February 7 Trail Report

Overall temperatures for this weekend are forecast to be generally warming, leading into some potential rain down here in the Valley by Sunday night to Monday morning. As we’ve been noting all week, there are A LOT of muddy trails around the system right now. With warmer temps you shouldn’t expect those frozen conditions to be lingering into the mid-morning like we have been experiencing. Overall, if you are thinking about testing out your favorite trail that is prone to becoming muddy when wet, you are likely to running into that problem still. It’s best to continue giving these locations some time to round into shape before using them during the mid-day.

That said, yesterday we did notice that quite a few trails that exist as a better mix of both clay and sandy soils are starting to get to the point where they are becoming less muddy and more packable right now. By this we mean that instead of greasy mud sticking to your shoes or tires, we were finding dark soils to be soft and pliable in a lot of places. This is that stage where it is possible to tamp down some of those deep boot prints and tire tracks without leaving new ones in their place. Ultimately what this means is that trails are progressively drying, even with the cold temps over night. We found examples of this on Lower Hulls Gulch, the beginning of Corrals off of 8th St., Bob’s trail, and also trails a bit higher up such as on Sidewinder and Fat Tire Traverse.

Please continue to recreate responsibly in the Foothills this weekend by practicing good wet weather trail etiquette, like we know so many of you do. Muddy trails will round into form eventually and we will all have free rein to visit our favorite trails once conditions have dried out. In the meantime, let’s continue to work to prevent the character of these trails from changing dramatically during these relatively short winter months.

Use the Interactive Map and Wet and Winter Weather tips for the best options for these conditions.