Jump to content

Epic Northern Trip -- February 4-11, 2017


irREVerent

Recommended Posts

Epic Northern Trip – February 4-11, 2017

 

Starting from Sault Ste. Marie on Saturday February 4th, a group of four OCers – Sledjunk, Re_Leaf, Canuck & yours truly, irREVerent – embarked on an 8-day, 2,200 km grand tour of much of northeastern Ontario.  Sledjunk had researched and chosen the Marriott Fairfield Inn & Suites as our staging hotel, located on Great Northern Road (Hwy. 17 North) with direct trail access from the parking lot via a local service trail to local trail D130.  This hotel turned out to be a good staging spot, with lots of room for trucks and trailers, very nice rooms, good rates (with a decent breakfast included), and convenient access to a variety of nearby restaurants. The story of our trip follows below, along with selected pics…some taken by me, but many thanks to Re_Leaf and Canuck for sharing theirs.  (Sledjunk has promised to add pics later, when he has a chance.)

 

Day 1 – Sault to Halfway Haven

 

We awoke to an overcast day with a fresh layer of new snow, which had fallen the day before and into the evening.  After off-loading the sleds from our trailers and packing on the saddlebags, we chatted with a group of 6-7 other guys who were also heading for HH.  We set out on our adventure about 9 AM.  The service trail and first section of D130 and D had been freshly-groomed, so we made good time getting north to our first and only gas stop at Goulais River.  Although only about 25 kms from our starting point, we decided to top-up there, because that would be the only gas available on D until our night’s stop at Halfway Haven…a distance of about 190 kms from Goulais to HH, so a bit of a concern for a couple of the Yammies in the group, especially given that we could be pushing new snow.  We continued north and east toward our early lunch stop at Searchmont Ski Resort, and sure enough, soon ran out of fresh grooming and thus began pushing the new snow, with the temperature warming to just below freezing in the late morning sun.  We caught up to the other larger group from the hotel, as one of those guys blew a corner and went way into the rhubarb, where the snow was waist-deep.  A bunch of us and them pushed, lifted and pulled, and had him back up on the trail in only a few miunutes, and we were back on our way again, arriving at Searchmont not long afterwards.  Being a Saturday, the ski resort was hopping, and we were fortunate to get a table in the very large cafeteria at the base lodge…the food was decent, fresh, and quickly available, with lots of choice. 

 

We were on our way again before the mid-day lunch rush of skiers, and after a little hiccup backtracking to find D Trail north out of Searchmont, we continued north on D, pushing new snow all the way.

58ae31318d4d5_headedtoHH.thumb.jpg.6130d56b7ff7732bf567eaf9d76f937b.jpg 58ae318f12f9b_pushingnewsnowallday....thumb.jpg.dfdb88602d78eaf594b2dc84352cf35e.jpg58ae31beba11e_gettingcloser....thumb.jpg.4d75db843c579c04fc2a1278230d5c69.jpg

 

As we got closer to Halfway Haven, we stopped for a break and some pics at the D/F trail junction, which is about 20 kms south of HH. 

58ae31f3d75d8_Jctn.ofDFsouthofHH.thumb.jpg.397db50c99ae44d68ed3d4529ebdebed.jpg 58ae3226c0a20_takingabreakatDFjctn..thumb.jpg.9689db295d6a4048a235f5696392da76.jpg

At that point, the low fuel light on Re_Leaf’s Apex had been on for about 30 kms, and Sledjunk’s fuel light had also come on, so we dialed the pace back a bit, and eventually rolled into Halfway around 3:30 PM.  Actually, just 3 of us arrived initially, as the Apex had run out of fuel about 1 km from HH.  Canuck made a quick run back with a small jerry can while SJ and I re-fueled, and 5 minutes later Re_Leaf joined us in the HH yard and gassed-up as well. We met HH’s gregarious new owner, Sean, inside at the desk, and after a debate about our booking arrangements, we checked-in to our 4 separate rooms, and relaxed with some adult beverages and chatted with a bunch of the other guests, including the group we had helped get their buddy out of the rhubarb.  We also met two couples from central Ontario, who were on tour and would be following our same route for the next several days…lots of chat and laughs.

 

Sean provided pre-dinner yummy snacks, and dinner itself was outstanding…”slab-o-beef” along with all the fixin’s, including salad and fantastic pie for dessert…nobody went to bed hungry that night.  Total trail distance for the day was 214 kms, although it felt like more because of pushing snow.  Trails were 7/10.

 

Day 2 – Halfway Haven to Dubreuilville

 

Our second morning was noticeably colder, with sun breaking through the early morning cloud cover.  After a big breakfast, we said our goodbyes, loaded the sleds and headed out about 9:30 AM on D toward Wawa.  There had been another fresh snowfall overnight (7-8”), and it was quite windy, so we had to contend with lots of snow dust, and pushing snow again.  We stopped for some pics at the scenic Anjigami Dam, and soon after, rolled into Wawa for our first fuel stop of the day. 

