I got home from work feeling unusually energetic after my long distance commute, so I decided to go riding! My XP is just about fixed, but not quite ready for action yet, so the 12000+ miler Formula S got the call again. The Indian Lake village trails and the Sabael trails were groomed today, but beaten down to snirty throttle-pile studder bumps by unusually heavy Friday afternoon traffic! The mild, just above freezing, temperatures didn’t allow for the grooming to hold.
Indian Lake had some slush on the edges, but the drag strip down the lake was sweet and smooth! Warning: Indian Lake level is dropping RAPIDLY. Griffin Rock (south of Lakeshore Drive in Sabael) and other assorted “goodies” are starting to pop through the ice near the drag strip.
Campsites were a half mile of washboard hell! Standing up on the Formula S is not half as fun as standing on the XP with 8 inch risers. ENCON had a registration checkpoint set up at the Lewey Lake Campsite gate. After admiring the Formula S for a few moments, they let me pass through with a friendly wave and a smile. Lewey Lake was another fun and fast jaunt.
2 Miles from Hell had plenty of soft studders, but was bearable. Perkins Clearing Road had studders and short-wave rollers. Jessup River Road was more of the same, all the way back to HM116. On a lark, I continued on C4/C8 down to Big Brook trail. There were plenty of small studders along the way, but it wasn’t as bad as I expected it judging by the conditions of what I rode to get back there. I wasn’t really interested in venturing down to the Outhouse and beyond so late in the day with the Ole Formula S, so I turned around shortly after I hit the deep evergreens about a mile in.
Note: A Lake Pleasant groomer was disabled and abandoned near HM115 with a blown out track on the operator side. It was safely off the trail, but would explain why Perkins Clearing was unusually rough for a Friday afternoon.
Once I doubled back to HM115, I turned onto S41/Mud Lake Road. That was by far the best Perkins Clearing offering of the day, even though there was some occasional low studders. On the way back, I decided to hit S82C/Old Indian Lake Road. That was groomed today and was a nice ride through the woods, even up by the Route 30 end. Just don’t get too close to those guardrails!
By the time I got back to HM113, it was starting to get dark and I wanted to start heading up the lakes before it got completely dark. Well, I spotted “Danracefan” on his newly acquired Polaris Rush at the north end of Perkins Clearing Road, along with “Triggerhappy” (on the ilsnow.com board) and gabbed with them for a while. Meanwhile, almost a dozen riders were coming south from the 2 Miles of Hell and we talked to some of them too.
After Danracefan and Triggerhappy headed back to their truck at Mason Lake, I headed for home. 2 Miles from Hell was starting to live up to its name with tons of bumps. But at least they were soft and somewhat cushy, not yet the hard washboard trash. I ran the lakes back to Indian Lake in the pitch black without incident and got back to the compound safe and sound.
Bottom line: I might have given this ride a higher rating if I was riding the XP. But any way you slice it, it was a bumpy ride! Probably the worst overall ride I had all winter. One could say I would have done just as well to stay home after work. But then I would have missed Danracefan and Triggerhappy and you would have missed this first hand trail report. 🙂
In the short time I was out this evening, I saw at least several dozen sleds. It almost had the feel of a weekend! In some ways, I have become a victim of ilsnow.com’s success. In the past, not nearly as many people would have known about the snow we have here and the trails would have been smoother. But I’m all for people coming up here and enjoying the greatest winter pastime on this planet.
Weekend Snowmobile Outlook:
Unless the groomers get aggressive in grooming the trails in the cool of early Saturday morning and again on Sunday, the heavily-traveled trails around Speculator and Indian Lake are going to be bump farms all weekend. Based on what I’ve seen and heard this week, I can’t imagine that C8 out to Cedar River Headquarters or Moose River Plains out to Silver Run is going to be a pleasant ride. I didn’t even bother trying S84/Blue Mountain trail, certainly not on the Ole Formula S. Since I don’t have the XP, I’ll sit out this weekend and take Mrs ilsnow.com on that dinner date we were supposed to do for her birthday, the day my old furnace croaked! Then I’ll hit the trails with a vengeance next week once I get the XP back.
Conditions change rapidly on a weekend. Keep up with rider reports on the ilsnow.com bulletin board.
