)

 

[jsledder]

Thanks!! I agree with your thoughts on people getting off the trail and "tearing up" the ski runs, will only take a couple idiots doing that to get that one shut down.

 

[sdsnocop]

Does anyone know if you are able to ride from Deadwood Gultch Resort out to the main trail system with the current snow amount?

I rode in and out of there on December 15th without any problems. If it gets warm the worst will be the first 2 miles which you can check out by pickup since it is next to roads. You will find some thin spots going into and leaving Rec Springs.

 

[sdsnocop]

What trails are thin and plowed so we can try to avoid them this next week. Thanks,Ross

The thin areas due to prior logging activity wjll be hard to avoid since they are scattered throughout the system. Many of those ares are starting to fill in and have gotten better but are stil thin. The following is what I can think of off the top of my head;
Trail 1, from Cold Creek road to 2 miles South of trail 8
Trail 2, From trail 7 to 5, On FS 231 (getting much better)
Trail 3B, 1 mile from trail 3 (getting much better)
Trail 4, 1.5 miles between trail 6 and FS143 (getting better and plenty of room to ride next to trail)
Trail 5, 2miles between Hanna road and trail2
Trail 7, 1 mile between trail 7A and Steel wheel, from Dumont to Juct 2 & 5
Trail 8, West half
Trail 11, west of Buckhorn on Cold Creek rd. from trail 1 to trail 12

Most of these previously plowed routes (on gravel roads) are hardpacked and icy from vehicle traffic with a little new snow on them, most you can ride the edge and find lubercation. Your carbides will scratch a little. The routes on dirt (trails 5 & 7, 2 near 5 & 7 are on dirt and have a few inches of snow on them and will suffer the quickest with warm weather and traffic.

 

[sdsnocop]

If you want to track the temperatures on the Trail system type in sd snotel on your search engine, you should get a link to the SD snotel sites. click on either of rhe 2 snotel sites, Blind Park and North Rapid Creek. Click to the right of "standard sensors" on "7 days". It will give you min, max and current temps each day for the last 7 days. Blind Park is near the Juct of trails 1 and 8, North Rapid Creek is SW of Dumont.

 

[skidoo56]

Thanks Wag

Wag13 thanks so much for taking the time to make and download your videos. They are great. I will be out there the 26 -29 and if I run into you lunch is on me. Would you say that the best snow is up Grand canyon and Rifle pit area? I am in Iowa but have riden this area many years. I am thinking the meadow with the old wagon on the mound area as the best spot with current snow.

 

[wag13]

I will be out there the 26 -29 and if I run into you lunch is on me.

I am thinking the meadow with the old wagon on the mound area as the best spot with current snow.

HA! in that case i'll have everything on the left side of the menu

and i was thinking the exact same thing about that medow!! gunna go hit it up the 26th probably, and as for the videos, I was going on that trail that day anyway...plus they are fun to make, glad you guys like em.