UPDATE 1/19/18: Just got word that Pleasant Riders was able to work on the Fish Mountain trail in Lake Pleasant last night between the grave yard and Oxbow Lake, which was so brutal yesterday.
Just remember to use extra caution when you pass through there. That section of trail sorely needs more snow.
Report 1/18/18
I didn’t get on the saddle until almost 11am. Was just going to run down to Speculator on a little recon mission.
Oh yeah, I did that…and a whole lot more!
Speculator Recon
Indian Lake inner village trails were groomed and in good riding shape aside from some icy turns. Use extreme caution going through the Bear Trap Swamp, which is very icy.
C8/Sabael trail was mostly flat, but VERY ICY through the majority of it. Be very careful through there.
Indian Lake and Lewey Lake were fine all the way down. Aside from the shoreline, I did not encounter any frozen slush ruts.
Campsites were groomed and were a terrific ride through.
2 Miles from Hell was groomed and a surprisingly decent to good ride. Aside from some frozen washout hazards and bony spots at the lower end, you couldn’t ask for any better from this trail considering the conditions. It was looking really good approaching Perkins Clearing Road:
Perkins Clearing Road and Old Military Road passing by Pillsbury Mountain trail head was good riding with slight ripple. From HM 115 to the back of Perkins Clearing was great!
At HM 116 I decided to press into C4/C8 Big Brook trail. At first, it was good. But once the trail narrowed, it got “fun”. The whole way down to the outhouse was fair at best. At its worst, I encountered numerous frozen slush and frozen washout hazards. Truth be told, there’s almost nothing that can be done with this trail until we get a good dump of snow.
At HM 7/Outhouse intersection, I hooked left onto C4/Fawn Lake trail mainly because I was afraid of what lurked on C4/C8 Willis Mountain trail with all of the creeks that cut across that goat path.
Thankfully, C4/Fawn Lake trail was much better than Big Brook trail. But there were plenty of frozen shush hazards along the way.
Sacandaga Lake as a good crossing. Then the brutality was about to begin…
Pressing West
C4/Fish Mountain trail was groomed and pretty good from Sacandaga Lake to the cemetery, aside from a few hazards by the pit. But between the cemetery and Oxbow Lake was absolutely brutal: bony spots, washouts, rocks and frozen slush trenches not much wider than my sled. It’s about the worst that I’ve seen a trail that was open and “ride-able” in a long time…
The picture hardly does it justice. I encountered a lot of this:
Oxbow Lake was a good crossing, aside from some rough stuff near shore.
I spotted fresh groomer tracks from Oxbow Inn back into C8/Spy Lake trail. It was indeed flat much of the way through. But it was bony and thin in places with lots of carbide clack. Some of the steep southerly facing hills were pretty seedy.
The section that was logged between the clearing and Spy Lake apparently has been reopened and groomed. But it was absolutely brutal with washouts and tree debris.
Do yourself a favor (if you are fine riding lakes) : At the clearing on Spy Lake trail, take a left to get to Spy Lake then run it around the bend to the other side. If you are approaching from the opposite direction (from Powley Road), flip the script and follow the drag strip on Spy Lake that hangs wide right.
From Spy Lake to Route 10 was in decent shape, but with some hazards.
Powley Road
In short, Powley Road was in a world of its own! It was freshly groomed and awesome from top to bottom. I’ve only seen it better a hand-ful of times. The only real blemish was some ice near the bridge from where the river overflowed during the thaw.
The S88/Piseco Lake Lodge trail was closed off with tape. Probably the right move because who knows what torture would await the snowmobiler on that wretched goat path after the thaw we had last week…
How can you NOT love this?!
At the end of Powley Road, there was really good snow coverage on the plowed road. I had a half-hearted urge to make the Salisbury run from there. But I started way too late to fully enjoy the open farm field riding that could have awaited me down there. So I turned tail and headed back to the Oxbow Inn for lunch, which never disappoints:
On to Speculator Tree Farm
I mashed through the Fish Mountain trail brutality and made it to Sacandaga Lake unscathed. LP1/Page Street trail was freshly groomed and perhaps the best I’ve encountered it in at least a few years.
Lake Pleasant was a good crossing. The River Trail has been reopened but it had plenty of rough ice on it. C4 from the river back to Speculator Tree Farm was bumpy, but did have great snow coverage on it. If a groomer could worm its way back there from the Tree Farm prior to the weekend, it would make a ton of difference.