58ae326b9b6f6_AnjigamiDamLake(nearWawa).thumb.jpg.7d228024d1cd14e34ffbadd63b82601d.jpg58ae32b10acc3_AnjigamiDam.thumb.jpg.3a4e538fc4b0fafd34f442c56a91e65e.jpg 58ae32dff28ab_bighillonDTrailsouthofWawa.thumb.jpg.e09813794596a0def5f9fe83cd4a609f.jpg

We continued on D through town, and decided to run up the stakeline on Wawa Lake, instead of the land trail. At the north end od the lake, we hit D again, and rolled north to Hawk Junction and our planned lunch stop at The Big Bear in town.  Unfortunately, there was no signage on the trail for the restaurant, so we wasted considerable time hunting around local streets and trails trying to find it…including a few wrong turns and asking for directions from some locals…and eventually arrived there around 1 PM.  Sledjunk had pre-arranged for our group to meet there for lunch with fellow OCer AC+YA (Scott) and his daughter Paige, but there was no sign of them when we arrived. The grub at Big Bear was tasty and plentiful, and we were just finishing our meals when Scott & Paige came in.  We sat and chatted with them for a short while, then hit the trail again, having been advised about a new, nicely-groomed club trail (“Wawa 6”) which would lead us directly to the long stakeline on the Magpie River  north toward Dubreuilville. 

58ae33d6e1a10_EnteringMagpieRiver(northofWawa).thumb.jpg.fab5e1f5e9a111a5c8fbd55b16de9fa2.jpg

58ae3408cf987_StakelineonMagpieRiver.JPG.62fb4afb0950bd4331e2e2ba21940020.JPG

That was a fun and fast route up to D, and we rode into Dubreuilville around 4ish, in lots of time to get checked-in to our night’s accommodations at Relais Magpie well before dinner and the Superbowl. 

  

Before off-loading the sleds, we rode down to the card-lock gas station by the mill, where Pat Bouchard (Manager at Relais Magpie) met us and facilitated our re-fuelling;  we then ran back to the hotel, off-loaded our bags, and with Pat’s assistance, got our sleds nicely parked in their heated shed.  We decided that, rather than going out to the LOL Resto-Bar (only restaurant in town) for dinner, we would order take-out dinners, so we could relax in the downstairs “man-cave” at the hotel with some adult beverages and watch the game on the big-screen TVs there.  Pat drove me over to the restaurant to pick up our food, and we chowed down while enjoying the game. The two couples we had met/chatted with at HH were also there, so we had some fun in the man-cave watching the game and playing a little pool together. 

 

Total trail distance for the day was a relatively modest 208 kms, and trails were 8/10 overall.

 

Day 3 – Dubreuilville to Hearst

We rose to another gray day, but perfect riding temperatures, about -10C.  As we had pre-arranged with Pat, he shuttled us over to the LOL Resto-Bar for an 8:15 AM breakfast, and came to pick us up about 45 minutes later.  I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge, with many thanks, the wonderful service that Pat (and his staff) provided while we were at Relais Magpie; he couldn’t do enough for us, including the shuttling back and forth by van to/from the resto for take-out dinner and breakfast, helping us put our sleds away for the night in the heated garage and getting them out again in the morning, helping us with the re-fueling process down the road, providing advice and a menu to facilitate our dinner order, arranging with the owner for the resto to be open a bit early for our breakfast, and providing additional information about local trails etc.  He goes above and beyond to make your stay the best it can be, and the updates to the place have made it top-notch – modern, spotless and spacious rooms, nice big man-cave in the basement (pool tables, big-screen TVs, shuffleboard, foosball), heated garage, sauna, and hot tub.  This has become one of my new favourite places to stay in the north, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it…will definitely be back.

  

We loaded up the sleds and hit the trail about 9:45 AM…by which time the parking lot was abuzz with lots of sled activity. 

58ae56eccfe8c_GettingreadytodepartfromRelaisMagpie.thumb.jpg.ab1be425da796c329021497f2d4879ef.jpg

But before leaving town, we went by The Groomer Guy’s (Luc Levesque) store, the Quickee Mart…unfortunately Luc was out of town in Sudbury at that time, so we didn’t get to see him.

 

We headed north on D108A toward our Hornepayne lunch stop, and soon encountered the classic northern trail experience – wide, fast and expertly-groomed trails which allowed us to make big miles in fairly short order – pure bliss!  We stopped for a break at the shelter just over an hour up the trail, and chatted with 3 guys from Wisconsin who had also been at Relais Magpie the night before, and were headed the same direction as us;  got a first-hand look at the Yammie Sidewinder one of them was riding…it looks pretty sweet.

