Crazy Cal wanted to ride the Cranberry Lake area, so we loaded up the sleds and took them up to Sabattis, where we started Thursday’s trip.
C7/Railroad was rough with moguls. The sun was bright and the sky was deep blue. I wish I had stopped to take a picture of the breathtaking winter scenery though there. Rails were nearly 100% covered between Sabattis and Horseshoe Lake.
C7A was bumpy, but several inches of fresh snow cushioned the bumps. 79 and C7C were good riding at times, but got pretty rough up through Thirsty Moose. New snow diminished to about a couple inches the further north we got.
Then, trail conditions improved nicely along C7C to Sevey’s Point. We hit C7A, 88 and C8 to make the trek to Little Blue Mountain. The riding through there ranged from some small studders to near perfection.
The trail going up Little Blue Mountain was a single sled-width bumpy goat path, but the view from the top was so worth it! The cobalt blue sky felt so nice and warm:
Put this on YOUR bucket list! If you hang around to the end of this report, I’ll mark it on my track map. 😉
Several other people made it to the top about the same time we did and all marveled at the stunning beauty of that view.
On to Cranberry Lake Area
We headed down C8 and 89 into Cranberry Lake. Nothing was open for lunch there. So we pressed on C8 down to Wanakena. That was a beautiful ride! And we crossed the Oswegatchie River along the way.
We arrived at the Pine Cone Grill in Wanakena and had lunch:
There was a surprisingly large number of snowmobilers there, considering we hadn’t seen a whole lot of other people riding. Justin showed up, who was playing text tag with Cal all day.
The way back
After lunch, we doubled back C8. The rough plan was for Crazy Cal to lead us back toward Seveys Point for a gas stop then ride a bit more before heading back to Sabattis.
Well, Cal’s surprisingly good internal GPS compass finally went awry and we ended up honking along C7A south of Route 3 back to where we had originally split off C7A near the beginning of the ride near Intersection 2. That was a fun rip!!
After we stopped for a bit to regain our bearings, Justin split off and headed back to Tupper Lake. Cal and I had a nice late afternoon run on C7A back down to Horseshoe Lake thanks to some magic by Groomer Phil. C7/Railroad was groomed with the moguls knocked down to studderbumps.
Ended up with 120+ miles on an amazing late winter day. After riding in 5-10*F and snowfall all Wednesday afternoon into the evening, riding under the strong late winter sun with a high around 20*F seemed like paradise.
Bottom line
Awesome day!! But I can tell you the snow cover is noticeably thinner way up north, probably about half as thick as it is in Indian Lake. The trails felt a bit icy underneath the new snow.
And….that strong sun was melting the snow off paved roads rather quickly as well, a not-so-subtle sign that winter’s days are numbered….no matter how good the riding is now.
Here’s my track map from Thursday’s ride with some landmarks:
So get up and grab it!
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!
