After getting chilled to be bone after Thursday’s mega-miler that continued into the evening, I wasn’t in a hurry to get back out there at the crack of dawn in sub-zero temperatures.
Friday morning’s low was -17*F and it was only back up to -11*F by 8am. Temperature jumped up to zero by 9am and then up to 15*F by 10am.
It felt like a heat wave rolled into town so I was good to go!
C8/Sabael trail heading out of Indian Lake was in great riding shape. Indian Lake and Lewey Lake had their areas of slush, but I made it through fine.
The pleasant surprise was finding that Town of Lake Pleasant had carpet-bombed the campsite bumps into oblivion – which was very welcomed!
C8/Two Miles From Hell and S82C/Old Indian Lake Road were good rides down into Perkins Clearing. I saw lots of sleds going through that corridor toward Indian Lake – sometimes 6 to 12 sleds at a time. Many of them appeared to be families.
Once in Perkins Clearing, I did the loop through Mud Lake Road and back over on LP9/Nichol Vly trail – which was great! Here’s a pic from Mud Lake Road by late morning:
Ran down to the end of Perkins Clearing and hit C4 down into Speculator. There were some low, stubborn rollers, but that trail was by far the best I’ve seen it this winter. Passing Oak Mountain and entering the village wasn’t quite old school Bump-ulator, but it was bump-and-grind riding for sure.
LP4 and the local Business Access Trail were serviceable pathways through the village. After horsing around on Lake Pleasant for a few minutes, I spied fresh groom marks on LP4A and headed down toward Wells.
I took a chance with C4B/Gilmantown trail and was rewarded handsomely with a fun ride thru the twisty hairpin turns and blind hills. And the power lines sections are fantastic!
After hanging around up there and talking to a couple of riders for over a half-hour, I dropped down into Wells with an eye on having lunch at the Overrock Cafe. But they had closed due to unforeseen circumstances.
With that, I headed up S42 up toward Speculator. And it was one of the nicest rides I’ve had up that gorge. You can see some freshly groomed goodness along Route 30:
Ran Old Route 30 straight up the gut into the Speculator Tree Farm, which was a fun rip. Fly Creek Road was pretty good.
Long Level Road, Wolf Hill Road and Pig Rock – Whitaker Lake Trail were magnificent sun-drenched riding to the upper reaches of Speculator Tree Farm. It was like a dream riding through that avenue and I took my sweet time savoring this:
Got back up into Perkins Clearing and did the Mud Lake Road – LP9/Nichol Vly thing again and all I could say was WOW!!
Then it was time to make the ride back home to Indian Lake. S82C and Two Miles From Hell were shredded from today’s heavy traffic but was far from being truly terrible.
After I sloshed through the slush on the southern end of Indian Lake, it became a race track all the way up past Sabael with all of the sleds that had packed it down.
And to me, there is nothing better than a gorgeous sun-kissed winter’s day on Indian Lake:
C8/Sabael trail was scuffed on the corners from heavy traffic, but was still a good welcome mat back into Indian Lake. Inner village trails were shredded up, but still fun riding.
Got to the Indian Lake Snowarriors Baked Potato Night at the American Legion Hall and did not go away hungry:
There was a huge baked potato somewhere under those toppings!
On the way back to the compound, I hit up S85/Ski Hut trail for a quick evening booty call:
Finished the day with almost 110 fun and sun-drenched miles. It was one of those days in which I hit miles upon miles of great trails and the sled just sounded perfect on a cold late-winter’s day.
I even laid first tracks on one of my “secret” happy spots. Can’t believe nobody got to it this week before I did:
Bottom line
I was looking for a fun, lazy ride and got it. I didn’t even break a sweat on the C4B/Gilmantown trail! A few people try to shame me for being a high mileage monster. But you know what, my snowmobiling is done the way I want it. I ride what I feel like that day and what the conditions give me. As long at the miles are giving me smiles, I’m happy with whatever I ride that day.
Glad I got out the past few days because I think the weekend will be a zoo. On my way back into Indian Lake, a couple of run-away riders did try their best to wipe me out. The cold nights will do well to help keep the trails together for the weekend warriors. But as always, early bird usually gets the worm…
Go out there and have fun! Who knows? I might try to sneak out for a quick ride after work on Saturday…
NOTE: The Ice Fishing Derby on Indian Lake will be Saturday, February 22nd. Please be mindful for the safety of the participants and SLOW DOWN.
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
This report is brought to you by Progressive Motorsports, celebrating their 27th year. They live, eat and breathe snowmobiling. Stop in today and see for yourself! Be sure to tell Karen that Darrin @ ilsnow.com sent ya.
