We’ve had no winter and our current snowpack is 39% of normal. It was another disappointing season for snowsports enthusiasts, and the rest of us must brace ourselves for another terrifying wildfire season. The mountain bike contingent makes the best of this dire situation though. We revel in “hardpack” trails that will turn into sand pits in a month, and we seek out higher elevation trails that are usually buried under feet of snow this time of year.

Jared and I went out to Sawtooth Ridge a few days ago. At over 6000ft, this trail is typically not open until late April. There were a few patches of mud and one 20 ft stretch of crusty snow, but that has probably melted out by now.

We generated some trail karma by pushing this downed log out of the way. Everyone kept riding around it, widening the trail. A little teamwork, and we rolled that thing down the hill and cleared the way.