January 10th update: Ended up with 7 inches of snow by 9:00pm Tuesday that settled to 4-5 inches of waterlogged glop from 38*F warmth and rain overnight
Our waiting game resumes until the snowpack firms up and we get our next installment of snow. Remember, this is a process, not an event. We essentially started a month behind schedule here.
Had time to bang out a quickie snowmobile ride on Tuesday before the storm rolls in. With our new snow, I trucked it over to Brown’s Farm parking lot near the end of Cedar River Road.
Remember that it’s now $10/snowmobile to park and ride from Brown’s farm.
I did roll the truck up to the trailhead before parking at Brown’s Farm, to see whether the trail to Cedar River Headquarters was packed down. Town of Indian Lake had rolled the groomers through.
Game on!
The ride in
Conditions were thin, but grooming did a nice job of packing down a starter base. There were thin/scratchy spots such as these along the way.
Caught a fresh groom at Silver Run for a pretty nice ride to Big-T flats.
Overall, it was a halfway to pretty decent ride out to the Big-T. Didn’t clap rock tops too often.
This report is brought to you by Wilder Performance. your one-stop-shop for high-performance, premium parts for your Snowmobile and SxS. We are riders who are passionate about off-road sports and understand the importance of having the best performance parts to enhance your riding experience. Our frustration with the lack of quick access to these parts led us to start Wilder Performance.
We believe in doing things right the first time, which is why we offer only the highest quality products, hand-picked by our team. Our location in Mayfield, NY, gives us easy access to some of the best riding trails in the Northeast, allowing us to test and fine-tune our products to provide you with the best possible performance. At Wilder Performance, we’re committed to providing exceptional customer service and delivering your orders quickly and efficiently, so you can spend less time waiting and more time riding.
Inlet side, then back
Tried the Big-T dead ender. It hadn’t been groomed, so there was no packed base. Very scratchy and pebbly. Didn’t press that for more than a mile.
I didn’t press the main trail after Big-T much more than a mile either. Although that had been groomed, it was really thin and scratchy. Not really worth it for me to continue – although people were riding into Moose River Plains from Inlet.
Not much left for me to do, other then to roll it back to the truck at Brown’s Farm and call it good after a 40 mile shakedown ride.
Shot this quick video at the Big-T before I headed back:
Ride map
I’m experimenting with the Polaris Ride Command app to track my rides. Can’t guarantee that I can do for all rides with the phone in cold weather. But it worked well today.
Click here for ride stats.
Bottom line
Snow cover was generally a foot or less through Moose River Plains. The hill climb to 2500+ foot elevation on the slope of Cellar Mountain had over a foot of snow cover, but it wasn’t especially deep.
Definitely not more than starting snow. I wouldn’t blame people for waiting for another snow before trying it. But I’m here and had no saddle time this winter. It was worth the try for me.
Saw several other snowmobilers out there for probably their first miles of the season too.
Felt great to FINALLY get my first ride of the season under my belt.
Indian Lake town trails?
I’ll wait a while longer before my snowmobile touches them! Looked like this from Crow Hill Road – and probably even worse deeper into the woods.
Lakes?
Not yet, bro! We ride snowmobiles, not submarines.
Weekend Outlook (and beyond)
Largely depends on the net result of Tuesday night’s storm and the Friday night to Saturday event. Notwithstanding naysayers and Debbie Downers, this will NOT be a total meltdown and reset for the central Adirondacks. Messy at times, yes! But I believe that seasonal road snowmobile trails such as Moose River Plains and Perkins Clearing will be riding options for the holiday weekend.
Click here to keep up with my daily weather forecasts for Indian Lake, NY and central Adirondacks.
Once we get over the hump after Saturday, the following week should have plenty of opportunity for merry winter mayhem under this weather regime, with the Polar Vortex (PV) parked south of Hudson’s Bay for several days.
Buckle up ilsnow nation! Get ready to ride.
Darrin
Thanks for keeping the snowmobiling community informed! And for all of the detail that you put into your reports. I live in Ballston spa but frequent your area often in the winter with the sled but also in the summer months with my duel sport bike. We also camp in the Adirondack park all summer. So needless to say we love speculator, indian lake and beyond.
Agreed thanks for your hard work as a lot of us appreciate that. You save us time and money with your great pics and blog, for us to make a decision on making the trip or not, keep it up! And its great to see a short update in-between every once in a while.
Does anyone know if the trail from Indian lake village to new comb is open and rideable?
Newcomb has groomed their section of the Newcomb trail. Nothing has been groomed from Indian Lake to the Essex County line yet. Town trails are being ridden, but are swampy and rough riding. Need more snow and cold.