After getting skunked last week and with trouble looming on the horizon for next week, I’m ALL IN for the ride-a-thon this week!
I hadn’t ran to Brantingham this winter and figured Tuesday would be the day for that, since I heard some good ride reports from that way over the weekend.
First, I wanted to take a swirl around the Indian Lake trails to see how they were. Town of Indian Lake groomed C8 out toward Headquarters Tuesday morning. I can say it was ride-able, but thin and snirty with icy corners.
I continued on it for a mile or so, for a look-see. The hill by Deer Trail was VERY ICY! I needed a decent head of steam to make the climb up.
Wasn’t planning on riding it all the way to Headquarters anyway. So, I turned tail and ripped the town loop before loading my sled onto the ilsnow.com mobile command center for transport to Browns Farm Parking Lot near the end of Cedar River Road.
On to Brantingham
There was enough snow to get by the rest of Cedar River Road from Brown’s Farm. And I was treated to fresh groomer marks heading into Moose River Plains. Those first 4 miles to Headquarters were SWEEEEEET!
After I pressed by Headquarters, there were hints of low rollers under the fresh groom. After I overtook the groomer, the ride was fair at best to Silver Run. The S-turns were icy and pebbly.
The Inlet side was fairly good riding from Silver Run to Red River T, with the Big-T flats being good for a cheap thrill. After I encountered a fresh groom past Red River T, it was pretty smooth sailing the rest of the way. But those final couple of miles to Limekiln Road were a brownish carbide clap-a-thon.
Limekiln Road snowbank was shelved nicely enough to stay off the road most of the time. Ole Barn to Gilbert Road was the usual brown trek through the woods.
4th Lake was a SWEET run over to Daikers. I didn’t encounter anything questionable through that stretch.
Trail 5 from Daikers to Rondaxe Road was brown and bumpy, but it did the job to press me to the prize on Old Forge Trail 9.
Trail 1 became thin and pebbly in places after it’s junction with Pipeline trail, but was flat enough for a decent passage. There were a few larger floating rocks I had to avoid.
Stillwater Road had good enough snow coverage, so I ran that over to Brantingham Trail detour. There was a mile-plus of buckety-buck, hell-on-trail riding on the detour.
The rest of Brantingham Trail was MUCH BETTER riding. Even though it was a plush ride, I clipped rocks once in a while.
C7B/10 Mile Crossing was mainly flat riding. But it was thin with carbide clank and icy turns. On a lark, I decided to turn the skis into C8A. Mount Tom section was recently groomed for a surprising decent ride, aside from this spot.
The remainder of C8A evolved into a beautiful ride through Stoney Lake Camps into Confusion Flats. There were miles of marvelous riding through that avenue. I even played on those little side trails leading to hidden gems.
C8B/Van Arnem Road was a nice ride into Brantingham. The plowed road section had enough snow coverage to easily get by.
Lunch was in order at the Pine Tree Inn, where I played “seek and destroy” with a huge platter of Adirondack Nachos.
The way back…
C8A was so good, I doubled back on all of that great riding through Confusion Flats and Stoney Lake Camps. Who could blame me for doing that, right?
The trek back to Stillwater Road from C7B/10 Mile Crossing was tattered a bit from the day’s traffic, but still decent enough – aside from the hell through Brantingham Trail detour. Figured I’d run to Trail 2 on Stillwater Road to avoid the rock clipping I did on Trail 1, which ended up being a good call…
Trail 29 was half-way decent. I retraced my route back to the Ole Barn via Trail 9, Trail 5, Daikers and 4th Lake. Hit the Inlet loop trails, which were mainly flat riding, but thin and pebbly in places. The trail over the top into Moose River Plains was a bit choppy, in addition to being thin and pebbly at times.
The ride across Moose River Plains was OK at best. Big-T to Silver Run was bumpier than I thought it would be. The bumps were back in force from Silver Run to Headquarters, but they wasn’t horribly back breaking yet.
Did manage to sneak a run through Mitchell Ponds loop. It hadn’t been groomed. But only several snowmobilers had ventured in there, so the trail wasn’t rough. Aside from several shallow creek washouts, it was a nice ride.
Run to the truck!
The final 4 miles from Headquarters to the road were the best riding all day. It was snowing pretty hard with a fresh inch down by the time I got back to Browns Farm at dark, which made the road riding easy!
180 miles spun off for the day, and I didn’t have to worry about bumping and grinding the 17 miles back to Indian Lake on the goat path. Good decisions are sometimes rewarded, eh?
Bottom line
You almost never get as good a ride through Moose River Plains as you would through Powley Road or Perkins Clearing. But I was reasonably satisfied with my ride through the Plains on Tuesday. The groomers were out there working it. As long as they go out each day, the Plains will remain a serviceable passage between Indian Lake and Inlet this week. I’m sure it’ll get smashed on Saturday though – so grab it early if you do it this weekend.
As for the narrow woods trails? Well… The groomers are doing what they can do with them. But conditions are thin and snirty. You will clip rocks and encounter icy turns and hills.
I’ll be riding all week because I’m running out of time to be picky and choosy. What you decide to do is on you. It’s March and we’ll run out of tomorrows sooner, rather than later.
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
This report is brought to you by Progressive Motorsports, celebrating their 29th 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.
