Tag Archives: conditions

Trail Report

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The weekend of February 20th brought a big winter storm to the Carson City area. Surrounding areas received up to a foot or snow or more, but strangely enough, the storm seemed to mostly bypass Carson City. We got up on the Ash Canyon trails on Monday to check the conditions. Here’s what we found.

Ash Canyon
Lower Postal Trail

About the only snow we encountered was along the lower trails, Jackrabbit and Postal. A thin layer of fluffy snow bordered these trails, but there wasn’t much to speak of at all on the trails themselves. We encountered a little mud on the lower half of the Postal Trail, but it was still easy riding.

Ash Canyon
Four Day Trail

Once we got up into the Canyon, there was almost no snow. We climbed all the way to the top of the Four Day trail, and encountered nothing that hindered forward progress. As expected, we found just a little mud on the short north/south section of Four Day. Overall the ground was a little soft, but it made for a great workout on the climb. Coming down, on the other hand, was a blast. Hero Dirt was fully active, and brakes just weren’t required that often.

Ash Canyon
Snow is Still Clear on Slopes with Southern Exposure

Looking across the valley to the Centennial Trail area looked promising. I don’t know for sure what was over the horizon, but it looked mostly clear near the trailhead. Has anyone ridden Centennial since the storm?

Ash Canyon Trail Report

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The snow has been steadily melting all week, so on February 4th, I decided to see what kind of shape Ash Canyon was in. From below I could see that the northern slopes were still covered in snow, but that most of the southern exposures were mostly clear. It looked inviting, so I decided to see how far I could get.

Ash Canyon
Jackrabbit Trail

The Jackrabbit trail crosses back and forth across a sand wash several times, so as expected, there were numerous patches of snow to port the bike over. Once the trail climbs to the south and becomes the Postal Route Trail, it was completely covered in snow, and required me to walk until the trail headed west again up on top of the hill. It was nice riding for quite a ways after this, and I didn’t encounter snow again until the upper half of Deer Run.

The snow got a little heavier towards the top of Deer Run, but the Baldy Green trail and Four Day Trail appeared to be more of the same, i.e. partly rideable with a few portages. I turned around at this point and headed down the dirt road to save time and energy. I was able to ride all the way back down without stopping, veering north at the water towers to reconnect with the bike path. Even though I rode down the road easily enough, it was still full of mud and snow, and would be tough climbing.

Ash Canyon
Deer Run

With no large amounts of precipitation expected over the next several days, I expect that the Ash Canyon trails should be good riding early next week. If you don’t mind a little mud and some walking, go check them out now!

West Side Road and Trail Report

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Today was my first lunch ride since the big snow. The recent days have been better for hiking and other winter activities. The lunch hour slush has subsided enough now though, that it looks inviting to ride. I decided to get out and explore the west side of Carson City to see how things looked.

Winter Exploration
The V&T Bike Path is Free of Snow

The main routes, King Street, Mountain Street, Washington Street, Ormsby Blvd, and Winnie Lane, are pretty much free of ice and snow. Just about all the other streets are still full of slush and ice. I still wouldn’t recommend taking your road bike out, but you can pretty much ride all over the west side now on a mountain bike. Most of the wheel ruts in the snow are nearly worn down to the pavement, making a decent path for those with knobby tires.

Winter Exploration
The trails will be under the snow for a while

The V&T Bike path is mostly clear and open all the way from Ash Canyon Road to Combs Canyon Road. Those looking for some good exercise can do the Kings Canyon and Combs Canyon climbs, and connect them with the V&T bike path.

I rode up to the Ash Canyon singletrack trailhead, and it was apparent we won’t be riding these trails any time soon. I gave riding on the snow a shot, but it’s too warm right now. It’s slushy and greasy, making it hard to get any traction. The snow seems to be taking forever to melt, and when it does finally melt, it’ll be muddy for a few days. I think our best bet for trail riding will be the Centennial trails sometime next week.