I left the house with my cousin Peter by 8:30am. I was a bit nervous as far as conditions went due to rain on Sunday and warmer temps. As soon as we hit the trails my worries were gone...the trails were in good shape! Basically I have to take a left out of my driveway for 200' then a sharp right down a plowed but snow/ice covered dirt road for a few hundred yards and Im on trail 392...this is my home trail that we take heading south crossing rte 10 and bringing us to what I call the T-stop. At this stop the trail intersects with 386. You either go North or South...I usually go north because my brain always assumes there's more snow North..right?
Today I wanted to head South and head towards marlow where our Club president resides and also our Warming hut is located. Heading south on 392, the trail was freshly groomed and wide. This was the 1st time Ive been down this trail. The trail was a mix of wide straights and rolling hills...definitely a good choice! We came upon intersection 386 which would bring us towards acworth and corridor 5 but we continued down into Marlow where we found the clubs warming hut. Ive never belonged to a club that I actually could help out and use their facilities so this was a treat...its a nice small cabin with plenty of dry wood, wood stove, tables, chairs, electronic charging station and some cool reading material...I was impressed and cant wait to return and get a warm fire going and have a warm drink. We left and headed towards Jims home. Jim is an older gentleman who runs the club as president and also has one of the groomers at his house. We stopped for a quick visit and he gave us some directions on how to do a loo up towards Andover where the trails are more like up north...maybe because they are up "North"???? I keep forgetting where I live!
We headed north up 393 towards Pilsbury State Forest...one of my favorite places to rip through...its usually well groomed with a mix of wide twisties. From here, we hit 390 towards Bradford and stop at Pizza Chef for a great lunch. Everything that we had ridden on was for the most part, freshly groomed. One of the hidden gems here is that the trails dont get alot of abuse and they stay fairly well maintained for a while. off of 390 we hit a destination that Ive been wanting to see since I hiked Mt Kearsarge last season and saw the snowmobile trail. On the Wilmot side, you can ride up the access trail for some stellar views of Vermont and North towards the Whites, with Mt Washington in view. It was agreat place to take a rest and enjoy the scenery. My cousin Peter just had a smile on his face the entire time and could only say "Wow, who would have known"..the trails were an average 8-9 all day...the only thing that would make them better would have been more snow on top and more use...we broke virgin trail for a while and the only problem was a slight crunch on top from the last storm.
We finally made it to Andover and corridor 2. The trails was just amazing...highway size width, smooth and fast. My gps brought us exactly to the hidden trail to get gas. This gps and trailmasters map was the best thing Ive purchased to date...Its incredibly accurate! After filling up, we did a return route on the GPS...it showed arrival time back at my house for 4:34pm. I soon learned this was wishful thinking. After photo stops and pee breaks, I kept watching the minutes and hours add on! As I went to call my girlfriend to let her know I was safe and what time Id be home, I realized my phone had died from the cold temps and I sadly dont have her or anyones phone # memorized anymore. I was in a slight panic because I knew she's not used to this snowmobile stuff and all she's seen on the news up here are all the sled fatalities and accidents...ughh!
Well it was time to put the hammer down and get home, I kicked up the pace and watched as the sun started to set. I quickly found out my high/low beams need adjustment...there was no happy medium. Heading back, I found a familiar figure standing in the trail...it was another moose in the same area as last time. My cousing caught up and he took a view photos but it was getting dark so Im not sure how they would come out. Hammer down and after another hour of riding and 142 miles, we finally were in my driveway. It was an awesome ride and I cant wait to head out this weekend and Monday/Tuesday. The Sarge388
