The rains came and made a complete mess out of everything. I got an inch-plus in the rain bucket since last night, somewhat more than I feared it would be. I took a walk down to Bear Trap Swamp from Route 28&30 late Tuesday afternoon. Half of that trail was bare and the rest was skanky ice cover. Bear Trap Swamp itself had over a foot of running water on it. I can guarantee that the Sabael trail is a complete mess in the swampy spots between Pashley Road and Route 30.
The shelf along Crow Hill Road was nothing but grubby ice and mud patches. Inner village trails exposed to sun and wind have been burned down to dirt for long stretches. Not pretty and certainly not worth coming up here from any distance to ride.
Midweek Outlook:
At least the bleeding will stop Tuesday night as the rain has ended and temperatures drop below freezing. But the damage has been done and we have been plunged into diehard season. Even if the rain didn’t happen, next weekend probably would have been marginal sledding around the village. I would recommend staying off the lakes for now. You could get stuck in deep slush, or something worse if the running water has undermined the ice near inlets and outlets.
Best riding options this week will be the typical diehard hangouts. Your safest bet would be to park at Mason Lake on Route 30, then work your way into Perkins Clearing Road from the north end and see what happens. Another option would be to park near the Northville-Lake Placid trail head about a half mile past the Ranger Station by Lake Durant on Route 28&30, then work your way back to the Newcomb trail, riding behind the Ranger Station and crossing the highway by the Lake Durant Campsites. I would NOT bother trying to reach the Newcomb trail by riding S84/Blue Mountain trail from Indian Lake village. That trail isn’t worth a crap when the snow is good and it’s probably just skank and bumps now.
3/13 Update: I got a new report that Joseph Mountain on the Newcomb trail is down to mud and rocks and the section of trail just before Goodnow Flow Road is skunked as well. So you may not get many miles on the Newcomb trail.
Moose River Plains isn’t that good of a diehard option now because you’ll have to ride a mile of bare road after the Brown’s Parking lot. Don’t even think of trying of make it all the way to Inlet, because you’ll probably run out of snow before you get there.
I don’t expect much snow this week, but at least it will be turning much colder to button things back up somewhat. Once everything freezes back up, picking up enough loose granular for cooling and lube will be a challenge. There could be a half-way decent snow on Saturday to freshen things up for the diehards. Anything we get now will be a bonus, because the snowmobiling season was almost completely done by this time last year.
