Meriden Trails

Greetings everyone!

Grooming Report: Yesterday Bill reported that the upper trails were groomed, and that the cold temperatures have allowed the surface to set up nicely. "Good conditions for both classic and skate." (Although, note, no classic track has been set.)

I skied every trail this morning (lucky me!) and can enthusiastically confirm that this report is still accurate – although I might wax a tad more enthusiastically than Bill and say that the conditions were GREAT! Plenty of snow everywhere, the snow has set up nicely, there is no hemlock or other debris on the trails and every single kilometer is groomed and waiting for you. The skiing on the upper trails is particularly good as fewer folks have gone up there.

Skate Ski Clinic (from Virginia Beggs – thank you, Virginia!):

Come Enjoy A Skate Ski Clinic!!

Fundraiser for the Meriden Trails in Meriden, NH

February 13 10-noon All levels (men, malex, non-binary);

1-3 PM All levels (Women, femx, non-binary)

February 27 10-noon All (open to beginners, advance beginners);

1-3 PM All (open to intermediate &+)

Work on skate ski skills and enjoy camaraderie in a fun, no pressure clinic taught by a local ski coach. This clinic is best for advanced beginner and above.

All of the $60.00 registration fee goes to support our Meriden Trail system.

For more information, and to register please email VLBMeriden

Space is limited- Register ASAP to ensure your spot and enjoy some outdoor fun!!

Donation information:

Have you made your donation to the grooming and equipment fund yet this year? We’re going through gas, oil, and repairs every day! Make your check payable to "Town of Plainfield" with "Trails" on the memo line. (They need to know it goes to our account.) Your contribution will be tax deductible, and you can either put it in the donation box at the kiosk in the parking lot OR send it directly to the town at the following address:

Town of Plainfield

Attn: Bill Knight

Plainfield Trail Coordinator

PO Box 380

Meriden, NH 03770

Thanks for your support!

www.meridentrails.org

Good morning,

A generous dose of granular snow yesterday!

All the lower trails have been groomed. We hope to re-groom them today since the snow is very fine and folks are still sinking in. Good classic skiing today, and the skating will be better tomorrow.

Bill

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We got a lot of snow! Please donate to the trails fund!. Bill and other groomers have been busy this winter. Your donations go directly for fuel and maintenance on our machines and upkeep of the trails all year long!

Make your check payable to "Town of Plainfield" with "Trails" on the memo line. (They need to know it goes to our account.) Your contribution will be tax-deductible, and you can either put it in the donation box at the kiosk in the parking lot OR send it directly to the town at the following address:

Town of Plainfield
Attn: Bill Knight
Plainfield Trail Coordinator
PO Box 380
Meriden, NH 03770

Thanks for your support!

With the warm temperatures yesterday and overnight, today was a good day to stay off the trails and out of the parking lot. Trails are very soft, and the parking lot is a muddy mess.
Trails are slushy with exposed dirt and rocks from the melting.

We will keep you updated after this approaching storm on conditions! Looking for a snow recharge. Stay safe.

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Time to donate to the trails fund!. Bill and other groomers have been busy this winter. Your donations go directly for fuel and maintenance on our machines and upkeep of the trails all year long!

Make your check payable to "Town of Plainfield" with "Trails" on the memo line. (They need to know it goes to our account.) Your contribution will be tax-deductible, and you can either put it in the donation box at the kiosk in the parking lot OR send it directly to the town at the following address:

Town of Plainfield
Attn: Bill Knight
Plainfield Trail Coordinator
PO Box 380
Meriden, NH 03770

Thanks for your support!

www.meridentrails.org

Hello all,

Grooming update from Bill:

All the trails have been groomed and are in fair condition for skiing. Coverage while thin is surprisingly good. Some rocks and roots are visible as is the occasional patch of dirt/leaves. So don’t wear your 800 dollars race skis, but you can use a pretty good pair and avoid the issues with a little care. So Inclined and Not So are the most problematic since the downhill snowplowing that people do scrapes the snow off.

🌨 =======================

Donate to the trails fund!. Make your check payable to "Town of Plainfield" with "Trails" on the memo line. (They need to know it goes to our account.) Your contribution will be tax-deductible, and you can either put it in the donation box at the kiosk in the parking lot OR send it directly to the town at the following address:

Town of Plainfield
Attn: Bill Knight
Plainfield Trail Coordinator
PO Box 380
Meriden, NH 03770

Thanks for your support!

www.meridentrails.org

Hello and Happy Boxing Day*,

Bill Knight reports that they have groomed all the trails except the school fields.

The skiing is very good.

Enjoy!

– The Trails Group

*In the UK, Canada, Australia, and other countries, this is the holiday where the ghost of boxing great Joe Lewis will sucker punch you if you whine about your Christmas presents.

