Nothing better to do this evening, so off the Newcomb I rode. The Indian Lake inner village trails were groomed this week, but they were still in various stages of rough and bumpy with the lack of snow. But at least the base has been set.
Before heading out, I checked out C8/Sabael Road as far as Pashley Road. That was ungroomed and very rough. I’m sure it was even worse past Pashley Road so I didn’t press further.
C8 heading out of town toward Cedar River Headquarters was so rough, I didn’t even keep with it to the former Arctic Cat Dealership. If you’re riding in Inlet or Old Forge this weekend, don’t bother trying to make it over here to Indian Lake. I promise it will be a long, tedious and probably torturous ride.
S84 out to Blue Mountain Lake was groomed this week. There were bumpy stretches and places that needed much more snow, but some of it was half-way decent riding. Past Rock Lake Marsh, the conditions were “not quite as good” and it got pretty brutal about 1 mile from the intersection with the Newcomb trail.
Of course there is always that pretty postcard scene on S84 past Rock Lake that keeps you going:
538/Newcomb Trail itself was pretty decent “B grade” riding, occasionally C+ all the way through to the Newcomb-T. But Joseph Mountain was pretty rough with washouts.
You can see a bit of the niceness on the Newcomb Trail here:
No evening ride is complete without the rising moon:
Watch out for a nasty stream in the trail as you get closer to the Newcomb-T. I had to drop down to the frozen pond to sideskirt this:
I didn’t have much interest in taking C8B over to Newcomb, but I wanted to take the trail toward Long Lake a bit, for the sake of a trail report. It was absolutely brutal through the marsh to Route 28N. After the highway crossing, it actually wasn’t too bad until I encountered a large mud hole about a mile in. Since it was getting dark and I was riding solo, I turned tail and went back to town.
On my way back to the compound, I did zip across Lake Adirondack, which was a bit of a rough crossing with patchy glare ice. After a 60 miles ride, I called it an evening. Not great riding by any means, but it kept me off the couch.
Snow cover was mainly 6-12 inches through most of the ride. Temperature dropped from very quickly from 20*F to 5*F this evening.
Weekend Outlook:
Cold and dry… At least the lakes can make ice day and night. With marginal snow conditions, your best bet is to hit places like Perkins Clearing.
If you want to hit the Newcomb trail without starting from town, you can park at the Northville-Lake Placid trail head about 8-9 miles west of Indian Lake on Route 28&30, then worm your way back to Lake Durant Campsites, then cross the highway to hit S84, then Newcomb trail:
As for Moose River Plains? The Indian Lake side has been reported rough riding to Silver Run and I haven’t seen the Town’s Piston Bully parked at the end of Cedar River Road.
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.
Bottom line is that riding can be done around here if you’re smart about it.
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
