Today was the day that I was going to stretch the 4-TEC for some big miles and justify its purchase.
Mission accomplished, here’s the story:
Headed out of the compound just after 7am. I actually wanted to get out before the groomers so I can romp on the half-foot of new snow! C8 out to Cedar River Headquarters was a great ride all the way out.
Moose River Plains from Cedar River Headquarters to Silver Run turnaround had rollers and studders under the new snow. Inlet side past Silver Run was smoother, but needed a pass of the groomer to make it great. There were no icy corners, thin spots or corner scuff.
Here was the 4-TEC sitting fat and happy at the Silver Run turnaround:
Inlet trails were excellent. Their sidewalk trail had just been groomed. Trail 5 was rough, but the Old Forge trails got better the further away from Rondaxe Road I got.
Attempt at Brantingham…foiled!
Saw fresh groomer tracks on Trail 1, which made me feel good about my plan to make a Brantingham run. All was great until the groomer tracks split right onto Trail 2. The further on Trail 1 I traveled, the rougher it became. BT had sno-cross moguls and wasn’t fun. So I abandoned the Brantingham run and tracked back down to Old Forge for some fun.
Pipeline and Trail 7 were great. Of course, I can’t pass the Elsie Lookout with taking the run to the top:
The snow that fell today was perfect for riding: Enough to keep things nice and fresh, but not hard enough to blind you.
A New Place…FO-PO!
As I pressed down Trail 7 to Thendara, I decided to take a run down Trail 6 to McKeever, something I had never done before. That was freshly groomed and a nice ride all the way through.
I bounced onto C7/Railroad which was somewhat lumpy…but had TONS of snow on it. No problems with exposed rails or switches. After stopping for gas at Adirondack Grocery, I was really far from Indian Lake with already 100 miles for the day at noon. So I decided to go for broke and do the mega-loop.
Trail C7C and C7E through Woodgate and down to Forestport were exquisite riding. The snow was sticking to the trees like cotton:
Trail C7 continued the excellent riding down through the Trackside Blazers Clubhouse. Trail C7 eventually dumped onto a paved road through downtown Forestport. Good thing it was snowing hard enough to keep the margins slushy or else that would have been a very painful ride.
From Alder Creek into the Penn Mountain system, Trail C7 was very rough at times. Trail C4 wasn’t much better until I crossed Route 12. Then it was like someone had flipped a switch with great riding on the open fields and seasonal roads all the way down to Route 365 in Remsen.
After negotiating the usual road hash to make it to the Ohio Ridge Riders trail system, it was good times again! From the Hinckley State Forest, I looped Trail C4 down toward Cold Brook. The open field riding was simply awesome with deep snow drifting over the tracks. At one point, the visibility got really low (like being in a dust storm) and I needed the GPS to point me in the right direction.
Then I hit C4G and C4B up to Ohio Tavern for a late lunch, which really hit the spot as I had not eaten all day and had been riding nearly non stop for 7 hours. As deep as the snow is in Indian Lake, it seems like Ohio’s snow is even deeper. The snow banks were extremely high and I saw cars nearly buried in their driveways!
The Home Stretch…
After lunch, I saddled up for the long stretch home. C4H/S46A between Haskels and Nobleboro was simply incredible, just like riding a cloud. Tons and tons of snow through there. I’m guessing there was 3-4 FEET of snow cover through there.
Trail C4 through Morehouse was a good ride to the Recreation Building. After the Route 8 crossing, C4 was showing more lumps the closer I got to Evergreen Lake.
I was able to cross Evergreen Lake without incident, but dang…it looks like someone pulled the plug on that pond! Trail from Evergreen Lake to Piseco Lodge was brutally rough.
Thankfully, I was able to cross Piseco Lake before it got dark. Visibility was down a bit with blowing snow, so I just followed the drag strip across and powered through a few slush pockets.
C8-C4/Willis Mountain trail was a pretty nice run out of Arietta. Then C8/Big Brook trail was an incredible ride and near perfectly mint, probably one of the best rides I’ve had on that trail.
Perkins Clearing was just another mind-blowing journey though the winter wonderland, especially Old Military Road…WOW!
Two Miles of Hell was a decent ride through. I crossed Lewey Lake and Indian Lake in the dark without incident.
Indian Lake village trails were in great shape to end the mega-miler. For kicks, I ran S85/Ski Hut trail…which was flat as a board with an inch of fresh fluff on top:
Nothing like saving the very best for last! I rolled into the compound just before 7pm with 225 miles.
So, I rode around the clock (from 7am to 7pm), checked out some new territory and hit some places I haven’t been in a few years.
The Mega-Miler served its purpose, even if it wasn’t the one I had chalked up this morning. I’ll sleep really well tonight.
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
This report is brought to you by Progressive Motorsports, celebrating their 24th year. They live, eat and breathe snowmobiling. Stop in today and see for yourself! Be sure to tell Karen that Darrin @ ilsnow.com sent ya.
