Sacandaga Lake 2/23
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Finally got snowmobiles dug out and rode around Sacandaga. Pretty hard packed, no slush.
Looking to do a ‘backcountry’ ride Monday or Wednesday on little trails through the woods.
Griffin-Pine Orchard-Wilcox maybe to Harrisburg Lake or all the way to to Warrensburg
or something like that.
Does anyone know if the ford across Stony Creek is frozen?
Let me know if you are interested.Not sure if the Griffin-Pine Orchard trail is broken. A couple of weeks ago I saw tracks at the entrance across from Teachout Rd and followed them in for a while then the tracks stopped and turned around. It was pretty rough and I was alone so I turned around as well. Maybe someone has broken the trail by now.
I’ve tried to take that trail a few times over recent years and never found it broken through enough to feel comfortable going alone. Unfortunately, I still work during the week and can only ride weekends but would love to ride some of those trails with someone who knows their way around.
I’ll see what I can find out from the Algonquin Snoblazers. My favorite riding is either off-trail where possible or close to it, on real snowmobile trails such as those. Weekday riding is best but typically it does not matter too much on the backcountry trails because not too many people take them. We are going to lose the pristine conditions with the warm-up and rain mid-week, but it is going to cool down on Friday and maybe it won’t be too bad on the weekend. I don’t know about weekend plans yet but I’ll post here if I’m available.
Let us know how you make out. I had my kids down there a few years ago brushing that out but the bridge over Cotter Brook is gone. No one does any maintenance down there. So much for the great Corridor Trail plan.
The DEC will not let the clubs replace the bridge. They want to close the trail completely and have the new corridor through Wells and over to Thurman on the Willis (Pumpkin Hollow) – Wilcox trail.
Relying on only one trail is a mistake. A bridge out or other major problem completely severs the connection.
There is no valid reason to have only one trail. Having both makes a really nice “wilderness loop.” My friends and I used to ride this all the time.
Snowmobiling is going downhill big time.
We are losing the real snowmobile trails. Everyone is driving big overpowered tanks and only wants to go fast on snow-paved roads, so they don’t fight to save the actual trails, and the tree-huggers are 1000x more effective at pushing their agenda than snowmobilers.
Couple that with the disrespectful narcistic wanna-be racers running loud pipes and trespassing, causing more loss of trail segments on private lands.
Freestyle, I agree that we don’t want to lose the backcountry wooded trails. I really enjoy riding those types of trails. It’s nice to have various loops with options for different routes to take. I am a weekend rider and mostly enjoy the twisty woods trails that are less traveled to avoid the crowds and beat up trails. I will admit that I also enjoy the wider “snow-paved” trails sometimes when I feel like riding to different areas or having a “destination” ride to have lunch at a different restaurant or just put on some higher mileage days.
I don’t know what the answer is to the riders that go too fast on the wrong side of the trail with loud pipes, who trespass and tear up trails. Unfortunately the market is driven by high power, turbo sleds with tons of expensive options. We are already seeing sled manufacturers leave the market and I think if they only sold lower powered, light backcountry sleds they would probably all be done. I think there is room for all types of (respectful and safe) riders and trails and would like to see all trails maintained or even expanded, but that is probably unrealistic.
Corridor trails are essential for longer trips between destinations but it seems like the trend has been to “compromise” to get the corridors by giving up the smaller, less used trails. I have nothing against groomed trails in general and definitely don’t want to be riding bumps all the time or 10 MPH between towns but generally the more I am confined to hardpacked trails, especially the same ones I’ve been on a hundred times, the less enthusiastic I am about snowmobiling.
I remember about 7 or 8 years ago that the then Snowmobile Coordinator ( Nicole Unser ) for Parks decided to take a ride with some of the officials in Albany on these trails towards Stony Creek from Wells area. I think they were using S43 on the map towards Wilcox Lake as their route. I remember her saying at a meeting the group got in from Griffin Lake only about a couple of miles on this unbroken, of course ungroomed, not even cut out trail and gave up. She was so angry at the TME and I think it was a club out of Stony Creek that Parks sent a nasty letter to the club say that they would with hold any future funding for this high snow formula trail until it got fixed and was properly maintained. I heard from the Foresters in Northville that it got fixed right away.
