My original plan for today was to meet Damion and Andy at One Stop and truck it to Horseshoe Lake for another St. Lawrence County play day.
But, I had a rather difficult and disrupted sleep last night and felt like total garbage. By 5:30am, I texted Damion to tell them go on without me. Eventually, I did fall asleep until almost 9am.
I opened the curtains to bright winter sunshine. After easing myself into the day, I knew I didn’t want to completely let this day go by without spinning the track somewhere.
Damion texted, just to let me know what I was missing in Childwold Snopackers land. What are friends for, right?
If you ride Childwold Snopackers trails, JOIN THEM!
Click here to join the club through NYSSA’s online portal.
They are a small club that works hard to bring us some of the best snowmobile riding in New York State. Maintaining that effort requires all the help they can get.
The plan
Since my sled was perched in the ilsnow wagon, I figured the easiest thing to do would be to park and ride from Northville/Lake Placid trailhead parking lot near Lake Durant. That lot doesn’t get much pressure and I’d avoid heavy weekend snowmobiling traffic on the 8 mile goat-path C8A/Old S84 trail. For the extra 15 minutes it’d take me to get there, t’was a no brainer decision.
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Heading out
S84 from Northville/Lake Placid trailhead parking lot to Lake Durant Campsite was decent riding. Snow was steep-n-deep on the picnic table.
After crossing Route 28/30, S84 was AWFUL until Hami600 intersection. Tons of snow, but the bumps were piled high and far throughout. It was a Mile of Misery. At least water hazards are closing up.
On to Newcomb!
C8A/Old 538 Newcomb trail was holding on as an enjoyable ride from tip to tail. There were (mostly) soft bumps, noticeably smoother on the Indian Lake side Sunday afternoon.
View from the scenic spur just past Essex County gate was mint! High Peaks were obscured by clouds, but frosted nearby mountains were stunning under deep blue sky!
From the T-intersection, much of C8A to Newcomb proper was a degree or two bumper than Old 538, but was good enough to stick with. Most water bars have caked over, but they do leave behind ditches across the trail. The biggest offender was this festering boil next to the beaver pond, between Goodnow Flow Road and Newcomb proper.
Trail through Newcomb proper down to Lake Harris boat launch was in pretty good shape. With a well-established drag strip on Lake Harris, I felt confident enough to rip it across to the Campsite on the other side.
Aside from some frozen slush ruts near where I’d get off the lake, the drag strip was tight and fast. What a rip across that lake!
This part of the program is when I issue my disclaimer to say that lakes cannot be called “safe riding”. I only testify to conditions of lakes that I decide to cross, at my own risk. I’m trusting we can all use sound judgement to make good decisions on whether to ride any lake.
High Peaks Overlook trail from the campsite was a decent ride with big reward!
After taking that in, I returned to Lake Harris and ripped it back and forth a few times. The speed rush was more addictive than crank! After sniffing around Lake Harris Lodge to find it closed, I rolled back to Newcomb Cafe and Campground for lunch.
Lunch!
Went heavy on vegetables with veggie soup (hits the spot on a cold day!) and a massive garden salad with chicken strips added. Always great food there!
I ate way too many calorie bombs over the holidays. So, any opportunity to fill my gut with veggies will help me in the quest to return to my summer weight. In winter, I don’t have the advantage of sweating pounds away, being chewed alive by swarms of blackflies or donating pints of blood to clouds of mosquitoes.
The way back
Despite encountering at least several packs of 5-10 snowmobilers on my way out to Newcomb and way back to Lake Durant, trail conditions didn’t deteriorate much in the time I was out there Sunday afternoon.
My only onerous task was to nurse my way through Mile of Misery on S84 back to Lake Durant without breaking suspension parts off my snowmobile or involuntarily donating a kidney or spleen. I’m happy to report: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. Rolled back to the truck after a 64 mile Sunday stroll.
Ride map
Click here to for ride stats and 3D flyover.
Bottom line
As much fun as it would have been to fly from Horseshoe Lake with the boys today, I’m thankful I got this ride in.
Midweek Outlook
Monday and Tuesday should give groomers good opportunity to put trails back together again. I don’t foresee any really troubling weather until after Wednesday.
How much riding to remain by next weekend will depend on damage brought by Thursday and Friday. If we can manage under an inch of rain and temperatures not much higher than 40*F, we can hold on to serviceable spring riding conditions. If we get 2 inches of rain and temperatures approaching 50*F, we’d be in a world of hurt.
For best results, drop a dime on a sick day while it still looks like winter here.
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
