AkronOrange Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 4 of us returned from a 1500 mile trip on Saturday, some highlights, pictures and a summary are below: 2/22 - Drove to Massey, arrived 1:00 AM 2/23 - Unloaded the machines and started on our way to Shining Tree. Trails were a little choppy and ice covered due to a lack of snow for a period before we began. D trail to 72 to 78 to C206D into Shining Tree, some trails around Sudbury hadn't been groomed due to some ice conditions, not too terrible overall. It was all listed on OFSC and STP web sites. 2/24 - Shining Tree to Hearst - (Evil was right it was 340 miles) not sure if I would do that again even in great conditions. Stopped in Timmins and Smooth Rock for fuel, also stopped at the Moonbeam club, it just seems like the right thing to do. It was all worth the trip when we arrived at the Companion and met "Slow Touring Guy" and his group. To say the least, I was honored to have met him while he was taking some time from posting to do some well deserved riding. It was a real treat, probably the highlight of the whole trip. 2/25 - Hearst to Longlac - Rode the infamous A107A trail, it's about 118 miles from Hearst to Klotz Lake, most of today's machines can make the trip. We stopped in Calstock for some gas, we all got stuck in some deep snow trying not to ride the road for the 4 km. Arrived at Klotz to be greeted by a full supply of beer and goodies. 2/26 - Rode the Nakina Loop, met the groomer operator, Gabby, what a dedicated hard working guy. Seems like he and one other keep those trails in top shape. It's a real nice run, a bit of everything. 2/27 - Klotz to Hornepayne - Got a bit of a late start leaving some electrical problems with one machine kept us until about 11:00. Hillsport trail was a bit rough, some gravel road to run. Arrived in Hornepayne at about 6:00. 2/28 - Hornepayne to Chapleau - Again a bit of a late start. -35 when we wanted to leave. The machines didn't. I'm 220 lbs., I couldn't pull that F1000 enough to get it started at that temp. One of the 4 strokes wasn't cooperating either. Warmed them up and stared off to Chapleau at 12:00 arrived at 6:00, thanks to the gas station guy that reopened the pumps before making the security rounds. 2/29 - Chapleau to Massey - Probably the roughest day. One machine broke down 40 miles from the end. Towed him the balance of the way. Overall summary: All of the trails were in very nice condition. There are logging operations underway all over the areas we rode. There are also some rough conditions in all areas, which is to be expected. Some specific areas that come to mind: -Looks like a groomer was stuck on a hill on "C" trail south of Post 392, it's rough from there to Post 392. -Top "C" was plowed near Smooth Rock, not the typical ride we're used to. -A107A was tremendous from Bambino's to the Pagwa Bridge, after that it was less tremendous, I understand it was groomed again from Pagwa to Longlac since we went through. -The Hillsport Trail has a bit of gravel that is unavoidable. -"F" Trail from Aubrey Falls to the "road" was very choppy for about 10 km. It is probably difficult to justify the 10 mile trip down the road to groom 10 km of trail. Other than that, and some localized logging, the trails were very nice. I recommend everyone get out and enjoy them while you can. Some pictures below, I tried to post more but 5 is the limit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sledjunk Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Great report and sounds like a fun trip. Thanks for posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreezerBurnt Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 nice report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maple Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Great report ... sounds like you had a great trip (despite meeting up with STG and his motley crew)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlowTouringGuy Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Hey Akron (not Ohio) Orange ! It was great to meet up with you guys last Sunday. Boy, do you fellows put on the miles - "it's going to take a long time at the OFSC speed limit" You're right about the groomer on C. 10 miles south of Post 392. Looks like he made a few miscalculations. And his track must have dug a 4 foot hole half way up the hill. I got some pix I'll put up. Glad you had a good visit to the Ontario Trails - hope we have a chance to meet on them again one day ! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giddy UP Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Great report AO - too bad we didn't get to meet up with you guys in Hearst - we were there just after STG (I was trying to catch that mouse all week!). Glad you had a good trip up here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ox Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Who cares where this one is, you're not going to spend much time on it anyway... LOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Akron, did you have any problems navigating thru the Hillsport area? