tricky

ITG doesn't show fuel available at Opasatika on A trail. Is that the case???

Those are the ones not selling, unless they adjust the price appropriately. My riding buddy paid $2500 less than asking price on used Doo three weeks ago. Seller realized that he was getting out of sledding and didn't want to store the sled until next fall. Buddy's offer was the only one he had in two weeks on Kijiji. Ergo, sold. The worst beating happens with the 800/850 2 strokes. Like smoking, I am glad I never took those up. There are at least two ways of advertising in play - Scott's fair price listing and hold firm, and the dreamer's 'aim for the sky' and see what you can get.

Hey Scott, do you save much canceling insurance this time of year? I keep 4 stroke sleds now for years, but when I sold my 2015 sled in the spring of 2017, canceling the insurance only got me about a $20 refund. State Farm said that the insurance was pro rated with 90% used up Dec - March inclusive.

Yes, but.....It might work on a few buyers, but most want more than BNG for that price. To each his own.

You just want to be kissed first. Your momma brought you up proper!

Yup. I am sure the ice crossing will still be open on A112. And Mike is always conservative when playing the 'yellow' card for Mattawa trails. Their yellow often equal NB and ML 'green'. I have been on my way to Golf and Ski, when it is lightly raining in Mattawa but snowing at Golf and Ski. If you can get in there, that is the best sledding south of 17. Head east and ride the Missing Link 197 and 195m and the North Renfrew 130 series trails. That can be 1 or 2 days of riding. another day can be A112, BF 201 Talon Lake to A and back. If you can't get in at Golf and Ski, they can likely suggest other accommodations. Good point PLC. I have found that road section to survive better than similar road trails in the spring because the township ploughs seem to leave a little snow for sleds. Maybe I have just been lucky.

Last week, Mar 8-10, we rode a lot of what you have planned. We staged out of the Dinner Bell in Bonfield to avoid the NB trails close to the city. The trails in general were very good but the closer to NB we got the worse the trails were. I see that you plan to use the D trail south of Trout Lake on two days. I would avoid that if at all possible. As PLC advised, this 20 km stretch of 'trail' south to west end of Lake Nosbonsing is in serious need of snow. Like a dummy, I had forgotten how bad that long stretch can get in low snow conditions. I had told myself 5 years ago that I would only ever ride that section of trail after a snowfall. There were 6-8 km of bare paved road/ gravel shoulder to ride. I learned last time to just get up on the pavement and ride at speed rather than grind it out on the shoulder. It's over faster that way - less sled wear. PLC also warned of NB308. A portion of it was great, but last week the log haul was very active and portions of the road was ploughed down to ice/gravel mix. In other parts of Ontario those two trails would have been red. We need the fourth colour (purple works) to indicate ploughed trails without snow. We met several sledders who were staying in NB, but after one day in and out from the strip, they decided to trailer out of town for their loops. Favourite parking was the one on highway 11 where the AD trail crossed. It's a very large lot right off the main trail. Trails further west were excellent last week in the Field, Verner, Hagar, River Valley area, with the exception of the road trail through Warren, which can be avoided on local trails. I just see that the weather forecast is a bummer for the start of the weekend. I stay positive though, by always driving the shortest distance to good conditions. Good luck, whatever you decide.

Took six days, in which time a new phone was purchased and activated, but there has been a development in the 'missing' phone case. Seems there has been a senior's moment involved. Last week was my buddy's first ride on his new-to-him Skidoo which came with a different Linq tail bag than he had on his previous sled. Seems this new bag has a small zipped compartment on the underside of the lid. That is where he found his phone today, hidden by a spare balaclava. And my wife thinks I am bad when I 'lose' a pair of drug-store reading glasses for a day or two.

The northern portion of 308 was hateful last Thursday. If there hasn't been new snow since then, stay away.

Congrats 1049. You two are still snowmobilers. I have a grand total of 2100 km and 7 days on my sled this year. Brutal! I may be finished for the season, but if so, I can hope to use my motorcycles more, starting a month from now in WV.

Ski, I am a trail rider only and know almost no short cuts in the area, but have ridden south from Dub on Dub5(Magpie),to the D trail jogged 3 or 4 km east on D(North), then south on Wawa5 around Wawa, back onto D south to Searchmont. That totalled just over 300 km. I am fairly certain that I have used the same route northbound, avoiding Wawa, using Wawa5, D and Dub5 to get to the Magpie. (Paper District 13 maps only) I think I have that correct as I am old haven't been there since 2019.

Thank you for the great report with accurate mileages - very helpful. Glad that you had such a good trip, the kind that make it worth staying in the sport.

X2. I have been riding 900 ACE sleds for 7 seasons, now on my second one. I have been passed by less than 20 sleds in that time, and passed hundreds. You can't suck and blow at the same time, so I don't have much sympathy those complaining about ridiculously high prices as they seek out the latest, trickest 850 or turbo 4s. If you are riding deep snow, or lake racing, I get it, but for the bulk of Ontario trail riders 125-130 HP is more than what's required. Sledders, as a lot, have shown the manufacturers how to pick our pockets, and they have gotten good it. Can't complain.

My riding buddy, Malcolm, lost his black Samsung phone Thursday afternoon, March 9, somewhere on the D trail between River Valley and the A trail (highway 11). He had the phone in his pocket when we left the restaurant in River Valley, but he didn't zip up the pocket and the phone was gone when we stopped at the A trail intersection. We thought he had left it at the restaurant, but they said later that it wasn't left behind. We went back to re-ride the trail today, but it had been groomed over night, a good thing generally. Hoping someone found the phone before it got groomed. If you hear of this phone, please contact me here, or Rick at 905-878-4439. Thanks. This has been a good reminder to back up your files regularly!

