After Thursday’s deep powder fest, I was on the shelf last weekend. So, I took an after-work spin up to Newcomb.
The local Indian Lake village trails were groomed today. Most of the trails weren’t perfectly flat, but the weekend bumps were sufficiently ironed out for enjoyable riding. The exposed areas and heavily worn corners were starting to get bare spots again, but the Crow Hill Road shelf was still intact to make the connection into town. The best trail in town was S85/Ski Hut trail, which was nearly mint.
S84 out toward Blue Mountain Lake had the usual spring time bare spots on the exposed hills and corners. Then it was a pretty good ride once I got over the top. The Old Stage trail hadn’t been tracked much, so it was a pretty plush ride. My sled had to work a bit to cross Lake Durant, but there wasn’t any slush and I was able to stay on top of the snow pack.
538/Newcomb trail was groomed on both sides today and was a nice ride from bottom to top. There were several thin spots on exposed hillsides and tight corners, but the base was solid in most places.
I snapped a picture at the Newcomb-T, just to let you know I made it there. 😉
Then I doubled back to town and called it an evening with about 65 miles for the ride.
It seems strange to talk about bare/thin spots the week after a 2 foot thump of snow. But that’s what the strong March sun and heavy weekend traffic does, even when we have seasonal temperatures and no rain.
Snow pack around Indian Lake ranges from less than a foot in southerly exposures to 2-3 feet in the shady deep woods. I’m sure someone can find snow pack thicker than a yard in their favorite snow bowl in the southwestern Adirondacks.
At any rate, Monday’s ride was light-years better than my previous trip up to Newcomb three weeks ago.
I heard that Moose River Plains was a brutal ride between Cedar River Headquarters to Silver Run last weekend. One can only hope they took a dozer to those awful rollers that seem frozen in time…
Midweek Outlook
With the daily thaw/freeze cycles we’ve had the past several days, the trail surface gets hard at night and softens during the day under the March sun. Ole’ Man Winter will give us yet another parting shot with a deep freeze for Wednesday, which will stop the slow bleeding. But I wouldn’t expect much fresh snow. If you’re looking for that “last ride,” we’re definitely as good a place as any to get it.
Weekend Outlook
To be honest, I’ve seen so many possible outcomes with the Friday, Saturday and Sunday time frame that I don’t have much forecast confidence for the weekend. We could end up with dose of temporary, base-boosting snow…or…we get warm and wet. At any rate, I do believe that most trails will hold ride-able snow as we head into the weekend.
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!
