UPDATE 3/3/17 EVENING: The central Adirondacks picked up an inch or two of dry, powdery snow Friday afternoon.
It’s not enough to improve the base, but it’s enough to keep your slides and heat exchangers cool while you nick and shear your carbides to pieces. 😉
Friday Morning Report
Wednesday’s thaw was bad enough with temperatures poking into the 50s. But the rainfall was fairly limited at under a half-inch.
Winds got really strong Wednesday night into early Thursday with lots of blow down. We had a mini-blizzard Thursday morning which dumped a quick inch that got promptly blown to smithereens. Much colder air Thursday and Thursday night turned the remaining snow pack into a brick.
The next result is that ilsnow land is essentially a frozen waste land for the weekend. Snow pack around Indian Lake ranges from thin to bare in the exposed roadside spots and south/east facing slopes to a foot-plus of frozen pack in the woods.
Here is the estimated snow pack this morning, showing the Swiss cheese pattern more typical for the end of March or early April:
Weekend Outlook
We’ll have the coldest air that we’re likely to see for the remainder of the season Saturday and especially Saturday night into Sunday morning. This stops the bleeding. However, based on what I saw during Tuesday’s ride and what has happened since, I can’t really recommend coming here from any real distance to ride.
If you are really hard up for a ride, my best recommendation would be to park at Mason Lake parking lot on Route 30 about 7 miles north of Speculator and attack Perkins Clearing from the north end, then work your way toward the back end via Old Military Road and hit Carpenter Hill Road while you’re back there. After that, explore around and see how far you can go before you get turned back.
Moose River Plains is not as good an option because the Plains don’t hold their snow as well as Perkins Clearing. And the road from Brown’s Farm parking lot to the trail head has virtually no hard pack underneath whatever feeble skiff of powder may be on the margins.
If you decide to ride, studs and ice-scratchers would be your best friends. Whatever smoothness or bumps that exist on the trails will be frozen in place for the weekend. There will be very little traffic to break up the surface.
LAKES: Just stay off! Area web cams showed ice starting to break apart at the shoreline yesterday.
Wish it was better for early March, but I can only report on what I see in front of me.
REMINDER: Indian Lake Snowarriors meeting for Saturday, March 4th has been cancelled. Next scheduled meeting will be for Saturday, April 1st to wrap up the “grooming season.”
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
This report is brought to you by Pilot Knob Marina in Lake George. Just get off Northway I-87 Exit 20, then follow NY Route 149 East until you hit the junction of NY Route 149 and Bay Road. Pilot Knob Marina features a wide selection of new and pre-owned Arctic Cat snowmobiles & ATVs. If you see Nick Barber, tell him that Darrin @ ilsnow.com sent ya!
