Since I live in snowmobiling country, I don’t need to take an overnight or weekend trip to ride. I just do it on a day off and sometimes after work, especially as the days continue to get longer.
But taking a two-day trip is fun, especially when it’s all by snowmobile!
So read on…
Day 1
I set sail from Indian Lake late Wednesday morning and it was smooth sailing to points south. The only exception being the campsites between Indian Lake and Lewey Lake which was a river of sno-cross washboards.
Perkins Clearing was its usual stellar ride. C4/LP3 into Speculator was pretty good. LP1/Page Street trail was in fair shape.
The bumpiest ride sections past Speculator were Fish Mountain-Oxbow trail and Spy Lake trail. But neither of those trails were truly awful.
Powley Road was MAGNIFICENT. Check out this picture from the clearing about 55 miles into my ride:
Orinoco Flow (Sail Away) was playing in my head whilst I was cruising down Powley. It was like a dream….
C8A/C4A down through Stratford was a great ride as well:
Great riding though Salisbury and C4/Military Road toward Norway. Some snirty spots through Norway. But overall, it was about as good as I have seen it through there and the open fields were a blast to ride through.
S44 was a great ride down into Poland. Not sure whether the next picture was in Norway or Poland, but a lot of the riding looked like this:
Fun, right?? 😉
I was due to meet a group of friends at Mapledale to ride with at 3pm. Got to Poland about 2:15pm, so I had time to kill. Spent it at Poland Stewarts to warm up and get a quick bite to eat.
The entrance way into Deerfield trail system was choppy. But once I got into the open fields, WOW! Incredibly fun open-field riding with strong wind blowing the snow like a dust storm:
C7R to Mapledale was a blast, zipping through open fields and past farm houses, something I don’t see here in ilsnow land.
Day 1, Part 2
After we met up at Mapledale, we did a loop which went via C7A over to Holland Patent and up C7 to Dutcher’s Run/Starr Hill. Most of that was great until the gentle to moderate rollers going up Dutcher’s Run where a Penn Mountain groomer was conducting its battle with the bumps.
Here’s are pictures of a couple of the posse members at Starr Hill:
Continuing along C7 to Alder Creek had stubborn rollers and some bumps.
Then I got led through a trail the locals colloquially know as the “Pipeline” to get over to C4/Remsen. That was 3 miles of rough s*it. I could have used a shot of Demerol after that.
Once we rejoined the Penn Mountain System, C4 was a nice ride through Remsen thence crossed into the Ohio Ridge Riders system. Ran C4B through Grant. The groomed seasonal roads were great! The plowed road sections had enough snow to pass by without much worry of overheating or melting slides.
Then we took the turn up to the Ohio Tavern for dinner. By then I was more than ready for a hot meal and some warm-up time, having already ridden 150+ miles in the wind-swept cold.
Here’s my stuffed burger dinner getting brought to me:
The burger and sweet potato fries definitely hit the spot!
I gotta say when it was time to get back out to ride, my body was telling me to stay inside! But I did “force myself” to don the gear and get back out there.
On the way down to Poland via C4G, we hit a curtain of heavy lake-effect snow which was blinding at times. Fun night-riding stuff!
By the time we rolled back into the Deerfield trails, the snow had lifted, leaving behind some of the most awesome night riding I’ve ever done on a loop via C7C, C7A. S75B and S75A through Deerfield, Trenton and back up to Mapledale.
It was miles of effortless, fun farm-field riding under the night sky. Usual night riding in ilsnow land is mostly done in the pitch dark. But seeing the Utica and suburb lights in the distance added a unique feel to what were already awesome riding conditions. I could have done that all night, lol!
By the time we rolled into Mapledale, I had rolled up 188 miles for the day, capping off a splendid day of riding.
I stayed at a friend’s house overnight. Think I fell asleep about 10 minutes after my head hit the pillow.
Day 2, Going home…
I elected to start my ride home after Thursday morning after 9am, to give the temperature an opportunity to rise above zero.
Had thought about heading up via Fo-po land, Old Forge, Inlet and Moose River Plains. But in the end, I wanted to run those open farm fields again, so I came home in the same direction I came from.
Going through Salisbury, I took a diversion through C4A and C8A toward Dolgeville. Most of that was good riding. Ended up running S84 which was bumpy and rough in places. Then I ran C8C and S42 up through Salisbury Center, which was pretty good.
Saw the tandom of Skandic groomers working the Stratford trails. At Powley Road, I stopped to take a look at the Powley Ice Cliffs:
For a change of pace, I ran S88/C4 from Powley Road up to Piseco Lake Lodge. When that path is bumpy and rough, you can’t get off that trail fast enough. But today’s ride was probably one of the best I’ve seen it, a beautiful ride through the hardwoods:
Piseco Lake was a windy, snowy and cold ride across, pretty fast and flat. Trail coming off Piseco Lake to Old Piseco Road was a river of washboard bumps.
C8 from Oxbow Lake, up past the Piseco Airport to the HM8 intersection was a good to excellent ride.
However, C8/Willis Mountain trail from HM8 intersection up to the HM7/Outhouse intersection was old school AWFUL! Loaded with hard studder-bumps and ball-bashing, back-tweaking moguls, it was a medieval torture chamber for snowmobilers.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been so happy to see a freshly groomed C4/8 Big Brook trail on the other side.
Made it up to Perkins Clearing where a Lake Pleasant groomer was making a run through. I ran Carpenter Hill Road and LP9/Nichol Vly trail, which was heaven on a snowmobile. If there was a bump on that stretch other than on Mossy Vly, I missed it!
Back home
Indian Lake was a windswept white “sandstorm” all the way up. The lake has gotten low enough for Griffin Rock to start pushing the ice into a heave in the drag strip, so keep an eye out for that.
When I rolled back into town, all trails were freshly groomed and great riding. The Victory Loop trails were all about as good as you can have them: S87/42nd and Broadway, S86/Little Canada and S85/Ski Hut trail.
Got to the Indian Lake Restaurant about 2:20pm and had their amazing Gorgonzola burger with a side of sweet potato fries. Thumbs up on making it back home safely and getting out of the stiff cold I was riding in for several hours straight:
I talked to a few riders who came in from Old Forge who told me the trails are in great shape. So there is a little more recon for you.
Rolled back to the compound with 120 miles for the day. I had a tremendously fun time over the past 2 days, but was also very happy to get back to my warm house and looking forward to a good sleep tonight!
I’ve also been getting over a chest cold from last weekend, so I’m definitely wiped out…
Bottom Line?
If you need me to tell you, then you probably don’t care to snowmobile anymore this year.
But, I’ll spell it out…. GET HERE AND RIDE!! Don’t ask me the best trails to ride. I rode 100 miles Tuesday after work, 188 miles on Wednesday and 120 miles Thursday. Add ’em up and you’ll see there’s a lot of great riding to do. 😉
As always, get here Friday or early Saturday for best results. I don’t think Sunday’s mixed precipitation event will cause much damage. But later next week looks like trouble to me; not enough to wipe out ilsnow land, but more than enough to wipe out the luster we have now.
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.
