Thought it was going to be busy on the trails Thursday, but I was not quite ready for what I would encounter.
Darrin Jr and I trucked our sleds to Brown’s Farm and got there at 11:30am. All the lots were already full, so we had to blow through a snowbank and drive down into an unplowed field where several other trucks were parked.
Had no idea whether we’d make it back up the road when we got back. But that wasn’t an immediate problem to deal with. 😉
We hooked up with Rich Lupia and son at Upstatesnow.com and a couple of their friends who had ridden across Moose River Plains to meet us at Brown’s Farm.
Moose River Plains
From the get-go, there was lots of traffic on Moose River Plains with varying degrees of bumpiness throughout, except immediately where we encountered a groomer on the Indian Lake side and Inlet side.
We stopped at the Big-T and were spotted by couple of guys, one of whom said that it was on his bucket list to meet me. So, today was my lucky day and we got to chat a little bit. 🙂
Here was Rich, Zack, Darrin Jr and I clowning around a bit at the Big-T:
For the most part, riders were responsible. But we did get overcome by a throttle-jackal and 2 of his partners in crime before we got to the Limekiln Gate. The front-runner passed me leading my pack with his skis high in the air. After a couple of miles, they encountered another group riding less than the speed of sound and proceeded to pass them on a blind hill.
If my sled had a front-mounted laser cannon, I would have gladly blasted those jackals off the trail. It’s a small miracle they didn’t hit someone coming head-on from the other direction with all of the traffic out there.
Inlet/Eagle Bay
This stretch was used and abused with chocolate snow and bumps galore.
Into Old Forge
Trail 5…ugh! And it didn’t get much better with the other trails we encountered, save for a small stretch of Trail 1 where the groomers happened to be at the time.
Made it to Elise Lookout where we were happy to chill out a bit from the bumps. After that, our party of 6 got split off in different directions (not by design), which lead to a bit of anxiety. But 5 of us made it back together and ended up waiting for number 6 to show up several minutes later.
Rich’s two friends had to return their rentals to Thendara by 5pm, but since there wasn’t really any flat and fun riding, they elected to return them a bit early.
Rich, Darrin Jr and Zack and I rode thru Old Forge, then hit Trails 1, 3 and 5 to meet Rich’s friends at Daikers for dinner. Trail 1 was good, Trail 3 was semi-decent and Trail 5 was…UGH!
Was very glad to linger at Daikers to enjoy dinner and escape the bumps. Then it was time for Darrin Jr and I to head back to Indian Lake. Wasn’t looking forward to doing that in the dark and cold.
The way back
Darrin Jr didn’t want to run 4th Lake, although I had no qualms with blowing through the slush patches and get over to Inlet without beating ourselves to a pulp. But I never pressure anyone to ride lakes, so we did the bump and grind on Trail 5 to make it over to Inlet.
Inlet loop trails were some of the nicest riding we found all day, except for some bumpiness going over the top and down into Moose River Plains.
The Plains were bumpy, but not quite as bad as I had feared it would be. When we made it back to Browns Farm, that field on which we had parked was plowed – so getting out was no problem.
Bottom line
A lot of time and effort was expended to bang out 102 miles on a day which resembled Saturday far more than Thursday.
But we know the reason: everyone had the same idea – just get it before we get spanked hard this weekend. You couldn’t have asked for much better weather to get your kicks in!
This was a ride in which the laughs, stories, friends and people we met were far better than the actual riding. We were just out there having fun in the sun. 🙂
I think the trails will hold up into Friday, but they will get hurt big time Friday night and into the weekend. Hope you can get out there before it does….
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
This report is brought to you by Steet Ponte Auto Group. Many of the vehicles here in Indian Lake are bought from the Steet Ponte. Co-owner Joe Steet is a huge fan and booster of ilsnow.com. If you’re looking for a new truck, give Steet Ponte a good look.
