Bluebird winter day! A day in Adirondack heaven

Wednesday started sub-zero crisp with deep blue sky. It would turn out to be a perfect day for snowmobiling under a blazing late winter sun.

Met up with Crazy Cal at his house. Spent a few minutes deciding where we’d go. Lots of choices with the deep snow we have now.

Ended up deciding on a Newcomb run, then see where the day would take us from there.

Indian Lake to Newcomb

There was a fresh groom into C8A/Old S84 heading to Blue Mountain Lake, a very welcome sight!

Miles of smiles until we hit Rock Lake marsh where the groomer had to abort his mission and head back to town. Rock Lake until the beginning of Newcomb trail was bumpy, but I’ve had much worse on that avenue.

C8A/Old 538 Newcomb trail on Indian Lake side was holding on as a good ride as it awaited its next grooming session.

Hit a fresh groom on the Newcomb side and rolled that baby all the way into Newcomb proper.

AWESOME! 10 out of 10 rating.

If I’ve had a better ride on that, I don’t remember!

Took the yak-track on the other side of Lake Harris to make a run at High Peaks Overlook. Not a bad workout for the shoulders. Was fine to run once, but knew I’d be ripping the lake on the way back. Campsite was lumpy and drifty, but the trail continuing to Overlook was decent.

The mountain view, totally worth the squeeze.

After a deep snow rip across Lake Harris, we doubled back to Newcomb-T. By that point, Cal was content with heading back to Indian Lake and being satisfied with an 80 miler.

I wanted to bang out the loop via Long Lake, Raquette Lake, Inlet, Moose River Plains back to Indian Lake.

So, we parted ways at Newcomb-T.

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Newcomb to Long Lake

C7B hadn’t been groomed since Tuesday’s ride, but was hanging on as a fair ride.

Had this amazing view under cloudless blue sky.

Long Lake to Raquette Lake

Dropped onto Long Lake and had a nice rip on that, with a quick fuel stop at Stewarts.

Groomed shelf on S80/North Point Road was inundated in places with plowed snowbank. But there was enough to keep me off the road for the most part.

Of course, I don’t ride by Buttermilk Falls on snowmobile without stopping by.

Forked Lake Campsite Road was decent. Had a good rip across Forked Lake to cut out miles of roadside riding.

The half-mile spur of S80 to Raquette Lake was a bumpy torture chamber. Just gutted it and got by!

Followed the well-established drag strip across the lake to Raquette Lake hamlet.

I spotted Jake Mahoney with his plane. He and his aunt were enjoying this day in the air. Jake owns Adirondack Lake Cabins in Indian Lake, with direct snowmobiling access to Adirondack Lake and town snowmobiling system. And he’s a strong friend and supporter of ilsnow.com

Jake invited me to have lunch with him at the Tap Room. Was hungry and opted for the bacon cheeseburger. That hit the spot!

Also had the Aztec chicken soup as a starter. Very tasty with just the right amount of spice kick. Perfect on a cold winter’s day!

Raquette Lake to Inlet

After lunch, Jake and his aunt headed to their plane. I got back on the saddle to continue my ride.

C8/Browns Tract Road was heavily traveled, but a good stretch.

S81C to Eighth Lake was groomed and not a bad ride, my most pleasant surprise on this day!

Eighth Lake Campsite was pretty good. Got treated to an amazing sun-splashed view on 7th Lake.

Inlet loop trails were heavily trafficed, but still good riding. A stop at Luppi’s Lookout was MANDATORY for me!

The home stretch!

Inlet side of Moose River Plains was wavy and bumpy, and particularly rough from Big T to Silver Run.

Much better riding on Indian Lake side from Silver Run to Cedar River Headquarters. It was like a switch was flipped. Nicely done!

After stopping at Cedar River Flow to soak up the sun and listen to the river, I made the final press home.

C8 from Headquarters to Indian Lake was good riding all the way through, with some excellent sections. I don’t have it in my black heart to complain about this.

The only scar was the short plowed road section. Other than that, I couldn’t expect a better ride through that avenue on a holiday weekday.

C8/S86 main drag into Indian Lake was holding well, despite the heavy snowmobiling traffic I witnessed at the end of the day. Took my usual cheap thrill rip on S85/Ski Hut trail to round out the ride.

There was a town wide power outage when I got back. Couldn’t refuel my snowmobile for the next ride.

Rolled back to the compound with 143 miles for this glorious sunny day. Not a mega-miler this time. But they don’t all have to be. Got another ride with my life-long friend, at least for a while.

With the snow we have now, you can do whatever you’re in the mood for.

Ride map

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

Bottom line

Even though not all the trails were great riding, it was a perfect day for snowmobiling!

Groomers are out, but so are hordes of snowmobilers. What you experience depends on what you hit and when you hit it. If a trail is ungroomed and bumpy today, there’s a good chance groomers will take care of it tomorrow. If a trail is good in the morning, it might go the other way by afternoon.

You gotta play to win!

For the ilsnow nation,

Darrin