Around the horn! Thru Long Lake and Raquette Lake

Darrin Jr was game for a ride and secured a day off from work!

He wanted to ride the loop via Newcomb, Long Lake, Raquette Lake, Inlet then Moose River Plains to Indian Lake.

On Wednesday, I would show him the way!

I knew the ride to Newcomb would be good because I did that Tuesday.

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To Long Lake!

Sun was out and Indian Lake Town trails were great riding shape.

C8A/Old S84 to Blue Mountain Lake was mostly MINT!

O’Neil Flow/Newcomb trail to County Line hadn’t been groomed but was pretty good ride, except for some lumps about half mile approaching County Line.

Thursday AM Update: Indian Lake Snowarriors has since groomed this trail section. ENJOY!

Newcomb side was SWEET!

C7B to from Highway 28N crossing Long Lake was OK. Had lumps here and there, but got us through. Tarbell Hill Road had a shelved snowbank to ride on.

Gripped it and ripped it across Long Lake. Encountered considerable slush on the other side before we got to Kickerville Road.

C7B/Tupper Trail was freshly groomed for 14 miles mile of PERFECTION! I’ve had great rides on this trail. But this might have been the best.

C7B/Sabattis Circle Road had a freshly groomed snowbank. Best I’ve seen it!

Decision at Sabattis

I had planned a dogleg on C7B/Tupper Trail, not thinking we’d roll all the way to Sabattis. Original plan was to show Darrin Jr the way through Raquette Lake.

Took a look at C7/Railroad trail. Northbound to Horseshoe Lake looked as rough as a corn cob. Southbound to Beaver River didn’t look bad, no nowhere near as nice as what we had just ridden.

Smart money was to turn around and ride the white ribbon back to Long Lake and resume the plan. So that’s what we did!

Long Lake to Raquette Lake

From Kickerville Road we jumped onto Long Lake and rode the lake into town. Encountered frozen slush before getting off lake at Adirondack Hotel. Made our way to Stewarts for refuel and warm/rest stop.

Then rolled Long Lake to Long View Lodge. No problems on that portion of the lake. Nice riding!

S80 through powerlines was a bit rugged. S80/North Point Road snowbank hadn’t been shelved yet, but there was plenty of snow along the margins.

Forked Lake Road was lumpy. But Darrin Jr enjoyed the view from the end of it.

Forked Lake had plenty-o-slush at mid crossing. Just gripped it and ripped it!

S80 off North Point Road onto Raquette Lake was Half Mile from Hell with humpback moguls.

Raquette Lake was a steaming bowl of powder chowder. Didn’t encounter slush with that.

Raquette Lake to Inlet

C8/Browns Tract Road was a big ragged, but still a swift ride. S81C was the usual mile and a quarter of bumps to 8th Lake, but not as bad as it can be.

8th Lake Campsites trail was lumpy and bumpy. 7th Lake was a good crossing after we navigated through stump alley.

Inlet loop trails were their usual immaculate riding.

Ole Barn into downtown Inlet was good riding. Wanted to hit Screamen Eagle for wings, but we rolled into town about a half hour before they opened. Was too cold and hungry to wait, so we ripped powder chowder 4th Lake to Daikers. I had my old standby Stackhouse Burger. Good eats!

Homeward bound to Indian Lake!

Moose River Plains, Inlet side had soft chatter and a few rollers, but was a decent ride. Both deadenders were GREAT powder riding. Here’s a pic from Red River-T deadender. Pretty sweet, eh?

Moose River Plains, Indian Lake side was a nice ride to Headquarters. Noticeably better than Inlet side when we rolled through late Wednesday afternoon.

C8 from Headquarters back to Indian Lake had a lump here and there, but vast majority was nice riding to ilsnow Capital City.

C8/S86 main drag into Indian Lake was holding up well by early Wednesday evening. After Darrin Jr and I parted ways, I ripped S86a from Indian Lake Market to Lone Birch.

From Sawmill Road, I crossed Route 28, ripped across Adirondack Lake and got back to the truck at the end of Pelon Road.

Ended the ride with 196 miles. I didn’t have it in me to find the extra 4 miles to make it an even 200.

Wanted to get inside and warm, fast! I needed to get off the horse.

Not like I haven’t done a 200 miler before. Was very satisfied with the miles I rolled today with Darrin Jr, for sure!

Ride map

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

Bottom line

What can I tell you? Get here and RIDE!

For the ilsnow nation,

Darrin