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White River/Marathon


tricky

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4 hours ago, slomo said:

Search for a few posts from RWS - sleds from the U.S. into Kenora, Ontario area fairly frequently. From where most of us on the forum originate, you would be two days on the road to get to Thunder Bay with good highway conditions. Have thought of making the trip from time to time though. Like being in different places.

 

I understand that many of y'all are from the 401 or 400, and you wouldn't frequent the area, but there are folks that live west of here. Just like the eastern U.P. is full of trolls, and the western U.P. is full of folks from Chi-Town, Wisc, and Minn. If the Kenora district was really good - then it seems that there would be some folks from that area that would drive north of 49 rather than east to Munising, but they just must not git the snow? Or is it simply not developed? Few and far between towns, and too little support? From a map standpoint - the place looks like a sportsman's paradise!

 

 

 

 

 

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23 minutes ago, Ox said:

 

I understand that many of y'all are from the 401 or 400, and you wouldn't frequent the area, but there are folks that live west of here. Just like the eastern U.P. is full of trolls, and the western U.P. is full of folks from Chi-Town, Wisc, and Minn. If the Kenora district was really good - then it seems that there would be some folks from that area that would drive north of 49 rather than east to Munising, but they just must not git the snow? Or is it simply not developed? Few and far between towns, and too little support? From a map standpoint - the place looks like a sportsman's paradise!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm wondering if the OFSC and/or District 17 don't make their presence known to the sledders of those states? Is there any Ontario advertising in the US mags? I know the US version of Snow Goer (don't ask) had a write up from 4 guys doing the Big Loop in 'northeastern' Ontario.

 

Add in the fact there really isn't any 'organized sledding between TB to Nipigon  (I guess you could ride the old CN Rail Kinghorn Sub @ your peril) & on to Marathon. 

 

Plus you have the border issues w/ US folks not as likely to have a passport as Canucks, & exclusion from Canada (w/o a waiver) if you have a DUI. 

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On 3/23/2018 at 9:06 PM, whits-end said:

Up a mountain, down a mountain, across a bridge, past a church.....................................

And that, of course, was sarcasm. 

Gaspe is a different kind of experience than Ontario.  Not necessarily better than anything in Ontario, but unique.  Gotta say, the mountain views on the club trail between La Cache and Murdochville are nothing short of spectacular.   But lots of great places to ride in Ontario too, when weather permits.  We love Elliot Lake, Wawa, Dube, Hornpayne area, and plan to take in White River-Marathon as well next year.

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1 hour ago, revrnd said:

 

I'm wondering if the OFSC and/or District 17 don't make their presence known to the sledders of those states? Is there any Ontario advertising in the US mags? I know the US version of Snow Goer (don't ask) had a write up from 4 guys doing the Big Loop in 'northeastern' Ontario.

 

Add in the fact there really isn't any 'organized sledding between TB to Nipigon  (I guess you could ride the old CN Rail Kinghorn Sub @ your peril) & on to Marathon. 

 

Plus you have the border issues w/ US folks not as likely to have a passport as Canucks, & exclusion from Canada (w/o a waiver) if you have a DUI. 

 

 

Oh yeah!

There are many writs in the differ'n't mags for sure!

I'm talking actual stories aboot trips to Algoma. Not sure I've seen many stories aboot other areas tho?

 

But there is advertising in the mags as well. 

Prolly as much as anywhere else I'd guess?

 

 

The non-organized part is what I am talking aboot. (Kenora) I'm guessin' that it is just too sparsley populated. The whole north shore - save for T/B is a long way and rough terrain between wide spots in the roadways. (per population) White River, Marathon, Schriber, Terrace Bay ... these are only one or two horse towns. These have troubles pulling in enough sledders to make it worth it, and there are only a handfull of folks to pull from. The west side looks worse as far as that goes. 

 

 

 

.

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22 hours ago, tricky said:

Just got home at 2:30 AM today from our Searchmont to Marathon and back ride. All I can think of are superlatives to describe the whole trip and experience. WOW! Magnifique!

I have been a touring sledder since 1993. I have never had the kind of conditions that we enjoyed for four consecutive days. Trails groomed smoothly, almost ridiculously so, all the way. Every type of trail from wide open expressway to fairly tight technical trail was included, and the type of trail changed in a timely manner - never got bored or tired. Weather - perfect. Accommodations - three perfects and a good. Great at Driftwood Valley Chalets and Magpie Relay(twice), and after all my concern, a good night at Zero-100 Motel in Marathon. A little bit of pavement scraping to get from the access trail to the motel door, but not bad. Service from all hosts - very good to excellent, the latter of course being the staff at Magpie Relay. From Dub to Marathon and back, see saw 2 other sleds. Saw almost no sleds on the trails every day. Incredible!

