Leaderboard

Came back down from Dub to Wawa on the Magpie. Got gas in Wawa, hit the lookout and on to Halfway for gas and a birthday party for my boy Graham. Headed over to spend the night at Valentines in Chapleau. Trails were good in Wawa and better than I had thought they might be. Getting a bit bumpy on the hydro before Halfway. Then real nice all the way to Chapleau. The only reason I figure the trail is yellow from Hwy 129 into Chapleau is the hazards which need to be driven around, but are not an issue as long as you see them. If they were marked, that trail would be about as good as I have ever seen it. Go slow until you know where the issues are and there are a few. Stopped and marked the water crossing on the way back to Searchmont. Hit that from the blind side on the way to Chapleau so thought we would try to save the innocent from the panic attack I had gone through as I skidded into the water the night before. It is about a couple miles east of Pineal Lake (the bridge where the old saw mill was). Not deep, but at least it is marked now. Lets face it, all water fixed with snow only goes back to water. Found one wet spot on the way down to Searchmont which had also been fixed, but warm weather has erased almost the entire fix. Think that is about 7 miles before the trail Tees into Ranger North West Road near Dyson Lake. I think the Halfway groomer goes to the "T". The trail was still good hard and fast down to Searchmont. Watching for a few rocks in the trail was key. We stopped and removed several from the trail, but some were too big and frozen into the snow to even budge. The trails all seem to be better this year when it comes to branches hanging out. The crews have done lots of good work. The trail over to Goulias River from Searchmont had taken a beating by the warm and grooming up those big hills, but we jumped onto the river and ran it to "The Zone". Now with the snow they received yesterday as we were leaving, they should have something to work with again. The trails should be great again once they can groom them and have some snow to work with. Real good weekend ride. Got ride with 1049 (Mark & Pam) also ran into Skidoo boy (Eric & Lynne) on the Magpie.