58ae57768d5d4_ChattingwithothersleddersatshelteronwaytoHornepayne.thumb.jpg.94e21813883c01374ea276b15ca4a46e.jpg 58ae57b99e930_AwesometrailtowardHornepayne!.thumb.jpg.8b99344878641111ccb8f8d68d0bba6b.jpg

We continued north to Hornepayne, rolling in to the Esso for re-fueling just before noon…several other sledders soon arrived off the trail behind us.  Because Cindy’s (our planned lunch stop) is not very big, 3 of us fueled up, while Canuck took our orders and rode over to Cindy’s to get our orders in the queue;  by the time we arrived, our food was almost ready, and was very tasty and freshly-made…this is definitely a great spot for lunch.  Canuck finished his lunch early, and headed over for his re-fuel;  we joined him soon after, and the 4 of us continued north (now on A Trail) toward Hearst.  More fabulous trail conditions awaited us, even though we ran out of fresh grooming as we got closer to Hwy. 11.  We stopped for a break at the shelter just south of the highway, and found an OC badge of honour sporting a familiar name...he's everywhere!

58ae59a5e80a6_Heseverywhere...!.thumb.jpg.4161f595f4bc8fa1260ef3bb785682f7.jpg

 

58ae5840614ce_ShelteratATrailHwy_112.thumb.jpg.f1ce02d6c40cab6053e8f43548fb7fc1.jpg

We carried on at a good clip, running the section of A parallel to Hwy. 11 in short order, while watching out for the big “whoops” on that stretch, and stopping for some more of Canuck’s “OFSC-style” pics along the way. 

58ae59c2a0811_ATrailonwaytoHearst.thumb.jpg.1358b02924f5bc2c62ec815e0ec3f294.jpg

We were soon away from the highway, on our last leg into Hearst.  We paused again for a break, and to admire the awesome trail conditions…it doesn't get much better than this.

58ae5a25778b6_ATrailnearHearst...doesntgetmuchbetterthanthis.thumb.jpg.b43fe6b5fd7cfa7981b93d57c799dc76.jpg 

58ae5a57af0da_PhotographerCanuckdoinghisthing....thumb.jpg.7613ab2904fe3ee2538468df81e707a7.jpg 58ae5a7d49914_Nowthatisstraight...!.thumb.jpg.064014c078a590afe21896881a8be3fe.jpg

We arrived in Hearst around 3:45 PM, topped up again with fuel, and checked-in to our rooms at the Companion Hotel-Motel.  We had pre-booked space in their heated shed for our sleds, so after unpacking the bags, we drove our sleds in, and were instructed to park them tight together in the back corner, as the proprietor was expecting a full complement of 35 sleds that night.  Then we relaxed for a bit, and a short time later, Denis007 and his son Alexandre (Alexandre29 on OC) joined us at the hotel for attitude adjustment hour (snacks, bevvies and chat) before we all headed to the dining room for a nice dinner together.  In the dining room, bar and halls, we again saw the big group of guys we had first met in the hotel parking lot way back in SSM, as well as the 2 couples we met the first night at HH.  SJ did a little repair to the heated shield for one of the guys on the big group. 

 

Total trail distance for the day was 301 kms, and trails were 9.5/10.

 

Day 4 -- Hearst to Post 392 (south of Timmins)

 

We awoke to a sun-and cloud day and comfortably cold (-15) temps.  After a nice early breakfast, we fetched our sleds out of the shed. (interesting fact…if you get “parked-in” by sleds in the middle aisle of the garage, not to worry…a hotel staffer comes around 8 AM and moves all of the sleds parked down the middle outside, so everyone parked on the sides can get out whenever they wish.)  We saddled-up and hit the trails in town about 9ish.  We quickly caught up to a slower, much bigger group before we even got out of town, and in the confusion at the intersection of A and L155, our sweep (who’d stopped to adjust his equipment) mistakenly took the wrong turn (onto A), as the other 3 of us headed down L155.  Didn’t take long to realize we were missing someone, so we back-tracked to the intersection, and there he was, having realized he’d caught up to the wrong group.

 

We were quickly on our way via L155, which wasn’t freshly-groomed, but had a few inches of fresh snow, and given its long straights, allowed us to make good time to Mattice, where we re-joined the freshly-groomed A Trail, and continued east to Opasatika, where we stopped for a fuel top-up.  At Harty, we turned off A again, onto club trail L145, which is a nice meandering bush trail linking to one of our favourite Northern Corridor trails, L123.  We headed east on 123 through Moonbeam to A Trail again, and stopped at the Moonbeam clubhouse (unfortunately closed that day) for a break and so Re_Leaf could see it and take some pics.  By this point, it had gotten quite overcast, and the forecast snow was just starting to fall lightly.  We continued east on A toward our next fuel top-up and lunch stop at Smoothy’s in Smooth Rock Falls;  I was leading, and on the way to SRF, we met a groomer coming the other way on a blind corner, which is always startling even though we were all behaving on our side of the trail.

 

After re-fueling and a nice lunch (and discovering that SJ’s “SPOT” unit had stopped working early in the day…low batteries), we hit the trail again about 2 PM, with snow now falling steadily.  We went east briefly on A to C, then southwest on C Trail through about 24 kms of plowed road/logging activity – icy, rough and not a lot of lube – which we finally cleared shortly before crossing Hwy.655.  Stopped for a break at the shelter at the intersection of C & A106C, then flew down the powerline to Timmins, where Canuck popped in to Mikey’s (local BRP dealer) to see about a small replacement part for his BV2s helmet.

