Speculator / Perkins
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Rode out Lake Pleasant / Page Street / Sacandaga Lake / Fawn Lake / Outhouse / Fish Mountain trail to get up to Perkins on Friday. A lot of mud holes, rocks, and rough areas on the way there – no snow to groom on the woods trails. Not too many other riders. Perkins had enough snow but not much grooming. One groomer running on Carpenter Hill Rd and two other groomers parked at either end. The southern Perkins bypass and then the trail coming back down to Speculator was similar to everything else – mud holes, rocks, rough, and no grooming. River trail at firehouse was closed due to high water/mud hole along the outlet – not much signage as to alternate route to get down to the lake or back to the firehouse parking lot. Someone suggested the high water level on the Lake Pleasant outlet was due to some beaver activity further downstream. Rider note: you can’t get out to Elm Lake Road/cave hill area coming down the Lake Pleasant outlet like you used to. Rather, you need to cross over the outlet using the Route 30 bridge and follow that trail down south for several miles before crossing back over the outlet.
Saturday did some repairs/maintenance and rode the lakes some – no issues but stay far away from inlets/outlets and rely on your own judgement. The inlet from Sacandaga into Lake Pleasant is running far along the west shoreline of Lake Pleasant. Small ice heave on Lake Pleasant between the trailer park (access to Page Street) and the island. Sacandaga was fairly solid – lots of ice fisherman with gear scattered across several hundred yards (including the main thoroughfare), so keep your eyes open for small bits of orange flagging on their tip-ups. Only found one ice heave on Sacandaga out toward the northern bay where Burnt Place Brook and Hatchery Brook come into Sacandaga – the ice ridge extends north from the Shuttleworth great camp toward the northwest shore. Rode out from Sacandaga toward Oxbow on Saturday but turned around at the cemetery – giant mud pit just to the east of the cemetery. I knew it would only get worse from there. Checked out the Route 30 trail down to Wells on Saturday night – rough would be generous.
Fair number of riders out on Saturday despite the dubious conditions – I can’t imagine what happened to the woods trails on Saturday given how they looked on Friday. Did pass some riders smoking weed twice, including a large group (25+) coming from Oxbow and sitting parked at the access onto Sacandaga. Can’t fix stupid. Any LEO riding by that crowd would have picked it up in a second.
I rode around the area on Saturday and found conditions similar to what E.Emil described. Woods trails are thin with lots of mudholes, so if you decide to ride before we get more snow just be careful and expect a mudhole or other obstacle at any time. A good dump of snow would fix things up, but doesn’t look like any is coming for a while. At least the cold snap coming later in the week will preserve what little we have and maybe tighten up the water/mud and add some thickness to the lake ice.
Sure looks like another short season…at best…
Started riding last Thursday and wanted to give some observations. All the lakes I went over were smother and fast. Two Miles of hell was actually dangerous. No grooming there . Many sleds went off trail just to avoid flipping over and going down into a ditch. From the impressions in the snow some sleds actually did just that. Perkins Clearing was a great ride except for the bypass. Melody Lodge trail down to Speculator was in bad shape. Going back to Indian Lake the Sabael trail into town was all frozen but hadn’t seen a groomer in a very long time . The trail from Indian Lake to Moose River Plains was rough as usual. Moose River Plains was like an airport runway. Groomers did a great job all the way to the Limekiln Gate. Back to Indian Lake S-84 going to Newcomb was surprisingly not bad on the way. It must have been groomed recently. However on the way back it had deteriorated considerably. The rest of the trip to Newcomb was great. Many thanks to the Indian Lake Warriors who tried their best on S-84 and made a perfect trail going to Newcomb. The Newcomb side of the trip was also nearly perfect. All in all my feeling was that somehow someway we have to do more grooming in the area. That includes weekends, and not just weekdays. The majority of people ride on the weekends and we should try to make it enjoyable for them too. We may have to raise registration fees to pay for this but without constant grooming the riding is not as enjoyable. as it should be.
Any word on ice thickness for Sacandaga and Lake Pleasant? I’ve seen a few ice fisherman but I can’t imagine the ice being thick enough to trust to ride on.
As Darrin said in his weather report. You had better know where the CRICK INLETS and LAKE OUTLETS are or do not ride the lakes. I see sleds at the OxBow on the web cam so I know they crossed a lake or lakes to get here. Even most locals have to at least cross Oxbow Lake to get here and or Spy Lake and or Piseco Lake and or Sacandaga Lake and or Lake Pleasant but they probably know the inlets and outlets
Ron
PS As far as the Ohio and Salisbury trails are concerned. They are still closed at this time. Nothing to the contrary on face book.Speculator out to Powley via Sacandaga and Oxbow was reasonable on Saturday – most everything has frozen up at this point. Powley is in good shape. Drilled holes in Lake Pleasant – 16 inches of ice in the center of the lake. Still need to use caution around inlets and outlets – areas of reduced thickness around those features are greater than normal. Got three inches of snow on Saturday and another three inches on Sunday.
River trail from the Speculator firehouse is still closed – not entirely clear why since everything is frozen up good and solid. Sure the trail is a bit narrower than usual due to high water level but still plenty wide. Going to take the southern route/cross over the Route 30 bridge to get out to the Tree Farm next weekend – take a ride down by the Kunjamuk.
