Spring break came early for Darrin Jr this week. I took the day off work to ride and took Junior with me. The Indian Lake village trails had been groomed this week, with conditions ranging from nearly smooth to soft low studders. Even through we haven’t had much sun this week, the southerly exposures were getting baked. C4 from Bear Trap Swamp up to Route 28&30 was getting skanky. The shelf along Crow Hill Road was grubby and bumpy, but intact to make the connection into the village. Crow Hill Road to Route 30 One Stop was bare for long stretches, but there was enough snow along the margins to make it through.
Little Canada was still nice and flat, but is now showing bald patches between One Stop and Sawmill Road. From Sawmill Road to the Lone Birch was still flawless. After fighting our way up Sawmill Road, we crossed Route 28 by Binder’s Cabins and zipped across Lake Adirondack. 42nd and Broadway was a nice run, once we got away from the skanky hillclimb off the lake. Benton Road has lost alot of its snow and ice cover. We had to ride on, or along, the snowbanks to grab snow.
Sabael trail was really thin with large skanky stretches from the village intersection until Pashley Road. The road crossing was painful. Remainder of Sabael trail out to Route 30/Swifty’s had an adequate base for the most part but had some places scuffed down to dirt. The mud hole has been repaired nicely with logs and imported snow, but the trail surrounding it looks really dirty. Overall, the trail ranged from nearly smooth to low studders. Route 30 down to Indian Lake had the usual bald areas on the southern exposures.
Indian Lake was a nice run from end to end. In the morning, there was hardly any slush away from the shore. Campsites were their usual washboard hell on earth. Lewey Lake was another nice crossing.
2 Miles from Hell overall ranged from nearly smooth to small studders. But there were some skanky sections, worn down to dirt in places closest to Route 30 toward the Lewey Lake end. Further up, the snow cover became better. Overall, it was not a bad ride at all.
S82/Old Indian Lake Road was a somewhat uneven ride, but a pretty good run down into Perkins Clearing. There were the usual water spots toward the Route 30 end.
Perkins Clearing Road was a pretty nice run down to the south end, although the sharp corners were worn down to dirt and the base got pretty thin on the south end. S41C/Hatchery Brook trail was very nice, aside from a few bald spots and one ice bridge that was starting to collapse. We tried Wolf Hill Road: plenty of snow, but also plenty of bumps. So we didn’t bother with it for too long.
After we crossed Elm Lake Road, we pressed down S41/Silver Hill trail. That was pretty flat but also worn down to dirt in at least several spots. The plowed road at the bottom of the hill was completely dirt, so we doubled back up to Elm Lake Road.
Logging is done in the Tree Farm, so we started to run Elm Lake Road. There was enough snow along the margins to make it deep into the Tree Farm, but it won’t be rideable for much longer without a significant dumping of snow. Long Level Road was plowed but had more of a base. We played on some of the side trails back there as well. It looks like LOTS of snowmobiles had made their way back in there since the snow last week. Fly Creek Road was somewhat bumpy but had a good base for the most part. Old Route 30 had some studders and long wave/low amplitude rollers: overall a pretty nice ride down to HM700 in the soft snow.
Since we were this far down the trail, I decided to take Junior down C4 into Griffin Gorge. After dodging and maneuvering around some skanky spots and rocks for about a mile or so, it became beautiful run through the woods and along the river. We made it all the way to the steel bridge. The dirt road was mud, so that made our decision easy to turn around and head back up to Speculator.
I didn’t feel like doing the Tree Farm loop all the way back up: not like it was THAT fantastic with all of the plowing this winter. For giggles, I decided to find the the LP4A trail that connects Old Route 30 back to Speculator directly. Old Route 30 had plentiful snow on it all the way up until Cave Hill Road. Then we had to hug the snowbanks to make it the short distance to LP4A. Overall, LP4A was a pretty decent ride back to Speculator, but there were some pretty skanky sections as to be expected when running parallel to Route 30. The worst part was riding along the side of Downey Road (unavoidable ouch in the spring). The last half mile into the village was pretty painful as well.
