Wasn’t sure where I was gonna head today.
So I just started up my sled this morning and hoped the groomers were able to put Humpty-Dumpty back together again.
Around Indian Lake, the groomers did get out and it looked really good:
Since I hadn’t been to points south for much of the winter, I decided to make a run down to Speculator and just see what happened from there.
The Loop
Since trail conditions probably changed today with heavy-for-midweek traffic, I’m not going to bother much with a blow-by-blow report but tell you were I went:
Perkins Clearing including Jessup River Road.
C4/8 – Big Brook Trail
C4 Fawn Lake Trail
Sacandaga Lake
C4 Fish Mountain/Oxbow Trail
C8 to Piseco Lake
Evergreen Lake
C4/Morehouse
C4/Jones Road
C4B to Ohio Tavern for lunch
In general, the seasonal roads were excellent riding! The remaining trails were mostly smooth or small studders at worst.
However, C4 through Morehouse was very chattery with some leftover weekend moguls which made for a tedious ride through there.
My gold star award for today goes to Town of Lake Pleasant for carpet bombing the sno-cross bumps though the Indian Lake Campgrounds. Here’s the after-picture, I can’t imagine how bad this was before:
Lunch at the Ohio Tavern was great. You probably notice I like to eat steak on the trail:
Got to chat with owners Becky and Dan Virgil before I headed out the door after lunch. I get to name drop because they are my in-laws. Also got to eat lunch with Dan’s parents who happened to be there as well. So that was some unexpected fun for the day. 🙂
Keep going…
I didn’t really want to run back up through Morehouse, so just went for the loop. Next leg was:
C4G thence to C4 Norway
C4/Military Road into Salisbury
C4A to Stratford
C8A up to Powley Road
Most of this was pretty good riding. But there where some fairly thin and pounded stretches through Norway. Several miles of Military Road trail was plowed, but was passable.
The stretch from Stratford up to the southern end of Powley Road was LIGHT YEARS BETTER than what was reported on Monday. Indeed, I saw 2 skandics doing tag-team work and gave them a thumb’s up as I went by. Must have saw about 2 dozen sleds on that trail also.
Powley Road was Powley Road….meaning it was a great ride!
Home stretch
Spy Lake trail, Fish Mountain – Oxbow trail, LP1/Page Street into Speculator was quite beaten up and snirty in sections from the day’s traffic. I saw probably 8-9 trailers still parked in the Speculator Ballfield parking lot when I breezed through around 5pm.
LP3/C4 back up to Perkins Clearing was in somewhat better shape. Then I ran straight back up the gut via Perkins Clearing Road to make it back into Indian Lake as it was turning dark.
Indian Lake village trails had soft studderbumps. Even S87/42nd and Broadway and S86/Little Canada on the Victory Lap had some studder bumps.
But I found this freshly groomed gem on S85/Ski Hut trail where the groomer came back home from its battle of the bumps:
Rolled back into the compound with 175 miles for the day. It’s amazing the riding we can do now, even during a holiday week. I “fondly” remember bottoming out on 3 foot rollers riding my Moto-Ski Mirage I and praying the torsion springs wouldn’t snap.
Groomers get a big thumbs up for trying to keep up – or at least breaking even. Had lots of fun today. I’ll have fun tomorrow heading in another direction and I’ll bring friends. 😉
Bottom line
Asking me the best place to ride is probably the wrong approach. The best thing I can say is to get here as early as you can in the day to maximize the good riding and realize you’ll probably hit some bumps along the way, especially as you press into the afternoon.
The groomers are out, but so are many snowmobilers. It’s Presidents’ Week. Not all gonna be a magic carpet ride, but we do have SNOW!!
Indian Lake Snowarriors Meet & Greet on the Trail – Saturday, February 23, 2019
Snowarriors will be displaying our awesome “new to us” groomer: 2013 Tucker Terra 2000 at the intersection of 538/Newcomb Trail and S84/Blue Mountain Trail from 11am until 3pm on Saturday, February 23, 2019.
Stop by and check it out!
Central Adirondack Fishing Derby on Indian Lake – Saturday, February 23, 2019
The annual ice fishing derby will be held on Indian Lake on Saturday, February 23, 2019 starting around 5AM. Indian Lake/Blue Mountain Fish and Game Association urges ALL snowmobilers to reduce their speed and use increased caution when riding on Indian Lake ALL day for safety of derby participants.
If you are curious about participating in the ice fishing derby, click here for more information.
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.
