I knew it wasn’t going to be good. But I hadn’t been out riding in 3 weeks and got the itch I needed to scratch.
Best I can say about the Indian Lake trails: They are ride-able but very rough, needing more snow BADLY!
Although I didn’t ride C8/Sabael trail, I know it’s been ridden all the away through by locals. There’s no way I’m going to rip across Indian Lake or any big lake anytime soon – so there wasn’t incentive for me to run out that way on a rough trail.
42nd and Broadway wasn’t much good, except for the Cedar River view:
I saw a number of tracks on Adirondack Lake, so I grabbed a handful of throttle and zipped around. Pin-it-to-win-it… Grip-it-and-rip-it… Goose-it-to-glory…. Whatever you call it, I did it!
The middle was very fun riding. But there was a lot of water under the snow on the edges. And I daresay there was questionable ice under some of that slush. I didn’t stop to ask questions or take pictures while on the ice, but I did snap a picture from the Byron Park Building:
Out of morbid curiosity, I ran S84/Blue Mountain trail out of town. Although that trail was rideable, it was a mess of water holes and rocks:
Since I hadn’t ridden much at all this winter, I was probably more tolerant of the rough conditions than I normally would be. When I made it to Rock Lake Marsh, I thought about making the run to 538/Newcomb Trail.
Well, I make it about a mile past the marsh before there were simply too many big rocks on the trail to keep going. Even if I had pressed onto 538/Newcomb trail, the reward it offered would not have been worth the torture of the round trip of hell on S84/Blue Mountain Trail.
So, I turned back to town and found Adirondack Lake to use and abuse for about 20 minutes before calling it an afternoon and headed back to the compound. About 35 miles – and I was sure to make half of those miles ripping Adirondack Lake.
I’m sure you could ride C8 out to Cedar River Headquarters and live to tell about it. But you could say the same thing about going a round against Mike Tyson. Doesn’t make it a good idea…
Bottom line
If anything will do, you can ride here. Just set your expectations reasonably low for marginal conditions and you could be happy that you made the trip here.
I would recommend heading to the Browns Farm (pay $5/sled) near the end of Cedar River Road to ride Moose River Plains or to Mason Lake parking lot on Route 30 to hit Perkins Clearing. Even the lot near the south end of Perkins Clearing Road could work for you – but the snow is usually thinner that way.
Outlook
No appreciable snow in the forecast for the next several days. But the half-foot or so of snow pack will remain with us. We may have an opportunity for a nor’easter event by around January 14. If you want to read into the nuts and bolts of that – and a look into the second half of January – you can click here to read up.
I wish I had better news, but I’m sure you’re not surprised either.
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.
