Low temperature this morning was -9*F, then it rose up to 0*F by the time I got started. Cold for sure! I decided to hook up for “boondocking” with a friend from Lake Pleasant today so we met in Perkins Clearing to ride places where I never usually go.
The Indian Lake village trails were hard with low bumps. The southerly exposed places were burnt down to dirt in spots. Sabael trail was very thin with dirt spots between the village intersection and Pashley Road. From Pashley Road out to Route 30 had better snow cover, but was studdery. There was only one bad washout along the way. Indian Lake only had an inch or two of snow most of the way down the lake. The final miles from Timberlock down to the State Boat Launch has very little snow, about a dusting to an inch with patches of glare ice.
Campsites were the usual washboard nightmare. Lewey Lake was decent. 2 Miles from Hell was loaded with small studders and a few rollers, but I’ve seen it much worse. There are couple of washouts that you do not want to hit at any speed. Be especially careful if you ride that trail at night.
Old Indian Lake Road (S82) from Mason Lake parking lot to HM112 was easily the best ride of the day. Perkins Clearing itself was nothing special, with a decent amount of studders and scattered rollers. Even Mud Lake Road was somewhat bumpy. The north end of Perkins Clearing to HM6 thence over to the Pillsbury Mountain trail head was bald in at least several spots as a result of early winter plowing. LP9 was really rough; doesn’t look like it’s been groomed all winter.
Most of my day was spent boondocking and that was really cool! The “off-trail” snow pack was generally a rock hard 1-2 feet with a few inches of fresh powder on it. It’s what the boondockers call “Hero Snow.” We could go almost anywhere you can fit your skis in between the trees. Mid to late March is usually the time of year for boondocking because you can skate over the snow pack and not worry about getting stuck or plowing into a rock or stump under the powder like you would early to mid-winter.
I haven’t seen any groomer movement in the past week, so I would imagine that C8 out to Cedar River Headquarters and S84 out to Blue Mountain were brutal. I knew the trail riding wasn’t going to be great today, so I opted for the boondocking route and that paid off nicely with mountain views that most people don’t get to see. 42nd & Broadway, Little Canada and Ski Hut trails were probably good riding although I didn’t do my usual spin through them before I rolled back to the compound.
Midweek Snowmobiling Outlook:
As of 8PM Monday, the anticipated storm is at my doorstep. It would have been nice if the groomers had been out there today to take the chop out of the trails before the big dump of white gold. Nevertheless, I think they’ll be compelled to get out there after Tuesday’s storm. If that happens, we’ll be setting up for another riding weekend in ilsnow land and it won’t necessarily be die-hard either!
