Dan-Senior

Wow, good eye! Yes, that was us as we helped a Senior's Couple who had gotten their Toyota SUV stuck on the trail right next to the Hydro Station. We stopped to push them out. Too bad we didn't meet up.

Looks like my camp in Iron Bridge took a direct hit. A few photos from the Security Cameras.

Elliot Lake - Scenic Views We took in some scenic views along the powerline within the City of Elliot Lake limits. This is a photo from on top of the hill on the north side of Horne Lake, with an overview of the city.

Elliot Lake Snowmobiling Some photos from today's snowmobile trip to Elliot Lake. We did our good deed and assisted a Senior's couple who had gotten their Toyota RAV stuck on the Snowmobile trail in Elliot Lake. We also took a run up to Dunlop Lake Lodge for a Burger and said hello to Randy and Trish. The afternoon continued with a trip to the Horne Lake Cliffs, a rip down Esten Lake and the Elliot Lake Falls. Temperature reached +11. Slush was minimal to none. Photo 1 - SUV on Trail Photo 2 - Elliot Lake View from the Powerline Lookout Photo 3 - Horne Lake Cliffs in Elliot Lake

As OFSC trails shut down, Spring snowmobiling continues for us in the Algoma District 13. Typically, we are good until about mid-april, however, one of my riding colleagues did sled the Kindiogami Road / Black Creek Outfitters on May 1st, years ago in a tee-shirt. Perhaps I may match his record someday, but that is more difficult to do with climate change. Tomorrow we are heading into the Wilderness for some bush snowmobiling. Temperatures are expected to be about +7 C. Looking forward to a sunny day and still ample snow in the bush.

Cross-Country Snowmobiling Here's my latest write-up of our recent cross-country trip to Ritchie Falls Ontario from Iron Bridge Ontario. Now that warm weather is on the way, the snow will pack making for some amazing March / April remote wilderness riding in Algoma District 13. https://sled-x.ca/news/february-2022-report1.html

The Weather Report for Sault Ste. Marie is the same as yesterday and will be the same for tomorrow. lol. It just keeps coming. Golfing in May...forget it. Snowmobiling in May...maybe

Why do others not ride this area? Good Question. My colleagues and I are lucky to live in and ride District 13 (North of Lake Huron region). We get our November riding fix north of Sault Ste. Marie, then move eastward to Aubrey Falls / Black Creek for December, then south to Elliot Lake / Blind River, Iron Bridge, Thessalon, Bruce Mines, Spanish and even Gore Bay for January-Feb-March, then reverse the process for April. Traffic is light and on some days can usually count how many sleds you see all day on less than 2 hands. Cross-Country riding is my particular interest in this region. Glad you enjoyed your trip ZertRider. Hope you make it back again someday.

The amount of snow in that area right now is absolutely crazy. The Environment Canada Snow-map is now showing snow-depth at 7 feet deep in the higher elevations of that region. Trying the keep the access road open from highway 101 to bring in fuel is just economically not viable. It is a whole different world up there.

Same here. We lost our enthusiasm to get out to events such as hockey. Hopefully, that will re-bound soon. The Hounds are 29-31, not a good year for them.

There is up to 5 feet of snow on the ground in some places between Sault Ste. Marie and Wawa, in the interior. Many places at 4 feet. Good luck.

Mostly tight and twisty unless you get on the pipeline or powerline sections of the OFSC route, which is more straight. 300 kms is doable in one day. That is sort of our norm for a Saturday / Sunday ride in Spanish to Elliot Lake to Thessalon and Aubrey Falls. I didn't see Elliot Lake on your list. I recommend you head up to Elliot Lake as part of your trip and can branch from there as to which route you want to take. Do the lake runs between Spanish and the Elliot Lake trail as that is pretty nice.

Sault Ste. Marie - Incredible Amount of Snow For my friends who are not living in Sault Ste. Marie, I just want to share with you that we have had so much snow this winter and snowblowing the driveway is a daily job and we are running out of room to put it. Enjoy the weekend humour (attached)

Keep me posted. I'll be following your trip.

Sault Ste. Marie - Updates - Feb. 16th Today, turned out to be decent day in Sault Ste. Marie. +4C with a bit of sunshine and absolutely no rain. We missed the meltdown. I changed the oil in my daughter's SUV, then went downtown to the waterfront, then off to Canadian Tire to spend money.

