With my sled still on the trailer after Tuesday’s road trip, I trucked it to Mason Lake parking lot on Wednesday to perform a scope run of Perkins Clearing and surrounding areas.
On the way down, I could see people riding C8/Sabael trail, down the length of Indian Lake and C8/Two Miles of Hell. I can tell you that 2 miles of Hell had no shortage of bumps and water spots, just by watching snowmobile head lights bounce up and down vigorously.
I also saw a large expanse of thin ice and open water near the boat launch at the south end of Indian Lake, where the Miami River dumps in.
I’ll repeat my usual disclaimer: Snowmobile riding on lakes is always and forever, AT YOUR OWN RISK!
On with the MY ride
Perkins Clearing Road hadn’t been groomed since the new snow. But there was nothing worse than low bumps through that avenue.
I turned right at Perkins Clearing-T and headed toward the back. Bumps were bigger but there was plenty of lightly-tracked and some non-tracked snow to cushion the riding. Miami River had receded to within her banks and was no longer washing out the area by the bridge.
For kicks, I rode into Big Brook trail for a look-see. It was bumpy and rough as sh-t once it narrowed. Enough sleds had gone through there to convince me the trail was passible. But the juice simply wasn’t worth the squeeze for me. I turned tail after a quarter-mile in.
I backtracked to hit Carpenter Hill Road, which was the best ride of the day – mainly smooth with abundant lightly-tracked and no-tracked snow. After a short stop at Mossy Vly, I doubled back through Carpenter Hill Road to maximize the fun factor.
Then I ran it back to Perkins Clearing-T and headed southward down Perkins Clearing Road, which was pretty decent riding.
Ran LP9/Nichol Vly trail all the way back. There were bony spots and several water crossings in the usual swampy spots, but somehow not as horrible as I thought it could be.
Didn’t want to backtrack LP9, so I crossed Mossy Vly and rolled through the last remains of untracked powder on Carpenter Hill Road.
After I completed the clockwise loop, I hit the Perkins Clearing Southern Bypass trail for kicks. It was bumpy, bony and had some water crossings, but semi-tolerable enough to keep rolling with it. Here was one of the worse water spots.
After the Perking Clearing Road crossing, the Bypass trail was HORRIBLE. It was buckety-buck hell on a snowmobile down to Route 30. There simply wasn’t enough snow to even consider running a groomer through that.
On to Speculator?
Didn’t happen. I’ll tell you, as of 1pm Wednesday, C4 down to Oak Mountain was still officially closed. But there were a number of snowmobiles that had ran it through. It hadn’t been groomed, so there wasn’t even a temptation for me to try it. I can’t imagine it was close to being a good ride.
SINCE THIS REPORT, D.R.A.G. OF SPECULATOR HAS INFORMED THAT C4 from Perkins Clearing down to Oak Mountain has reopened.
I tried Hatchery Brook trail, which had a good amount of powdery snow. But my skis were banging rocks under that snow more than I cared for. I gave up on that after a half-mile.
By then, I had enough of what was offered, so ran it back up the gut to Mason Lake parking lot. Spun off 53 miles without having to utilize every last Perkins Clearing nook and cranny trail that I know.
I heard a report of an ice heave on Lake Pleasant, near where you’d get off the lake to hit LP1/Page Street trail. Apparently, this is a winter for ice heaves – so watch out for them, if you decide to take the risk of riding the lake. I’ll repeat my usual disclaimer: Snowmobile riding on lakes is always and forever, AT YOUR OWN RISK!
Bottom line
We’re heading into our first real snowmobile riding weekend here in Indian Lake & Speculator. But it’ll be a mixed bag of treats for sure. Seasonal road snowmobile trails should be good to go. But grooming the narrow wooded trails may end up getting done on a case-by-case basis by Towns and Clubs. You’ll need to pick and choose your spots.
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
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