While we are still riding and grooming and there are still parts of our system with tons of snow, the hot sun of the weekend really took a toll on the trail sections that we have been just hanging on to for the past couple of weeks. Consider the trails to the hotels and the South Twin Bridge (Wiley Crossing) to be trails to be avoided unless we get 6 or 8 inches of snow. We will no longer be grooming them without additional snow. Also while the Pole line will get you to Millinocket Lake from town, we groomed it for the last time last Saturday, with out more snow. It is passable but will be a slow ride with lots of bobbing and weaving around dirt, rocks and other assorted challenges! Please use extra caution. Also alot of our signs are starting to fall over, and while we stand them up where we can, cautions and arrows may not be standing in all locations... Again ride with caution.

As for the rest of the system, we are moving into spring riding conditions. The higher elevations backcountry riding is awesome with deep snow in most places above 1200 to 1500 feet of elevations. As for groomed trails we are still grooming ITS86 from Twin Pines west and the Timber Cruisers East. The first few miles from each starting point are thin on snow but it gets better and better as you gain elevation and distance. We are also grooming the Logan Pond trail and the Grant Brook Road but coverage is getting thin on both trails where they were plowed early in the winter. Both the Twin Pines Snowmobile Club and the Jo Mary Riders Club will be grooming tonight and again before the weekend if the weather and conditions warrant. I highly recommend a ride from our area out to Kakadjo and or Chesuncook village and the Chesuncook Lake House as the snow conditions and grooming in this direction continue to support great riding. Additionally the riding north to Bowlin and the Patten Shin Pond area is good and there is always snow on the ungroomed Baxter Park Road to Mattagamon! Expect the conditions on the trails we are grooming to be good to excellent with a few sections closer to town that will require a little careful riding and navigation to pass. Join us this week or weekend, gas, food (thursday through Sunday) and lodging are still available at Twin Pine Camps. And Remember what those that ride the Katahdin Region regularly know! Its not how much snow you have, but what you do with it that counts! Ride here and benifit from the pride we take in making and keeping our trail system one of the very best in the state!

Matthew A. Polstein

Cold weather is finally returning to the Katahdin Region with temps in the mid twenties Tuesday night and dipping down into the teens by thursday and through the weekend. This will allow us to really work the new snow that we have received over the past week. As I have mentioned in prior updates over the past few days, the areas groomed by the three Katahdin area clubs; the East Branch Snow Rovers, Jo Mary Riders and Twin Pine Snowmobile Club received from a few inches to well over two feet of new snow. This means that while most of the trails in the area are very well covered, some are not and it is important that you plan your travel accordingly. As a general rule it is the trails within the immediate boundaries' of the Towns that are in poor shape. All of these trail sections can be avoided by starting your ride in the right place, generally within just a few miles of the in town hotels. If you want to avoid riding on rough trail and are staying in a hotel, it is worth trailering a few miles. Check our individual trail reports for locations or ask at the front desk of the hotel!! As for the trails out of town again check individual trail conditions on the NEOC trail report, but expect most to be in very good to excellent condition. ITS 86 has places with over 2 feet of snow packed on the trail near Whetstone and for much of the trip from Nahmakanta Lake to Kakadjo. We will be updating the trail report with pictures of this section tuesday afternoon. If you rode this section this weekend, we are sorry about the lack of grooming and trees in the trail from the heavy wet snow. We tried to groom it but lost a groomer of the side of the trail in deep snow and then spun a track trying to get it back on the trail. We tried to pull it out with a BR 160 that was in the area but had to wait a day until we could get another BR400 out to pull it out. Monday, after the "rescue" we ran both machines to Penobscot Pond and "broke open" the trail. We are back in the area today cutting out what's left of the blow downs and storm damaged trees. We will be back on it with groomers, wednesday, and expect it to be in excellent shape by Friday!

Have faith, we will have great groomed riding in the Katahdin region through March as much of our system now has substantial snow pack.