Well, I heard reports varying from awesome for awful to describe the trails at different places and times last weekend. Yeah…it was a BUSY weekend between Old Forge Snowfest and crowds of people up here looking for their first real ride in weeks.
A fresh 4+ inches of snow on Tuesday gave the groomers plenty of fresh white meat to work with.
And work it, they did! I took a spin around town and saw fresh groomer tracks running everywhere.
Here is what I saw heading out of town on C8 toward Cedar River Headquarters:
I only took that trail as far as the Route 28/30 crossing because I didn’t have the time to make the run out that way to Moose River Plains. But I heard reports that it was a good run today and that Moose River Plains was great from one side to the other.
The heavily traffic-ed trails in Indian Lake were a bit thin, especially under the evergreen canopies. But, overall, it was good riding. Bear Trap Swamp had several wet/messy areas but remains passable.
Heading out S84
Decided to take the tried-and-true Newcomb run with the time I did have this afternoon. S84 out toward Blue Mountain was groomed and very nice riding most of the way through. There were some soft water spots before I got over the top. But the grooming has managed to fill in most of the chuckholes in the trail.
538/Newcomb trail was bumpy and lumpy all the way up to the Essex County Line. From the county line up to the Newcomb-T and over to the Newcomb House handn’t been groomed, but was a noticeably smoother ride than the first 7 miles of the Newcomb trail. There were a couple of significant chuckholes on C8B enroute to the logging zone.
Back to Indian Lake
Had to run back to town to make a meeting, which I made with 10 minutes to spare. 😉
After the meeting, I ran around town for a little while longer before calling it an evening. S86/Little Canada was groomed with the stretch from Sawmill Road up to Lone Birch being absolute aces.
S85/Ski Hut trail was magnificent, except for one horrendous mud hole nearing the Ski Hut that I was stupid enough to go through. On the way back, I decided to run the side of Route 30 back up to the One Stop to avoid going through the mud again.
C8/Sabael trail was groomed several miles. But the groomer turned around before the swamp, presumably to save their equipment from damage. The last half mile is pretty bumpy, but you can still negotiate the hazards with care. Furnells’ Field was thin with water spots. I didn’t even entertain the idea of crossing Route 30 and heading down to the lake….
Midweek Outlook
Snow pack ranges from less than a foot in the exposed areas to 16-24+ inches in the woods. If not for the occasional water hazard, you would think it was mid-winter around here on Tuesday. Once the Newcomb trail gets groomed, it will be all good around here. 🙂
A lot of what I rode around Indian Lake looked like this:
Perkins Clearing is probably awesome. I hear that Speculator village trails are in good condition too. But if you head west of Speculator, you’ll probably have to worry about mud-holes somewhere down the line, and lakes….
Speaking of lakes, there were several snowmobiles that went through the ice last weekend in various places in the Adirondacks. Some near shore, some further out where inlets ate away at the ice. The chilly and cloudy conditions we’ve had is great for holding snow pack, but it doesn’t do anything to firm up the lake ice, especially with the deepening blanket of fresh snow. So my best advise would be to STAY OFF THE LAKES! Â
Bottom line
Best riding conditions we’ve had in nearly a month and time is running out on winter. Although cold-for-March weather is expected through the next 7-10 days, don’t pass up what we’ve got for you this week or even the weekend. Drop a dime on a sick day this week if you’ve got one. 😉
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
This report is brought to you by Progressive Motorsports, celebrating their 25th year. They live, eat and breathe snowmobiling. Stop in today and see for yourself! Be sure to tell Karen that Darrin @ ilsnow.com sent ya.
