A couple friends of mine from down Oneida County way wanted to come up and run ilsnow land this week. But my misadventure on Indian Lake turned them off to that, because they love ilsnow land for…running lakes.
So, we flipped the script and and I met them at Barneveld Friday morning.
Here was my ride starting off:
Yeah, it brought me back a dozen years. But the snowmobile ran perfectly fine, rode good and saved me the hassle of trailing my sled down there. 🙂
Starting off in Penn Mountain
We launched from Mapledale. Riding was thin at first with mud spots, but improved dramatically as we pressed northward toward C7 and into the Penn Mountain system with some great open field riding.
It was looking good through the snow mist:
The riding on C7 was really good all the way through Dutcher’s Run to Star Hill Lookout. It was snowing pretty decent up top, so no million dollar view today. But I was already so glad we decided to do this ride! 🙂
After a couple miles north of Star Hill Lookout, C7 developed some rollers and studders all the way to Alder Creek…but still well within the envelope of fun.
Crossing into Fo-Po
C7 and C7E were good to excellent riding in the Trackside Blazer’s jurisdiction. The seasonal roads were especially awesome riding. The road had sufficient snow cover to facilitate the passage through Forestport village.
We headed on S71 which was good riding, with the road sections holding good snow coverage. Eventually, as we got deeper into the woods, water spots became somewhat of an issue. We made it to Shufelt’s camp and found that C4H was a single-tracked bumpy goat path going toward Sand Lake, so we didn’t press that way.
C4H probably would have been a good ride up to McKeever Station but we didn’t want to run the railroad back southward. So we just turned tail and headed back to Woodgate.
We took a pit stop on S71 coming back out:
Loop back to Fo-Po
Then we hit C7C down toward Hawkinsville. This was a near-continuous bucket of awesome sauce! The seasonal road riding was out of this world.
I was loving life grandly at this point:
We hit C7B down through the Canal Path. Except for a couple of plowed sections that were nearly burnt to dirt and the occasional thin spots, it was a beautiful ride back to Forestport.
Heading South
We doubled back down C7 back into the Penn Mountain system. The bumps between Alder Creek and Star Hill lookout were getting much more pronounced with the day’s traffic.
Once we got back down to Mapledale, we topped off on fuel. Then we played Frogger across Route 12. There’s nothing quite as nerve-wracking as crossing a 4 lane divided highway on a snowmobile.
Next thing I know we were entering the Deerfield Snow Trails on C7R.
I can’t really do the blow-by-blow on the trails because I hadn’t ridden Deerfield in years. I was just playing follow the leader today. A few of the fields were thin with lots of water/mud spots. But the majority of the open fields were just plain awesome riding!
We saw PLENTY of this:
After riding the claustrophobic wooded goat-paths of ilsnow land all winter, this was a very welcomed change of pace! I could actually see something besides trees in front of me, behind me, to each side of me. 🙂
We got to the famous Hajdasz Covered Bridge:
Just as I was taking this picture, a vicious snow squall rolled in. That was fun!!
From the covered bridge, we continued on C7A and arched over through S75. Along the way to Smith Hill, we were carving through 6-12 inches of untouched powder chowder, which was an incredible experience!! We wound up at the end of the line at Eagles at the bottom of the hill.
Then we made the run back up to Mapledale to finish off the ride. Made it back to the lot with 120 fun miles. 🙂
Here was a cool picture of the lake-effect snow squall clouds to our south as we were headed back:
But wait, there’s more!
My friends had tickets for great seats to Friday night’s Utica Comets game against the Springfield Thunderbirds which proved to be a thrilling 3-2 OT win for the home team!
Here they were, warming up right in front of me:
So yeah, it was pretty thrilling to see the game winner sail into the net from there. 🙂
Bottom line
A simply incredible day! And I didn’t know this was all going to happen until Thursday afternoon when my gear was drying out from my partial dunk-a-roo in Indian Lake. Great ride with great friends and met some cool people along the way.
We encountered many types of weather: Sunshine, wind, no-wind, light snow dust, heavy snow squalls, sleet and snow pellets. The only thing we didn’t get was rain. 🙂
Every time I go out to ride is a great time for me. But this is one of the rides that will stand out in my mind for a long time.
Get out there and enjoy! But always keep an eye for water hazards and think LONG and HARD before going on any lakes.
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
This report is brought to you by Prospect Point Cottages on Blue Mountain Lake. If you are looking for a quiet and scenic winter getaway, this place is for you with fireplaces, free hot brunch and snowshoes provided. The wintry view of Blue Mountain from across the lake is nothing short of amazing with a fresh mantle of snow!
