The inch and a half of snow/sleet mash we picked up earlier this week sprung me loose for “Ride Day Thursday!”
C8/Sabael trail down to Indian Lake was in pretty good shape as I left town this morning, aside from a few persistent water hazards.
Indian Lake was a pretty smooth and flat crossing. The campsites were still holding out decent. Lewey Lake didn’t have quite as much fresh material on it as Indian Lake did, but it was good enough to make it across.
Two Miles from Hell along Route 30 was decent, but was pretty thin in spots with a few water hazards/stream crossings. There was one nasty hazard that I had to cut a bit off trail to get around it. A bit of caution will go a long way on that trail.
Perkins Clearing was simply outstanding as the Lake Pleasant groomers were working their magic. I took Perkins Clearing Road down to the T-intersection, took a right on to Military Road. All of that was AWESOME!!
Just when you think that Lake Pleasant outdoes itself in Perkins Clearing, they do this:
Looped around to Nichol Vly to hit LP9. That trail did suffer a bit of water damage from last week’s thaw, but was still in good riding shape overall. I was the first tracks on it this morning.
After I got back onto Perkins Clearing Road, I took a left at HM111 (just north of Mud Lake Road intersection) to hit the S41C/Whitaker Lake trail and somehow connected to S41/Silver Hill trail via Wolf Hill Road. For the most part, that trail was pretty flat…but thin in places with some stream crossings and water hazards.
S41 itself had better snow cover and was a decent pathway down to C4/Cave Hill Road. As always, Cave Hill Road was a nice ride. Old Route 30 was a bit rough, but still a swift passageway down to HM700.
Down to Wells…
At this point I decided to try a run down to Wells. Trail S42 was a decent and relatively flat ride most of the way down with some stretches of loose granular snirt. The chief hazards were culverts near Route 8 & 30. The stretch past Auger Falls down into the gorge was a solidly nice ride. The only really lousy spots (beside the water hazards) were the two or three spots I had to ride along the shoulder of Route 30 next to guardrails.
Here, parked at the iconic Wells sign:
With the lower elevations and subsequent warming, the trails were getting pretty mushy down in Wells. But I did make it down to Lake Algonquin, which was a fast crossing with a thin layer of slush. I actually saw a car parked on the ice, so I’m guessing the ice is safe. Wish I had taken a picture of that!
Back to Speculator…
I tried pressing S42 further once I got to the south end of Lake Algonquin, but the road riding was way to skanky for me to press further. So I doubled back into Wells to try the C4B/Gilmantown Trail back up to Speculator. The trail surface was relatively flat, which kept me going for several miles. But I really should have turned around much sooner, because there were occasional stream crossings and the conditions were pretty thin. Once I got “over the top” and out of the valley, snow depth increased dramatically. But once Trail C4B left the power lines, it became way too much of a chore to press on.
So I doubled back down to Wells and took S42, Old Route 30 and Cave Hill Road back up to Speculator. C4/River Trail was fairly bumpy in spots, but not as bad as I’ve seen it. LP4 into the village was in pretty good shape to the Mountain Market, where I grabbed some lunch.
Then I decided to make a run via Lake Pleasant and Sacandaga Lake to get back to Perkins Clearing from the back side. Those lakes had a very thin layer of slush covering the ice. Fawn Lake trail was snirty with icy turns for most of it, but was groomed pretty flat. Big Brook trail was also in pretty good shape as well, less snirty than Fawn Lake trail.
Once I got back to Perkins Clearing, I did the big clockwise loop and was smiling from ear to ear, seeming having this all to myself!
Then I started the run back to Indian Lake, content to call it a day.
But wait, there’s more!
I met Crazy Cal and Matty on the Two Miles of Hell, heading down to the Acorn Pub after work. Well, they invited me along so I turned tail and led them through a counter-clockwise loop of Perkins Clearing. For those keeping track, that’s THREE loops of Perkins Clearing for me!
Looks like they really had to twist my arm to spin off a few extra miles:
We took the southern Perkins Clearing Road bypass, which was thin in places…but a surprising half-way decent ride. The C4/Melody Lodge trail was just a good ole’ fashioned bump and grind through the mashed potato studder-bumps down to Oak Mountain.
After a nice dinner at Acorn Pub, we headed straight home…enjoying the mild evening and talking about the “good ole’ days,” whatever that means! The return cruise up Indian Lake was done in the dark, but there was a good drag strip and no fog or visibility issues.
By the time I got back to the compound, I had clicked off 175 miles! Not a bad day at the office. 😉
Weekend Outlook
Will it be mid-winter pristine conditions? Nope…
But it’s certainly ride-able and the groomers are doing their best to make it an enjoyable ride. If you head out through Moose River Plains, do keep in mind that the conditions will get really thin as you approach the Limekiln Gate. That section always gets cooked with a thaw.
Weekend temperatures will be mild, but the lack of significant rain will help our cause. Unlike last weekend, there should be enough material available to keep the slides and heat exchangers happy, especially as you let the sun be your friend to loosen the trail surface a bit.
If someone tries to tell you that the snowmobile riding is shot around here, just remember that I rode 175 miles today. 🙂
Extended Outlook
Our long and winding road through the January Thaw continues, but I see the way out! We do have a chance to luck out on Monday/Tuesday with a mixed precipitation event with snow, instead of just plain rain.
Check out my video on how the weather pattern change may unfold:
Winter Reloading: ilsnow storm center 1/18/2017
Fingers crossed!
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
This report is brought to you by Steet Ponte Auto Group. Many of the vehicles here in Indian Lake are bought from the Steet Ponte. Co-owner Joe Steet is a huge fan and booster of ilsnow.com. If you’re looking for a new truck, give Steet Ponte a good look.
