John Foley from Speculator picked me up at the compound at 9:30am to make another trip to Old Forge.
There were several trucks that had arrived at the Brown’s farm parking lot before us. But somehow we got out riding long before they did. đ
The end of Cedar River Road from Brown’s farm to S88 trailhead was passable, but really didn’t have a great amount of loose snow on it.
Fresh groomer tracks into S88 to Cedar River Headquarters made it an awesome start to the ride. The magic continued well past Headquarters until we eventually overcame the Indian Lake Piston Bully. Even after we passed it, the riding continued to be pretty good all the way to Silver Run, aside from a few icy/pebbly turns.
Silver Run to Big TÂ wasn’t totally flat, but had great coverage and was a nice run. Big-T to Red River-T had some really thin/icy/pebbly turns, but the straights still had good snow coverage and were flat.
Red River-T to Limeklin Gate was noticeably thinner. The final 2 or 3 miles was a carbide scratch-a-thon. We were kicking around a lot of pebbles through there. I’m sure we left a few metallic souvenirs for next summer’s tourists.Â
Limekiln Road had enough of a shelved bank to make it by, but it was all snirt. Ole Barn to Gilbert Road and Inlet village was snirty, choppy and thin. The sidewalk trail in Inlet was nothing but choppy snirt, so we cut across 4th Lake.
At the shore, we saw a plowed ice rink in preparation for the Adirondack Ice Bowl:
4th Lake crossing was uneventful. There were some slush pockets and a few pressure cracks. From Daikers, Trail 5 was nothing but cinders and ashes all the way through Rondaxe Road.
It had the texture of snow and it cooled the slides and tunnel, but this part of Trail 5 was a category below snirt:
We made the bee-line to Trail 9, which was in decent shape. I took a look at Trail 2 to possibly make a run up to Big Moose Station. That was rough so we turned around after a half mile of torture.
Then we ran through Trails 8 and 7, kicking around pebbles most of the way. “Bud’s Run” was rough but at least it was SNOW. Trails 6 and 7 around Elsie Lookout were rough with rocks and ice on the corners and steep hills.
In a vain search for good riding around Old Forge, I tried the lesser known trails and inner loops. Nothing was any great shakes: either scratchy and pebbly or just plain rough where it was actually snow.
We could tell the Old Forge groomers had been out, but they couldn’t do anything with their tired snow. It was shocking how the riding around Old Forge had fallen into hell-in-a-hand-basket since our ride there last week. The heavy holiday weekend traffic and Sunday night’s rain really did them in.
After getting tired of kicking around snirt and pebbles, we fled Old Forge via Trails 8 and 5 to Daikers.
After a nice lunch at Daikers, we headed back to the truck. On our way back through, Inlet to Ole Barn was groomed, but still very loose and snirty.
I led us through the Red River and Big-T dead enders back in Moose River Plains. Both freshly groomed and superb rides. Best of all, the snow was WHITE!!
The Indian Lake side of Moose River Plains was in great shape on the return trip through in the afternoon. The sun was starting to burn off the persistent clouds and I shot this little video clip at Cedar River Headquarters:
The bottom line of this trip: If I were to do this ride over, I would have just stopped at Daikers for lunch after running 4th Lake and called it good. I have no ambition to make it back to Old Forge until they get more snow. At least you have a head’s up of the conditions out there.
Other stuff:
Once John trailered me back to the village from Brown’s farm, I dropped off at the compound and spun off a victory lap around the Indian Lake village loop. They showed a surprising amount of use from today and I saw a dozen sleds in the short time I was out. The trails ranged from smooth to small bumps. The east end of Bear Trap Swamp had its usual rough frozen slush ice. The base isn’t thick, so I clipped a rock top every once in a while. But the groomers are working magic with the little snow we have.
I ran S84/Blue Mountain Lake trail for a bit. It had been groomed and was in decent shape once I got past the Cedar River Bridge and over the top. There are some icy turns and a few terrain divots you don’t want to hit hard. But at least it was passable and reasonably enjoyable. But it’s not going to take much traffic to churn that back up into hard bumps.
I talked to a couple of friends who made it up to Newcomb today. They told me S84/Blue Mountain trail was “decent” and the Newcomb trail was “very nice.” Looks like I need to investigate that a little further before the weekend. đ
Hey, I spun off 115 miles today. So it certainly wasn’t a waste of time.
Weekend Outlook:
Based on what I’ve seen around here this week, Indian Lake or Speculator are probably the best places to start a ride from this weekend. Get here Friday or early Saturday for best results. I can’t guarantee anything once the weekend hoard descends into town. Don’t forget Ride for the Cure in Speculator this weekend.
Although I haven’t ridden C8 out to Cedar River Headquarters this week from Indian Lake, I have seen fresh groomer tracks coming from that direction at least 3 times this week. They have been working on this trail.
Remember to check the ilsnow.com bulletin board for trail reports.
I’ll leave you with my ride video from Tuesday. Just a great time in my slice of Adirondack Heaven:
00:00 – 1:02 S86 Route 30 One Stop to Crow Hill Road
Deer run out in front of me at 00:53
1:02 – 1:45 C8 through Bear Trap Swamp to Route 28/30
1:45 – 2:01 S84 to “Million Dollar Bridge” on Cedar River
2:01 – 3:19 S87/42nd and Broadway
Pucker branch clanks off my helmet at 2:28
3:19 – 3:52 Lake Adirondack
3:52 – 5:01 Fawn Lake
5:01 – End Lewey Lake
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
