Just when it appeared the snowmobiling season was lost, Tuesday’s storm dumped 2 feet of snow on Indian Lake and joined the pantheon of blockbuster March snowstorms!
Also saw reports of 2 feet from Speculator and Piseco, and 30-33 inches from Eagle Bay/Inlet. For Indian Lake, this was the biggest snowfall since the legendary Valentine’s Day 2007 Blizzard which dropped 3 feet.
During Tuesday afternoon, we were cranking at 3 inches of snow per hour during the heart of the storm.
Here was a clip I took:
I basically did 3 tours of snow removal:
1. Remove the first foot mid Tuesday afternoon.
2. Remove the second foot Tuesday evening after 9PM.
3. Cleaned up around the edges on Wednesday and whatever blew back into my driveway overnight.
After all of that, I went out to survey the scene. My drive-by recon showed that all of the Indian Lake village trails were broken. But C8 from former Arctic Cat Dealer to Headquarters was not touched and S84 out to Blue Mountain was unbroken. I wasn’t going to play around with breaking them alone. Maybe the Blue Mountain Boys will get ‘er done.
So I rode around town and romped through the powder. At times, I had snow going up over the hood. I did get stuck a few times, but can say I deserved it each time.
You know it’s steep-n-deep when the stop sign is nearly submerged:
I blasted across Adirondack Lake, which was a big bowl of belt-smoking powder chowder. Took almost everything she had to make it across.
Did make it through C8/Sabael trail. Only a couple of small water spots in there.
After looping around town a few times to romp around, I called it an evening with just over 20 miles.
Weekend Outlook:
I did pass by the Parks and Rec building and saw that their groomers had been dug out and look ready to go. So I anticipate they will be out this week to pack and groom it all down. More snow is expected on Saturday, but nothing close to the magnitude of Tuesday’s Mount Crushmore.
Keep in mind that we don’t go from 2 feet of new snow, to perfectly groomed trails everywhere at the flip of a switch. There may be some trails that don’t get groomed until there has been enough traffic to pack them down. Some places may still have blow down that need to be cut away.
This winter has been one for numerous comebacks and this was the greatest one yet! Some people are wondering where this was a few weeks ago. Well, it’s here NOW! Our trails never lost their hard pack/icy base in the woods, and we just needed snow to put the meat back on the bones.
LAKES: It’s been very cold for several days, so the lakes have “buttoned up” so to speak. Having said that, ice thickness remains less than normal for mid-March. Riding frozen lakes is at your own risk! I can’t tell you whether they are safe.
Extended Outlook:
Temperatures should remain at seasonal levels or colder for the next week-plus. Another Arctic surge is likely for Wednesday/Thursday, but probably not as severe as our previous one.
Next week would be an excellent time to drop a dime on an unused sick day. 😉
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
This report is brought to you by Adirondacks Speculator Region Chamber of Commerce. Speculator has long been one of my favorite places to ride! There are lots of options, whether you want to ride around Speculator for the day, or launch a 250 mile mega-miler. Speculator is loaded with businesses eager to cater to snowmobilers. Look them up at the Speculator Chamber and grab a copy of their snowmobile trail map. Be sure to tell them that Darrin @ ilsnow.com sent you.
