Ron Rybicki
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
A ambitious loop for you guys would be from Indian Lake south thru Perkins Clearing to Oxbow for gas, lunch or dinner. Ox Bow motel right there but call ahead for reservations. If you can’t get into the motel you will have to back track into Spectacular about 20 minutes of lakes for a motel. From here go west over Piseco Lake, thru Morehouse trail system (Excellent trails ) into the Ohio Club system (good trails but a lot of traffic on week ends) You then can go north and cross Hinkley Reservoir (Lot of sleds crossing OK). Now your into Penn Mountain system (also good trails ( but beat on week ends). Still going north you got options to go into Trackside Trail Blazer trails towards Old Forge or head north west closer towards where you want to go. Or reverse your trip. Watch your gas. (from Oxbow only gas is at the Ohio Tavern-35 miles or gas at Hinkley crossing on RT 365
We rode from Piseco this past Saturday thru More House into Ohio and on the the Alamo Inn @ Newport. (Excellent all the way going but a little chewed up coming back) but I’ve seen it worse.
PS I would’nt spend the money for a Old Forge permit just to get thru. You can ride to Big Moose Lake around and head to Raquette Lake then to Indian LakeHate to be the bearer of bad news but maybe I can get thru to some who want to listen. SLOW DOWN JUST A LITTLE.
Saw on my weekly Ranger Report this past Thursday a guy hit a tree in Perkins breaking his femur going to fast to negotiate a curve. Had to get rescued and transported to Nathan Littaure in Gloversville. Plus the one who hit something on Mason Lake early in this season and had to get air lifted to Albany Med.
Heard that one of the deaths was a guy plowing into the side of a truck on one of the roads up in Tug Hill some where. Also I heard that the death count for snowmobile accidents so far this year is up to 4 or 5. Not good news for us old timers just getting into our 2022 season.
Ron.Hey Icicleal
My friends took Morehouse to the Ohio Hotel Friday via the Mad Tom trail. (S46A) Morehouse was great. Mad Tom (S46A) was OK passable but could use some grooming. The Ohio boys are only grooming the roads around town not much on the trails yet. They were lucky to get into the Hotel as by 1PM you had just enough room to stand.
They decided to take the trail to Mosquito Hill via buck point camp.( Herk. 17) Rough all the way but there was an attempt to groom from buck point to the Hill (C4C) from Hill thru Moremouse to Evergreen was great. You guys in Morehouse are wearing out the snow but good for us. To bad Arietta wont spend the money that we give them to do what you guys do.
RonPiseco to Evergreen
Town only groomed on Friday the 21st but it was holding up better than expected on Saturday the next day. Not much traffic yet. Heard from friends that Sherriff Lake to Powley Rd was OK but had to dodge a few rocks. Also heard in the OX Bow on Friday that the trail from Ox Bow to Powley RD was getting beat on the hills. Lot of traffic and need more white stuff. All in All not bad for the amount we got. Going back up this week end to beat them up some more.
RonSaturday PM We Rode to the out house via the Piseco Air port ( for the amount of snow the trail was good ) then Fawn Lake trail to Sacandaga Lake ( trail was also good ) and to Ox Bow ( like you said Ox Bow trail was beat due to lack of white stuff and probably a 1000 sleds on it Saturday ) for dinner. The short trail to Piseco Lake ( which was good for the amount of traffic it gets ) Like Indian and Louwy, Piseco had its slush spots, but nothing to worry about.
RonThis 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.
Ron
