Blake G Posted February 11, 2014 Author Share Posted February 11, 2014 The hubby and I are up and could ride from here to Wasaga Beach, Penetangue if you would like. Let me know and we could meet up somewhere on Trail 4 or 15 if that works for you. Hey! I missed this message because I was out the door. Too bad, because I kind of went in the direction you mentioned. About 130 kms and I saw six other sleds. Did you end up going out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake G Posted February 11, 2014 Author Share Posted February 11, 2014 4 of us here at sisters. Whatcha wana do???? Hi Ian. I just got back from my rip to Elmvale area. Do you have the 700 back on the trail? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake G Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 Did an easy and enjoyable three and a half hour run today from the Orillia staging lot (Division Rd and Carlyon Line) taking TOP B and 416 to Elmvale and returning via C, 309, and B105C railbed. I didn't plan ahead, so ended up going by myself. It was a nice day and I wasn't too far from civilization, plus I expected to see plenty of other sledders. As it turns out, I saw only six sleds, two near the beginning at Orillia, two near the end at Coldwater, and two in between. Trails were uniformly good to excellent, so thank you to all the dedicated workers. The only disappointing thing was seeing a few farm fields that had been trespassed upon by the inconsiderate few, who fail to respect the generous property owners that have allowed us to use their land. The map shows the route with a red square at the starting point and a red circle for the site of each picture. I went clockwise from the red square. There is some road running in this area, and that is just fine with current conditions. At ten a.m. my truck was the only vehicle in the staging lot. When I returned around two, there was just my old truck and an ODSC truck and trailer. I like the trails going through hardwoods, such as in this stretch just west of Orillia on B. We don't have much like this in Muskoka. Road rash was non existent. Along Bass Lake Sideroad the groomed snowbanks are so deep that the signs are barely sticking up above the snow in places. I saw no sleds as I took my time poking through the various tracts of the Simcoe County Forests. Soon after crossing Highway 400 I was able to look across and see Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort to the east. I took Club Trail 416 near Hillsdale and up to Elmvale. There was a variety of terrain, including plenty of wide open spaces. I had never tried 309, so I took it as a more direct route east from C. No other sleds, and the trail was mint. Eventually I made it to the railbed between Midland and Waubashene. I saw two more sleds near Coldwater, and then stopped for one more picture on the B105, just before arriving back at the start point. The rail bed trail was a little softer than the other trails, presumably due to a higher level of traffic. Some sledder earlier in the day was sporting quite a set of runners. I don't know the brand, but it was kind of hard to stay out of his ruts with my own skiis. LOL The various clubs in this area should be proud of the great trail conditions. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white dragon Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 nice report & pics blake,309 is a nice trail...thx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nunz Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Nice ride and pics, Only wish I was off today or I would have joined ya.. Nunz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extreme600 Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 nice report & pics blake,309 is a nice trail...thx Yes, great report. Sorry we missed you Blake. You are going to laugh at this one. We didn't start out until 11:00am today. Lazy for some reason. Anyways our plan for today was this 4-D on Kashe-Summerlands store for brunch. Than D to B to Wood lake to Baysville than over to Port Sydney and back down on the D trail through Bracbridge to Gravenhurst to C101D to 15 back to 4. Well here is what happen. We went to 4 (pretty darn good job they do with a drag)-D on Kashe (fast and smooth) to Summerland for a great brunch (breaky for me and lunch for the hubby). Left there and ended up on the B trail (Very nice) to ORILLIA on the East side of Couch (Awesome) which we have not ridden in probably 8 years. On to the 207 (beautiful) trail towards Hwy#12 and turned around to come back on the 207 to Rama Trail (awesome) to the B on Couch to the B112B to Orillia for fuel and a coffee. Than back North on B112B on Couch to (stopped by a nice police officer just checking stickers) to B105C to the 204 (one of my favourite trails) to the 4 and back home sweet home. Only 102 miles but very enjoyable. Man, these clubs have all been awesome. That run you took today is the exact run we did last Wednesday. That 309 is sweet and the B trail is FABULOUS. Of course the rail line to Waubashene is great too. Actually I still have to post the short edit of my 4 hours video of that round trip. One of our favourite runs. Thinking of doing the Wasaga Beach run actually on Thursday if you are interested. I will pm you also. Nice pics by the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extreme600 Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 4 of us here at sisters. Whatcha wana do???? Ian are you guys riding anywhere Thursday? We are thinking of a run to Wasaga Beach and Back. Nice loop for that one. Let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake G Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 extreme600, are you and the hubby still looking at Wasaga for tomorrow? I might be interested in going part way at least.