MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY 2016 UPDATE: We got 2-3 inches of snow in Indian Lake and Speculator Sunday night. Heard reports that Perkins Clearing was pretty good over the weekend. Moose River Plains was used and abused. Inlet groomers were doing their best to keep the bumps to a minimum. Be safe out there!
1/15/16 Report
I can tell you that Moose River Plains was BUSY today! I had some business on Cedar River Road so I trolled to the Brown’s farm and saw over three-quarters of their parking space occupied by trucks/trailers at noon.
The trail head at the end of the road had lots of wavy bumps from the traffic. Since I was in my car and not on my sled, I couldn’t press any further for a trail report, but I’m guessing that the Indian Lake side until Silver Run was probably pretty bumpy.
Friday Evening, Local Trails:
After work today, I decided to take to the local trails on a recon mission. The trail conditions were no surprise with the low snow and thin base: Ride-able with varying degrees of roughness. Somebody had told me the Sabael trail was nothing but mud holes, so I didn’t bother with that.
I ventured out on C8 toward Cedar River Headquarters for a couple of miles. It was pretty rough with some decent sized mud holes. Here is one of the worse ones I encountered:
There was heavy logging as I approached Deer Valley and the trail got really rough, so I just turned tail and headed back to town.
I tried S84 out to Blue Mountain for a couple of miles. Some of it was very rough, there were several mud holes. But some of it was actually half-way decent riding, better than anything on C8.
Satisfied that I got a good recon report, I headed back to town and had dinner at Marty’s Chili Nights. On my way back to the compound, I encountered three snowmobiliers who rode over here from Inlet and got lost. They told me that C8 from Cedar River Headquarters to Indian Lake was a crazy trail with rocks and mud holes. And they did not want to ride that trail back. So I guided them to Cedar River Road so they can zip back to Moose River Plains. Getting across the paved bridge on Route 28&30 to reach Cedar River Road was pretty painful, but I think they appreciated not having to ride 18 miles of rocks, bumps and mud holes back to Headquarters. 🙂
Think I spun off 15 miles or so, just enough to scratch the itch for a bit. That might be good enough for me until we get some more snow and get past the holiday weekend.
Weekend Outlook:
Moose River Plains offers the most options as you can continue into Inlet, Old Forge and points beyond, but the Plains may be pretty bumpy, especially on the Indian Lake side. Perkins Clearing will probably offer the best riding conditions, but with less options. It’s a holiday weekend and we’re one of the few places in the State with ride-able snow. So expect a mixed bag of treats at best.
The narrow woods trails around Indian Lake and Speculator are ride-able, but will be a chore.
STAY OFF THE ICE this weekend!
You can monitor the ilsnow.com bulletin board for trail reports from local and visiting riders. No drama, no baloney sandwich, just good people who want to keep their fellow riders “in the know” about trail conditions.
If you are new to snowmobiling the Indian Lake area, check out my snowmobiling guide. It’s a 101 Course on snowmobiling the central Adirondacks, filled with tips and advice that will help you enjoy this wonderful area even more.
As part of New York State Free Snowmobiling Weekend, the Towns of Webb & Inlet will not enforce their required Webb/Inlet Snowmobile Trail Permit between the hours of 4pm Friday and 12 midnight Monday.
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
