UPDATE 1/3 PM: Good news! The Indian Lake village trails have been groomed today. Conditions should be better than what I reported from yesterday’s ride. But keep an eye out for hazards…
UPDATE 1/3 AM: Indian Lake ended up with 8+ inches of snow. Got reports of 10 inches around Speculator and Piseco. If you go riding today, dress for survival because it is brutally cold out there!
Indian Lake Ride Report 1/2/14: Today’s storm gave me the itch to go riding. This was my first ride on the XP this winter since getting it back from its pre-season work at the Lemon Tree and I wanted to take a test spin before going on any big rides.
The Indian Lake village trails had a decent base for the most part, but was really bony under the tall pines. A few places were fairly smooth, most others had varying degrees of roughness.
C8 out toward Headquarters was very bony under the tall pines. Other places were pretty rocky and I was clanking carbide quite a bit as the skis blew right through the half-foot of new powder. About 3 miles out from Adirondack Mountain Sports, I encountered a old frozen washout: about 2 feet deep and a few feet wide. Since the riding wasn’t that good, I decided to turn tail back to town. The picture doesn’t do it justice, but here it is anyway:
After I got back to town, I decided to take S84/Blue Mountain trail a few miles for the sake of a trail report. I wasn’t expecting a good ride. But it got real bad in a hurry after I crossed the Cedar River bridge and found this prize:
That bridge was presumably pushed out from that nasty thaw we had a couple of weeks ago. Again, the picture doesn’t quite do it justice as to how hazardous it is to cross the bridge. But I can tell you that the bridge is supposed to be pointed toward my feet under the camera. You can get through there if you absolutely have to. But I didn’t really much desire to press on, so back to town I went.
After a spin through 42nd and Broadway, which was halfway decent, I ran Lake Adirondack which was an absolute blast with smooth ice and a half-foot of powder. Here’s the XP sitting where 42nd and Broadway dumps onto the back side of Lake Adirondack:
After my victory laps on Lake Adirondack, I headed back over to town to try the Sabael Trail. That trail was pretty decent until Pashley Road with one small frozen washout. But the bulk of it from Pashley Road over to the Route 30 crossing was pretty rough with a few shallow muck holes. You need to be careful to make it through without incident.
I dumped onto Indian Lake and crossed it from one side to the other. I found an ice shanty sitting on the east side of the lake, so I feel OK about riding it. Smooth ice and a half-foot plus of fresh powder make the lake riding fun! But I didn’t stop on the ice, just in case…
Then I headed back to town and got to the compound just before dusk with 30+ miles spun off for the afternoon. I measured 5 inches of new snow when I got home and it has been snowing at a steady clip this evening.
Bottom line was TRAILS ROUGH, LAKES GREAT! But the trail report does add some color and depth to it. The new snow was a much needed shot in the arm, but it’s extremely dry and powdery. It gets pushed aside and doesn’t add much to the base. The groomers can cut the tops off the bumps once they come out and that would help greatly. But there isn’t enough “meat” to fully cover all of the rocks, terrain issues and thin spots we have. The Indian Lake trails require much work to have them decent for the weekend and it won’t be easy with the dangerously cold weather on Friday. That thaw from a couple of weeks ago did considerable damage.
WEEKEND OUTLOOK:
Maximizing Perkins Clearing, Moose River Plains and the lakes (if you are willing to risk them) are your best keys to having a good time around here this weekend.
D.R.A.G of Speculator has been grooming the Speculator area trails and C4/Melody Lodge. Be careful for rocks and thin areas as the base is not thick yet. Big Brook/Fawn Lake trails were reported to be in very rough shape and this Arctic fluff isn’t going to fix that.
I think my Saturday ride will be a bump-and-grind through Sabael trail, down Indian Lake thence 2 Miles of Hell down to Perkins Clearing with the local ilsnow chain gang. 😉
Have fun and be careful for hazards! NEVER DRINK AND RIDE.
Darrin @ ilsnow.com
