I had an awesome time at Snodeo with Ride Clean NY. Many people were out riding while I was in the pavilion. From what I could see from Route 28, Trail 5 and the sidewalk trail to Inlet were in rough shape and snirty most of the weekend from very heavy traffic.
I heard reports of the trails being in better shape the further north you got away from the Old Forge beehive.
Nick at Curve Industries told me that Moose River Plains was an outstanding ride on Saturday. I heard several similar reports confirming that assessment.
A big thank you to everyone who stopped by the Ride Clean NY table this weekend. It was a big time pleasure to talk to everyone. I wore out my voice by talking more in a couple days than I do in a week. But it’s all good. I’m always honored to meet the people who use ilsnow.com and support Ride Clean’s mission to make snowmobiling safer for everyone.
Back home in Indian Lake, Crazy Cal took a spin around town and found the typical early season mixed bag as the mud holes haven’t frozen up yet. Here is one of the nasty ones:
We need to freeze up those mud holes and get a dump of snow on top to get the village trails into prime time shape. But remember that we are in a great place for mid-December.
Down in Speculator, Perkins Clearing was reported to be in outstanding shape from the south end. I heard that C4/Melody Lodge from the village to Perkins Clearing was passable if taken with care. But someone did sunk his sled in the murky quagmire called the River Trail shortly after he left the ballfield parking lot:
If you want to park and ride from the Speculator ballfield parking lot, cross the street to the left side of the Lemon Tree and use the next village trail.
You can park at Mason Lake Road and ride southward into Perkins Clearing via S82C/Old Indian Lake Road. Although that trail has been improved to serve as a suitable detour for logging on the north end of Perkins Clearing Road, it probably needs more cold and snow to make it really good. So take it easy through there.
Here’s a shot from Perkins Clearing this weekend. Pretty good stuff in my humble opinion:
Midweek Outlook:
My best advise is to maximize the customary early season hangouts like Moose River Plains and Perkins Clearing and minimize the narrow woods trails with the mud holes.
The weather forecast this week isn’t good, but we shouldn’t get enough rain or warm up enough to wash us out.
STAY…OFF…THE…LAKES!
The bad stuff:
There were several bad accidents in Old Forge over the weekend with at least 1 fatality and somebody went through the ice on 4th Lake. I hate hearing about this stuff, but it seems to happen each winter with the first big snowmobiling weekend. Be careful out there! The life you save could be yours. Correction: The fatality in Old Forge over the weekend may have been a incorrect bad rumor. I hope so…
Remember…
Check out trail reports by fellow riders on the ilsnow.com bulletin board. Social media has become king, but bulletin board forums are still useful. Read the trail reports first, then join the community. My moderator team helps keep the board clean of the name-calling nonsense that plagues many other forums.
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
