Ron Rybicki
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This past Sunday 1/16/22 my friend parked at the Rt10 lot and used the towns access trail to the Powley Rd. It was horrible, he had to clear limbs off all the way and it needs more snow. I know the town rarely takes care of this short mile of trail so it always rough. But its only a mile.
Friend said the Powley Rd was good. Banged rocks a couple of time but they took their time and enjoyed it. The big BR 180 has not been out at that date but the road did not have enough snow to make moguls any way.
Its getting there. We only picked up 6 to 8 inches of snow from last Mondays storm but I’m sure it helped.
We have not ride”n Evergreen since 1/8/22 but it still should be at least 60 mph on the straight.
I’m more worried about any pressure ridges or slush on Piseco cause we are going up to camp today to try to get to the OxBow . I dont think there is enough snow thru Sherriff Lake for the town to try to groom to get to or from the Powley Rd to Piseco. Rocks and little cricks. This trail needs some TLC during the off months from the town but they have to pay every one to get this done and it aint going to happen.
RonOur first decent ride one year ago was on January 15th at the west end of Piseco Lake. We went over Evergreen into Morehouse system as we know the boys there do a fantastic job on their trails. In fact most of our riding was in this direction for most of last season.
RonMy wife saw on face book yesterday that there was a snowmobile accident on Mason Lake. Serious enough that the person was transported by ambulance down to Wells to get a helo ride to a hospital. This might be the first for our area. Do not know any more than this . I know the west end of the lake has a lot of dead stumps sticking out of the snow. Hope all is OK for the person.
Hope this is not the start of our problems and injuries as most of south western parts of Hamilton and Herkimer Counties (Tug Hill included) got enought snow to bring out some crazy riders.
RonMy wife just got a picture on facebook of a quite high pressure ridge on Sacandaga Lake out from Browns Point across the lake. It is probably still building so be cautious on both side of it cause as they build the ice bellys down and water weeps thru cracks. We have seen a foot of slush & water on both side of these pressure ridges and some times there is no problem crossing them. My friend totaled his sled when he hit one at 70 plus on Sacandage a few years back. He was lucky that he got air born and did not slam into a wall of ice. He hurt his shoulder when he landed nose down and rolled it.
If there is one on Sac then you can count on one or two on Piseco. I hope not cause we use Piseco a lot.
RonSaw Ice fisher men on Caroga and Piseco (closer to shore on Piseco) this past Saturday. Dont know how much their drilling. Talked to a guy in the Oxbow also, said they were riding Ox Bow lake.
We rode Evergreen and it was great. The dam was closed and lake was stable No stumps sticking out. safely about 60 to 70 on the straight. Some bare ice. Took a short ride into MoreHouse, it was very boney, had to go slow and slide over some of the bigger rocks. Mud holes were froze. Arietta did cut it out. Got them on camera
Did not see any trailers at the Rt 10 end of the Powley RD. The gate is still closed into the parking lot there. The town has a lot of piles of dirt there. The BR180 is there waiting for more white stuff.
Its getting there. I heard We picked up about 3 more inches in Evergreen Park making a grand total of about 6 to 8 on the frozen ground.
RonHey Iclcleal
Was talking to the forester this past September. He said the Ohio Club got a bridge in that Fly south of Mosquito Hill but as of this past November there has been no attempt to get a bridge built over Mill Creek on the Jerseyfield Lake Rd to Bull Hill (C4A)
All kinds of excuses from the Law Suit to requiring a Structural Engineer to tell them how to build a 15 or 20 foot bridge so the trail is still unsafe and now with no cold temps the mud holes should be wide open. GREAT
Now for maybe the good news.
The old owner of Evergreen Park is staying for the whole winter (so I was told) Maybe now the dam might be better taken care of to regulate the level of the lake so we do not get mud holes in it as we had seen with the new owner. The new owner is now the new Supervisor of Arietta but not a snowmobiler. I offered my expertise but he did not seem to interested as he said we have a trail boss who also is not a snowmobiler. I’ve only been riding the trails in town for the past 48 years. Stlil no work being done on the mud holes in Sheriff Lake.
The town only gets an avg. of $42,000 bucks a year to maintain the trails though.
PS WE had a venison hot dog roast at the G Lake cable the last Saturday of the season and knew you were in there. You probably saw the fire still going when you came out. I put 3 shots in the air to get you interested.
Off for now
RonOhio Trails Closed
They just informed all via face book that due to warm weather and this latest rain that all of their trails are now closedMy friend talked to riders on C4 in Morehouse this past Friday afternoon. The came from Ohio and said the trails in the woods were great except for the bare spots in the log job in between the French Rd crossings. The Phantom Trail (as we call it) from Nobolosboro Bridge to the county line was horrible. No grooming at all so. It was rough when we were on it 2 weeks ago.
We are going to try a run to Ohio thru Mosquito Hill this coming Saturday.. Should be Ok cause it mostly in the woods.
RonWe did not ride the Lake Pleasant area but did ride Piseco, OxBow Lake and the trails in between. Considering the thaw we had the trails are holding up pretty darn good. A few warn out spots and one mud hole starting to open up across the Lake from the Ox Bow Inn. Right now there is a by pass to get around it so no problem for now. Dont know about this coming week end.
My friends did get up into Perkins but did not try to get into Spectacular cause they heard from riders in Perkins that the trails facing south into the village have a lot of bare spots and have turned muddy. They came back to Piseco via the Out House trail towards the air port. Even the Big Brook trail from the out house intersection was showing signs of dirt up into Perkins but all ridable. No long distance mud riding.
