UPDATE: C4 by Oak Mountain has become CLOSED due to LARGE MUDHOLES. Beware of that if you’re contemplating riding into Speculator Village from Perkins Clearing.
I pointed the ilsnow mobile command unit to Mason Lake parking lot and hit Perkins Clearing on Tuesday. There were a couple inches of fresh snow that took a few days to accumulate, enough to make a difference.
Kyle Prill told me that he and his son would be riding Perkins Clearing, so that I could look out for them. Well… They were unloading their sleds whilst I pulled into the Mason Lake parking lot. Didn’t even have to look for them. Happy accidents work better than plans, sometimes.
North end of Perkins Clearing Road down to the Perkins-T was groomed for a pretty good ride. Right turn onto Old Military Road and the ride became ungroomed and a bit rough in places. There was a large washout near the Miami River Bridge that had frozen over.
Left turn onto Carpenter Hill Road resulted in a smoother ride. The gate wasn’t open, but was easy to get around.
We broke some deadender trails along the way. On a trail to a camp I wanted to show them, I took a wrong fork and led us into a **OMG STUCK** down a hill that took us a good half-hour or more to extricate ourselves from. I hated myself for doing that. But Kyle and Wyatt took it in stride, because they had practice getting unstuck breaking Perkins Clearing after the big snow storm a week and a half ago.
Mossy Vly was frozen enough to get by. Trail on the other side was plowed past the back end of Mud Lake Road, but was easily passable.
LP 9/ Nichol Vly trail was groomed for a passable ride. But the middle part of it had numerous water/mud spots.
Reconnected with Perkins Clearing Road and encountered several people taking a break near the intersection with Mud Lake Road.
Decided to try the Perkins Clearing southern bypass. It was groomed and to my pleasant surprise, NOT… THAT… BAD… Aside from some water spots and scuffed corners, it was a half-way decent ride.
Into Speculator
We pressed C4 down to Speculator. A groomer had packed that trail, without its drag. The groomer had opened up a large mud hole about midway down, which we skirted around. There were a few *LARGE* mud holes broken open near the base of Oak Mountain. I wish I had taken pictures to show how bad they were!
UPDATE: C4 by Oak Mountain has become CLOSED due to LARGE MUDHOLES. Beware of that if you’re contemplating riding into Speculator Village from Perkins Clearing.
When we got into Speculator, a couple DRAG of Speculator groomers passed by our rest stop and paved a (mostly) white ribbon into the village.
I hadn’t started with a full tank because I thought I’d just be putzing around Perkins Clearing for a few hours. So I topped off with gas at Mountain Market before resuming the ride.
The groomers had hit Business Access Trail (BAT) and were working down LP4A when we overtook them on Downey Avenue. We actually saw fresh groomer tracks heading out of C4B/Gilmantown Trail, although we didn’t enter.
Enter Tree Farm
Much of C4/Old Route 30 is plowed for logging and closed to snowmobiling as far as Robbs Creek. Kyle led us through the bypass trail over to Fly Creek Road. The bypass was groomed for a passable ride, in better shape than I would have expected.
Fly Creek Road was groomed for a marvelous ride! Long Level Road and Elm Road hadn’t been groomed yet, until we encountered a DRAG of Speculator groomer tag team rolling through. Always gotta love the view from Elm Lake Road.
We rolled up Wolf Hill Road, which was washed out in places until we got over the top. Progress was stopped by a large fallen tree. We looped back to Elm Lake Road, then hit the other side of Wolf Hill Road via Hatchery Brook Trail.
Then we decided to make a run up Pig Rock trail. Washouts on the way up, but nice riding once we got over the top. We were hoping to find the crossing at Route 30 and roll back into Perkins Clearing. But we lost our way because the entire trail wasn’t tracked and it was somewhat of a maze up there.
Heading back
We doubled back and broke open the 4-5 mile section of Hatchery Brook trail that hadn’t been ridden yet this winter. We were surprised that nobody had attempted it after the big snow storm!
It was tedious (and fun) riding. There were times I was uncertain what was under us, or even where the trail was, with the forks. But we traversed the few mud spots and never broke through large frozen water holes near the marsh. There was one fallen tree along the way, but my folding hand saw took care of that.
It had gotten dark by the time we made it to the intersection with C4 at the top. Once we got back into Perkins Clearing, it was a mad dash to the truck straight up the gut.
We had a lot of fun and adventure packed into the 61 miles ridden! Considering I haven’t ridden much (if at all) until mid-January lately, I was very happy with what I rode today and what I did last week. Feels great to be on the saddle and seeing riders enjoy being out there!
It’s unfortunate the warm train will arrive on Thursday and stay a while. As long as we avoid crazy 55-60*F weather and gully-washing rain, we should have something left to build upon when the weather turns our way again, certainly for places like Perkins Clearing and the Tree Farm.
Other stuff
If you’re wondering about Moose River Plains, a friend rode it on Monday and said it was good. Trailer your sled to the Brown’s Farm parking lot near the Cedar River Road, pay the $5/sled, ride into Moose River Plains and take the points.
Indian Lake Snowarriors have been grooming Newcomb trail, the one formerly known as 538. Getting there from Indian Lake via S84 is probably a challenge, but at least there would be a reward for your effort.
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
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