It had gotten down to -18*F last night and had only “warmed up” to -8*F by ride time. John Foley from Speculator picked me up at the compound before 9AM and we trailered out to the Brown’s farm parking lot at the end of Cedar River Road.
The mile of road past the Brown’s farm had thin coverage, but passable. S88 to Cedar River Headquarters was an excellent shape and a great way to start the ride. Cedar River Headquarters out to Silver Run in Moose River Plains had some slight bumps but wasn’t terrible. Once we crossed into the Inlet side, it was smooth and silky through the Big-T flats.
There were a few icy and bony turns past the Big-T to the Red River-T, but overall it was good riding. The final 2-3 miles to the Limekiln Gate involved the usual carbide clanking, but was groomed flat.
Limekiln Road had a nicely groomed shelf along most of it, which made for pretty easy sailing to the Ole Barn. I waved to Hamilton County Choppers central command as I passed by:
Ole Barn to Gilbert Road was groomed nice and flat with the usual thin corners. The shelf along the road was nice! After we stopped at the Inlet information office to get a trail permit for John, we pressed on.
The sidewalk trail through Inlet along Route 28 was groomed and flat. Trail 5 through Eagle Bay was fast and flat as a board. Not too snirty or thin until we approached Rondaxe Road.
Once past the road crossing, Trail 5 was in good shape. Trail 4 was a bit rough and the trail up to Pete’s Peak was very rough. But the view from the top was awesome! Wish I had not forgotten my camera. John brought his, so maybe I’ll be able to share some of his pics on ilsnow Facebook.
We doubled back to Trail 5 and made our way into Old Forge. From the covered bridge, we made our way through the back side of town and crossed the bridge into Thendara. The trail along Route 28 was groomed flat. We made our way up Trails 6 and 7a to hit Elsie Lookout, which was another great view.
From there, we hit Trail 8/Pipeline over to Trail 1. As expected, Trail 1 was pretty thin in spots with pebbles and several decent sized loose rocks. Lots of carbide clanking through there. The connector trail to C7B was a nice ride with just a few thin spots. We turned tail before we got to C7B because it was getting late in the day to make a run to Brantingham and get back to the truck safely before dark.
After we doubled back to Old Forge via Trail 1 and Pipeline, we hit Trail 9 which was in super nice shape! Then we connected to Trail 5 to make our way back.
I led John through the Inlet loop trails which were groomed and in really nice shape. The trail over 7th Lake Mountain hadn’t been groomed and there were only a couple of tracks going in, so I opted to hit the FX Matts trail over to Limeklin Road. Then make our way back into Moose River Plains.
On the return trip late afternoon, the Plains were not quite as good as they were in the morning. Silver Run to Headquarters was pretty bumpy, but not the worst ever. We made it back to the Brown’s farm parking lot without incident with 130 miles spun off for the day. Great ride with a good friend. Doesn’t get much better when busting out my first 100 miler of the season. 🙂
Bottom line:
Yeah, we can use more snow. But that’s not exactly news and there is riding to be had. Moose River Plains to Inlet and Old Forge is certainly a do-able and enjoy-able ride. The Indian Lake village trails remain ungroomed. So I can only imagine the ride out to Cedar River Headquarters from town would be rough.
Do yourself and your sled a big favor and trailer to the Brown’s farm parking lot at the end of Cedar River Road, pay the $5/sled, then have a ball!
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