As far as all of the lakes. We had to hug the snow on the north side of Piseco, watching out for the cricks coming in. Temps were up on the Skidoo e-techs but not my wife’s Polaris Pro S Switchback. No high temp lights.
All the lakes in this area are wind blown bare with patches of snow here and there.
Evergreen is the same and the crick on the east end is OK for now.
If you dont mind a little dirt riding, it should not be to bad for the coming week end. WE are going to try a Mosquito Hill to Ohio run which should be OK as these trails are all in the woods.
PS I heard in the OX Bow this past Friday night that Arietta is through grooming for the season. I hope not.
RonGreat news for the Fall Lake trail as we took it this past Sunday the 7th and the 15 inch track ruts were almost down to the dirt in places.
We have a camera in Evergreen and agree the trail from Piseco Lake to Evergreen was passable but very stuttery to say the least. This trail has not been groomed since Feb. 24th I thought that our registration fee said this corridor (C4A) , high snow formula trail should be groomed. I would hope at least once a week. Maybe they thought that it looked smooth enough from the old Piseco Rd so they would not have to do it for the last 14 days.
As far as the short section on the north end of the Powley Rd. goes. They can’t use the big BR 180 here cause its to narrow in one spot. I can see where a sled or two must have caught a ski and went down the bank into the brush. On the way home a couple of weeks ago a woman waved us down on Rt 10 for help. She went down the bank. Both of us having bad backs told her to wait, that her friends would see that she was missing and come back for her.
Boy, did Evergreen look wet and you could have avoided the log job if you took the Mosquito Hill (C4C) to Ohio, and came back the same way. This is what we are going to do again this Saturday. Morehouse and Ohio have been doing a great job on these trails.
RonSame story this past week end. Grooming sleds just sit there. We have a camera in Evergreen Park and as of this past Sunday the trail (C4A) from Piseco Lake to Evergreen Lake has not been groomed in 14 days. The trail from Piseco Lake (S88) to the Powley RD was rough. I dont understand it as the groomers get paid. Maybe they figure that they made enough money for the season. Grooming might very well be done here for the rest of this season. So goes the $42,000 and I dont know how much Hamilton County kicks in. A while ago I heard it was the tune of$20,000. Thats 60 grand to have the worse trails in the area. Its every year that I have been complaining , but again I’m labeled a trouble maker. If it was not for my effort to get the DEC in on S88 and C4 we would still be plowing thru 2 mud holes a couple of years ago. Why did’nt the town do this. Why should a snowmobilier have to take matters in his hands to get a decent trail to ride. The Supervisor told me once that he will not polish the trails that I should ease up a little. I said all I want for the snowmobiling public is a decent trail to ride, not to have to plow thru mud holes.
I will say the trails at this west end of Piseco Lake have been great up to about 2 weeks ago. We can thank cold weather and a lot of snow for this.
RonYou skidoo e-tec owners out there In addition to the secondary rollers problem better pay attention to the intake manifold rubber mounts. If they crack and they will due to extreme heat, your in for a lot of grief as well as money. We have to ride in conditions here that will stress these e-tecs to the max. They run right at the leanest mixture needed to keep the engine from blowing. The computer can only do so much. My skidoo mechanic said they should be checked at the start of each season or when you put the sled to bed just to be sure they are OK or get ready to part with $1,700.00 dollars as I just did. I thought this only happened to the old antique sleds like my 1970 with the Tillison carb.
Just got my sled back after a piston melt down caused by cracked rubber intake manifolds. New cylinder, piston, pin, clips, 2 intake manifolds (they were both cracked) and misc. gaskets and labor to cleaned out the aluminum in the power valve on the bad side.. It only had 2500 miles on it. I know Darrin usually doubles this in one season.
BEWARE
Ron
RonBad news for C4A and C4C here
Just got a e-mail from the DEC about making these trails safe for snowmobiling and it aint good. They are not going to do anything this season as I thought they should, like bring in material for the 21 years of promised bridges over the mud holes and cricks. They are going to wait until the snow melts and assess the conditions for building bridges then bring in material. Just another excused that we have heard for the past 21 years. Does’nt make any common sense to me but what do I know.
We have been lucky that the temps were low enough this season to freeze the mud holes and small cricks so the groomers could get in there without getting stuck s every time they they groomed.
I met one of them Sunday afternoon in the Ox Bow and almost shook his hand out of his shoulder thanking him for all the work they did.
My hat is off to the Ohio Club crew for this seasons great trails. Please send them a donation as my wife and I have done. What evr you can afford. They’re only fund raiser this year was a $100 a ticket raffle that probably only netted them 10K. There was no Snow Bash in 2020 and it doe not look good for this year either. Maybe King Coumo will allow them to have it if we can attain a good herd immunity. This is their main primary fund raiser.
Off for now
RonDarrin
And to all that have been riding Evergreen. This year the dam has been closed for the most part, but should the owner panic and open it, then forget to close it should we get to much rain can make the lake’s mud holes open up. I talked to him at the start of the season about this, that how dangerous the lake becomes and he said he would try to keep the lake at a safe level for us. Lets hope now we are coming into spring conditions.
My camp is on the water shed for the Panther Mtn. stream (main source of water) for the lake and it appears that the heavy snow pack absorbed the rain we had so far with out any run off. We missed the potential for a mess on the lake.
PS My roof finally slid, dumping probably 50 ton of snow in my yard.
Ron