Rode Saturday and Sunday. Found conditions overall much better than I expected, but plenty of rough stuff out there. Darrin gave a good report for many areas I rode, so not much to add. Everything I rode was passable, but on the woods trails always be ready for a rough spot here and there. Nothing I found made me turn around and most water holes were frozen over, but I encountered quite a few hazards that you wouldn’t want to hit with any speed.
As for lakes, always use your own judgement, but I rode Sacandaga, Lake Pleasant, Oxbow, Spy Lake, Evergreen and Piseco and had no issues. I followed the main dragstrips and did not run into any slush, open areas or pressure ridges. Of course conditions can change fast so be careful.
With the snow that is coming early this week the groomers should have decent material to work with conditions should get even better. It could all fall apart in the blink of an eye, so get it while you can.
Ice on Lake Pleasant is still plenty thick – prolly 6-inches of white ice and another 12″ of clear ice. While the snowcross race on Lake Pleasant was interesting, it made a mess of the surface – wherever the race trail is, it’s rutted up and will throw you if you cross it at speed. Yesterday’s ride out to Sacandaga, Fawn Lake, the Outhouse, and the red gate were surprisingly good for a Sunday – this wet snow packs up tight and the groomers out there were definitely getting it done. All good up through Perkins – only bump and grind was coming back down to Speculator from the south end of Perkins. River trail is still closed – unclear why. BAT trail to get you back down to the lake is brutal to say the very least – you need to cross Trail 30 at the liquor store to get down to the lake. Didn’t make it down to the tree farm – running down 30 looked rough and didn’t need to have another crack up getting down to the Kunjamuk. Anybody have any info on the tree farm trails would be appreciated – is the juice worth the squeeze of running down 30? Peace
Go west young man, Go west
See Darin’s ride from last Friday. Slush on the lakes is probably going to be a little worse since the sun is making the snow heavy er and heavy er. Better be studed and have some power. Once you get to the Morehouse system you’ll be fine. Do not go south from Morehouse on C4C cause the Ohio Club groomed it once this year. Go to the Hamilton County line and take either the Jones Rd south or cross the Nobolosboro Bridge and take S46A towards Ohio Either way is OK.
Darin made the Salisbury loop and it looked OK except for a little mud in Norway. From the Salisbury Club you had better be looking for gas cause there is none till you get back to OxBow. This loop might be all you want in one day. Probably looking at a 100 plus miles from Spectacular.. Ask riders in the bars where they came from and how good or bad the trails are and where they came from. Also do not take C4 out of Ohio to Salibury. Take C4B and C4 thru Norway. The Club never cut it out or groomed it this year. They just took the funding and ran.
RonSpec area trails were very good over the weekend. Lakes were fine – no slush issues. Best riding of this season for me…I like to get out early in the morning and usually I don’t see much traffic. Maybe with this storm I’ll have one more shot this weekend.
Finally got a ride in this week end and like you said-All trails were fine, great to us compared to years back when Rolly from the Bare Path was grooming with a old set of bed springs. And that was a long time ago.
I hope the lakes dont slush up with the new snow coming staring tonight. The temps are in the 20’s at night so they should’nt. We’re going to try to get at least one more in also.
RonTalked to a lot of riders in the Ox Bow both Friday and Saturday night. What a mob Cristie had both days. But good for her. First time I ever had to park down on the flat close to the lake. A lot said the trails were getting pretty choppy on Saturday night and we found that true on the short trail out to Piseco Lake. But we’re not complaining. I have seen it worse a lot worse. The town boys and Pleasant Riders are doing a great jog this year with what they had to work with. That cold snap really set them up hard so they are holding so far. Going to try for at least one more this coming week end.
RonI also rode and would agree, best conditions of the year so far once you get past road crossings.
Friday early afternoon from Wells to Ohio tavern for an early dinner around 4:30pm. Lakes all fine and Morehouse trails were perfect, then we passed the Skandic and side beside and it was all fresh groom. Unfortunately a couple guys in my party hadn’t rode much this season and were significantly slower, otherwise we would have done the loop through Salisbury, over Pawley Rd and back. Still was a great ride back the way we came.
Sunday was a late start with a friend and his younger boys. From the Firehouse to Pawley Rd, Doubled back and cut over to Morehouse trails then dinner at Oxbow. For a Sunday night after the warm temps and traffic it wasn’t horrible at all.
Hopefully the storm pans out and we can ride the whole month!
If anyone gets a chance to ride around the Spec/Perkins area after the big storm I’d appreciate any update.
Rode pretty much everything in the Spec area over the weekend. On Saturday the lakes were slushy, but passable without much trouble. By Sunday the slush had frozen hard and a couple inches of fresh snow hid the frozen ruts and ridges somewhat. You wouldn’t want to hit some of them with any kind of speed. Trails were good overall, but definitely took a beating by the end of the day on Saturday.
The snowpack is thick in the woods, but I was surprised how thin some trails were in the sunny sections and by road crossings. Also, lots of places where running water cuts across the trail leaving ruts so be aware and ready for changing trail conditions. Hopefully things hold up a bit longer. I’d like to sneak one more ride in before it is over but I have a feeling it’s going to end quickly…
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