Day off meant riding. But after Sunday’s frozen tundra ride, I was going to wait until the temperature at least got to zero.
Since the day started at -16*F, that was going to take a bit of time. So, I washed a huge stack of dishes to help pass the time. I’m sure my daughter was happy to find the dishes done. 😉
When the temperature poked above -5*F, I made my move. By the time I got rolling from the compound at 10am, the temperature was an even zero degrees, which actually felt downright balmy!
The Sabael trail leaving Indian Lake was in good riding shape. Indian Lake had some frozen slush puppies and to be honest, a few non-frozen slush areas that made me nervous to be on that lake. But I made it down to the State boat launch without incident.
The campsites trail wasn’t bad at all, which is usually the case early in the season. Lewey Lake was a nice crossing, aside from some frozen slush puppies.
Two-Miles-from-Hell was recently groomed and a pretty good ride down to Perkins Clearing, aside from some corner scuff and terrain divots.
Perkins Clearing
Most of Perkins Clearing was good riding with slight ripple. Not the best I’ve seen Perkins Clearing, but no grounds for complaint at all. LP9 had some rollers, but nothing awful.
I was feeling good about life at the Perkins-T intersection:
The morning sunshine had faded behind clouds, but it was a warm 5*F at this point. 🙂
The Southern Perkins Bypass was a bit rough and bumpy with corner scuff. But there were no water hazards.
On to Speculator
Trails C4 and LP3 past Melody Lodge and Oak Mountain down into Speculator were groomed and in decent shape with slight ripple, corner scuff and a few clipped rock tops.
C4 into Speculator Village and down to the River was pretty bumpy. But the Business Access Trail and the LP4 spur to the Mountain Market were much better riding, aside from some corner scuff.
The first time I touch down in Speculator for the snowmobiling season is always a mile-stone for me. It means that I can start getting anywhere I want on a snowmobile: 🙂
Destination, Wells!
I decided to make the run down to Wells and then loop back up through the Speculator Tree Farm. LP4A was pretty good, once I got away from riding the rough snowbanks.
C4B/Gilmantown Trail down into Wells was somewhat rough, but the bumps were low enough and spaced far enough apart to keep me going along it. Snow coverage was good for the most part, although there were several sections in the woods that needed more snow. The power lines sections were the most fun, but there were some icy patches along the way.
I did make it down to Wells for the insta-post card:
From there, I made my way down to Lake Algonquin and enjoyed a couple rips up and down the lake. From there, I hit Trail S47 which was a nice run through the woods, but turned bumpy at the power lines. The trail continuing to Pine Orchard appeared closed, so I turned tail and headed back to the lake.
Return to Speculator
I ran Trail S42 along Routes 30/8 back up toward Speculator. Aside from one nasty culvert washout, which I avoided by running the highway shoulder for a short distance, it was recently groomed and a good ride. Certainly was much better than C4B/Gilmantown Trail.
C4 was a good run through Old Route 30 and Cave Hill Road into the Speculator Tree Farm, with slight ripple along the way. Then C4 into Speculator village was bumpy and rough, but wasn’t a real ball-basher until I got to the river.
After taking another swirl around Speculator village, I stopped at the Mountain Market for some good eats:
If you haven’t stopped at the Mountain Market in a while, make sure you do. It’s really amazing what the new ownership has done to the place. 🙂
I ran into Rick Swift of Village Motorsports and the one and only Pete Newell, who was riding around a bit. I was content to stay inside for a while and rest up for the trip home.
Back to Indian Lake
It was getting close to 4pm, so I decided to run straight back up the gut via LP3/C4 to Perkins Clearing Road and 2-Miles-From-Hell to get back to Indian Lake.
With the cold temperatures and nearly nil snowmobile traffic, conditions hadn’t changed much since the morning. While crossing Lewey Lake and Indian Lake, I encountered a snow squall that significantly reduced visibility just before dark. It was a bit of a slow go, but I made it back to Sabael without incident.
Victory Lap
The Indian Lake village trails were freshly groomed. So good that I ran the town loop twice to celebrate my ride. 🙂
Talk about saving the best for last, with a fresh dusting to boot!
I even took the C8 trail out toward Cedar River Headquarters a half-mile past the former Arctic Cat dealer for a “look-see.” That was good riding too.
Almost everything I touched was aces. But the spur trail to the Indian Lake Restaurant needs some TLC with the groomer to erase the washboard bumps.
After filling up the gas tank for the next ride, I rolled back to the compound with 116 miles for the day. And the temperature was 15*F, which was downright tropical compared to what we’ve seen in recent days.
A good day of the office!
One more thing
Pleasant Riders reported their groomer for the Fish Mountain-Oxbow trail blew out a track:
So keep that in mind if you head that way this week. The extreme cold can be murderous on these machines and the Pleasant Riders are trying their utmost to have the groomer back online by the weekend.
That’s all I’ve got for now. I may have an invite to go riding with some friends Wednesday evening after work, so another trail report could be on the way! I certainly want to get a couple more rips in before the next surge of brutal cold comes into town for Friday and Saturday!
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!
