Clear Pond-John Pond Loop Feb 27, 2021

We skied the 5.3 mile loop clockwise starting at the snowplow turnaround at the end of Wilderness Lane off Starbuck Rd. Writing this from a skier’s perspective, Conditions varied with each mile. The moderate climb to Clear Pond was thinly crusted-over old snowshoe track with a few footprints. Between Clear and John Pond, increased bare booting makes for a bit more challenging descent, with the trail quite “booted up” right near John Pond. An Acquaintance of ours had told us that a local guy works his sled dogs out on the approach in to John Pond and sure enough, the trail was in excellent ski shape from John Pond to the end of the loop and we could clearly see the wide dog sled marks in the snow - wilderness trail grooming! Cloudy conditions but we could dimly make out Puffer Mt at one point near Clear Pond. If the rains hold off, theres enough base for several more weeks of skiing here and a few inches of lake effect snow cover will bring things back to very good.