slomo Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 Well, first off, happy Ground Hog Day to everyone! (the only holiday the gift card companies haven't grabbed for themselves yet) May the ground hog see his shadow and be scared enough to hide in his hole for an extra few months. One of my childhood dreams as a young lad growing up in Sudbury was to leave, find a job that would pay me enough to be able to afford a snowmobile, trail pass, insurance, assorted riding gear and accessories, and then return to ride Ramsey Lake, which is located in the heart of the area. This weekend I did just that. Here, Ramsey Lake just as I imagined it, the Super Stack sending its bounty all the way to Greenland...and a large snow bank to get around.... I have usually been supportive of my spouse's various initiatives - she is now training for a 52 kilometer marathon in the spring, so I was happy to measure out a route on the lake on which she could get some cross country training on.... and then encourage her with helpful workout slogans such as 'no pain, no gain', 'feel the burn' etc. You've all heard them on those exercise machine commercials in which a bunch of smiling jack asses pretend to be having a good time working out.... the horn I installed on the sled came in handy as well for the occasional friendly sounding toot toot... Seeing she was on her way, time to get out and check some trail conditions - Zoso country - around Sudbury east and the Coniston area. Snow was thin on a hard ice base, but very rideable. Alternating between icy and some good snow conditions. Some flooding had occured and riders should be warned to ride controlled speeds as wash outs and icy sections present sudden hazards. I don't have any pictures of them, but the washouts are dangerous - be carefull. The trail to the gas station near Coniston is closed - frozen and assorted slush, but a work around by Zoso is documented on FS in the Sudbury post #15 http://www.freedomsledder.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=65964 Off in a different direction today and will report more later. A big thank you to the STP trail people! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultrafrozen Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 Glad to hear Sudbury's trail conditions are building up. 52 km, WOW! She must be hooked on that runner's high. I noticed your location is Parry Sound. We are planning a family reunion at Killbear this summer as I hear it's a really nice park. We've been to Craigleith, Earl Rowe, Bass Lake, Six Mile Lake, Arrowhead, Mikisew and Restoule in your area as well. Loved them all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white dragon Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 glad to see trails have survived the warm-up.your wife is lucky to have such a supportive husband & coach.great report & pics thx again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo Doo Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 Looks good.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slomo Posted February 3, 2013 Author Share Posted February 3, 2013 Part 2- While trails around the Coniston area were a bit icy, conditions improved considerably the further north in the system you went. We headed out around Falconbridge, Garson and then up toward Wahnipitae area. A few assorted pictures of trail conditions..... Rumour has it that a trio of forum members were riding the western reaches of the Sudbury Trail System, so looking forward to a report from them. Bumped into sledderdan in Capreol gassing up for a saddle bag to Gowganda - hope they made it okay. ms. slomo later asks if we always introduce ourselves to each other by our forum names - I tell her only when it is not safe to use the secret handshake. Like most places in Ontario, more snow would be good around some parts of the STP, but conditions were very rideable and traffic was relatively light. Still a few washouts and slushy sections despite the cold weather, so be carefull. Hopefully we'll get back once big Lake Wahnipitae is safe to ride, as that increases the prospect of more circling the system. Thanks to the people at Sudbury Trail Plan! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slomo Posted February 3, 2013 Author Share Posted February 3, 2013 .your wife is lucky to have such a supportive husband & coach. So I keep saying! If anyone else needs to know where to run, skate, or ski in the area, here is a link which includes a handy pdf map: http://www.rainbowro...dex.php/routes/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowganda Lake Camp Posted February 3, 2013 Share Posted February 3, 2013 Hello Slomo.. Great post and awesome pictures. Good to see you and your wife are doing well. Have always enjoyed reading your stories. Best of luck with the training, I hope you don't get a cramp in your thumb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slomo Posted February 3, 2013 Author Share Posted February 3, 2013 Hello Slomo.. Great post and awesome pictures. Good to see you and your wife are doing well. Have always enjoyed reading your stories. Best of luck with the training, I hope you don't get a cramp in your thumb. Thanks Ron. Enjoy your web cam! Did sledder dan make it up okay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo Doo Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 Thanks for the pics and updates.