Today was my first fat bike ride of the season at Harriman State Park. With sustained 20 mph winds, conditions deteriorated significantly during the time I was there. The trails between the visitor center and the ranch were stellar outbound and still good on the return, but things got pretty rough in between. Big Bend was decent at the south end, bad by the middle, and unrideable at the north end. Conditions were similar on the trail that runs through the middle of the ranch area (west side of the Big Bend Loop, east side of the Golden Lake Loop). Conditions were miserable on the north side of the Golden Lake Loop and surprisingly improved only modestly on the east side of the loop. The skate track grooming was rough to non-existent. The trails running south and west from the warming hut were completely closed. The south end of the Golden Lake Loop was mostly unrideable due to drifting snow. I stopped there to put on an alpine shell as much for safety as for comfort.
Total ride time was 2 ½ hours, high on both the fun and misery indexes. I am excited to go back on a day with less wind and better grooming. With the benefit of hindsight, I would have ridden laps on the southern trails today and avoided the open areas altogether.
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