Several years ago, the Indian Lake Lost Boyz of Winter took a Saturday ride from Charlie’s Inn in Lake Clear up to Malone. I wasn’t able to go on that ride.
Crazy Cal regaled me with stories of endless, straight arrow power lines riding along with snowmobile riders suited up in denim, Carhartt and leather chaps. For years, this ride fascinated me.
So… When Cal took the day off work Thursday and told me he wanted to go back, I was all in! I sorely needed a ride to expunge the muscle memory (and damage) from Wednesday’s beat down in Moose River Plains on my way home.
I had loaded the 900 ACE Turbo onto the ilsnow mobile command center Wednesday night and picked up Cal and his sled Thursday morning.
The drive up to Charlie’s Inn ranged from overcast, to drizzle, to wet snow. By the time we arrived, it was pelting snow pretty good at Charlie’s.
We took off by 10am. After 4 miles, I was already into snowmobiling heaven! INCREDIBLE riding along the power lines and between the poles. The only things to slow us down were road crossings and stopping to take in the sights. It was miles upon miles upon miles of nearly effortless riding on C7 heading toward Malone.
As we entered Malone, snow conditions thinned somewhat and we encountered some soft low studders entering farm country.
The connector trail around the northern part of Malone Village was well marked for directions to amenities. Snow conditions had thinned further with dirty snow and bald spots as we rolled through the village. And we saw something not found in ilsnow land.
We somehow missed the last sign to Mo’s Pub and Grill and kept riding along a trail that wasn’t named on any map or app I had. After several miles, it was rather clear we weren’t gonna find Mo’s in a manure field. But we were content to keep honking across the farm fields for miles of fun. And we did weave around a manure field!
There were several places we had to ride dirty snow banks along the road to connect to the next trail section. After bumping and grinding our way through a maple tap farm, we turned tail to head back to Malone to find Mo’s. Apparently, we were at least half way to Moriah at this point.
One we found Mo’s, it did not disappoint! Cal had the Reuben sandwich and said it was great. I had the steak burger with a side of sweet potato fries for the win.
The way back
To keep things simple at first (and to repeat some awesome riding), we headed back through C7 toward Charlie’s Inn. The view of the mountains on the return trip was amazing.
Then we decided to hit S83 over to C7B which paralleled the opposite side of Lake Kushaqua. That was even better than riding the power lines! Miles long stretches of mint straight arrow riding through seasonal roads and what appeared to be an long abandoned rail bed.
After crossing NY Route 86, it became a bump and grind goat path down to the Adirondack Rail Trail. At FRAN 1, we took the turn to continue C7B passing Lake Colby into Saranac Lake. It was really cool to ride a snowmobile into a city! Unfortunately, none of the pictures of that route came out well enough to post.
We doubled back along C7B and eventually C7C to make the run back to Charlie’s Inn. There were low soft studders throughout, but still good enough riding to make it back to the truck just before dark. By then, it was snowing pretty hard and it looked like they had picked up a fresh inch or two through the day.
Loaded the sleds onto the mobile command center after 136 miles, most of them effortless and totally fun riding. You can see the smile through my helmet!
Wow! I gotta say this place has jumped to the top of the list of places I’m willing to trailer to. Hands down, drop the mike, this is the best ride I’ve had ALL winter!
Next time the Lost Boyz head up there, I’ll be tagging along for sure… I can’t recommend highly enough that you give this place a shot, even if you have to haul it a little out of your usual radius.
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
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