 

We then carried on along C, crossing the Mattagami River at the traffic light, then crossed through another traffic light and headed into the west end of the city, where we stopped at the big Esso Truck stop for another splash of fuel, before heading out of town on C, and south on the rugged power line…lots of steep hills and “whoops”…finally arriving around 5:15 PM at our night’s destination, Post 392…a beautiful B & B-style house overlooking Kenogamissi Lake, about 300m off C Trail.  Our hosts Marie & Bill greeted us warmly at the door, and at check-in, two of us took the 2 bedrooms in the walk-out basement, while the other two shared the 2-bedroom cabin near the main house.  Dinner more than lived up to Marie’s reputation as an excellent cook…an awesome home-cooked spread emerged from the kitchen, including fresh bread, roast beef, spaghetti & meat sauce, a whole chicken, and various veggies, followed by some scrumptious desserts.

58ae5b3d7154e_Manwhataspread!...andmoretocome!.thumb.jpg.22244c94f17a6bf83f9b5b7a9496554d.jpg

Total trail distance for the day was 385 kms, and overall, trails were 9/10.  Sorry, no more pics for today…we didn’t have much time and it was snowing too hard much of the way.

 

Day 5 – Post 392 to Gowganda

 

We arose to 10-12” of the fresh white stuff under a sunny sky, and a very cold wind chill. After a great breakfast from Marie’s kitchen, we packed up, said our goodbyes, took a few pics, and headed out about 9:15ish. 

58ae5bd6f41a2_ViewtolakefromPost392.thumb.jpg.4b5d29956f7614b3ca07059c610d7701.jpg58ae5cb79b902_Post392.thumb.jpg.64b6a6f974589b261895be8f79cb7aaa.jpg

After one wrong turn down a cottage lane, which resulted in a big “stuck” for SJ while trying to turn around in very deep snow, we continued south on C toward our Gogama lunch and fuel stop, and ours were the first tracks in all that new snow…which meant, once again, breaking trail and pushing fresh snow all morning.  We had another wrong turn where the signage facing north was very confusing.

58ae5e4a1aa02_PushingnewsnowonCTrailtowardGogama.thumb.jpg.77f09009ec6f32470410c97d4f6dc9a0.jpg58ae5e86628d5_CTrailtowardGogama.jpg.940d17f386369738c29ae38aa1f8f10c.jpg58ae5ec24b920_FreshsnowonCTrailnearGogama.jpg.c9ce538e4697ee1ef2a9acc1eb69955b.jpg58ae5f02c9a45_MorefreshsnownearGogama.jpg.2aef8d44be1b9f75198f8ebc6260af6d.jpg

We arrived in Gogama around noon, via C and local trail L151 (much of which is road-running), only to discover the only gas station in town was closed, with a hand-lettered sign on the pump saying “Sold Out”…

58ae5f2eb03df_Oops!...nogasintownatGogama.thumb.jpg.07712599c4f88102ae934d6d085b34a6.jpg

It had taken us almost 3 hours to go only 75 kms.  While still pondering what our re-fuelling alternatives would be,  a local motorist stopped and told us that a nearby resort (which we’d passed on the road trail into town) has gas available for re-sale in jerry cans.  So, we headed back to J & L Lakeview Resort, where we had a nice lunch and bought 2 jerry cans’ worth of fuel among the 4 of us, to get us comfortably to Shining Tree.

58ae5f631d1d8_LunchatJLLakeviewRetreatoutsideGogama.JPG.3ae65ff6058891dc48af86bd149ba80e.JPG58ae5f9069d61_GasfromjerrycansatJLnearGogama....thumb.jpg.49d5723baa7a6146c57b437055e562c9.jpg

Back on our way again after lunch, re-tracing L151, then east from there on C through Mattagami Indian Reserve (where we got briefly lost due to poor signage which led us to a dead-end at a commercial camp), and eventually down the long stakeline south on Mattagami Lake, and then south and east to Shining Tree.  We continued to push lots of fresh snow in the afternoon, but at least the sun was shining and there were some other tracks to help break trail…only saw a couple of groups of sleds all day.  We stopped at Shining Tree Camp for re-fueling, and had a nice chat with the owner, Derek (“Kered” on OC) who drives the ST groomer and is heavily involved in the club activities...including donating 10 cents to the club from every litre of fuel he sells.

58ae5fe7d9057_CTrailtowardShiningTree.thumb.jpg.26160677b443b38fb88242ed9ff80207.jpg58ae601a4d931_ShiningTreeCamp.thumb.jpg.0da8305501eeb6df611d049e7785bdda.jpg 

58ae60a9a26e4_Greatidea!.thumb.jpg.eedb0eea6ba4e273075d56c7eb855592.jpg58ae60dbbb6a6_ShiningTreegroomerunderrepair....thumb.jpg.7c5047b3e3b03dca2f7ba78e41c8e32f.jpg

We continued across C to the junction with A107C, where we headed east toward Gowganda;  the first 8 kms + was on plowed road (apparently leading to a mine),m but it hadn’t yet been plowed when we got there, so was really fast.  Much of A107C beyond there is rugged and criss-crosses Hwy. 560 repeatedly, which slowed the pace down a bit.  Nonetheless, we hit Gowganda Lake and rode into the Gowganda Lake Lodge parking lot about 5 PM.