C4/Cave Hill Road was pretty fun until it was closed by the bridge. The river had overflowed its banks and made a mess of the trail in that vicinity.
I wandered up S41/Silver Hill trail which was lumpy, but with enough fresh snow to maintain a somewhat plush ride. Then I encountered S41C/Hatchery Brook Trail which was groomed and a nice run over the top back up to Route 30.
Back down to Speculator
I ran C4/Melody Lodge and LP3 down into Speculator. It was recently groomed and a decent run into the village, but some of the hillsides were really icy. LP4 was pretty good over to Mountain Market.
Return trip to Indian Lake
I doubled back up LP3/C4 to Perkins Clearing. The southern Perkins Clearing Road bypass was groomed, but it was rather bony in spots with some frozen slush hazards and a couple of running washouts. Enough to get you through, but you need to be careful.
Perkins Clearing Road was still in good shape. But I elected not to loop around LP9/Carpenter Hill Road because I wanted to get my tail up Indian Lake before it turned completely dark.
Overtime…
Back in Indian Lake, it looked like the groomers had been at it again. So I ran C8 past the former Arctic Cat dealership for a few miles. It was a good ride as far as I saw, so I imagine it was groomed all the way out to Cedar River Headquarters and beyond.
Then I hit S84 out toward Blue Mountain Lake. The area where the river had overflowed before the “million dollar bridge” was very icy, but passable. This short bridge just past million dollar bridge was still intact, but you want to be really careful with this:
Honestly, I don’t even know how this bridge didn’t wash away. Judging by the ice on the trees, it appears this creek crested at least 3 feet higher than the bridge.
Anyway, I was planning just to ride to Rock Lake marsh, then turn tail back to town. But S84 was so good I kept going.
By the time I reached 538/Newcomb trail, I was starting to smell the magic 200 mega-miler. It was a fun ride all the way through, aside from a couple of rough icy spots. Just past Joseph Mountain, there was a large tree that had fallen but could be skirted around. I didn’t have a prayer of hacking through it with my folding pack saw so I pressed on. At least it’s on a straightaway to you can see it coming.
At the Newcomb-T, I turned right onto C8B and ran it to Newcomb. Despite my gas gauge reading low, I know my sled well enough to know that I had enough gas to make it there and back to Indian Lake to close on the 200 mile mark. Aside from several frozen slush hazards and one running washout you don’t want to hit at speed, it was a good run to Newcomb and back.
Victory Lap
Once I got back to Indian Lake, I refueled at the Route 30 One Stop and victory-lapped twice around town to push the trip odometer to 203 miles before I arrived safely at the compound just before 9:30pm.
Believe me, I did not go out there thinking I was going to rip off a 200 miler. But it just kinda happened that way and I saw everything from AWESOME to AWFUL. There was enough good riding out there, or no way I would have done 200 miles. It needs to be fun in order for me to do that. 🙂
Weekend Outlook
Milder temperatures and heavy weekend traffic can bump up the trails on Saturday, but the weekend should be virtually rain-free. If you do your homework, exercise some extra caution and be flexible with your snowmobile riding, you can have a good time this weekend.
I can’t tell you what to do. All I can do is give you the information and let you decide. I wouldn’t have ridden 132 miles yesterday and 203 miles today if everything is shot. You’ll find great, good, bad and ugly if you ride this weekend. But I’m pretty sure it will beat sitting on the couch and hoping that next weekend will be better.
Whew…that was a lot to report in one sitting. I’ll sleep really well tonight!
Shout out!
I gotta give a shout-out to Indian Lake Parks and Recreation for their tremendous work in re-opening the Indian Lake trails under brutally cold conditions after the runaway rain/thaw and subsequent trail washouts we had last week Thursday night and Friday. Parks and Rec Foreman Bill LaPrairie kept me abreast on trail closure and restoration updates which enabled me to inform the ilsnow nation in almost real-time.
It’s nothing short of amazing these trails are not only ride-able now, but also groomed. Because of these guys, we have another riding weekend here in Indian Lake.
OK…One LAST thing…
The Central Adirondack Ice Fishing Contest will be held on Adirondack Lake this Saturday, January 20, 2018. There will be 220 people ice fishing along with their friends. Please ride slow and courteously across the lake.
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.