With the good snow we have had so far this year, I cant understand why these trails are in this condition. Maybe they did not get the snow that all other areas did this year. I dont know but the new coordinator for parks is Bill Shattuck 518 486 7872 ( email=williamshattuck@parks.ny.gov) and Pete is right. The TME is the Algonquin SnoBlazers.
I went to him about the trail from Jerseyfield Lake RD ( Salisbury ) to Bull Hill RD (Ohio ) Corridor ( C4 ). This trail I told him that the DEC abandoned it for 26 years. The TME is the Ohio Club. Agreed the DEC will not let the club replace a major Bridge over Mill Stream but the club did go in and beefed it up with their own timbers. This is OK by the DEC. This year it is open and being groomed by Perry S. He lives in Jerseyfield Lake. Bill said he would go to the DEC and the Club. Amazing its fixed and ridable this year after 26 years. Let him know of the situation on these trails. He was very interested on what I told him and wants to hear about this type of problem with trails, now that we are paying 65 bucks per sled and having to ride garbage. The TME’S are going to get a big raise this year.
Ron
PS Pete-the trails around Dexter Lake and Water Mill Pond are still open as far as I know cause the UMP for this area has never been accepted by the DEC. I dont think they have been cut out and I know they are not groomed but your Tundra should not have any problem.The problem with the Cotter Brook/Moose Mountain trail east towards Cod Pond and ultimately Thurman from the Griffin/Gerard Sugarbush trail is that the DEC will not allow the bridge over Georgia Brook to be replaced.
The proposed but as far as I know still not approved UMP has that trail being closed and switching the corridor to the trail between Pumpkin Hollow Rd/Willis Lake and Wilcox/Stony Creek. But since there is no UMP and now since the lawsuit stopping virtually all trail work we are left with a little trail through the woods that is not suitable for the average snowmobiler, and a narrow bridge over Stony Creek that most snowmobiles can not use. I can ride across it with my Freestyle because the ski stance is only 38″ There is an old road to a ford a quarter mile upstream but the river is not always frozen.
In 2007-2008 thousands of volunteer man-hours were put into improving the trail. Replacing the short Georgia Brook bridge would be simple thing compared to building a snowmobile bridge over Stoney Creek, and it is a much shorter route than going way south of Wells to go east.
Ron, Last year or maybe last 2-3 years I never rode the Clockmill, Wagoner Loop, Good Luck Lake, Dexter Lake, Spectacle Lake trails because there was just not much snow, but the last time I did ride them they were cleared. I think maybe 4-5 years ago I went on an early winter trail clearing work detail with the Stratford Club. We stared from Lower Arietts but I can’t remember which trails we cleared.
I’ve got a call into DEC Forester ( Jon DeSantis ) about the Wilcox Lake UMP but so far have not heard from him. I was just wondering if any work is being done here or have the DEC stopped working on UMP’s As far as trail maintenance goes the TME’s can still clear, groom and replace bridges that need replacing except it the are long ones, like the one over fall stream in Arietta. I was told by a forester that the DEC is currently working on a trail maintenance plan for TME’s since the law suit. It is not done yet and will not be done till next season.
That bridge over Fall Stream turned out to be a almost disaster for snowmobilers. The DEC was not going to replace it even though they already had the material in there. If you remember, this trail was slated to be closed and we were to get a new trail from Piseco to Perkins but the law suit took care of this. The Highway Super from Arietta got involved and told the DEC the bridge was dangerous and they were going to replace it. Miraculously the DEC recanted and met the town boys to help do the work and on the way into the bridge the town boys also built new ones over small cricks that the lumber was just laying there.
Anyway My question for the DEC is. If a trail washes out like the one going up to Echo Cliff and the DEC made a nice re route for the hikers to a safer location and they got permission suposedly to do this from higher up the chain of command, WHY cant they do this for snowmobile trails that the bridges have rotted or washed out. Interesting aint it ? ? Sucks big time
RonThe simple answer is that snowmobilers do not have enough clout. While the environmentalists organized and were happy to pay big bucks to lobbyists and lawyers, and reacted to calls for action in terms of political pressure and UMP comments, snowmobilers grumbled about $5 dues to NYSSA, continued to think that the trails magically appeared and it was their right to use them, and joined clubs mostly to get a voucher instead of physically contributing to trail maintenance.
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