Horseshoe Lake into St. Lawrence County

January 23, 2025 Trail Conditions No Comments

One of my favorite road trips got the call Thursday. Darrin Jr. blew off work again to make the trip with me!

Route 421 was its usual frost-heaved mess to Horseshoe Lake. Too bad there isn’t a pork barrel project to fix it!

But fun began immediately after we unloaded the snowmobiles and started with C7A.

Good times continued through S88 and 717. The creek through S88 was a frozen crossing. Rejoined C7A at Shurtleff, which was rough from studderbumps and rollers north of Route 3 crossing to STLA27.

Riding was splendid via S88 between STLA28 and 29. About as good as I’ve seen that, save for a few pebbly spots.

C8 northward was great riding through Troopers Shed. Then C8 became fairly bumpy at times from STLA53 to STLA56, with some carbide clank.

C8E to STLA67 was somewhat better, but thin in places with some carbide clank. With Mahogany Ridge Bar and Grill not opening until 4pm Thursday, I decided against running it to South Colton.

Instead, we rolled onto C8D. The first 4 miles were good riding, especially on the short dogleg S84 before it turned to plowed road.

The remainder C8D back to Troopers Shed was quite rough at times. We were happy to leave that segment behind!

To Cranberry Lake

C8 southward toward Cranberry Lake was its usual snowmobiling super highway. Fun riding was back ON!

S89 to Cranberry Lake was its usual helmet-whipping booty call. We hung out at the beach for several minutes, but didn’t venture onto the lake.

C8 through Cooks Corners was pretty good riding, except between STLA22 and 222, which was bumpy, rough. and beat up.

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On to Star Lake

S80G was thin and bony in places for the first mile-and-a-half, but groomed for an enjoyable ride. The trail became a beautiful passage meandering to STLA202 near Moosehead Pond.

S80 through Newton Falls and Benson Mines ruins was flat-out awesome riding! Another helmet-whipping booty call…

Good times continued into Star Lake. After a gas stop at Circle-K, we encountered a gaggle of free range chickens loitering at a dumpster. Just when I thought I’ve seen everything on a snowmobile that I could imagine.

To Degrasse

We doubled back through S80 to make a run at Degrasse. The first 3 miles past STLA202 were gorgeous riding, even with some thin/pebbly stretches.

C80 beyond that was pretty good riding for the next several miles. Conditions deteriorated approaching Degrasse, but remained tolerable enough to continue – even along the plowed road.

Final approach to Jackos Bar and Grill was seedy and bumpy but we got there!

Very limited menu there. We’re talking several air fryer appetizers, grill cheese sandwich and 12-inch Red Baron pizza. Make sure you have cash because they don’t except credit cards or American Express.

Getting out of the cold, taking a rest and consuming calories was good restoration to make the dash back the truck.

Return to Horseshoe Lake

By the time I finished eating, I had already mapped the best route to ensure most of the final miles were smiles:

S80/S80G/C8 back to Cranberry Lake.
S88A/S88 to Route 3
718/717/S88/720
C7A to Horseshoe Lake

Riding the half-mile on/near bare pavement along Route 3 sucked, but my plan worked nicely for a swift rip back to the truck. Always nice when some of the best riding is saved to finish the trip on a high note!

Got back to Horseshoe Lake shortly after dark with 168 miles for the day.

Ride map

Click here to see ride states, larger map and 3D Flyover!

Bottom line

With snow cover not much deeper than a foot, some sections were getting worn thin and bumpy from snowmobiling traffic. But there was certainly enough good stuff to carry the day!

Can’t say that I didn’t have a good time.