Got a text from Crazy Cal Wednesday morning just as I woke up. He had gotten a last minute reprieve from yet another brutal long distance commute to work in a snow storm and wanted to ride to Old Forge
Game on! I was planning on doing that ride anyway. 🙂
Cal also snagged another local to ride out with us. So off we went!
Heading out
Fresh groomer marks heading out of town on C8 toward Headquarters is always a great way to start a ride. We followed the magic white ribbon for well over several miles until we overcame the groomer. Even after that, the trail was great riding.
I think my crew was pretty happy. 🙂
Fresh groomer tracks originating from the end of Cedar River Road pushed past Cedar River Headquarters. It was great to see the groomer, but the stubborn remnants of last weekend’s roller-rama persisted.
Further along…
We hit Inlet loop trails, thence over to Eagle Bay, up Big Moose Road, top of Trail 1, BT trail, C7B/Ten Mile Road and Kovach’s over to Brantingham.
Most the way, the riding ranged from good to excellent! Either freshly groomed, recently groomed or a half-foot of powder chowder on top of flat trails. The only bumpy trail was BT, that no-mans land between the Webb trails and Brantingham trails.
With the snow coming down steady and occasionally hard, the roads had great snow coverage.
Brantingham
After we had a great lunch at the Pine Tree Inn, we headed back toward Old Forge. On the way back, we noticed that the crime-scene tape had been removed from the start of C8A with fresh groomer marks heading into the Mt. Tom section.
So we headed in, and the groomers did a nice job of combing over the water/mud spots. Except for one decent bang on a rock top, I made it through pretty well. Not sure what the Mt. Tom section will look like after significant traffic…but it got us by for this ride.
Stoney Lake through Confusion Flats was simply amazing! We stopped at the power lines where it was snowing and blowing out in the open:
After we made our way to Partridgeville Road, we looped back through Kovach’s and Ten Mile Road back toward Old Forge. We hit Trails 1 and 9 to make it over to Rondaxe Road. Most of that was pretty good.
Trail 5 from the pits back to Eagle Bay was snirty, also thin in some spots. But it really wasn’t a bad ride, certainly compared to what it was last weekend.
On to Raquette Lake then back home
To pad some miles, we ran Uncas Road over to the Raquette Lake Tap Room then hit Browns Tract to loop back over to Uncas Road. All of that was nice riding.
Eagle Bay to Inlet along Route 28 was snirts-ville but was plush riding. Inlet Loop trails were still good to excellent riding. We knew what awaited us past Silver Run back to Headquarters on Moose River Plains, so we just braced for the rollers and rode them hard all the way through.
C8 from Headquarters back to Indian Lake Village was an incredible ride! Not too many times I could remember that trail being better. Trail base did get a bit thinner from Deer Valley back toward town, but I only clanked carbide a few times.
After a stop at town to fuel up for the next ride, I got back to the compound with 210+ miles for the day. Crazy Cal tossed up the idea of making a run to Newcomb. Dang, that was tempting. If we had come back to town with closer to 250 miles, I think I would have went for the 300 miler. But I was only near 210 miles and I had a two-hour snowblowing tour awaiting me.
At any rate, I was more than satisfied with the great riding we did! It was my fifth 200 mile ride of this season. 🙂
Bottom Line
Great crew, great ride! What more can I tell ya?
Call off work: sick or dead… Do what you gotta do to get up here this week and ride! We’re on the Back 9 of the snowmobiling season…
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!