Dunlop Lake Video A short video of our Friday Night ride around Elliot Lake and Dunlop Lake. I used the vintage Polaris Super Sport that I restored for this past weekend's outing.

Hopefully, late Wednesday rain turns to snow overnight to get some lube for your sliders on Thursday.

Elliot Lake / Dunlop Lake Lodge We were back in Elliot Lake this past weekend, staying at the Dunlop Lake Lodge. It was a full-house as all rooms were booked. There was quite a contrast in snow-depth from one-week to the next as Elliot Lake got hit with 2 good dumpings back-to-back. Lakes were slushy and we tried to avoid any full length runs, but enough to get to our friend's ice fishing shack and enjoy the indoor comforts. I took my restored vintage Super Sport on this weekend trip. Obviously it does not have alot of horsepower and is a short-track, but the joys of riding something I restored made for smiles. We went for a Friday night ride around Elliot Lake and Dunlop Lake, which turned into a freezing rain outing. The evening was wrapped up with some cold beverages in the Lodge Lounge with the opportunity to see friends we haven't seen in awhile and meet new riders from Southern Ontario. Saturday turned into a deep freeze and riding from the Lazy-Boy sounded more comfortable. Chad returned to the Sault and I headed to my bush camp in Iron Bridge.

We were in the Elliot Lake area today. They received much needed snow in the past week and winter is looking much better. Today's outdoor activities included a series of bush routes and cross-country.

Sault Ste. Marie - Updates A few photos to go along with the video previously posted. It was a good day north of the City. Plenty of snow.

A 1 minute video summary of today's sled run north of Sault Ste. Marie. The lakes are getting soupy due to heavy snow.

Dunlop Lake Lodge - February 11-12-13th Chad and I are booked in at the Dunlop Lake Lodge for Feb 11th-12th-13th weekend. We will be hanging around from Friday to Sunday and doing some nifty cross-country remote wilderness riding. We always Look forward to our Dunlop Lodge visits as you never know who you will meet.

Ranger Lake Road / Domtar Road / D201F Updates Chad and I ran the Ranger Lake road a few weeks back from the Domtar to highway 129. There was a good base of snow and ice and no issues with carbides. It appears the plow operators are aware sledders are running it. Once at the hwy 129 bridge, we took the new logging road down towards Aubrey Falls Trading post, then jumped onto highway 129 right at the Trading Post. Again, the plow operators left ample snow on the west side of the highway (129) to allow riders to get down to Black Creek Outfitters. The east side of the highway was down to pavement. This makes it tricky for a return trip, when you head back north. Either you wear your carbides or break the law and run the left side of the highway. We did not try the trail from Black Creek to Aubrey Falls Trading Post. The Domtar is not being logged this winter, not as of yet anyways and haven't heard otherwise. This past summer, I attempted some bush trails along the Ranger Lake road to see if a shortcut from highway 129 to the Domtar road was possible. I was only able to get part way in as it just got narrower and needed a complete chainsaw workout. (map attached shortcut in green) The road from the Ranger Lake road to Mashagama via the Horseshoe Lake road is in an amazing shape. You can drive a vehicle through that section without an issue. Chad and I also did the D201F Mashagama loop via Johnny's Truckstop. It just drags on, but we did it. The last time I was on the Chapleau F was in early February 2012. We went from Aubrey Falls Trading Post to the Hinkler and still had another 20 miles to make it to Flame Lake Lodge. We branched north-west and went up to the Aubinadong River via Mountain Ash road, then sledded down the Aubinadong River trails back down to the Domtar. The groomer has just come all the way down from Chapleau that weekend and it was quite a trek. Unfortunately, a tree branch blew a hole in the rad, so it was parked at the 129 bridge waiting for pickup and / or repairs.

An Aubrey Falls Trading Post Video from the days when they were open and busy. This was a day-trip from the Domtar Road (D201F) to Dunlop Lake Lodge and back.

Chad and I were at Aubrey Falls Trading Post. Unfortunately, another lodge closed up. The gas pumps are gone and the place is locked up. We had some amazing memories of this place over the decades. I first starting visiting here in 1970, when the restaurant was on the main ground level and the Aubrey Falls dam was being finished.