I missed my chance to ride Tug Hill with friends the day after Christmas. I wanted to give it a whirl before the big warm up comes to town.
Got to Smith Road State Parking Lot near Constableville and was ready to head out by 9:30am. There was a long line of trucks-n-trailers parked along the roadside.
Yup… This was gonna be weekend lite. It was GAME ON: Time to put on the war paint and head in! Until today, I had only played follow the leader in Tug Hill. Now, I was on my own to fend for myself. Didn’t have an exact plan, except head north and see what happens.
From Smiths Road, I ran C7B, C7D and C4F up to Tabolt Corners. Then I hit C4H up to Whetstone Gulf.
From there, it was C5A over to Flat Rock Inn. Wasn’t even 11 am yet and dozens of sleds were already gathering at Flat Rock.
Up to this point, riding conditions ranged from nearly smooth to varying degrees of soft studder bumps along with corners blown down to ice. Heavy traffic was already showing on the trails.
Decided on trying a run up to Copenhagen on C5B. For a while, that was pretty good riding and the open fields were a blast.
The further north I got, the bumpier the ride became. Once I reached The Maples, it was whoppers and snocross moguls. Didn’t find it necessary to press further along that avenue, so I doubled back and looped via C5B toward Lowville and down to Rector Road, which was mostly good riding.
Ran C5B/Rector Road over to Montague Inn. It was busy there early afternoon.
From there, I ran the margins of Sears Pond Road until I hit C5A/Worth Road. Then it was C5/Culpepper Road and C5B/Pitcher Road. Most of that was good riding and pretty as a post card.
From there, C5D & C5A/Flat Rock Road was beaten up badly with brown snow in places – along with rock nuggets.
On the way back
By the time I returned into territory I had ridden earlier in the day, I wanted to drop off “the Hill” to look for some quieter riding. Corrigan Hill Road was nice. But there didn’t seem to be a trail continuing at the bottom. So I turned tail and headed back up.
C5A/Houseville Road was a decent run down to the bottom. But the trail crossing Route 26 was closed. Back up into the Tug for me!
By the time I got back to Tabolt Corners mid-afternoon, the trails were bumpy and beaten up. It wasn’t the 2-3 foot moguls that Tug Hill can be famous for. But I was standing up to surf the bumps and half the other riders were too. That was my cue to make the mad dash to the truck!
On the side, I ran C7B eastward toward Turin until it turned into a plowed road. Wow, that was a fast rip! Probably the best trail I experienced today – and I had saved it for last.
Bottom line
Got back to the truck with a few clicks short of 100 miles. Frequent stops to refer to map and GPS, along with bumpy trails cut down on the mileage. But I had a lot of fun. And I built some “muscle memory” of Tug Hill.
Part of the fun was joining groups incognito. I would tail them to the next intersection, then pick up another group. It became a game, lol!
Throttle jockies were out. When I noticed riders humping my tail, I pulled over and let them ride by. No biggie.
I won my bout with Tug Hill by split decision. Better than riding the couch, especially with the upcoming warm-up.
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
This report is brought to you by Allen Van Hoff – Howard Hanna Real Estate Services. Voted Realtor of the Year 2016 by Southern Adirondacks Realtors Inc., Allen Van Hoff is best described as a warm and friendly, attentive full-time real estate professional with a passion for the area and people he serves.