Save yourself some grief. Do half a RAP. Barrys Bay to Mattawa and back. Ride all the North Renfrew 130 series and Missing Link 190 series on the northeast side. Skip the roads and rocks, and you will love it.

Not necessary. Good snow where you have planned.

Should have mentioned that the past couple of weekends around Sudbury have seen major sled traffic. I would be inclined to do that ride on Thursday, as Friday is now just as busy as Saturday.

I hope you have some experience getting out of NB from the Lakeshore strip. As PLC said, it can be a chore getting from there to the A trail north, and your day to Liskeard is long to begin with. On your Stonecliff day, it is a must to ride the 197 and 195 trails of the Missing Link club. You can ride them on the way to the A trail at Stonecliffe, where there is fuel, and then ride the A trail back west. If you have time, I would suggest using A112A in one direction to Mattawa and the A trail in the opposite direction. Both Trails have some very nice sections. New Liskeard and Sudbury areas were good last week even where snow was limited. You will have more snow now. Enjoy the trip.

ski, that is pretty risky telling so many reprobates where your recreational home is.😉

Turbo Tim, are you wanting to stay in North Bay every night, or are you open to saddle bagging? Many people on here have a ton of experience in the area you are describing, but need to know more about your trip including how many days total and roughly how many km per day.

Beyond the self serve fuel stations, there is another more serious problem threatening the existence of the remote camps and lodges that we count on for the northern snowmobile touring experience. We all know about the shortage of all kinds of labour that companies in the south are experiencing. In the remote north it is many tines worse, such that most camps are dependent on a single family unit to shoulder all of the work required to keep the camp in operation. The resultant burn-out has caused closures in the recent past, but I fear we have just seen the tip of that iceberg. Its one thing to hire good help in Kap or Hearst, but imagine in Aubrey Falls/Black Creek or even Hornepayne. This is coming from a glass half full kind of guy, but I can't help seeing serious challenges ahead for my portion of the sport.

That is a TOUGH start. Good luck with the rest of the trip - stay rubber side down!

I think that 4 colours has the potential of being more informative for would be trail users, but if we can't have agreement from club to club, on how to use the 3 colours, then is likely too much of a stretch. I doo like ski's idea of a 4th classification for trails that are passable, but not quite up to yellow standards.

I was aware of positive reviews here for the Wilderness Camp, but we didn't want to take the time for a proper sit down lunch because the cold outside was going to get much colder feeling as daylight faded. As it turned out, our timing was spot on as we got to Shining Tree in time to catch the LCBO run and daylight disappear behind the trees. Saving Wildermess Camp for another trip.

Our group originally wanted to do some Algoma riding this past week out of Dunlop Lake Lodge, but we couldn't get the nights that we needed. We all agreed that the Northern Corridor would be okay, but not our next choice. We wanted to minimize truck time, minimize trail traffic, maximize snow quality and stay at some new-to-us, venues. Thanks to contributors to this forum, the choice of routes became obvious. My friends and I, until this year, have considered a day's ride north of 17, to be a minimum of 500 km. We used to joke that 300 km rides were half days. We have matured and looked for a quality ride not a long ride. With that in mind we first booked into the Riverdale Resort in Alban for Tuesday and Friday nights. When we couldn't get into Tree Bears Camp (Shining Tree) for Wednesday, we booked there for Thursday night, which left Econolodge in New Liskeard (Dymond) for our Wednesday night lodging. At Econolodge, we ate supper at Ali's restaurant, as it was bloody cold out and we could walk inside from our rooms to the restaurant. All of us enjoyed our meals there, but I felt a little guilty not getting to Gillie's for a meal. Again, all of those locations were recommended by OCers. Thanks. All accommodations were good to excellent, with a special shout out to Tree Bears for being above and beyond. Trail conditions per the ITG were green for our entire 950 km 3-day ride. Trails did not disappoint. In the 3 days combined we maybe had 60 km of mildly choppy trails. The groomers can't be just in front of you all the time, but we had almost 900 km of smooth trails, even in areas like around NL, where there was hardly any snow in the fields. Thanks to the volunteers, groomer operators, clubs and districts for providing mostly well-signed and magically groomed trails with often minimal snow. Days 1 and 3 were basically following the most direct route from Alban and back(except for including the Wolf Mountain Loop, day 3), but day 2 required some augmenting to get a good day's ride(new definition). We left Dymond, headed north to Thornloe, Earlton, Engelhart, Charlton and out to the A trail via L162. Then to Elk Lake for fuel at the funky unmanned gas station. Next order of business was fuel for the humans, but there were no restaurants in the village. On advice from a local, we checked out the local convenience/general store hoping for a coffee and a packaged sandwich. Expectations were exceeded again when the onsite mini kitchen, had fried chicken pieces, potato wedges and fresh made pizza. We topped off our bellies and headed for Shining Tree via A107C and C trails. We were all familiar with the Three Bears Camp of the 1990s and 2000s, and accordingly had previously left Tree Bears off our travel plans. What a mistake. Our large, new (not refurbished) 3-bedroom, 7-bed cabin was modern and comfortable. The camp is not licensed but we got in on a run to the LCBO by our hosts. Then the two supper choices(3 course) were both delicious. Friday morning at -25C, Oliver was quick to produce a battery booster when one of our sleds required it. Obviously, I was super impressed with the whole operation. By my odometer, our 3 days were 309, 309, and 332 km for a total of 950 km for our very cold, but successful mini trip. I will have to get the IT department (wife) to show me how to get pictures from my phone to the forum. This was my first trip not using a camera for photos. People have been conspiring for a few years now to bring me into the 21st century, but I am a reluctant participant. Don't have many pics anyway because it was too cold to expose my hands. Can see in the trail photos that there isn't a lot of snow to work with.