Out on the snow and ice after two inches of rain...

I was afraid the nearly two inches of rain Friday would wipe out the ice for the winter. Worse, temperatures over 50 F. were forecast for Saturday. However, the overnight freezing fog raised my hopes, and I made an early start Saturday morning while the temperature was still below freezing. Black ice covered many streets, but where the rising sun struck dark frosty surfaces, billows of vapor showed the freezing temperatures would be fleeting. Meanwhile, I was glad to have the studded snow tires. Even the cars were slipping on the black ice.

The Minuteman bike trail just west of the Bedford Street crossing was still covered with snow, and I was delighted to see a lot of apparently solid ice, where the slushy mixture had frozen overnight. My glee turned to disgust as I broke through the top half-inch of ice and wallowed in several inches of liquid slush. Was this another wasted day for riding?

Luckily the slushpot was not too extensive. It only covered about 100 feet of the paved bike trail, but I decided to get to a wooded area as quickly as possible. Without pavement underneath, the water has a better chance to drain into the soil. With the school bus parking lot on my right, I cut left on the little trail across the playground, managed a couple of circles on top of the snow without breaking through the crust, then continued onto Garfield Street and the entrance to the Meagherville conservation land at the playground at the end of Garfield. The baseball field looked like a skating rink, the kind of area that makes ice biking so much fun. But again I was to find only disappointment as the thin ice over slush betrayed me, and I found myself pushing the bike through several inches of the gloppy stuff. The main trail into the woods in Meagherville was more favorable for riding, and I had an enjoyable ride on the white blazed trail, and the yellow blazed connecting trail back to Ward St. The ground fog was quite nice in the early sunlight, and I made a decent snapshot of one very nice ice stretch which really represents the opportunities for ice biking on the wooded trails.

I have high hopes for the prospects for great ice biking in the coming week. The temperatures are predicted to remain below freezing for nearly three days, with lows below 10 F. This will allow the slushy trails to really freeze solidly. It will be dangerous for anyone on foot without crampons, but it's shaping up to offer a few days of some of the best ice biking in recent years. It's too late for safe riding on the bodies of water, I think... That ice has been corrupted by the rain and warmth, and will not become safe again with only a couple of days of freezing. But the icy trails should be glorious, if I can get a few hours free to enjoy them....

After making my way back to the Minuteman Bikeway's railway bridge to cross 128 on the way towards Bedford, I turned left at the end of the wooden guardrail, onto the Tophet Swamp/Katahdin Woods trail. Although the softening snow crust made for slow riding and frequent walking, I took a few images of one of the larger fallen trees which block the trail. The arrow-straight trail in this section is no accident: It lies atop the sewer line, whose levee-like bed provides the only dry ground between Rt. 128 and the towering edge of the town's landfill/composting facility.

I also scouted out a potential crossing spot for the Minuteman Connector, for the location of a bridge across one branch of Kiln Brook. More on that tomorrow. It's late, and that's all for now... .