Home cooking! Indian Lake to Speculator and ?

On our way home from Thursday’s Tug Hill ride, I noticed that 2 Miles from Hell had been groomed. That was all the motivation Darrin Jr. and I needed to make a Speculator run!

Indian Lake’s trails were groomed by late Friday morning. The main arteries were brownish in places with icy corners, but flat enough for decent riding. The biggest annoyance was clipping rock tops.

C8/Sabael trail was thin and bony in places with some terrain divots. But it had been groomed for fairly comfortable passage.

Indian Lake had several large slush areas, but we made it from end-to-end without incident. Lewey Lake was a plush crossing. Campsites in between wasn’t bad.

C8/ 2 Miles from Hell was brownish in places with steep terrain divots. But grooming made it resemble a rideable snowmobile trail.

Perkins Clearing

Perkins Clearing Road and Jessup River Road were wavy in places, but pretty good riding most of the time. Carpenter Hill Road and freshly groomed LP9/Nichol Vly trail were the best Perkins Clearing had to offer.

BEWARE: Part of Nichol Vly trail from the west end is plowed for shared logging truck and snowmobile use.

Southern Perkins bypass trail was thin and brownish, but groomed for fairly comfortable passage.

Speculator

C4 from south end of Perkins Clearing into Speculator was wavy and bumpy. C4 reroute to Charlie Johns was especially bony and rough under the evergreens.

Speculator Village trails were thin and brownish, but had been groomed. After a stop at Village Motorsports to say “HI” we hit up Mountain Market for lunch.

Of course, I had the big Philly! If something works, I keep going back until it doesn’t work anymore.

Speculator Tree Farm

C4/River trail wasn’t the worst I’ve seen it. Away from the river, we hit a fresh groom on C4 to Cave Hill Road.

Fly Creek Road and Long Level Road were great riding! Elm Lake Road was wavy in places. C4/Old Route 30 bypass trail needed more snow, but was groomed.

Stopped at Kunjamuk Cave. Darrin Jr. would not go in there! He even told me that vibration from snowmobile traffic could cause a rock side. But I wasn’t buying it.

Silver Hill trail enroute to Elm Lake Road was pretty good with some terrain divots up top.

Opted to ride S41C to exit Tree Farm. Wolf Road Road was decent riding. The hill up to Pig Rock parking lot was rugged riding at the bottom, better up top.

Back to Indian Lake

Just straight up the gut through Perkins Clearing Road and 2 Miles from Hell – which were getting bumped up by Friday’s traffic.

Rode Lewey Lake and Indian Lake in near white-out snow.

C8/Sabael trail had been beaten to a pulp in places from snowmobiling traffic and mild-ish temperatures around 33*F. Lots of clanking carbide on rock tops. Indian Lake main artery trails were getting brown and beaten up with carbide clank.

Next?

After a stop at Jr’s compound, we decided on a ride to Newcomb. C8A/Old S84 was brown leaving town with icy and worn corners. Got better over the top, but still had thin corners.

Rock Lake Marsh is always a welcome sight after battling the twisties for miles.

After Rock Lake Marsh, it was bony in places under the evergreens. There was quite a bit of carbide clank on rock tops.

C8A/Old 538 Newcomb trail was worth the squeeze. Some of the best riding of the day for 7 miles, courtesy of Indian Lake Snowarriors.

Newcomb trail got wavy and bumpy after crossing Essex County line. After a few minutes we turned tail and headed back to Indian Lake.

Banged out a snowy victory lap via S87/ 42nd and Broadway and Adirondack Lake.

S86/Little Canada was its usual cheap thrill between Sawmill Road and Lone Birch. Then it was on to One Stop to refuel for the next ride. Ended up with 129 miles before quitting time.

Ride map

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

Bottom line

Long overdue, but my first Speculator run of the season is in the books!

Narrow woods trails took a beating Friday afternoon under moderately heavy snowmobile traffic and 33*F temperature. The 4-5 inches of wet snow we got into Friday night will help our cause for the weekend. Ideally, groomers will get an early start Saturday to work their magic.

For the ilsnow nation,

Darrin