Snowmobiling into St. Lawrence County

Next to trucking it to Washington Street parking lot in Tupper Lake, this is my close second favorite road trip.

The sorry excuse for a road to Horseshoe Lake, known as NY Route 421, keeps me from doing it more. Sometimes, I even truck it all the way to Seveys Point and launch from there to avoid the potholed, frost-heaved 421.

But NYDOT worked on the first 2 miles of Route 421 this summer, which made the final 4 miles a bit more palatable. I’ll take victories whenever I can!

Darrin Jr and I took to the road Sunday morning to launch from Horseshoe Lake. Seemed a better idea than watching rigged NFL games. Deny if you must, but Draft Kings and other online sportsbooks power the NFL now.

Spoiler alert: We did not regret our decision to RIDE!

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Heading out

Got to Horseshoe Lake mid-morning and found at least several other truck-n-trailer units parked along the road. Figured we’d be greeted with great riding from the jump. Indeed, we were!

C7A from Horseshoe Lake to STLA 2 intersection was recently groomed. Logging bypass sections were thin in places, with some carbide clank. Plowed shared use sections were scratchy and pebbly, but entirely passable.

Childwold loop trails Local 717, 718, 720 and S88 were their usual awesome riding. Very few thin spots or carbide clank.

C7A from Shurtleff northward to STLA 27 intersection was good enough riding with just a couple of shallow water bars and a few chewed up sections.

From STLA 27 intersection, we experienced great riding via C7A, S88 and snowmobiling superhighway C8 northward to Troopers Shed.

S83 had been freshly groomed for a nice ride. From STLA 54 intersection, C7A was decent riding with some wavy bumps. Scaling Little Blue Mountain was Zac Efron, stand-up bump-n-wave riding to the summit. But view was worth the cover charge.

Over to Star Lake

Rolled recently groomed C8 to Cook Corners. Sections of that pathway were PERFECT!

Rolled through Local 712/Out-a-fit trail by mistake for a loop with C8. That’s the risk of following fresh groomer ribbon! Beautiful riding through that avenue. Maybe one small water hazard along the way.

C8 from Cook Corners to STLA 222 intersection was recently groomed for “good enough riding” with a bit of carbide clank in the usual spots.

First section of S80G was bony and thin in places with rock top clank, but was groomed for a fairly smooth ride. Next section of S80G to Moosehead Pond/STLA 202 intersection was nice riding with far fewer thin spots and clank.

S80 down the chute to Newton Falls was its usual fun romp. Just a few spots with floating stones. Darrin Jr was digging it!

S80 from American Legion into Star Lake was bony and thin in spots, but had been recently groomed for “good enough” riding.

Had lunch at Twin Lakes Hotel, a classic hole-in-the-wall with good food! It only accepts cash, but does have an ATM. Opted for the fish fry with onion rings and cole slaw. Trust me, a fish fry was under the pile of onion rings!

Eating that tasty pile may have shortened my life span about 10 minutes. But hey, who wants to live forever anyway? Whilst eating lunch, I encountered a group of riders from Massena who launched at South Colton. They had met me a few years ago on the trail.

Back to Horseshoe Lake

My sleeping has SUCKED lately. By mid-afternoon, I felt the collapse coming on. At that point, I aimed for the direct route back to the truck. Stretch from Star Lake back to Cook Corners had been somewhat tattered from moderately heavy snowmobiling traffic.

S88A and S88 to Route 3 were good riding. Route 3 highway bridge crossing shaved some hyfax, but we only did it once on this ride.

Rolled Local 718, 717, S88, Local 720 Childwold loop because that was too good to pass up!

C7A was a good enough ride back to the truck. Detour sections had gotten chewed up and thinner with noticeably more carbide clank. Final miles to Horseshoe Lake were holding up nicely.

Don’t usually comment on rails because I seldom consider them as snowmobile trails. But I observed few snowmobile tracks heading southward on C7 and no snowmobile tracks heading northward toward Conifer. No grooming yet on the rails from Conifer to Sabattis – from what I can assume.

Bottom line

Ended the ride before sundown with 123 miles for the day. Can’t say that’s bad for an early winter Sunday! Good thing Darrin Jr drove us home because I was SHOT. Despite getting back to Indian Lake a couple of hours before freezing rain arrived, the voyage home really dragged for me. Insomnia sucks.

Snowpack in most spots was at least 12-18 inches in our travels, with localized pack nearing 2 feet. That has gotten knocked down by Monday’s warmth. But the area has enough to survive the hit and will get trail refreshing snow this week.

So far, I’ve spun track for 657 miles this season. Before December 29th? Yeah, I’ll take that.

Can’t wait until I roll out snowmobile rides from the Indian Lake compound! You know ole Darrin usually gets what he’s looking for, eventually.

Ride map

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

Bringing it back home

After we get over the hump Monday, we’ll major in cold and minor in snow during the upcoming week. Should get sufficient snow to grease the skids for some quality riding on seasonal road snowmobile trails (Perkins Clearing, Moose River Plains, Powley Road, etc). Be wary of icy turns! Narrow, woodsy trails will continue to suck for a while longer.

For the ilsnow nation,

Darrin