58ae610dedac6_ArrivalatGLL.thumb.jpg.a847b15e67cf0389c22df3e659acb5b1.jpg

After once again re-fueling, we checked-in to our 4-bedroom cabin, which was spotless, comfortable and cosy, as is the norm at GLL.  We relaxed with some adult beverages, and were eventually treated to a terrific chicken breast casserole and side dishes plus dessert, delivered to our cabin door by Giselle and her son. Such service…!

 

Couldn't resist including this pic of SJ's home-made set-up to hang up his coat so it would dry out in the cabin that evening...(Rube Goldberg would be so proud...LOL.)

58ae61cfeca9b_SJdryingouthiscoat...RubeGoldbergwouldbesoproud....thumb.jpg.b68b3cd2c107a40224cf884eeb27016d.jpg

 

Total trail distance for the day was 285 kms, and trails were generally 6-7/10, with occasional gusts to 8/10.

 

Day 6 – Gowganda to Windy Lake (N/W Sudbury)

 

The weather had turned very cold overnight, so we awoke to -27C temps.  Before breakfast, Canuck decided to try starting his Viper, which turned over but did not want to catch, so we all trundled over to the GLL main building/store for an early, very tasty breakfast and Canuck sought Ron’s assistance (via a portable battery booster) to get his sled going, which did the trick. After breakfast,  Re_Leaf’s Apex also wouldn’t start, so Ron’s battery booster came to the rescue again. That prompted SJ to try starting his Vector, which typically has started fine, even in very cold weather…but not this time – it was dead as a doornail, with nary even a click when the key was turned (he figured he had left one of his many electrical accessories on overnight.)  By then, Ron’s battery booster didn’t have enough juice left to start it, so I grabbed my “mini portable power bank” which I was carrying in my saddle-bag for exactly this sort of situation, and it started SJ’s Vector immediately.  I then tried my ‘Doo 1200, and thankfully, it started fine with no hesitation, and no boosting required.

 

We packed up and hit the trail by 9ish, back-tracking west on A107C (much of which was now groomed…yesss!) to C, and turned south there toward Sudbury.  It was crisp, cold and the sun was shining…a perfect day for sledding.  Although that portion of C had not yet been groomed, it was still great riding…mostly smooth, wide, fast, and very scenic, especially as we got closer to the Sudbury area.  Once we reached the C/C206D junction northwest of Lake Wanapitei, we then encountered beautiful fresh grooming, all the way down C toi our Trail 64 turn-off to Rocky’s for lunch and re-fuel.  64 was frankly brutal…looked as though it hadn’t seen a groomer  in quite some time, and part of the trail involves running the plowed access road, which was pretty bare and sandy in spots…all of which made the 10 kms seem like forever.  At Rocky’s, we-refueled and had a nice lunch, departing there shortly after 1 PM. We had hoped to meet another local OCer (“soupkids”) there, and to ride with him a bit, but SJ’s efforts to reach him beforehand to finalize those arrangements were unfortunately not successful. On the advice of some other sledders in the parking lot, rather than back-tracking along the horrible Trail 64 back to C, we ran a stakeline south on Lake Wanapitei to Trail 62, and followed it to C near Capreol, then took C back north to C111D, where we turned west toward Cartier and Onaping.  This trail was very tight and twisty in spots, with lots of scenic photo ops, a few of which we took advantage of…

58ae6291cd3f9_NiceviewnearCartier.thumb.jpg.531152e185ae50588dc4bd58fb555793.jpg58ae62b6d848f_NiceviewnearCartier2.thumb.jpg.4aa67c963858ded05df66b967b7fb703.jpg

We met a groomer on C111D while enroute to our Windy Lake destination, and gave him the usual thumbs up and thanks.

58ae62ccbe333_GroomeronC111DoutsideSudbury.jpg.7d260a0f43092aa81735bea5ca3357b3.jpg

We rolled into the Windy Lake Motel & Restaurant parking lot around 4:30, re-fueled there, and then checked-in to our respective rooms.  After our usual pre-dinner snacks and bevvies, we had dinner in the on-site restaurant…not fancy, but it certainly hit the spot.

 

Total trail distance for the day was 315 kms, and trails were generally 8-9/10, with the notable exception of Trail 64 into Rocky’s.

  

Day 7 – Windy Lake to Elliot Lake

 

We awoke to a raw, overcast day, with snow predicted for the latter half of the day.  After a nice breakfast, and a brief chat with another OCer on tour, “Snowman”, we hit the trail about 8:45 AM, continuing south on C111D across Windy Lake and down to D Trail at Fairbank Lake, and onward southwest to Nairn truck stop, where we stopped for a fuel top-up.  After we crossed Hwy. 17 and got into the Espanola trail system, trail conditions were awesome, due to fresh overnight grooming.  The big hills east of Espanola were a real treat.  By this point, it had started to snow lightly.