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake G Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 For Friday my pal Timmy is interested in parking our trucks in Rosseau and running up C102 to the Sequin, then west and south via C, 201, 350, 340, 330 back to Rosseau. Does anyone know of a good place to park near the trail in Rosseau? Any recommendations for tweeking the route, or adding 50 or 75 kms to get the loop up to about 135 to 160 kms? And one more thing - - does Wildbill have gas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sledjunk Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 For Friday my pal Timmy is interested in parking our trucks in Rosseau and running up C102 to the Sequin, then west and south via C, 201, 350, 340, 330 back to Rosseau. Does anyone know of a good place to park near the trail in Rosseau? Any recommendations for tweeking the route, or adding 50 or 75 kms to get the loop up to about 135 to 160 kms? And one more thing - - does Wild Bill have gas? Untitled20140214.jpg You can park at the PetroCanada / Timmies center. Obviously, fuel is there too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake G Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 You can park at the PetroCanada / Timmies center. Obviously, fuel is there too. Well, I like your suggestion, sledjunk, but my buddy comes from Bracebridge, and I think he is hoping to stage in Rosseau because it is a little closer for him. For myself, coming from Gravenhurst, I would be quite happy setting out from the Petro/Timmies centre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extreme600 Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 extreme600, are you and the hubby still looking at Wasaga for tomorrow? I might be interested in going part way at least.... Sorry Blake but we had to get back home. Will definitely do this run in the next week or so. Will pm you when we are thinking of it again. Sorry bud. Maybe by then you will have your cat back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extreme600 Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Well, I like your suggestion, sledjunk, but my buddy comes from Bracebridge, and I think he is hoping to stage in Rosseau because it is a little closer for him. For myself, coming from Gravenhurst, I would be quite happy setting out from the Petro/Timmies centre. Bill doesn't sell gas. The Petro/Timmies really isn't that far from his place. Nice spot with lots of room too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake G Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Sorry Blake but we had to get back home. Will definitely do this run in the next week or so. Will pm you when we are thinking of it again. Sorry bud. Maybe by then you will have your cat back. Not a problem. Hope you had a good ride home and back to work! I am confident I will come up with a suitable scheme for tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iangj Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Hi Ian. I just got back from my rip to Elmvale area. Do you have the 700 back on the trail? You betcha and she runs great. I had it all back together in two days. Think we found out why the bearing failed. Who ever replaced the track before I got it, also replaced some of the idler wheels in the rear. Unfortunately they used the larger rear wheel for a non-M10 sled so there was an unbelievable amount of tension on the track even with the adjusters backed off. The centre wheel was contacting a cross brace for the M10 and could not turn. $40 for the new bearings and seals then $120 for the 3 proper 6" rear wheels. Now I can set proper tension and turn the track easily by hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake G Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 iangj it sounds as though things turned out quite well, all things considered. That's a nice looking sled you have and it will be good to see it on the trail again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake G Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 I would NOT recommend that anyone travel over frozen water as it may be UNSAFE. I had a nice 110 km run today combining OFSC trails, unofficial trails, roads and lakes. What a beautiful day. Started in Gravenhurst at Gull Lake Park. The wooden ramp is there and ready to use, but it was quicker to drive the machine off my truck and reload it later using a snowbank. Click to enlarge images. The red square is my start/end point, and the red circles are photo locations. The little blue squares show my path when not on OFSC trails. Domino might be thinking about kicking me off this site for posting too many iimages? I started east to take Gull, Silver and Three Mile Lakes. This route is not a marked OFSC trail. I remembered to slow down for the dangerous ice ridge that builds up every year beneath the Highway 11 overpass on Gull Lake. I went up the point of land at the east end of Three Mile to the scenic rock ridge, and took a photo looking west back toward town. This is within 200 metres of the junction of D and 3/B. I continued east for half a minute to the intersection of D and 3/B. The slow stretch on 3/B lasted for a couple of kilometres until Ryde Lake, then conditions were great for the rest of the trip. Past the junction with Trail 7 I came to the part of B with a series of rollercoaster hills. Today I went nice and slow. Note to self: this was more fun than taking these hills too quickly. I soon crossed Highway 118 beside the old Wood Lake Store. Right at a sign saying "Stay on Trail or Permission Revoked" I saw proof that some sledders are unable to read or respect the generous people who provide these wonderful riding opportunities. Pathetic. I've seen worse, but this has got to be mighty frustrating for club volunteers who spend so much of their personal time each year being our ambassadors with landowners. I might mention that my parents have a farm near Gravenhurst, and idiots ride all over their fields without permission also, and their land is nowhere near OFSC trails. So the disrespect for landowners goes on whether or not there are OFSC trails nearby. A few seconds past the abused field I entered Wood Lake, with countless acres of fresh snow to freely enjoy. . I turned left on D103B and stopped for a photo at Fraserburg, Centre of the Universe. I took 41 going west toward Bracebridge, and ran it to the trail end at the Bracebridge Golf Club on 117. A nice, seldom used trail. Seldom used