Scenery - 8 out of 10, even if no Gaspe. I enjoy the scenery, but the trail itself is more important to me, probably because I am usually moving along too briskly to gawk. 

On the outbound, we used D North, Wawa 5 and D North to Dubreuilville. On the return, we took D west from Dub, to 6 south to the Magpie River, to Wawa 7, D, Wawa 5 back to D South. I didn't realize before this trip that the river route shaved 25 km off the trip between Wawa and Dub. 

Will have to edit my pics and post some here. Oh, and I did experience some deep snow - again! Gotta stop that.

 

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DSC00439.jpg

Photos added. Try to add Marathon to your destination list. 

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Nice pictures Tricky you know if you slow down alittle it's easier to stay on the trail lol

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9 minutes ago, 1049 said:

 you know if you slow down a little it's easier to stay on the trail lol

S**t, I never thought of that.

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Somebody was sitting down!

 

DSC00447.jpg

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1 hour ago, 1049 said:

Nice pictures Tricky you know if you slow down alittle it's easier to stay on the trail lol

Said the guy with the sidewinder LOL

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Great pics! Is that what it looks like up there? It was snowing from M'wadge to White River & overcast from there to Wawa. S-I-L got stuck offtrail just west of White Lake too, so don't feel bad Tricky. Looking @ Google Earth those tailings/waste rock piles are near the Hemlo mines.

 

From along Hwy 17 in 2016:

 

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1 hour ago, Ox said:

Somebody was sitting down!

 

Yup. Got over to the left running board, but as the trees were approaching I decided that I likely didn't have the skill to save it. Getting on the gas and not saving it was going to be ugly!

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13 minutes ago, revrnd said:

Great pics! Is that what it looks like up there? It was snowing from M'wadge to White River & overcast from there to Wawa. S-I-L got stuck offtrail just west of White Lake too, so don't feel bad Tricky. Looking @ Google Earth those tailings/waste rock piles are near the Hemlo mines.

 

From along Hwy 17 in 2016:

 

 

Thanks for the context. There was no sign of the mine from the trailside perspective.

As for being off in the weeds, there were no shortage of witness marks where others had left the trail and failed to cope with the deep stuff. My self esteem didn't suffer too badly.

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2 minutes ago, tricky said:

Thanks for the context. There was no sign of the mine from the trailside perspective.

As for being off in the weeds, there were no shortage of witness marks where others had left the trail and failed to cope with the deep stuff. My self esteem didn't suffer too badly.

 

Look on a map for Moose Lake beside the highway between Marathon & Hwy 631. The mine is on the north side of the lake.

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Trails are still like this and snow on the way, some warm up for a few days but then next week it gets cold again and more snow in the forecast.   We have come a long way in District 13 "ASPA"  Algoma Snow Plan Affiliation.   We have weekly groomer coordinator conference calls every Tuesday, Form December to April, We talk about what's going on in each club, we try to coordinate the grooming on the same trails, We let each other know where we are heading out grooming, if a club needs help we will go out to groom portions of their trails.  We are a big family and we work great as a team.  Next year will be even better as we implement more stuff to make it even better.

 

Glad you had a great time on our trails.  Yes make sure to put Dubreuilville to Marathon on your ride list.   I hope I can make it there before the season is over.

 

 

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On ‎3‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 7:23 AM, redsled22 said:

many times even met many years ago. the scenery alone in the gaspe is second to none. i no u never been there. ive rode all over ont and que nothing is nicer than the east coast  

I've never been there to Gaspe,? That's where my family is from lol  My Parents where born in that area and I still have lot's of family. I go visit there on vacation.   You haven't been on our trail in the last 5 years or so.

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8 minutes ago, The Groomer Guy said:

Trails are still like this and snow on the way, some warm up for a few days but then next week it gets cold again and more snow in the forecast.   We have come a long way in District 13 "ASPA"  Algoma Snow Plan Affiliation.   We have weekly groomer coordinator conference calls every Tuesday, Form December to April, We talk about what's going on in each club, we try to coordinate the grooming on the same trails, We let each other know where we are heading out grooming, if a club needs help we will go out to groom portions of their trails.  We are a big family and we work great as a team.  Next year will be even better as we implement more stuff to make it even better.

 

Glad you had a great time on our trails.  Yes make sure to put Dubreuilville to Marathon on your ride list.   I hope I can make it there before the season is over.

