With the low snow this winter, this was only my second big ride of the season. This time, my target was Newcomb. The Town of Indian Lake has groomed the village trails, which did a nice job of filling in most of the muck holes, but there simply isn’t enough snow to make the trails smooth. The high traffic trail through the Bear Trap Swamp was bony with icy corners.
S84 to the intersection with the Newcomb trail was typically bumpy and rough from Benton Road over the bridges and up the big hill. But after that, it was a semi-decent ride most of the way with only one really bad icy corner just before you get over the hump. The Indian Lake Snowarriors were able to groom this trail into something you can ride safely with a little care. As long as you’re content to mosey along at 15-20 MPH on a sled with a good suspension, you can do fine. Honestly, S84 was better than I saw it most of last winter!
The Indian Lake portion of the Newcomb trail was the best riding by far today. I encountered the Indian Lake Snowarriors groomers 3 times! It was smooth and fast, just beautiful riding for over 90 percent of it. On the Newcomb side, the divert around Goodnow Flow was hilly and rough, but the rest of the trail to the Newcomb T intersection was good, but not as mint as the Indian Lake side. Along the way I encountered some ilsnow riders. Again, always a pleasure to chat with you!
C8B was fairly rough with a few washouts you don’t want to hit at speed. But after the road-crossing, C8B became a nice ride into Newcomb, although the plowed road was icy with some pebbles.
After lunch at the High Peaks Kitchen (the place with the 24 hour gas pumps), I headed back home. I encountered a few friends having a weenie roast along the side of the trail, so I hung out with them for a while. The light snow was ending and the sun came out over the mountains. That was really nice!
I hit the Old Stage Trail, which was decent but could use another 6 inches of snow to make it the magic that it can be. Lake Durant was a nice rip “across the pond” with a killer view of Blue Mountain.
The trails on the way home were not much worse than what they were in the morning. The low snow conditions don’t allow for big bumps, even with the weekend traffic. I tallied 82 miles today and had fun. The adjustable high riser bars were worth every penny today when I had to stand up to mash the bumps. Assuming that the trails get a comb-over groom early Sunday, trail conditions might be half-way decent.
BOTTOM LINE: It would be a lie to say that conditions are great, but it would be a worse lie to say that there isn’t any riding to be found here. You just have to be smart about it. If you wait for the perfect day to ride this winter, your snowmobile may never get out of the garage. Come up and grab it on Sunday because it’s going to get warm and rainy on Monday, like death and taxes this winter!
WARNING! Indian Lake has dangerously thin ice at the northern end of the lake with slush-filled fissure cracks all over the place. There were a few small open water areas near the shore in Sabael on Tuesday. The ice looks more like mid-December than mid-January. I urge you to stay off Indian Lake this weekend for your safety.
Crank up the resolution to 720p HD for best picture:
