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prince edward county ride feb 9 - the gathering storm


slomo

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After watching the snow fall all day Friday and being unable to leave early from work, began to wonder where the brave new world they predicted of three day work weeks and flying cars....anyway finally got out on the 401 on Friday evening heading to the village of Wellington in Prince Edward County. It was white knuckling all the way and once in the county was greeted by a couple of sledders who passed our truck and trailer on either side of the vehicle simultaneously as we followed road 33. A foot either way and the truck would have knocked them in the ditch....only half kidding when I say maybe I should have swerved to teach them a lesson...however...

Saturday morning dawned bright, as is my usual habit, up early to hit the trails.

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Roads in Wellington were snow covered so not really any pavement running to the Millenium Trail junction about 100 yards away from the motel. I get to the trail....

...only to find that it is ten minutes to seven. Dang.

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I did not expect any groomed trails as most of the cars I had seen parked in driveways were rammed in as far as they could go until they stopped, the owners figuring to clear their driveways next day. The groomer operators would likely be in the same circumstance. Trails were rough with drifted snow, some drifts 3 or 4 feet high, but a nice scenic ride nevertheless.

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Open fields were wind swept so it was difficult to find some trails.

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Went down to the end of the Millenium Trail

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and then returned to try to pick my way over to Sandbanks Provincial Park. Some nice field and woods riding on this trail. Conditions were actually pretty good through this segment.

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Returned to help ms. slomo by measuring out her cross country skii training.

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Kept in mind Ron Quick's advice about not straining my throttle thumb while being a training helper. Thanks Ron!

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Figuring no grooming would take place until evening, went off to have fish and chips at the Main St. Grill in Wellington. Nothing fancy, good food. Settle down for afternoon nap when ms. slomo, who has been out snowshoeing, comes bursting in with the news that the groomer has been over the trail. We get geared and head out.

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Thanks groomer people!

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Getting dark, take a few pictures of the sunset....

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Sled is gassed and hope to get out tomorrow morning before heading home.

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UthvUOR.jpgTXdhGxd.jpgMonte and myself were in the County today as well. We didn't see a lot of sleds. left the arena in Wellington and headed to Sandbanks. On the way back, we encountered 2 sleds. They had the markings OPP on the sides of them. Nice people, checking for passes.

Enjoyed the deep snow. Also found it hard to find the trail in some of the fields that had no one across them since the new snow. We stopped by the Club House and had a nice chat with the fellow getting the fire going. Area needs a few more signs and a decent map, but overall we had a blast.

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Sleding south of the 401, sounds crazy but it can be done :)

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Hey Slomo, I thnk we passed ya when you were at the "7th picture".

It was around 9:30am yesterday??

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Hey Slomo, I thnk we passed ya when you were at the "7th picture".  

It was around 9:30am yesterday??

Yep, now that I've seen your excellent pictures, your machines look familiar! Took those pictures earlier, but  passed you the  first time I headed over toward Sandbanks, but had to turn around due to some obligations....probably followed your tracks later as you two took off across the field I just crossed. Someone on one of the forums mentioned running the beach over there, but on this occasion there were lots of ice chunks which got in the way of that activity. Great area though.

Got in a short ride this morning....headed down the Millenium Trail Wellington to Consecon...the groomer having done miraculous work on the drifting Friday night....day started out at -20 or so....

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but warmed up slightly.

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Out past a couple of ice fishermen out early.

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And a nice site you see from time to time on the trails....

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Cold doesn't seem to bother these swans.

My sled must have scared up a couple of dozen rabbits along the route, but strangely not one was white in colour in the middle of winter. ?

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Conditions get thinner past Consecon to the north. Decided to turn around and head back to pack.

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Sure hope to have another ride in this region next time there's good snow.

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Thanks to the groomer crew who certainly must have had other things to do after the big storm and dweese for all his commentary on the area.

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We weren't too upset about the lack of grooming on Saturday morning. Figured getting people dug out of their houses should be the priority. Looks like they did a great job later in the day. Next time we will have to stop and say hi!

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