Yesterday Evening
Everything I touched around Indian Lake village was aces and S84 was a good to great ride all the way out to Lake Durant.
S84 where it continues as the Old Stage trail hadn’t been touched with the groomer but still wasn’t bad. The section from Lake Durant Road to Blue Mountain Rest was fairly lumpy.
I ran 538/Newcomb trail to the Essex County line and back, TWICE! It was definitely worth double dipping:
Today’s Mission: Old Forge
I was looking for big game today! Wanted to do a 200 miler, but I got out the door somewhat later than I wanted to. Wasn’t going to ruin my day if I didn’t hit 200 miles. So off I went!
C8 out to Cedar River Headquarters was a pretty good ride most of the way out with slight ripple and some corner scuff. The final 2 miles until Headquarters had more in the way of rollers.
Once I got to Moose River Plains, Cedar River Headquarters to Silver Run had low to medium rollers. But I did hear the groomer approaching from the direction of Cedar River Road when I was taking a rest stop at Headquarters. So I knew things would be good on the return trip. 🙂
Inlet
From Silver Run to Inlet, the Plains were a magnificent ride! The Big-T flats and Red River T flats were particularly amazing. I encountered the Inlet groomer doing this: WOW!
It would be the first of many fresh groomer marks I would see today. 🙂
Inlet loop trails were fantastic. Ole Barn to Gilbert Road was snirty but flat.
On to Old Forge
It was snowing lightly and visibility wasn’t terrible, so I jumped onto 4th Lake and made the run to Daikers. Drag strip was nice and flat for smooth sailing across.
Trail 5 from Daikers to Rondaxe Road was well, Trail 5… But it wasn’t completely horrible either.
Once I left Trail 5, nearly everything I touched was magic. Fresh groomer marks EVERYWHERE!
It didn’t matter what trail I took: 9, 8, Pipeline, 7, 6, inner loops, secondary trails, whatever… I just rode around the white ribbons for the endorphin cascade. It was like I had died and gone to snowmobiling heaven!
There is borderline stupid deep snow out there, more than twice as deep as we have it here back in Indian Lake.
Next up: Trackside Blazers!
After a stop at Elise Lookout, I headed to Thendara and continued on Trail 6.
(Alas, it will never be Elsie Lookout again…as someone has corrected me)
Trail 6 alternated from good to mediocre for the first several miles, then it became great as I caught up to the groomer.
Near the end of Trail 6 I hopped on C7/Railroad tracks. It had been recently groomed but had some stubborn remnant studder. More and more rail showed as I approached Otter Lake.
I opted to take the left onto C4H and follow that for a while. Aside from a few seedy spots past the “lean-to trail”, it was a really nice trek through the woods.
Eventually, I landed back at this off-the-grid place near the junction with S71:
At this point I had 3 options:
1. Continue on C4H down through Atwell down to Ohio.
2. Hit S71 to Woodgate, then wrestle with C7/railroad back up to McKeever.
3. Turn tail and head back.
Option 1 was not really an option as it was a single tracked rabbit trail to nowhere. I took the path of least resistance and came back the way I came in, with a short layover to Adirondack Grocery for re-fuel and a brief rest.
Back to Old Forge
After I got off C7/Railroad, Trail 6 was a splendid ride back up to Old Forge. After looping around for a while, I found my way over to Trails 4 & 4A and made my way up to Pete’s Peak:
At that point, it was starting to get late in the day. So I wanted to hit one more place before I headed back to Indian Lake.
Big Moose
I wound up taking Trail 2 up to Big Moose, then C7/Railroad back down into Old Forge. With so much snow, the railroad was actually a joy to ride! I didn’t see any hint of rail showing until I got down to Carter Station. Then I jumped back onto the Old Forge trail system to hit some more awesomely groomed trails until I decided to head for home.
The way back
It was getting dark, but the visibility was decent so I shot down to Daikers and ran 4th Lake Back to Inlet. All the Inlet trails were freshly groomed and awesome riding, right into Moose River Plains.
Silver Run back to Headquarters was indeed groomed today. Not as perfectly flat as the Inlet side, but it maintained the fun ride back home. Trail C8 from Headquarters back to Indian Lake village was good to great riding most of the way through. Once I got past Deer Valley, I did notice some carbide clipping the occasional rock top.
After the traditional victory lap around town, I stopped into Marty’s Chili Nights for dinner:
It hit the spot after riding most of the day without having anything to eat since YESTERDAY EVENING. I guess when I’m in mega-miler mode, I’m like a machine and don’t need to eat. Time spent eating is time not riding. 😉
Rolled back into the compound with 216 miles for the day. Mission accomplished! Just in time, as the wind has kicked up and the temperatures are once again dropping toward frigid territory.
Bottom line
If you cut me, I’ll bleed Indian Lake snowmobiling. But dang, today I wish I lived in Old Forge or at least could stay the night and hit more stuff tomorrow. I can see why that place is a mecca for families and large groups of friends who enjoy snowmobiling.
But I’m a native son of Indian Lake and I’m happy to have had this ride today! I’m feeling real good right now and should sleep quite well tonight. 🙂
Let’s see…
78 Miles on Sunday (in sub-zero cold)
116 Miles on Tuesday
65 Miles on Wednesday (after work spin)
216 Miles Thursday
Hey, I’m doing pretty well this week! 🙂
Weekend Outlook
Conditions will be great, especially with frigid weather keeping the trails firm and some people off the trails. Dress for survival when you do go out because it will be even colder than last weekend!
Extended
You may want to get your kicks in early and often in January, because the weather pattern is expected to blow zonal across North America and cut off the Arctic cold by mid-month:
Even before then, we may be dealing with a significant warm-up or thaw around January 11-12.
I have no idea what this may mean for the rest of the winter. I just look at this stuff in 1-2 week chunks. Anything beyond that is sorcery.
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
This report is brought to you by Steet Ponte Auto Group. Many of the vehicles here in Indian Lake are bought from the Steet Ponte. Co-owner Joe Steet is a huge fan and booster of ilsnow.com. If you’re looking for a new truck, give Steet Ponte a good look.