because it doesn't link with anything...except that I was told it can be used to access Kirk Line. I won't divulge the method, but I soon ended up on lovely 36, the Snobombers trail that passes over High Falls on the west side of Highway 11. I followed 36 to Muskoka Lumber at Muskoka Road 4 and Falkenburg Road, at which point I abandoned the trail and took the road west for a kilometre or so, until I met D and turned left towards Bracebridge. (By the way, Falkenburg Road has a good build up of ice and snow right now, so I would imagine people sledding between Bracebridge and Port Carling might be tempted to run the road 5 or 6 kilometres to greatly reduce the distance between the two towns.) Instead of following D all the way back to Bracebridge and Gravenhurst, I took 32 out to Indian Head Harbour on Lake Muskoka. There are a zillion tracks going out from Indian Head onto the lake, and this portion of the lake is staked. Normally I would not go anywhere near the mouth of the Muskoka River (we always called it the Bracebridge River). However, there are some stake lines, and quite a few tracks going between the river mouth and Eilean Gowan Island. So I went that way, past a dozen or more fish huts, which can be seen in the centre of this photo. I sledded straight south onto the big part of the lake, then veered across to the west side, as I came closer to The Narrows separating the main part of the lake from Muskoka Bay. As always, I took the well worn path over the peninsula west of the Narrows, and emerged onto Muskoka Bay. There are lots of tracks in this image, showing the path southward from The Narrows portage to Gravenhurst. I turned around and took a picture, to prove that there are people electing to sled through The Narrows. I'm not going to do it, because when I got my first snowmobile forty-some years ago I promised my Grandma I would never drive through The Narrows, except by boat. Her father was lighthouse keeper at The Narrows over a hundred years ago, and he had a few tales of people drowning by making faulty decisions. So that was about it. I stopped at CTC for gas and found out they had none available, due to technical problems - - I carried on to my truck at Gull Lake Park. Thank you so much to our volunteers, for all their time and effort, which makes these experiences possible!! There's a little more bare pavement than there was a couple of days ago, so we'd best get sledding. Spring will be here before you know it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake G Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Tomorrow morning at 915 we will be leaving the Orillia parking lot at Carlyon Line and Division Road (junction of B Trail and B105C). Just me and two or three riding buddies from Bracebridge. We are all in our fifties and sixties, so no speed records will be broken. We would welcome more sledders. You could let me know in advance, or just show up ready to leave by 915. I'm not going to bring my ramp, as I noticed earlier this week that site conditions are perfect for using a snowbank to load a sled onto a pickup. The plan is to take the rail bed to Midland, then poke around some trails and find some lunch. We should be back to Orillia by 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white dragon Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Tomorrow morning at 915 we will be leaving the Orillia parking lot at Carlyon Line and Division Road (junction of B Trail and B105C). Just me and two or three riding buddies from Bracebridge. We are all in our fifties and sixties, so no speed records will be broken. We would welcome more sledders. You could let me know in advance, or just show up ready to leave by 915. I'm not going to bring my ramp, as I noticed earlier this week that site conditions are perfect for using a snowbank to load a sled onto a pickup. The plan is to take the rail bed to Midland, then poke around some trails and find some lunch. We should be back to Orillia by 3. great pics & report blake..i should be there at 9..i'll call bill... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake G Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 great pics & report blake..i should be there at 9..i'll call bill... That would be excellent, if you can swing it! Not sure if we'll be able to keep up at all times, but none of us are smokers, so maybe it'll be a case of the tortoise and the hare? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extreme600 Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Nice report Blake. Nice pics too. Boy do those pictures ever bring back a lot of great memories on LM. As for your promise to your Grandma, very wise. Two things we have to respect water and fire!!! Have fun tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white dragon Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 That would be excellent, if you can swing it! Not sure if welll be able to keep up at all times, but none of us are smokers, so maybe it'll be a case of the tortoise and the hare? more smoking....lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockerdan Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Blake I have been running from trail 32(boyd bay) down to Boston pizza for many yrs.....always sticking closer to the two big islands(eilean and browning) and directly south to lighthouse island, and then taking the small portage trail across to avoid the open water. I have never worried about water coming from Muskoka river, as long as you stay closer to the big islands. Im not sure where Indian head harbour is, Isnt Indian 'river' over on Lake Rosseau at Port Carling? Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Re:Leaf Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Wow nice reports and pics Blake. Have fun tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake G Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 Im not sure where Indian head harbour is, Isnt Indian 'river' over on Lake Rosseau at Port Carling? Indian Head Harbour is the name of the marina on Boyd Bay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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