Canuck Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 There are so many threads on the RAP tour that I'm reluctant to start another. Actually started by posting in another topic, but after Safari 'unexpectantly quit' after 15 minutes of input (data lost) I figured it's karma; better to start another thread. When Sledjunk texted me with an offer of joining his family on a tour, I leapt at the opportunity. We exchanged about 3 texts from invite to trip arrival - "wanna go?"; "here's where we're staying"; "where are you?" What a comfort level for a trip of this magnitude. Our trip was: Bancroft > Kearney Kearney > Mattawa Mattawa > Pembroke Pembroke > Bancroft I've read reports of completing the loop in 3 days (and actually spoke to a young lady from MSR about the 3 day route), but the 3 night/4 day seems optimal. The hotel was wonderful. Clean rooms, large parking lot for trailers and continental breakfast in the morning. When two of the Yamaha's didn't start after the initial morning start/cool down (relays) the front desk attendant reached behind the counter for ... a hair dryer and extension cord. My kind of woman, lol. Anyhow, we embarked with the Sledjunk clan : Sledjunk releasing his inner Ski-doo Moosifer's Yamaha (22,000 km!) and "Strawberry fields forever" (2 stroke oil smelled like strawberries). A snow 'angel' in front of the old trail. My buddy, Mr. T joined us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted February 26, 2013 Author Share Posted February 26, 2013 We ran a club trail from the hotel and stopped at the first major intersection While still a "paper map' rider, I was pleasantly surprised that trail signs now have GPS co-ordinates Later stops revealed nirvana ... Provided ice for evening libations ... And movement in the bushes .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted February 26, 2013 Author Share Posted February 26, 2013 We arrived at Silver Sands Family Resort after sunset... In fact, I jokingly called this the 'Longshadow Tour'. Kudos to those of you who arrive before sunset. We were a leisurely bunch, stopping often for trailside banter and discussions with fellow snowmobilers. (above resort photo taken the next morning) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted February 26, 2013 Author Share Posted February 26, 2013 Day 2 - Kearney to Mattawa (225 km - est) We fueled up onsite at Silver Sands and left early for our trip to Mattawa. Sledjunk was leading and was surprised by a team of oncoming dogsleds. While there were warnings of shared use further north, there was no warning from the south Another group of sledders approached at a T-intersection. Courtesy and smiles, all around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted February 26, 2013 Author Share Posted February 26, 2013 Our original lunch destination was the Dinner Bell, in Bonfield but a trailside warning about road running if we stayed on "D" trail led us to trail 700 and Kudo's restaurant in Powassan. The cabbage roll soup was awesome and I'm told that the chicken wings were delicious. A great find! We passed Dinner Bell, veered onto the lakes north of Bonfield and ... Moosifer heard a clunking sound. I was last in the group and mentioned the rubber pieces resting on the snow 30 yards back. Out come the tools (rubber pieces, guys); belt is checked and found to be in good shape (wonder what those black chunks are); test rides are conducted (careful not to run over a chunk of rubber) and then, while the sled is on its side, Sledjunk sees a gaping hole in the track. Youngest one, be a dear and ride back to those black chunks on the lake trail. Perfect fit. Uggghhh! Calls were made to Dinner Bell (no vacancy, but here's the number to Cedar Gables). Cedar Gables put a hold on 2 rooms with the understanding that we'd call back with a credit card to secure the room. A few minutes later a local rider suggested that we travel to the government dock, proceed one km further to Hwy 531 and formulate a plan there. We were 35 kms from Mattawa by road and significantly more by trail. A friend of Sledjunk's (one without call display) offered to bring a trailer down and, ultimately, brought all 5 sleds to Mattawa. Cedar Gables took the hold off the rooms and there was a genuine concern in her voice for the safety of our group. I'll leave it up to Sledjunk to summarize the tremendous effort put forth by his friend that night and the next day. Ultimately, the sled was driven to Rosseau Road Powersports and Marine where Wildbill installed a new track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted February 26, 2013 Author Share Posted February 26, 2013 Day 3 was scheduled to be Mattawa > Pembroke. Moosifer left for Parry Sound (Rosseau Road Powersports) in the morning and Sledjunk and Moosifer's sister were going to stay at the hotel for the day. If he returned early, they might continue that day. Two of us rode on. Our trailers were in Bancroft and we had to be back by Sunday night. One thing we learned - add an extra day to any such trip. If you're looking for a ride report out of Mattawa, heading east on the A trail, this photo pretty much summarizes the first 30 kms to the sign and the next 20 km to where the adjoining club began. Not just bumps; moguls. This type of sign is an afront to the club and volunteers and there must be an explanation for the conditions (groomer down; manpower; ??). Give yourself extra time, however, in case the situation continues. That 'next club' happened to be "The Missing Link" and its trails were the highlight of day 3. Ride here... And be rewarded with incredible trails and vistas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Quimby Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 Awesome write up..and great pictures...you'd think with all the tech stuff Sledjunk has he would have a satellite uplink where a Blackhawk would land and pick him up anywhere in the world! Thanks for sharing the details! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted February 26, 2013 Author Share Posted February 26, 2013 When riding east from Mattawa, you'll see a sign - "No gas for 120 kms.". The first gas station is in Stonecliffe and we fuelled up there. A simple question of a fellow Yamaha rider (there are actually quite a few in that area) led to an afternoon of "follow me" on the club trails. What should have been a leisurely jaunt to Pembroke on the A trail turned into many enjoyable hours on the orange "130" series of trails out of Stonecliffe. We even saw the missing link - purportedly the swamp that the groomer couldn't access. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted February 26, 2013 Author Share Posted February 26, 2013 Day 4 brought great news. Buddy without call display answered his phone again and offered to trailer the 3 sleds from Mattawa to Pembroke. They would be a few hours behind us ... until I decided that the 'new' version of the B Trail out of Pembroke was way better than the road running version of B Trail that we scraped across the night before. Why, this new version of B trail that led to the trailhead was so much fun that instead of the 15 minutes it took the night before, we rode it for an hour through fields... all the way to Beachburg. Talk about "wide right"! Go back? Nahhh. Let's just see what teeny, tiny trail 114 looks like. Well, you couldn't wipe the grins off our faces. Wide, twisty, groomed and empty. We rode it down to B101A, just past Eganville. What were all those folks talking about in our hotel (Comfort Inn, Pembroke) the night before? Something about snowmobile races? We literally came out of a forest, up a hill and saw this. Being in a forest valley, we didn't even hear the race. At the top of the ridge, the sound was deafening. Gassed up at Golden Lake and continued east on B101A. The snow was noticeably thinner as we continued west along the bottom of the park I had a feeling we'd cross path's with Sledjunk (who texted when he was dropped off in Pembroke) and sure enough, there they were at Wilno Tavern Restaurant. Smiles, jokes and laughter. We'd finish the trip together! The snow returned and the riverside trail was awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted February 26, 2013 Author Share Posted February 26, 2013 The trip was planned by Sledjunk. He provided daily distance sheets,hotel information and maps. Lots of maps Thanks, Sledjunk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slomo Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 Great report Canuck! Read it three times! Certainly deserved a thread on it's own. Thanks for the effort - readers get a lot more out of yarns like this one than appear on sled TV or in the magazines! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irREVerent Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 Nice report, Canuck...and great pics! I spoke to sledjunk yesterday...sorry to hear about his difficulties. Thanks for posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sledjunk Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 Great report, Canuck! I have named this tour "RAP with a GAP"! My buddy certainly might be investing in call display (or at least call blocking) and I can't blame him! Also a HUGE THANK YOU to WildBill and his crew at Rosseau Road. A call from the lake got the response "121 inch? I have one here." During the swap, they noticed that a bolt had come loose in the skid and had worn the hole in the rail oval. WB TIG welded it closed and redrilled it. I have said it before and will say it again here. It is great to have a place like RRPM available where they will go well beyond and above to get you back on the trail! It was a great coincidence to meet up with Canuck and Mr. T again at the Wilno Tavern, especially since that was an impromptu reroute for our group as well. While B trail was groomed nicely, we figured that this might be a little quicker route to get back to the truck. It was great to finish the ride as the same group that started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sledguy74 Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 sounds like a great trip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sledjunk Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 BTW, it was great to meet TheEdge at Silversands. As we were sitting down to dinner, someone at the next table mentioned that there was a sled parked that had music playing. Another member of that group started talking about a guy named SledJunk on the forum he was on and a picture of various electronics laid out on a bed to charge (Thanks Trax and Evil). I spoke up and we introduced ourselves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white dragon Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 great report canuck...& pics...too bad about mooseifer's track... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theedge Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 It was nice to meet you also Sledjunk. Sorry to hear about the sled mishap, but glad you ended up having a great trip. That was something as soon as my buddy came in and said there is a sled with lights and a radio outside, that picture came to my mind. It can only be one guy but then what were the chances. Have a safe and great trip when you go north. Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedanr Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 thanks for the great report. just finalizing some plans for next week and managed to squeeze out an extra day so the RAP tour might be just the ticket. Just myself and one other lad so I'm hoping 3 1/2 days will do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted February 27, 2013 Author Share Posted February 27, 2013 It was great meeting you, theedge. I was the guy hanging back saying "shhhh, dude is right there". We were busting a gut, laughing. ___ 3 1/2 days will be fine. I believe that our riding time was 6 hours per day, 4 day trip. Sledjunk has the data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo Doo Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Great report Canuck, and Sledjunk. Great stuff. This is what snowmobiling is all about, and memories are made of.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
couchrocket500 Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Great report and pics Canuck and Sledjunk! Really enjoyed them. I’ve been nursing a broken arm since Dec. so no sledding for me but stuff like this keeps me going. Thank you……..Safe sledding everyone….always next year for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildman Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 excellent report, sounds like u had a great time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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