Junior wanted a snack at the Mountain Market so we decided to go for it. The Ballfield parking lot was dirt, gravel and water. The River trail to the burn pit was open. LP4 to the Mountain Market was flat, but skanky to bare in a lot of places. We decided to keep our sleds in the snow behind the car wash and walk the rest of the way to the Mountain Market to grab a quick bite to eat.
Sidewalk trail is closed and has no snow on it. So we doubled back to the Ballfield parking lot and crossed the highway to hit Lake Pleasant. That lake was a pretty nice crossing. The trailer park up to Route 8 was bare and skanky in a lot of places. LP1/Page Street Trail to Moffit Beach was nearly shot in a lot of places but we made it through. Sacandaga Lake was showing a lot of slush by late afternoon when we went through there. Then we took a, ahem, local trail back up to Perkins Clearing. We were able to avoid the likely mudslide called C4/Melody Lodge trail. Those southerly exposures must be down to dirt by now.
S41/Mud Lake Road was totally awesome, aside from some worn corners near HM110. The further back we got, the more pristine the snow became. It was truly the pinnacle of spring time riding. Mossy Vly back to HM115 was just about heaven on earth!
Jessup River Road from HM115 back to HM6 was excellent spring riding. Some of the sharper corners had some mashed potato rollers, but they were fun! As we passed Sled Harbor heading eastward, there were some thin spots from early winter plowing. But it was nothing that hindered riding. The northern end of Perkins Clearing Road from HM6 back up to Route 30 was pretty flat, but also had some sections worn down to dirt. We hopped on Mason Lake to avoid some of the skank.
The gate was shut at the north end of Perkins Clearing Road, but with a wooden frame in place to allow snowmobiles continued passage. I must say that’s pretty neat. Take a look by clicking here! Sorry the picture is blurry, but you get the gist of it.
On the way back home, Lewey and Indian Lake were getting very slushy. The slush wasn’t deep enough to bog us down, but there was a noticeable drag all the way back home on the lakes while we were shooting rooster tails all over the place. By some point over the weekend, whatever snow cover we have on the lakes will be replaced by slush and standing water.
We rolled back to the compound with 110 miles for the day. This will likely be my last 100 miler for the season. Not bad at all for the end of March, especially considering that Indian Lake had opened up by March 26th last year. What a difference a year makes, eh?
Weekend Snowmobiling Outlook:
The bottom line is that we’re back into diehard mode. Can you ride from Indian Lake village out to Moose River Plains via C8? Probably, but you’ll be bowling around and through skank until you get well past the Deer Valley parking area. Can you park at the Speculator Ball field parking lot and ride your way up to Perkins Clearing, via C4/Melody Lodge? Probably if you want to bad enough, but you’ll put your sled through some considerable abuse to do so. Can you park your sled at Brown’s Farm at the end of Cedar River Road and ride your way into Moose River Plains? Yes, but you’ll have to hug the snowbank for almost a mile to do so. And the Inlet end is probably really thin to bare and the Ole Barn isn’t open.
The easiest way to hit the snow is to park at Mason Lake parking lot, then ride your way into Perkins Clearing from the north end. Off trail snow is still in the 1-2+ foot range, so the diehards will be able to ride for at least another week or two.
There probably won’t be a tremendous amount of snowmobile traffic this weekend as most people are done with winter and many are traveling to visit family for Easter weekend. But if you want to spin off a few miles to wrap up your winter, we have the snow to do that.
Temperatures will fall below 32*F at night, which will freeze the slush and wet snow into a crust. Unless you have studs or ice scratchers to break up the hard pack, you should let the early spring sun be your friend and wait for the hard pack to start loosening up by mid-morning. That will ensure enough wet stuff gets to your slides and heat exchangers.