🌨 =======================

Donate to the trails fund!. Make your check payable to "Town of Plainfield" with "Trails" on the memo line. (They need to know it goes to our account.) Your contribution will be tax-deductible, and you can either put it in the donation box at the kiosk in the parking lot OR send it directly to the town at the following address:

Town of Plainfield
Attn: Bill Knight
Plainfield Trail Coordinator
PO Box 380
Meriden, NH 03770

Thanks for your support!

www.meridentrails.org

Great news from Bill Knight to accompany the official start of winter:

All the lower trails are groomed, and the upper trails will be groomed tomorrow. Cover is pretty good in the fields and open but thin with some roots and rocks under the evergreens. Skiing will be okay for the next couple of days with the Smokehouse Loops having the best cover – only a couple hazards to watch out for.

Enjoy!

🌨 =======================

Donate to the trails fund!. Make your check payable to "Town of Plainfield" with "Trails" on the memo line. (They need to know it goes to our account.) Your contribution will be tax-deductible, and you can either put it in the donation box at the kiosk in the parking lot OR send it directly to the town at the following address:

Town of Plainfield
Attn: Bill Knight
Plainfield Trail Coordinator
PO Box 380
Meriden, NH 03770

Thanks for your support!

www.meridentrails.org

FOUND: blue and green Skida headband/earmuff near Ira’s Loop. Now hanging on sign at trail entering Ira’s Loop from Farnham parking lot. Call if you’re not sure where this is.

Gilliam or Cathy 469-3456

Hi everyone,

Bill wrote yesterday (apologies for the late delivery):

We have loosened the surface of the trail system during the week just passed, and the skiing has been good on a frozen granular surface. We plan to groom on Saturday morning this weekend. All trails will have a freshly groomed surface for the start of the weekend. Should be pretty good skiing.

I skied yesterday afternoon and Bill was being a little modest – the skiing was excellent! All the trails were groomed (nice and wide, too) and the coverage was excellent. In dense areas of woods there was some pine needles, cones, etc. mixed in (beware, waxers), but it wasn’t too bad. Fast skiing on a hard base with enough soft corn on top to feel safe on the downhills and not skid on the uphills skating. Saw a few classic skiers (and fat bikers) out and everyone looked happy.

This represented hours and hours and hours of grooming – it takes multiple passes on the same trail to break down that icy, frozen snow. We are truly lucky to have such a dedicated group of volunteers, headed by Bill, doing this for us.

Hope you get out today!

Cheers,
Carin

Have you made your donation to the grooming and equipment fund yet this year? We’re going through gas, oil, and repairs every day! Make your check payable to "Town of Plainfield" with "Trails" on the memo line. (They need to know it goes to our account.) Your contribution will be tax deductible, and you can either put it in the donation box at the kiosk in the parking lot OR send it directly to the town at the following address:

Town of Plainfield

Attn: Bill Knight

Plainfield Trail Coordinator

PO Box 380

Meriden, NH 03770

Thanks for your support!

www.meridentrails.org

Great work by the groomers making this frozen garbage into lovely groomed trails. Nice fluffy stuff falling right now. This grooming work beats up equipment and uses fuel, so make sure to donate if you have not.

From Bill:

Over the last few days we have been out breaking up the crusty yuk that fell on the trails this week. After many hours of slicing it up, by 7:30 last night we had ground up the surface on all the trails. The new couple inches of snow promises some excellent skiing this weekend. We will be out packing it down today and tomorrow. If you come out to ski you will make our more than 20 hours of grooming a success.

________________________
And….

Many of you have donated this year, thank you so much. For those of you who want to send in donations: We’re going through gas, oil, and repairs every day! Make your check payable to "Town of Plainfield" with "Trails" on the memo line. (They need to know it goes to our account.) Your contribution will be tax-deductible, and you can either put it in the donation box at the kiosk in the parking lot OR send it directly to the town at the following address:

Town of Plainfield

Attn: Bill Knight

Plainfield Trail Coordinator

PO Box 380

Meriden, NH 03770

Thanks for your support!

www.meridentrails.org

Happy Friday,

Yesterday, Jon Nichols groomed everything across the bridge. This is ideal, get out and enjoy it.

Lost and Found:

About two weeks ago, a dog collar remote control (black and looks like a small walk-in-talkie) was found on the Smokehouse Loop.

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The donations spiel: these trails do not maintain themselves. Make your check payable to "Town of Plainfield" with "Trails" on the memo line. (They need to know it goes to our account.) Your contribution will be tax-deductible, and you can either put it in the donation box at the kiosk in the parking lot OR send it directly to the town at the following address:

Town of Plainfield
Attn: Bill Knight
Plainfield Trail Coordinator
PO Box 380
Meriden, NH 03770

Thanks for your support!

www.meridentrails.org