When I ride St. Lawrence County, I usually haul it to Horseshoe Lake or Seveys Point so I can ride that area for all it has.
When snowpack is running 2-3 feet deep everywhere, and up to 4 foot-plus in the snow bowls, it opens the playbook for a ride from Indian Lake.
It’s like Darth Vader waking up on the Death Star and deciding what rebel planet to destroy today.
Pick one, any one!
Heading out
Leaving the compound was promising.
C8A/Old S84 hadn’t been groomed Tuesday morning. It was bouncy in places, but soft-n-plush enough for an enjoyable ride. Rock Lake Marsh was gorgeous!
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Newcomb to Long Lake
C8A/Old 538 Newcomb trail was a good ride from tip to tail.
C7B Newcomb to Long Lake was beautiful riding. Best I’ve seen this avenue in a LOOOOOONG time!
Long Lake to Sabattis
After a grip-n-rip across Long Lake, I encountered a fresh groom on C7B heading northward along Route 30.
ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! Rating: 10 out of 10.
C7B leaving Route 30 to Sabattis was rough and treacherous in some sections where chunks of the snowbank were pushed onto the groomed shelf. But the majority was pretty good riding and kept me off the road for the most part.
Sabattis to Seveys Point
C7/Railroad from Sabattis to Horseshoe Lake had been recently groomed for an amazing ride! Aside from some drifts on open causeways, it was MINT! Not even a hint of rail poking through.
Could you even recognize this?
C7/Railroad north from Horseshoe Lake looked like painful washboard bumps. No need to follow that, lol!
C7A north from Horseshoe Lake was good riding. Lots of drifts on wind-exposed sections of the old rail bed.
Found time to enjoy powder chowder on S88 & 720 spur trail.
S77 and C7C were good to excellent riding to Seveys Point.
Hit Seveys for a fuel stop, then stayed inside for a quick bite to eat and to warm up. By that point, I was approaching 100 miles for the ride. Was smelling a 200-miler at that point!
While eating lunch, I told a group of people I had rode from Indian Lake. One of them asked me if I knew Darrin from ilsnow.com. They were surprised at the answer! Had a good conversation and learned they were making a run to Little Blue Mountain, then heading back to Tupper Lake.
The way back
I had started past 10am and it was about 3pm when I went back out. Thought it would be prudent to head back to Indian Lake.
C7C was a beautiful ride from Thirsty Moose through the Scout Camp.
Did S79 & S78 through Conifer to pad the happy miles. WOW!
Rolled through S88 & 720 spur trail again to double my pleasure through that loop.
Ripped S78 to Conifer and back on my way out the door because that was more addictive than crank. The straights were helmet whippin’ booty call!
C7A back to Horseshoe Lake had occasional soft bumps by late afternoon, but nothing bad. C7/Railroad was holding up good to Sabattis, save for the drifts.
Took a short sniff of C7/Railroad south of Sabattis. Didn’t look bad, but I wasn’t interested in rolling that all the way to Stillwater or Big Moose.
C7B along Route 30 to Long Lake was 14 miles of BLISS!
Long Lake through Newcomb to Blue Mountain Lake was tattered up a bit by the day’s traffic. Except for occasional bumps, it was pretty good riding through the twilight.
C8A/Old S84 back to Indian Lake was a mogul fest. I slow-steamed it back to town to mitigate the pounding.
C8/S86 main artery into Indian Lake was in good shape. Didn’t feel compelled to bang out a Victory Lap because the 200-miler was safely in hand.
But I did cheap-thrill it on S85/Ski Hut trail a couple of times before arriving back to the compound by 7:30pm.
206 miles, a great day at the office!
Ride map
Click here for ride stats, larger map and 3D Flyover!
One more thing
Before riding in Long Lake, check their snowmobiling webpage which is regularly updated with trail conditions and grooming information. Good stuff there.
Bottom line
If you’re holding out for better, I’m not sure what you’re doing here. Including this one, my last 4 rides have been over 200 miles each. Stacking mega-milers like flapjacks!
Pick a place and RIDE! RIDE! RIDE!
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
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