Wednesday, January 31 AM Update: Fresh groom staring down the barrel of S86 main drag toward Bear Trap Swamp. Grooming in progress into C8A/Old S84 toward Lake Durant & Newcomb trail.
C8 toward Cedar River Headquarters yet to be groomed, but it’s probably a matter of time this week before that gets combed over.
C8/Sabael trail yet to be groomed. Expect stream and water bar crossings through that avenue.
Tuesday’s ride report
Taking an Ole Barn run is nostalgic. Brings me back to the days when that snowmobile ride used to be a big deal. I faintly remember my first rides out there with Dad. 200-milers were not yet on my dossier. I barely knew what was beyond the Ole Barn.
Wasn’t planning on that ride today. Was just going to take a local sniff test to see how the trails held up. Honestly, if we hadn’t gotten the 4 inches of new snow Sunday night, I wouldn’t have bothered riding at all.
Heading out
Shout out to Indian Lake Parks and Rec for laying down log corduroy in Bear Trap Swamp to ease snowmobile passage over the creek. It definitely helps!
Next sniff test was C8/Sabael trail. Aside from some wet spots, it was actually pretty good riding until I encountered this creek crossing, about a half mile past Pashley Road crossing. Since I wasn’t planning on ripping Indian Lake down to Perkins Clearing or Speculator, I turned tail. I’m sure there are more water crossings along the way.
C8 to Cedar River Headquarters
Some bony and frozen slush spots the first miles out of Indian Lake enroute to Deer Valley Parking lot. Bumps were mostly soft, low and manageable. By far, the worst offender was one sharp water trench, shown here.
This was only going to be a sniff test. But the riding wasn’t horrible. We’ve all seen much worse from this avenue!
So I just… kept… going…
Once I got past Deer Valley club parking lot, most riding was plush with snow. Bumps were mostly soft, low and manageable.
As the trail drew close to Cedar River, there were some thin/wet spots, but nothing that threatened to derail my ride.
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Moose River Plains
Once I got to Cedar River Headquarters, I buzzed down to Cedar River Road and back for an 8-mile round trip of cheap thrills. If you’re going to hit Moose River Plains from Brown’s farm parking lot, the road scratches carbide, but there was enough white matter to get by.
Cedar River Headquarters to Silver Run had mostly low to barely-noticeable bumps. The steep hill and a few turns had some rollers. Overall, it was a decent ride. Can’t say it was bad!
Silver Run to Big-T was a choppy ride, the worst part of Moose River Plains on this ride. There was a fallen tree before Big-T flats.
Big-T intersection to Limekiln Road had caught a fresh groom. Wasn’t the smoothest ride, with residual rollers. But more enjoyable than what I had just ridden on the Inlet side. Corners were thin and pebbly and those final couple miles to Limekiln Road were certainly thin and pebbly. But, it was holding up somewhat better than I had expected.
Ran the Red River-T deadender to pad on a small extra handful of miles. Was rather ripply in places, but I enjoyed the stretch along the river.
Inlet
Limekiln Road had a shelved bank, which was good, because that road was nearly bare. Rolled FX Matts trails into Inlet loop trails for today’s gold star! Freshly groomed for fun riding…
Off FX Matts Trail, I tried Luppi’s lookout for the first time. Can’t believe I had never noticed this before! Short, easy climb with a panoramic view of surrounding hills mountains from the top. Well worth the jaunt!
Rolled down to 7th Lake for a look-see. Wasn’t going to rip it anyway, but this certainly didn’t look appetizing.
Trail to Inlet Highway department on Limekiln Road got thin and pebbly, which is always the case when winter hangs on by a thread.
Ole Barn to Gilbert Road was thin and pebbly, but staying alive! A fresh groom made for a comfortable passage. It was holding up somewhat better than I expected.
After sniffing around downtown Inlet for a bit, I doubled back to Ole Barn for lunch.
Lunch
Had a delicious bowl of beef barley soup to start and warm apple crisp with ice cream for dessert. In between I had a taco salad to get my veggies in.
Had the whole place to myself for a while until two snowmobilers came in. Gotta love mid-week, bro!
A number of people have asked me when Ole Barn is open. Well, here it is! At least until it finally gets sold. Then, who knows?!
The way home!
I doubled back through Inlet loop trails to grab more gold star riding on my way out the door.
Connector trail to Moose River Plains was thin, has several spots where water was eating at the trail, and a one water bar that cut across the trail. But hey, it was groomed!
With sparse mid-week traffic, the ride back wasn’t much different than the ride out.
Indian Lake Victory Lap
S87/42nd and Broadway was a nice evening stoll.
Did a power-haulic rip over Adirondack Lake. Didn’t encounter anything worse than a few areas of frozen slush. S86 from Sawmill Road to One Stop was pretty good.
S86/C8 main drag had a few large frozen slush pits, such as these.
S85/Ski Hut trail had a water bar cutting across the trail.
Ride map
Click here to see ride stats, larger map and 3D Flyover!
Let me know if you like these, either in the comments at the end of this report or on Facebook!
Bottom line
Rolled back into the compound after 116 miles. Mediocre, forgettable ride. In a tough winter like this one, I have to grab those too!
Didn’t ride C8A/Old S84 toward Blue Mountain Lake/Newcomb on this ride, but I’d imagine that’s passable with care. Saw snowmobilers riding into Perkins Clearing on Monday whilst running to Speculator for an errand. I imagine the narrow woods trails around Speculator are passable with care.
ilsnow land plays by different rules. We stay OPEN all winter for your riding pleasure or displeasure. I neither make the rules nor enforce them. I just play by them. That’s the charm of living here.
Trying to do a respectable job in spinning track this winter…
Midweek Outlook
Snowpack is currently at least 8-16 inches around Indian Lake. Shady nooks and snow bowls hold around a foot-and-a-half. Definitely on the thinner side pressing into Inlet from Moose River Plains.
Trails are far from being a disaster. I’m hoping groomers will come out to piece together decent snowmobiling for opportunistic mid-week riders, and set us up for another riding weekend. With no true Arctic cold or significant weather systems expected this week, no news will be good news. Quiet weather and sub-32*F nights should hold together what we have now.
Lake riding disclaimer
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.
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