 

 

Just came back luke and trails were great. Still mid winter condition, no icey sections yet. 

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On 3/24/2018 at 10:35 PM, Ox said:

 

 

Oh yeah!

There are many writs in the differ'n't mags for sure!

I'm talking actual stories aboot trips to Algoma. Not sure I've seen many stories aboot other areas tho?

 

But there is advertising in the mags as well. 

Prolly as much as anywhere else I'd guess?

 

 

The non-organized part is what I am talking aboot. (Kenora) I'm guessin' that it is just too sparsley populated. The whole north shore - save for T/B is a long way and rough terrain between wide spots in the roadways. (per population) White River, Marathon, Schriber, Terrace Bay ... these are only one or two horse towns. These have troubles pulling in enough sledders to make it worth it, and there are only a handfull of folks to pull from. The west side looks worse as far as that goes. 

 

 

 

.

 

It's tough country with minimal services and not much excess in anything. 30 years ago the economy was much better and the northern population base was much stronger. Today there's already too much weight on too few shoulders. We'll never have the ability to get a trail or loop through to the northwest in this era.

 

If you want to ride off trail we're the place to be, but you have to want it bad. It's lots of space and little or no cell service. Gotta have your wits about you in the boonies up here.

 

I'll stick to trail riding.  Awesome photos above btw ... 

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LOL.

 

My chum was "saved" by a fella with a cell phone - aboot ?? 15 klicks east of town and then several klicks N.

 

I sucked a piston towing a tabogen full of gas, and so me and my boy turned back and headed for the motel, while my chum decided to ride on for a while and then turn back. Only for him to suck a piston later on. (Lesson learned - we should have raised our needles when we hooked a 400# load on behind) Fortunately a fella came along and let him call the motel, he told me where he was at, and I went'n fetched him. 

 

This was aboot 10 yrs ago (US, not sure the metric equiv?)

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Wonderful pics.

 

Dubreuville to Marathon would be awesome.

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On ‎2018‎-‎03‎-‎23 at 10:20 PM, Yamatario said:

We did Gaspe this year  and just finished this week 1500km loop from Searchmont over Dub to Cochrane, down to Chapleau and back to Searchmont. We have to say the trails were far better in Ontario than Gaspe. The trail grooming is suffering in Gaspe but getting better and better in northern Ontario.

IMG_20180321_1633384.thumb.jpg.419fdf798d33337ada0ab6cb7c535d7d.jpg

Sweet, thank you for the positive comments, wait in the next few years, our district is implementing many new things, with the new groomers and the BIG communications amongst clubs we are able to coordinate our grooming.   More good thing to come in the next few years.   Hope to see you guys again in our area next year. 

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13 hours ago, Viperules700 said:

Just came back luke and trails were great. Still mid winter condition, no icey sections yet. 

I now eh, it's unreal how the conditions are.  Still full on wither here and snow on the way.

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14 hours ago, The Groomer Guy said:

 We have come a long way in District 13 "ASPA"  Algoma Snow Plan Affiliation.   We have weekly groomer coordinator conference calls every Tuesday, Form December to April, We talk about what's going on in each club, we try to coordinate the grooming on the same trails, We let each other know where we are heading out grooming, if a club needs help we will go out to groom portions of their trails.  We are a big family and we work great as a team.  Next year will be even better as we implement more stuff to make it even better.

 

Glad you had a great time on our trails.  Yes make sure to put Dubreuilville to Marathon on your ride list.   I hope I can make it there before the season is over.

 

 

Luc, the well coordinated grooming effort really has resulted in a vastly improved product. Thank you and the other key District 13 partners. I have been home for a little over two days, and still can't get over how great last week was. Merci!

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2 minutes ago, tricky said:

Luc, the well coordinated grooming effort really has resulted in a vastly improved product. Thank you and the other key District 13 partners. I have been home for a little over two days, and still can't get over how great last week was. Merci!

If only people knew, next we are going to work on a signage.   It's fun to work with such a great team of club in D-13, such a great bunch or clubs.

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I have been reading all the praise about the trails in Luc's area. They must be really great. I didn't find anything wrong with them when I was up there years ago. Bravo to Luc and the gang. I think I should play hooky and see what they are like now.:)

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2 hours ago, catinental couch said:

I have been reading all the praise about the trails in Luc's area. They must be really great. I didn't find anything wrong with them when I was up there years ago. Bravo to Luc and the gang. I think I should play hooky and see what they are like now.:)

 

* cough cough * .... get on it.... 

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