One thing to love about March: I can catch a really nice ride after work with a few hours of daylight remaining.
It’s a fun time of year, but also fleeting because the increasingly high sun angle does its dirty work on the exposed areas and roadsides.
When I saw this fresh groom down S86 toward the Bear Trap Swamp Tuesday morning, it made up my mind to catch a ride after work:
Seemed like a no-brainer choice, eh?
Ride to Newcomb
Heading out of town on S84 Tuesday afternoon had the usual late-winter/early-spring bald spots on some of the hill climbs and corners until I got “over the top”:
The ride through S84 ranged mostly from smooth to studder-ripple with the odd roller-mogul on some of the turns. It was an enjoyable ride, overall.
Much of the riding surface was good, but I had to be wary of the spots where water has been eating away at the trail from underneath:
I continued to run S84 over to Lake Durant. To give you a sense of how much snow remains in the shady woods, there is a picnic table under that snow:
Lake Durant had some snow piled up at the east end, but much of the lake was a patchwork of glare ice and a scant skiff of snow, so I gave up on Lake Durant and gave the Old Stage Trail a try.
That was a pretty good ride all the way over to the Blue Mountain Rest. Continuing onto the corner 24-hour-gas pumps was bumpy in places, but not terrible.
I doubled back to 538/Newcomb trail and found some great riding! The 3 miles or so that was plowed most of the winter was thin, but had enough loose granular snow to keep the heat exchangers and slides happy. Only one exposed stretch where any dirt was showing.
Then I hit some near-perfect riding up to the Essex County Line:
The ride from Essex County Line up to the Newcomb-T wasn’t as good, but was solid B-grade riding all the way though.
Newcomb-T toward Newcomb House was a nice ride, with just one bald spot along the way…but several places where the water underneath was cutting holes in the trail.
On the way home
Temperatures quickly dropped below 32*F at sunset, which hardened the trails and played tricks with steering. Bumps were felt more as well.
Had a nice full-moon moment at Rock Lake Marsh on S84:
Got back to Indian Lake and had my usual rips on S86/Little Canada and S85/Ski Hut trails.
Inner village trails had taken a hit in the sun today with some bare areas opening up in the exposed area by Crow Hill Road:
Once those areas open up in March, it’s just a matter of time before getting into town becomes problematic. But at least the shelf along Crow Hill Road remains intact, even if it doesn’t look pretty.
Rolled into the compound with 78 miles spun-off for the evening.
You can see where I went:
Midweek Outlook
With the lack of unseasonable cold or a significant snow event the next couple of days, conditions will gradually degrade (but remain ride-able) as we press through Wednesday and Thursday.
Wednesday will be the nice day to be outdoors and Thursday will be the questionable mixed-bag weather day.
Weekend Outlook
The model-ology is trying to latch onto a significant coastal storm for Friday, which could drag down enough cold air for an early spring snow event for ilsnow land:
Following that event would be a strong cold shot for Saturday:
Whether or not this happens, we’ll have another snowmobiling weekend here in Indian Lake and the central Adirondacks. But obviously, it would be nice to pick up a pile of snow on Friday.
We’ll see what happens,
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.