58ae6317683fe_DonlakestakelinetowardEspanola.thumb.jpg.524ce464fa12b36cf621112a0e2b0670.jpg58ae63ab84c50_Espanolaclubtrailsidemap.jpg.75997c74c7ee233258b9e8e9b914c9f1.jpg

While taking a break at the D/D110 intersection to look at the map, a local sledder from Massey came by and chatted us up about our route and lunch plans…he strongly recommended that we eat lunch at the Back Home Bistro (rather than the Dragonfly) in Massey, so we set our sights on that lunch destination.

 

By the time we got to Massey, it was snowing fairly hard.  We re-fueled again, and then followed D across Hwy. 17 ad one block north to the Back Home Bistro, which is right on the trail, with the rear parking lot specifically identified as “Parking for Employees and Snowmobilers”.

58ae64380d5a2_PreferredparkingforsledsatBackHomeBistro.thumb.jpg.97d42e8a613664ce9edf75f3cd68b49f.jpg58ae649344d5f_Mmmm!...pennemarinaraforlunch!.thumb.jpg.959bf8054f0bf13fff92d0e9941771d8.jpg

We all treated ourselves to the Penne Marinara lunch special above, which was delicious and very filling.  The place was very comfortable, and service was top notch as well, so we would definitely recommend it as a good lunch stop for touring sledders.  Before leaving, we chatted with a group of local couples who were also headed to our Elliott Lake hotel that night, and had our pic taken.

 

58ae6506c200e_theboysatourMasseylunchstop.jpg.d48f067cdfce9e60fb73bfad01c4d2d6.jpg

After cleaning all the new snow off our sleds, we continued west on D, intending to follow it all the way to Elliot Lake.  The new snow had accumulated enough that we were once again pushing snow, which slowed our progress somewhat.  When we arrived at the D/F intersection just north of Spanish, we were surprised to see a new, hand-lettered sign on D indicating that it was closed at Hwy. 108 (about 30 kms ahead of us.)

58ae654b9d4e7_Oops!...DclosedforloggingonwaytoElliotLake.thumb.jpg.8f3762a6282eb1261799c3388a7c01fd.jpg 

So, we had little choice but to follow F Trail instead…a somewhat longer route to Elliot Lake, but at least it would get us there!  Partway north on F, we came to a disabled groomer, pulled off to the side of the trail with engine running, and the operator awaiting replacement parts for a failed hydraulic cylinder on the drag. 

58ae65d0cf034_DisabledgroomernearElliotLake.JPG.d1bbfd5287d34bf3d79972107046db36.JPG

We stopped and chatted with him for a bit, then carried on toward Elliott Lake in the still-falling snow.  We hit finally got there about 4ish, fueled up, and then carried on north about 15 kms on F to our night’s destination, Dunlop Lake Lodge.  We got checked-in and relaxed for a bit before gathering for attitude adjustment hour and then dinner, which was very good.  The Wi-Fi service at the hotel was terrible, dropping out constantly, to the point that we couldn’t even communicate with the outside world, as the lodge is remote enough that there’s no reliable cell service there either.  SJ and I were trying to figure out our best alternative route back to the Sault the next day, because we were leery of our original plan to go north on F to Black Creek for fuel and lunch;  that would have left us 180+ kms to get back to the Sault (via D106 & D) after lunch, with no fuel available anywhere on that route.  To complicate things further, given that it continued to snow into the evening, and the temp. was warming up, it looked to be another day of pushing snow, perhaps even somewhat wet.  So, we decided to try and contact, via PM on OC, Dan Senior,  another OCer who is local to SSM, and that’s when we really ran into the Wi-Fi difficulties The lodge proprietors did their best to try and fix the Wi-Fi issue by resetting their routers numerous times, but that didn’t really solve the problem, so I ended up using their laptop in their office, and was able to connect with Dan for some much-appreciated advice on our best route choice.  Apparently D100 (the most direct route, via a local trail through Echo Bay) had closed that day for reasons unknown, so that was out…on his advice, we decided to just go all the way back to SSM via D, with a side trip to Bruce Mines for lunch and fuel along the way.  Dan said that would be as direct and fast as any of the other alternatives.

 

Total trail distance for the day was 249 kms, and trails were generally 7/10.

 

Day 8 – Elliot Lake to Sault Ste. Marie

 

Our last day was once again overcast with flat light, and somewhat milder than the last few days.  The snow had stopped in the late evening, so we didn’t have too much more new snow to clean off the sleds, after a hearty breakfast.  After taking a few pics around the lodge, we loaded up and got underway about 9 AM. 

58ae66e0800a5_ViewtoDunlopLake.jpg.a068bd3a00c086bf0915221228263a75.jpg58ae6709957ce_Sledwarm-up...DunlopLakeLodge.thumb.jpg.ec3aef9b1f19c58754327761a09c9c90.jpg

All the new snow combined with milder temps meant we were in for lots of bumpy stretches of trail. We followed D out of Elliot Lake southwest toward Blind River, with no sign of any new grooming until we got to about 30 kms from Iron Bridge, at which point D was beautifully groomed, and got us all the way to Iron Bridge, where we topped-up our fuel. 