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreezerBurnt Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 Great pics Slomo hope you get a chance to ride the western part of the STP on my old club trails(Northbound Sno Drifters) They opened an old part of a trail that was abandoned 10yrs ago cause the mining company is using the other trails, just seen some pics on FB of the reopening of the old trail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTX MEIRDA Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 Just in the truck on the way back from Sudbury now. The first half hour out of town was rough, but really good after that. We stopped at the Sportsman. That looks like an awesome place. For people coming to the area, we ate at M.i.C Canadian eatery and whiskey pub. Amazing place that has live music Saturday night in the bar area. Off topic, google the Fyfe family (Stephinie and Tommy) when in Sudbury and see where they are playing. We were blown away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mxz rev fans rock Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 Sportsmans is a great place. Been staying there for years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sledjunk Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 RTX, where were you staying? LondonCalling, Noisy1eh, and I were in the area as well. The plan came together that LC would pick up Noisy1eh in Brampton and head to Pefferlaw where we would load all three sleds into my trailer and head up. Initial timing would have seen them arrive around 7:30. Well, a 50 car pileup near Woodstock delayed that by about two hours or so. The drive from Orillia to past Parry Sound was slow. We were driving through moderate to heavy snow with greatly reduced visibility. We arrived at the Village Inn Motel in Lively around 3 AM. Saturday morning, while heading to breakfast, we met sledderdan and chatted. He and his group were headed to Gowganda so we asked him to say hi to Ron and Giselle. After the included continental breakfast, we headed off to do a loop around Sudbury. We headed off along D109 to D, to C115D to Capreol for a late lunch and then back down C, C-D, C, C108D, and finally D109 back to Lively. The conditions varied from excellent to brutal, with more trails rough than smooth. The trails to the west and north were better than the eastern / southern section. We felt that this was more because of the amount of running water and the inability of the clubs to cross the swampy areas with the groomers. As a result, many of the sections interconnecting the wet spots were pretty rough. Like the rest of the province, this area can certainly use more snow as well. Saturday was a long day and we arrived back at the motel around 9 PM. Sunday morning we did a shorter loop out D109 to STP to D then along a couple of club trails (11 and 12?) back to C108D and back to D109. Again, conditions were rough in the east end of the loop. Packed up and were on the road around 4 PM. We stopped for an early dinner in Sudbury and headed back. It was snowing lightly as we left but the snow became heavier as we proceeded. The snow was heaviest through the Parry Sound area and tapered off as we got to Orillia. Visibility was down to about 50 M at points. We arrived back in Pefferlaw about 10 PM. All in all, it was a great trip that could have been better with better trails. Still better than the best day at work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viperules700 Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 Great report sledjunk. I made it to northbay from Kitchener in 4 hrs and 15 mins two Sunday's ago, not to rub it in. It Was minus 36 on the way up roads clear as a bell. Slow commute's suck. I try to leave on Sunday and come back on Wednesday now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTX MEIRDA Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 RTX, where were you staying? LondonCalling, Noisy1eh, and I were in the area as well. The plan came together that LC would pick up Noisy1eh in Brampton and head to Pefferlaw where we would load all three sleds into my trailer and head up. Initial timing would have seen them arrive around 7:30. Well, a 50 car pileup near Woodstock delayed that by about two hours or so. The drive from Orillia to past Parry Sound was slow. We were driving through moderate to heavy snow with greatly reduced visibility. We arrived at the Village Inn Motel in Lively around 3 AM. Saturday morning, while heading to breakfast, we met sledderdan and chatted. He and his group were headed to Gowganda so we asked him to say hi to Ron and Giselle. After the included continental breakfast, we headed off to do a loop around Sudbury. We headed off along D109 to D, to C115D to Capreol for a late lunch and then back down C, C-D, C, C108D, and finally D109 back to Lively. The conditions varied from excellent to brutal, with more trails rough than smooth. The trails to the west and north were better than the eastern / southern section. We felt that this was more because of the amount of running water and the inability of the clubs to cross the swampy areas with the groomers. As a result, many of the sections interconnecting the wet spots were pretty rough. Like the rest of the province, this area can certainly use more snow as well. Saturday was a long day and we arrived back at the motel around 9 PM. Sunday morning we did a shorter loop out D109 to STP to D then along a couple of club trails (11 and 12?) back to C108D and back to D109. Again, conditions were rough in the east end of the loop. Packed up and were on the road around 4 PM. We stopped for an early dinner in Sudbury and headed back. It was snowing lightly as we left but the snow became heavier as we proceeded. The snow was heaviest through the Parry Sound area and tapered off as we got to Orillia. Visibility was down to about 50 M at points. We arrived back in Pefferlaw about 10 PM. All in all, it was a great trip that could have been better with better trails. Still better than the best day at work We stayed at the Moonlight on 17. Great trail access, but the Mariott we stayed at on the first night was more to my liking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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