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkronOrange Posted March 5, 2008 Author Share Posted March 5, 2008 revrnd, No real problems with navigation. We had been through there last year. The Hillsport trail was very rough, several km of gravel road to ride, no way around. Once you start getting close to Hillsport there are more signs for the Hillton and the Wilderness Lodge directing you in. Re STG's comment: "it's going to take a long time at the OFSC speed limit" We met up with an OPP trail check in Timmins at about 3:00 on our way to Hearst from Shining Tree. When I mentioned that we were on our way to Hearst he said something to the effect of "you guys still have quite a ride ahead at 50 km/hr ..." For anyone that is intersted I have updated the pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildbill Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 revrnd,No real problems with navigation. We had been through there last year. The Hillsport trail was very rough, several km of gravel road to ride, no way around. Once you start getting close to Hillsport there are more signs for the Hillton and the Wilderness Lodge directing you in. Re STG's comment: "it's going to take a long time at the OFSC speed limit" We met up with an OPP trail check in Timmins at about 3:00 on our way to Hearst from Shining Tree. When I mentioned that we were on our way to Hearst he said something to the effect of "you guys still have quite a ride ahead at 50 km/hr ..." For anyone that is intersted I have updated the pictures. Sense of humour ? or radio ahead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkronOrange Posted March 5, 2008 Author Share Posted March 5, 2008 I should have added to the original post that we only encountered 2 checks on the whole trip. The one I referenced in Timmins and 1 STOP check just looking for current OFSC permits. The OPP were really nice guys asked about the trip told us to be safe and enjoy ourselves. He kind of grinned as he made the 50 km statement. I don't think he called ahead, although we may have been going too fast to notice.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ny_apex Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 I'm 220 lbs I think you are being a little conservative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlowTouringGuy Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 I'm 220 lbs I think you are being a little conservative. Duck and Cover !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowberg Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 All those hats, looks like a hat convention........Great trip considering the company Great to put a face to some of the names we see on OC. Our trip went very well and we are already talking about next years. With any luck we will see more Red in Hearst at next years convention I've got some pics and hopefully have them up this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlowTouringGuy Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Hey SnowBerg ! What about a RedHat Convention at the Tub ? We could book the Satellite Motel in Beautiful Downtown Ferndale Ontario. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkronOrange Posted March 6, 2008 Author Share Posted March 6, 2008 I'm 220 lbs I think you are being a little conservative. You would think that after spending a week together in hotel rooms all over Northern Ontario some of your secrects could be kept. Just because we all haven't decided to make "lifestyle changes".... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlowTouringGuy Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 You would think that after spending a week together in hotel rooms all over Northern Ontario some of your secrects could be kept. Apparently not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Great Trip Report! Nice pics! 2/24 - Shining Tree to Hearst - (Evil was right it was 340 miles) not sure if I would do that again even in great conditions. Stopped in Timmins and Smooth Rock for fuel, also stopped at the Moonbeam club, it just seems like the right thing to do. It was all worth the trip when we arrived at the Companion and met "Slow Touring Guy" and his group. First off...................I hate when I'm right! :P Secondly.................my condolences! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowberg Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Hey STG, I didn't know Ferndale was big enough to have a downtown....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev09 Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 How did the F1000 like the stretch from Timmins up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 revrnd,No real problems with navigation. We had been through there last year. The Hillsport trail was very rough, several km of gravel road to ride, no way around. The Beauty Lake Rd SE of Gowganda was gravel w/ some snow on it during our trip. Probably the worst stretch of our trip. The carbides were really scraping. The plowed section of TOP C south of SRF was mint compared to this road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkronOrange Posted March 13, 2008 Author Share Posted March 13, 2008 How did the F1000 like the stretch from Timmins up? You know the stretch.... I try not to boast too much on this site about brand or that kind of thing, but since you asked and NY_Apex (my roomie on the trip) had to make the weight comment, and I made it to Rocky's before he did, I'll just say this about the F1000. As you can imagine, I just wanted to push the hell out of it. I don't notice much of a change in fuel consumption whether I'm going 50 or 80 (mph). Northern Ontario is the place for a machine like this. I guess to answer your question, the F1000 liked the stretch.... almost as much as I enjoyed riding it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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