Have trailer, will travel… It’s been that kind of winter for me.
Another trip up north was in order for Tuesday. This time, I trucked it to Horseshoe Lake on the horrible “road” called NYS Route 421.
Thankfully, the snowmobiling was well worth enduring 6 miles of frost heaved pavement to reach the trailhead.
Here’s what C7A looked like from the get-go with a fresh couple of inches of pow-pow and the groomer rolling out. Beautiful riding, eh?
C7A logging detour had more crooks than a joint session of Congress. But it was groomed for a nice ride with very few thin spots.
After I crossed Route 3 at Shertleff, trail C7A hadn’t been groomed and had bumps in places. But it wasn’t a terrible ride. C7A was closed for logging at Intersection 27.
I tried S88 to start a loop, but it became rough and bumpy after a mile or so where the groomer turns around. So, I backtracked C7A until I hit 718 and found this beauty!
After riding the shoulder of Route 3 for about a half-mile, I hit S88 and S88A to connect with C8. That stretch was decent riding.
S89 was its usual very fun rip down to Cranberry Lake and back!
Once I rejoined C8, I ran that down to Wanakena. Besides a couple of stream crossings near Intersection 222 and a bumpy section over the hill, it was a great romp over the freshies.
Black Waters Cafe wasn’t open, so no lunch there today. Since visibility was great and there were a number of tracks onto the lake, I decided to take the fast rip over Cranberry Lake. I didn’t spot any questionable ice along the way – but I did have to watch out for rock and stump heaves in places.
Then I got to rip S89 another time back up to C8!
On to Little Blue Mountain!
I re-ran C8 over to Cook Corners then rolled through S81 up toward Trooper Shed. With the exception of a few bumpy sections, that was a pretty nice ride.
S83 and C7A enroute toward Little Blue Mountain was bumpy in places, but tolerable. The climb up Little Blue was rough, but the view was TOTALLY worth the sweat.
After I chatted with a few other snowmobilers that made it to the top, I rolled C7A down to Seveys Point. That avenue was thin and nearly bony in places and had a couple of water crossings. There were also some nice riding stretches as well. It was a mixed bag of treats.
I rode S73 for a side romp until I hit the “Tree Farm“
After I refueled, I stayed at Seveys for a bit to eat and warm up. I was actually COLD out there today! I’m used to riding in 28 or 32 degree weather. This was a rare true winter’s day.
The way home
From Seveys Point, I ran C7C to start my run back to the truck. Most of that was good enough riding, with it getting thin in spots the usual places around Thirsty Moose. The worst water hole I found today was on the narrow section south of Thirsty Moose.
C7C became a great run through the Scout Camp. As a side trek, I veered onto S79 down to Conifer. After some roller bumps at the start, it evolved into a beautiful ride. Fresh groomer tracks called my name onto S78.
I thought about making the run to Tupper Lake via Piercefield from there, but the section of C7 off the railroad tracks was bumpy enough to change my mind and turn tail.
C7A was a fabulous run back to Horseshoe Lake, even better than it was in the morning!
You gotta love it when the best miles are the ones back to the truck! Always a great way to seal the day. Rolled onto the trailer just before dark with 142 mostly easy miles. Had the place mostly to myself.
Snowpack appeared to be mostly in the 12-18 inch range.
It’s been a cruddy winter, but there is riding to be had!
Other intel
I noticed freshly groomed ribbon on C7B along Route 30 from Long Lake to Sabattis Road, with the shelved snowback continuing onto Sabattis Road. Railroad from what I could see today had little snowmobile traffic and rails were showing in places – not something I’d ride, but I’m reporting on what I saw.
Town of Indian Lake is grooming the local trails now. I hope to ride them Wednesday and report back to y’all!
Arctic Blast!
The headline weather event of the week will be a Siberian-origin Arctic outbreak on Friday, lasting into Saturday. You can see extreme cold air advection in advance of a 1041mb high over Upper Michigan on Friday, depicted by ECMWF.
This would, more than likely, be the coldest air we’ll see this winter. And it’s legitimate Arctic cold at that, with temperatures SUB-ZERO AND FALLING all day Friday over the central Adirondacks. Even some cruddy winters will produce such a blast, because it’s winter after all.
Next week?
Unfortunately, this would be a one-and-done cold shot. With the mean Polar Vortex (PV) position over Baffin Island during the February 5-10 timeframe, mild Pacific air will rapidly spread across the Lower-48 once the cold shot retreats, with temperatures rebounding well above climo next week.
Beyond that, emsemble long-range modelology shows no signs of that changing through at least mid-February. This would leave us vulnerable to one warm-wave after another.
I STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you get in as much snowmobile riding as you can during the next 7 days or so, including this weekend. It may get UGLY really fast next week.
How about the rest of winter?
Starting in October and rolling through January, there has been ample evidence presented to suggest this winter would be a dud. Playing the same game and expecting different results is only hoping against hope.
At this point, this winter is what it’s going to be. If the second half of winter follows the same pattern as January, maybe we get a resurgence in snow opportunities as we push into the second half of February. But at that point, March would around the corner.
My best advice (as it has been all winter) is for you to be opportunistic and pounce on whatever rideable snow we do get. There is simply nothing to suggest it would stay good for multiple weeks at a time. You’re looking at Tug Hill, Adirondacks and into far northern New York for legitimate hopes of snow play.
Wish I had better news, but I always call it as I see it.
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
This report is brought to you by Willam Strauss, Farmer’s Insurance Agent. What you don’t know can hurt you. Give Bill a holler at 518-693-6897 to discuss your insurance needs, including auto, home, renters, business and SNOWMOBILE insurance.