58ae673ec39c9_FreshgroomingnearIronBridge.thumb.jpg.4d39074b4233e8c29b0acd71fca89a9a.jpg58ae67a85f5f1_RoadsidegroomedtrailnearIronBridge.jpg.dfd7aa30650e39e6d7f89dfbc07d4609.jpg 58ae67e048e0e_RiverscenenearIronBridge.thumb.jpg.3db502fdb529c4f929ab4ccfa5d6f5cc.jpg

58ae680203332_WhitebirchesonDnearIronBridge.jpg.5e27af0be1b37f805dc61e90028e6226.jpg

 

Unfortunately, that’s where the fresh grooming ended, so back to the bumpy ride as we continued west, and it was in one roadside stretch of trail that I had a classic “stuck” incident in a deep ditch.  The trail signage was unclear at that point, and based on some old sled tracks buried under the new snow and the fresh road plow windrow, it looked as though we were supposed to be running beside (not on) this section of back road, so as leader, I hopped up on that snowy shoulder and continued on.  However, I soon started to run out of room as I was approaching a driveway culvert, and started to move left so I could come back down onto the road…but SJ was still on the road, and appeared in my left mirror to be too close for me to hop back down there safely without cutting him off, so I continued a bit farther, and quickly got sucked down into a very deep ditch, with the sled ending up lying on its side and half-buried in the endless powder.  It's been a long time since I’ve been stuck anywhere near that badly…it took the 4 of us about a half-hour of digging, lifting, digging some more, straining, and with the help of SJ’s SnoBungee recovery strap, finally getting the sled back on its “feet” enough that I could drive it out of the ditch on an angle, back up onto the road.  Thankfully, no damage to the right mirror or bodywork…but what an ordeal.  These things keep us humble…LOL.

 

We eventually reached the D136 turn-off to head down the 17 kms to Bruce Mines for fuel and lunch…by this point, the sun had emerged intermittently, making things even milder.  D136 had seen lots of traffic on the new snow, so was quite rough in spots…we finally made it into town, hopped across Hwy. 17 for more fuel, and then, on the recommendation of some sledders we had chatted with at the D/D136 intersection, we went to “Bobber’s” for lunch.  It was a great spot, with good food and great service. We then endured the bumpy back-track to D, narrowly missing a crash with oncoming riders on our side of the trail -- our only close call of the entire trip -- and headed northwest toward the Sault.  Along the way were some scenic spots, including some nice views of Rock Lake, which is near Hwy. 638.

58ae681e8cc62_DTrailRockLake.thumb.jpg.3c158718e5c08c799d7aabda98961fee.jpg

After the trail junctions with D 106 and D107, we started to encounter noticeably more trail traffic.  Unbeknownst to us, that Saturday was SSM’s annual “Snowarama” Easter Seals Ride, which explained the bumpy trails and more sleds on the trail.  Shortly before getting to the D/SSM 5 trail intersection, while in the lead, I suddenly noticed that I had no headlights behind me…so after stopping and waiting 5 minutes, I back-tracked about a km to find the other 3 in the process of trying to get SJ’s “big yellow bag” re-secured on his cargo rack.  Turns out he had hit a nasty sucker bump so hard that the bag actually came right off the sled.

  

With that resolved, we continued on, encountering more and more local traffic, and D Trail seemed to be getting noticeably narrower…and badly in need of brushing, with countless face-slappers hanging way out into the trail, right at shield height, and leaving us to bob and weave around all that stuff as best we could.  Eventually we caught up to some local kids playing around on older sleds.  Thankfully, they let us by, and then we caught up to a couple on a very slow-moving sled, averaging about 35 kms an hour, riding down the middle of the trail, and totally oblivious to our group of 4 and an ever-growing long line of sleds behind us.  Unfortunately, the trail was too narrow and too twisty to safely pass, so I came up as close as I dared on the left of this couple, hoping the driver would see me in his left mirror, move over and wave us on.  When that didn’t work, I tried standing up, and then flashing my hi-beams…but they remained totally oblivious to what was going on behind them, and by this point we had been behind them for about 8 or 10 kms, and getting more frustrated by the minute.

 

So, remembering that SJ has an air horn on his sled, I waved him past me in the hope that he would get their attention with his horn. Unfortunately, it wasn’t working right (full of snow?), so he ran right up behind them, trying (unsuccessfully) to get their attention…when an opportunity finally presented itself for a quick pass, he took it.  They seemed so startled by that that they slowed down even more, at which point I whipped past them, and then the other two guys in our group did the same, and off we finally went.  That whole situation, which went on for well more than half an hour, had to be one of the most incredibly ignorant and discourteous acts on a trail that I ever witnessed in my many years of sledding.

 

As it would soon be dusk, we booted it back along D, finally got to the D130 turn-off, and headed south toward our staging hotel in the north end of SSM.  That last 10 kms or so was very rough, and seemed to take forever...we finally drove into the Fairfield Inn parking lot about 5:30 PM, exhausted and glad to finish.

