Hello, I had a quick question. My buddy and I are looking to take a ride up to Old Forge this winter, and not sure if there are any trails from the Mayfield, caroga lake or Salisbury center area that have direct access to Old forge. is this a trip that can be done in under 4 or 5 hours? which is the best way to make it up there? is it thru caroga lake, then up to piseco lake and then indian lake following c8 the whole way, and if so, is that groomed the whole way? or is it even quicker to start from salisbury center? and take the trails from Salisbury to Remsen then Forestport east to Old Forge..I ride mostly in the Mayfield area, but I dont belive there is anyway to old forge area from Mayfield unless I ride to caroga lake, then up c8 to piseco, indian lake,etc..... Im starting to plan this trip now, as winter will be here before we know it, and we are not sure if its worth riding all the way to old forge or not, or if we better off just bringing sleds up there and riding up there for the weekend, I dont want to spend 8 hours one way to get there, But if the trip can be done in say around 4 hours or less, then I rather just leave from my local area and ride up the Old forge..we would be staying at a cabin in old forge for the weekend.By the way, would need as many groomed trails as possible as im riding a big touring sled............thanks much,

we can make it from ballston spa to caroga/powley rd in 3 hrs or so riding agressive with minimal stops. cargo to salisbury is about an hour. from cargoa you'd head right to salisbury and north thru ohio to barneveld and then north to tug hill. c4h out of piseco/cargo area will take you to the west side of old forge. IMO any backpack trip we do we stay away form old forge if we can, its like they truck the snirt in or something. it will be nice through indian lake and moose river then crappy near old forge, nice again in alder creek! also, the run from speculator to Il and mrp to old forge is fun, just not old forge as i said. if you do go that way take c4h out of OF and loop back to piseco/morehouse/carga. its a fun single track trail that winds out and has some good lumps to mash too!
ian

x 2... Indian Lake and Moose River are great times on any sled. OF can be a crap shoot. I've been there when it's been great, and other times (most of the time), it's been super beat up, and everybody who's learning to ride a sled is there, jamming up all the trails. Not knocking newbies, but it can get frustrating and dangerous in a hurry. I'd expect you to get there in under 4 hours with minimal stops and good trails. If it's anything like last season, traffic should be low and trails fast!

You guys must ride a different Old Forge than I do. It's always excellent when I'm there. All trails groomed daily. To be sure, it's ridden hard, and no, it is not the Tug Hill snocross crowd; but it is much more enjoyable to me. To each his own, nobody is right or wrong, everyone likes what they like and that's fine by me.

My experience is that Indian lake is a complete crapshoot. The 17 miles between the MRP gates and Indian lake are usually the least enjoyable. That being said, it is getting better. They have some new grooming equipment and are putting it to good use.

Getting to your question I would go to Old Forge from the south to west and up and come back across the MRP to Indian Lake and down.

yes you can but I think you should go riding up the other way thow throw like alder creek forestport white lake is great all the way up to old forge is very nice riding+mosse river plains is always great........I really like around the indain lake area and north or old forge towards still water..this whole area is great so there would be NO wrong way to go