If Tuesday’s ride was like mid-March, Wednesday’s ride was late-March.
Decided to roll for another ride. Figured since my snowmobile was already on the trailer, I would truck it to Mason Lake parking lot and roll from there.
I saw a couple of other trucks in the lot before 11am, so I didn’t think I’d have much competition for whatever awaited me.
Into Perkins Clearing
Perkins Clearing Road was a good run until the junction with Mud Lake Road, with conditions ranging from nearly smooth to slight studder-ripple. But south-facing sections were already getting thin.
I sniffed the southern bypass trail. As bad as it looked in this picture, it got more skunky a short distance in. Didn’t feel the need to pursue it any further.
Tried the trail over to Pig Rock parking lot. It was bumpy, but serviceable riding. Plowed road section was wet ice. Section through logging slash field was plain awful. Didn’t bother to press all the way through it.
To the back
I rolled back to Perkins-T and made my way toward the back side of Perkins Clearing. That was a tad more studdery in places than Perkins Clearing Road, but probably the smoothest I’ve ridden it this season.
Carpenter Hill Road was a great rip all the way over to Mossy Vly. Shortly after crossing the Vly, I encountered this slash and promptly turned back.
Surprise!
I went to take a sniff at C4/C8 Big Brook trail. Honestly, I thought it would be horribly rough and bumpy like the other times I tried it this winter. But it had been groomed for a passable ride all the way down through C4/Fawn Lake trail. Don’t get me wrong, riding wasn’t smooth and there were a number of skunky spots. But it was a serviceable pathway down to Sacandaga Lake.
After the short lake rip, I ventured onto C4/Fish Mountain trail. Riding bordered on half-way decent at times until the cemetery. Then oooof! It got BAAAAAD!! This was the skunkiest stretch, but there was plenty of dodging and weaving around rocks and water spots after this.
Keep going….
After a rutty run over Oxbow Lake, I had planned to have lunch at Oxbow Inn. But they weren’t open for lunch today. Probably a good call by them because I’d likely would have been the only snowmobile rider they’d serve today.
Figured since I was there, I’d sniff C8/Spy Lake trail. At first, the trail was surprisingly passable aside from skunky corners and some water spots. But then it got flat out seedy on Jack’s Hill.
I probably should have turned around at that point. But I was starting to smell Powley Road. That whole southerly exposed hillside down to Spy Lake was rather seedy. I happily jumped onto Spy Lake to escape the trail for a bit.
C8 from Spy Lake to Route 10 was a serviceable ride, seemingly light years better than Jack’s Hill.
Powley Road!
Thankfully, Powley Road was worth the pain of getting there! It was fast and very fun down to the steel bridge. WOW!
From steel bridge into Stratford had corner bumps, but still light years better than the skank I rolled through to make it to Powley Road from Perkins Clearing.
I took a sniff at C8A after it left Powley Road. Didn’t take long for me to turn tail and rip it back up Powley Road, lol!
In case you were wondering about parking at the Route 10 sand pit to access Powley Road: It was horribly rough and bumpy. I turned tail at this nasty boulder and water hole.
What now?
Outside of Perkins Clearing and Powley Road, riding conditions were various shades of fair-to-poor to awful. Figured the shortest distance back to Perkins Clearing would work best. That would take me through Piseco.
Not wanting to roll back through Spy Lake trail, I took my chances on the trail to Piseco Lodge. There were plenty of roller bumps. I had to dodge rocks and water holes in at least several places. But most of the trail was actually covered with WHITE SNOW!! I was able to press through at about 15-20 mph.
Took a side trip over to Evergreen Lake for a look-see. Looked like Panther Mountain Stream was solid enough to scoot over. But I didn’t think that anything on the other side would be worth pressing my luck over.
By the time I got to Piseco Lake, temperatures into the 50s had melted all snow off the ice. Nothing left for me to do, other than rip the whole 6 miles on 1-2 inches of standing water. It was a nice tunnel wash!
Stopped at The Irondequoit Inn and chatted with innkeeper Jen Scanlon for a while. Great conversation on how amazing the Adirondacks are for people from all walks of life. She tremendously enjoys running the inn. And I’m very happy that she’s an advertising supporter of ilsnow.com
Eventually, it became time for me to press on. Or else, I might have fallen asleep on the chair that I had become quite comfortable on. Snapped this pic before I took off.
C4/C8 Willis Mountain trail had studders and rollers all the way through. But 50s warmth had softened the bumps to make them somewhat tolerable. Aside from dodging some rocks and a few water holes, the trail was entirely passable. Knowing that Big Brook trail on the other side had been groomed was excellent motivation to make it through with optimism!
Back to Mason Lake parking lot
I milked Perkins Clearing for what she was worth to expunge the memory of bumpin-and-grindin my way through the woods. First order of business was to hit Carpenter Hill Road for a helmet-whipping booty call! Then I ran over to Perkins Clearing Road, ripped it to the bottom thence back up to Mason Lake parking lot. It was a shameless power-haulic, grip-it-n-rip-it session through the straights.
Ended up with 106 miles for the day. It’s been a s#itty winter, but I’ve had fun every time I’ve gone out.
In a winter like this, it’s about making the most of the opportunities granted. Hale Irwin won the 1974 U.S. Open at seven strokes OVER par (+7). What’s seen as an ugly score masked a gutty win in the “Massacre at Winged Foot” over all-time golf greats like Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson, all who finished Top-10.
Nearing 2000 miles on snowmobile for the season. I’ve been seizing the moments. 🙂
Weekend outlook
If you’re considering Speculator area this weekend, you’re looking at Perkins Clearing, Speculator Tree Farm, Powley Road and not much else. At 10pm Wednesday as I’m writing this, temperature was 50*F with howling wind. That’ll eat a ton of snow overnight. Lakes will become glare ice as colder air finally staunches the bleeding Friday night.
Any hope?
I do see signs of a subtle pattern shift that may allow for snow opportunities as we press into the final week of February. But don’t expect winter to turn around into something great for a large chunk of March. I’ll be forthcoming with rough details this weekend – when I won’t be riding.
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
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