South Trail, New Woodstock

South Trail is a multi-use rail trail that follows the abandoned Lehigh Valley Railroad from New Woodstock north to Ballina Road.  This a 3.3-mile trail is part of the network of properties protected by the Cazenovia Preservation Foundation.  It was my first visit here.  However, the North Country National Scenic Trail (NCT) follows the old Lehigh Valley Railroad between Cazenovia and Chittenango, so I had an idea what to expect when I planned this hike: flat and easy.  We received quite a lot of heavy snow in the last week, and I expected to be snowshoeing.  Parking for this hike is available at New Woodstock Lumber, and that clinched my decision: plowed lot, easy grades for snowshoeing.  Unfortunately, there was yet another winter issue I failed to anticipate... snowmobiles. 

Or more precisely, the snowmobile trail grooming.  Clearly, I am not a competent winter hiker, or I wouldn't have to keep learning all these lessons the dumb way.  Today I learned I should stay far away from any trail groomed for snowmobiles.  Part of my problem was simply not paying enough attention to the information available about this hike - poor planning, I guess.  I have had this hike on my to-do list for several years now, but way on the back burner.  I had already read about the hike, and saved the nice topo map from CNY Hiking on my phone.  So last night, when I decided it would be a good place to go today, based on the snow conditions, I only took a cursory glance at the Cazenovia Preservation Foundation website, and mostly just to confirm that I could still park at the lumber store.  The note on the trail map promising "winter maintenance by Snow Valley Riders snowmobile club" completely slipped my notice.  

map from Cazenovia Preservation Foundation

So I blithely pulled in and parked, and my heart sank a little bit when I saw the snowmobile signs everywhere.  I am never eager to share the trail with loud smelly machines.  Looking for a silver lining, I told myself the snowmobiles would have made a decent track, saving me from miles of trail breaking in heavy snow.  I strapped on my snowshoes and set out.  The possibility of grooming hadn't even crossed my mind. 

But after about a tenth of a mile, I had to stop and take the snowshoes off.  The snow wasn't compacted nicely as I expected; it was virtually non-existent!  There was bare soil exposed in the surface of the trail.  I still hadn't figured out the groomer thing yet, but my mind was spinning.  Why was the trail so wide?  Had three snowmobiles traveled abreast?  Where had all the snow gone?  Had the trail been plowed? 

looking down at the water below through gaps between the slippery boards

great job "grooming"

Eventually I figured it out, since the tracks left by the treads on the groomer are much bigger than anything a snowmobile or truck would leave.  I briefly considered that perhaps a farmer had driven a big tractor down the trail, to access a field, but clearly this was not the case.  My brain was really struggling to accept that this had been done by design, that someone finds this condition an improvement.  Obviously I am not a snowmobiler, because I still can't grasp what advantage grooming of this sort is supposed to provide.  I thought the whole purpose of snowmobiling was to ride them in the snow, not in the mud.  Silly me. 

Delphi Road crossing

Thompson Road crossing

Ballina Road trailhead

so confused... I thought snowmobiles were designed to operate on snow? 

I

the lovely deep snow off trail (i.e., ungroomed)

almost back to the lumber store parking lot

Growing up, I used to hear the expression "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" quite a lot.  So here are some nice things I can say about this hike: I saw my first robins of the spring, and enormous flocks of blackbirds.  Even though I couldn't snowshoe through the mud, I got to see beautiful snow covered vegetation along side the trail.  I enjoyed the little thrill of walking over the slippery, snow-covered bridges and seeing the water rushing far below through the open slats beneath my feet.  I was pleasantly surprised by the whimsy of the bridge troll.  But will I return and hike here again?  Definitely NOT in the winter time.  I've had enough trail grooming, thank you very much.