 

Of course, all the new snow that had fallen since we’d left 8 days earlier meant that the trucks and trailers were under a heavy layer of packed snow. After clearing all that off and depositing the un-needed saddle bags in the trucks, sleds were loaded and tied down, and we finally got to check in and relax.  Instead of our original plan to take a cab for a nice dinner out, we decided to order a delivery of dinner orders from the same recommended local restaurant, called Aurora…excellent grub it was.

 

Total trail distance for the day was 301 kms, and total trip distance was 2,198 kms.  Trails for this final day were a 5-6/10.   We had an early breakfast and hit the highway for home the next day by 8 AMish.

 

So there you have it…our entire 8-day saga.  If you’ve hung in here for the whole story, congrats, and thanks for your perseverance …LOL.  Despite the weather challenges, we had a great time, saw some fabulous northern scenery, met a bunch on interesting people, and wouldn’t hesitate to do it all again.  

 

Canuck, sledjunk and Re_Leaf, please feel free to add any comments or additional pics to this thread as you see fit…it was great riding with you guys!

 

irREVerent

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow!  Amazing trip!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

excellent report & pics,thx for sharing....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Holey cow, an epic trip report for an epic trip !!  It was nice seeing you all, hanging out and enjoying supper, glad you had no sled issues or crashes !

 

See you in a few days I guess !

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great report and pics. Good to hear that there was no major issues on such a long and epic trip. Our group of fellow OCers were always a day ahead of you on pretty much the same route of 2200 kms.. Looks like both groups were lucky to get such epic rides in. With the way the weather has been this winter. Couldn't agree with you more about the Relais Magpie. We were treated to the same great service as you and it has been the same everytime. We've been there 3 times in the past 2 winters. Last time we were fortunate enough to meet alot of the Dubueil family. What great people. Hope to ride with you again soon Bob.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Love the report and great pictures!

 

Wish we would have just gone straight to Hawk rather than waiting on the trail you had already passed through.  At least we did catch you for a bit at the Big Bear.

 

Glad you had great weather after all.

 

Paige and Scott

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a great trip you guys had ,great pictures and write-up 

Zrtkat

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Epic sure seems to be the right descriptor. Timing looks like it was ideal as well. Thanks for sharing the pictures and narrative.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great report on what sounded like a great trip.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unfortunately we could not meet up on your trip.

Next time.

BTW 64 sucks bad on a good day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great report! I felt like I was on the trip with you. I look forward to having the time to do the trip as well.

 

Jerry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, coolbane said:

Ya, sounds like a good trip to put in the bucket for future years. 

 

Irreverant, you didn't happen to highlight your route on the ITG? If you did, could you post it up so we can get a visual of the overall loop?

Sorry, coolbane...I didn't plan the trip in the first place, it was sledjunk's baby.  I believe he used Trakmaps to set the links and distances, but he may have also tracked it on the ITG...I'll ask him when I see him again this weekend.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great pics and report Thanks got sharing

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am currently in Quebec with Nunz and Mrs. Nunz (Nancy to some :poke2: ) .  I was trying a different method of logging the actual trip, and lost a couple of the days.  However, I will get some screen shots of the planned route and post them when I get home.  Bear in mind that the planned route for the last day was not used as we had to reroute as posted.

 

irREV, great report and I will get some pics up soon.

 

Thanks to my riding partners on this 'bucket list' trip for making it a great adventure.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great report SJ, I just scanned it so reread it later!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds like a great ride, if I might suggest a fuel stop for you guys next time at Tata-Chicka-Pika resort 2km off the "C" trail just North of Gogama. Dick is the owner and he's a great guy plus I beilieve he has Premium fuel available.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fantastic trip and report! Epic for sure.  thanks for sharing!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Pstn head said:

Sounds like a great ride, if I might suggest a fuel stop for you guys next time at Tata-Chicka-Pika resort 2km off the "C" trail just North of Gogama. Dick is the owner and he's a great guy plus I beilieve he has Premium fuel available.

I actually thought about TCP, because I've been in there twice in previous years, and know they have had fuel in the past...but I wasn't sure they were even open this year.  The day we were passing by (with about a foot of new snow), the road from Hwy. 144 (which doubles as C Trail at that spot) had not been plowed, and there was absolutely no sign of life at the turn-off from C into the lodge...so we just kept heading for Gogama.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, soupkids said:

Unfortunately we could not meet up on your trip.

Next time.

BTW 64 sucks bad on a good day.

Sorry we weren't able to connect this time, soupkids...next time, indeed.

 

And thanks for the heads-up about Trail 64...won't make that mistake again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

By the time you guys came through you could have followed C206D to 78 then 71 to the lake.

It was staked 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On February 23, 2017 at 10:11 AM, AC+YA said:

Love the report and great pictures!

 

Wish we would have just gone straight to Hawk rather than waiting on the trail you had already passed through.  At least we did catch you for a bit at the Big Bear.

 

Glad you had great weather after all.

 

Paige and Scott

Thanks, Scott...sorry we didn't have more time to chat together at The Big Bear.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great detailed trail report. Thx for sharing

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...