With groomers out repairing weekend damage, I was chomping at the bit to roll out a ride from the compound on Tuesday. Didn’t really know which way I would head out of town, toward Moose River Plains or toward Newcomb.
I followed a fresh groom on C8 with it turning onto S84. That made Newcomb the winner!
S84 wasn’t perfect. There were low residual bumps baked into the trail-base, and some corner scuff. But it was an enjoyable ride, even past Rock Lake marsh. Well…as enjoyable as that goat path section can be.
Newcomb/Old 538 trail had stretches of studder-bumps to Essex County line, but covered under a fresh 2 inches of snow for cushioning. Essex County line to Newcomb-T was white velvet. I was the first track through.
Onto Long Lake
I hadn’t ridden that way this winter. Figured this would be my shot at it. C7B was a fairly rough bump-a-thon into Long Lake. Riding on the side of Tarbell Hill Road was the best part of riding this section, by far.
Did the quick grip-it-n-rip it across Long Lake to hit Kickerville Lane/Steinfeldt Lane to resume C7B on the other side, in the hopes of a much better ride. Snowfall made the roads good for riding.
On the other side, C7B delivered in SPADES!!! I hit a fresh groom and was the first track all the way up to Sabattis. Nearly 25 miles of great-to-awesome riding. Just a few thin spots, most notably whilst passing Grampus Lake.
C’mon, can it get much better than this?
Or this??
Onto Childwold?
I was within 5 miles spitting distance of Horseshoe Lake on C7/Railroad. It was dancing in my mind until I spotted this ski jammed into a switch. Just think… It was wedged so tight, amputation was the only way to get the snowmobile out of there. That must have totally sucked.
I crawled northward on C7/Railroad for about a quarter-mile for a look. The railroad hadn’t been groomed and there were only a couple of fresh snowmobile tracks on it. Figured there couldn’t have been much snow packed between the rails to ensure a safe and enjoyable ride.
Nursing it for several miles and praying I wouldn’t mess up my sled on the rails is NOT my idea of fun. Unless the rails are completely buried under a 2 foot (or greater) snowpack, I don’t consider them as snowmobile trails.
Was more than happy to turn tail onto C7B and ride the happy ribbon back to Long Lake.
Since I was in Long Lake, I figured I’d give the S86/Lake Eaton loop a shot. This was my mistake for the day. It had been recently groomed through Lake Eaton Campsite, but not much snow and several water spots such as these.
Was manageable riding until the trail forked to go around the back side of Lake Eaton. I probably should have turned tail back to C7B. It was bumpy and rough, needed more snow in many places. But I was unusually patient with it and was rewarded with seeing this old iron before rolling out onto Talbot Way/Endion Lane.
Trail signage was lacking and I had to rely on GPS to find my way onto Long Lake. Lots of road riding, but snowfall made that easy.
Did another quick grip-n-rip across Long Lake to Jennings Pond and hit Stewarts for a pit-stop. By then, I had a pretty good ice glaze on my gear.
Back to Indian Lake
I rolled over to Adirondack Hotel to survey Long Lake north of Route 30 highway bridge. No dice for ripping this back to Tarbell Hill Road the quick way.
Slush and a bit of snow on the sidewalks permitted me to cross Route 30 highway bridge and rejoin C7B via Rice Road and Kickerville Lane to quick rip across Long Lake.
At least several snowmobiles had ridden C7B from Tarbell Road to Newcomb, which took away some of the bump cushioning advantage I had in the morning. Yeah, Newcomb/Old 538 felt like HEAVEN when I got back!
Essex County Line to junction with S84 on Newcomb/Old 538 trail was bumpy in places, easily the roughest I’ve seen it this winter. Definitely needed a dredge with the groomer.
S84 over to Lake Durant and Blue Mountain Lake was gorgeous riding. I hit a fresh groom on Old Stage trail that had gone untouched all day!
There were residual rollers on the white carpet on Old Stage trail, but it was a fun ride through that tight and twisty avenue. There were a couple of spots that always need more snow to completely submerge the rock tops.
Rolled onto Blue Mountain Lake and nearly got bucked off the horse, slamming into 1-2 foot snow dunes. Don’t ride that lake often, so I forget how windy it is!
Stopped at Grandma Harr’s old camp. Thought about the great times I had there with Dad and my sister and brother. I really missed Dad badly on my stroll down memory lane. I can’t believe he has been gone for 3 years now. That never gets easy for me.
On my way back into Indian Lake, S84 was a bit scuffed in places from light traffic but was still mostly enjoyable. Best riding was Rock Lake marsh back to town.
S87/42nd and Broadway, Adirondack Lake and S86/One Stop to Lone Birch were fast and amazing riding. I really padded the end-of-ride miles, ripping all of those over and over again. WOW, that was really fun!
Rolled back into the compound a happy dude. You can see Tuesday’s ride miles and season total below. You can say I’m getting it done with the opportunities that line up.
The 163ish miles weren’t quite easy as the ones rolled out from Horseshoe Lake or Tupper Lake. But I had no shortage of fun. No trailer miles either. There’s always something special about rolling out an all day ride from the compound. New snow on my travels was 2-3 inches, with a crusty ice cap by Tuesday afternoon. Not what I was expecting. But hey, it wasn’t 50*F and rain.
Outlook
Got some above 32*F weather to wade through this week. But there doesn’t appear to be a wholesale meltdown or washout in the cards. Opportunity for more snow will roll into town Friday night into Saturday.
Go ahead and scoff at the weather forecast. Even as people are whining and complaining about the outcomes, we are regularly adding to the snow pile, which is currently ranges from several inches in the exposed/wind-blown areas to upwards of 12-20 inches in the shady woods around Indian Lake.
Looks like I’ll be riding all week. If you can sneak in a mid-weeker, I think you’ll be happy you did.
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
This report is brought to you by Charlie Johns Store and Speculator Department Store. Two great stores, One Great Snow Town! Groceries, deli/hot foods, hardware, gifts and more. They have it all.
