UPDATE 2/15 PM: D.R.A.G of Speculator reports their BR-110 is FIXED and ready to do battle on the bumps tonight and through the weekend. 🙂
TRAIL REPORT 2/14: Darrin Jr and I took a ride down to Perkins Clearing & Speculator this afternoon. This wasn’t Valentine’s Day 2007 with the 3 feet of snow, but the half-foot of snow we got in Indian Lake was nice icing on the cake for sure!
The Indian Lake Village trails were groomed and in beautiful shape. Just a hint of snirt on the real busy spots. Sabael trail hadn’t been groomed yet, but was flat under the new snow with only a few tracks on it. It was fun packing down the powder. 🙂
Indian Lake resembled the Ice Planet Hoth. It was windy, cold with snow blowing all around. The powder was pretty deep at the north end of the lake where the wind was depositing much of the new snow. Toward the south end, the new snow was scalloped into numerous snow dunes. Overall, it was a fairly bumpy ride down the lake, especially at the south end.
Indian Lake/Lewey Lake campsites had decent rollers, but they haven’t reached sno-cross status yet. Lewey Lake had lots of powder on it; a much smoother crossing than Indian Lake.
2 Miles from Hell was freshly groomed. Aside from a few of the usual terrain lumps on the Lewey Lake end, it was one of the better rides I’ve had on it. The top end toward Perkins Clearing was actually SWEET!
Perkins Clearing Road was freshly groomed and absolutely gorgeous down to HM6. More great riding on Jessup River Road over to HM115. More fresh groomer tracks on C4/C8 toward Oxbow and S41/Mud Lake Road.
We elected to run S41/Mud Lake Road. Aside from some bumpiness right near Mossy Vly, it was just heaven on earth. Perkins Clearing Road from HM110 down to Route 30 was more great riding. I must say that the Town of Lake Pleasant has done a great job on Perkins Clearing this winter. It’s been great every time I’ve ridden it.
C4/Melody Lodge trail down to Speculator was rough with plenty of rollers. But I only clanked carbide 4 or 5 times, which is pretty good for that trail. Snow was pristine up top, but snirty in places on the southerly exposures descending into Speculator.
LP3 and the Speculator Village trails were in much better shape the C4/Melody Lodge. After a quick stop at the Mountain Market, we headed back to home base. Indian Lake and Perkins Clearing (around half-foot) definitely scored more fresh snow than Speculator (about 4 inches) on this one. The difference was noticeable.
When we got back to Indian Lake, the Sabael trail had been freshly groomed for the best ride I’ve had on that trail all season: SWEET!! We rolled back to the compound with 65 miles for the afternoon, most of it was great! Being able to hit the trails right after a new snow is a big reason I live here. Days like this make that decision to live here worth it. 🙂
Weekend Outlook:
We can lament that we didn’t get the big snows that other places got, but we’re sitting pretty good for snow right now. Snow pack is generally 16-24+ inches around Indian Lake and Speculator and the snowbanks are getting pretty high. Perkins Clearing holds more than 2 feet of snow. We’ll be riding in ilsnow land long after the other places lose their snow. It’s just the way it is…
With many people riding their local trails down south, that could ease some pressure off the trails in my neck of the woods. In fact, traffic was quite light for a Friday afternoon before the holiday weekend. I think many people were busy removing snow from their own driveways before coming up here to play. No matter where you want to ride, be sure to get out there throughout this weekend into next week. A significant warmup will likely spoil the winter beauty before next weekend.
If you’re up in Indian Lake, check out the snowmobiling activities we have slated for SnoCade 2014.
Darrin @ ilsnow.com
