volunteer2 Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 That is too bad to hear about this trip especially since so much of the area is listed as green. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkronOrange Posted January 24, 2015 Author Share Posted January 24, 2015 Day 2: Deep River to South River. 200 miles. We rode "A" trail all the way to Bonfield took the lake to Astorville and got fuel the took "D" south to South River. Given all of the warnings I received about road riding I was a bit apprehensive about how the day would be. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. "A"trail was in very nice shape the clubs did a great job in almost all places. We saw hundreds of sleds and still the trails were better than those we rode day 1. It is a bit confusing finding "D" south after leaving Astorville but that is part of all of this. It was a very good experience. We may have been fortunate with the conditions; those roads we rode were mostly snow covered and easy to navigate. All in all it was a good day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 We may have been fortunate with the conditions; those roads we rode were mostly snow covered and easy to navigate. All in all it was a good day. We've been lucky the last 2 winters passing thru there that we could road run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbakernbay Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 AkronOrange, we're waiting for your Saturday report. Hope your day was better than mine. Put a screw into my finger doing signs and then my 1996 380 coasted to a stop on AD on the pipeline, probably terminal as it has been sucking oil heavily last two rides. Hope you're staying at Dinner Bell,or Cedar Gables. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Glad to hear, Akron. We're just south of you in Sundridge. Caswell Resort Hotel. Charming place. Like it. East side of Lake Bernard is supposedly pooched (AL306). All the best tomorrow, We had a great ride from Parry Sound (Rosseau Road). Seguin great. 711 good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkronOrange Posted January 25, 2015 Author Share Posted January 25, 2015 AkronOrange, we're waiting for your Saturday report. Hope your day was better than mine. Put a screw into my finger doing signs and then my 1996 380 coasted to a stop on AD on the pipeline, probably terminal as it has been sucking oil heavily last two rides. Hope you're staying at Dinner Bell,or Cedar Gables. BB - we did have a better day than you. Sorry to hear about the injury. Thanks for all of your arc work over the years. We'll ride through your neck of the woods end of February. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbakernbay Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Your timing was quite fortuitous with the nice little snowfall last evening and the plows not getting out too early on the rural roads on Saturday. The Township apparently plows that road section of D right down to the gravel for about 3 or 4 miles and it apparently is brutal if you hit it at the wrong time. This was the only snowfall of the year with any body to it, almost everything has been dry and fluffy, not your wet 'Lake Effect' snow. We will hear from you in late February. Safe trip as you head south. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 The Township apparently plows that road section of D right down to the gravel for about 3 or 4 miles and it apparently is brutal if you hit it at the wrong time. That's nice of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slomo Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Put a screw into my finger doing signs and then my 1996 380 coasted to a stop on AD on the pipeline, probably terminal as it has been sucking oil heavily last two rides. Different type of bad luck for me this weekend - not complaining much since I have had relatively good runs so far. Showed up at my camp Friday night to find that a gas can leaked in the back of my truck and all my sledding gear innundated with gasoline. Let things air out overnight and went out Saturday morning. Did about a measly 40 kilometers then turned back due to combination of dizziness caused by gas fumes and rain. Only funny part was an olfactory hallucination while on a whiz break at the side of the trail - hazilly thought I should be putting this stuff in the fuel tank. Good thing I was at my own place - spent most of the rest of Saturday washing stuff - and not at a motel or on the road. Back on topic - some snow replaced the rain here north east of Parry Sound and temperatures cooler - the OP's on this thread shoujd enjoy a crisp ride today! Have fun, take some pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tedcuthbert Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Canuck,. If you are heading south from Sundridge and want to save yourselves from the 306, take Pevensy rd south from sundridge to Kents mill rd, then west to the D trails, or lf going to Burks falls, there's a shortcut across Pickerel lake to the D123. There's lots of snow on those back roads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCC Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Just wanted to let you according to the OFSC trail status map, the Keetna club (Petawawa) club trails 124, 125, 126, 127, 128 are closed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbakernbay Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 AkronOrange Hope you are home safely? Better head for NYC and sled down Broadway if they get 36" Monday and Tuesday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkronOrange Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 AkronOrange Hope you are home safely? Better head for NYC and sled down Broadway if they get 36" Monday and Tuesday. That's good! Or; they just tear a page from the D101B book and post some signs "Follow Road to Trail" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkronOrange Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 Just wanted to let you according to the OFSC trail status map, the Keetna club (Petawawa) club trails 124, 125, 126, 127, 128 are closed. I see they're closed now. They were limited on Friday and there was a big sign indicating the trails were open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whits-end Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Canuck,. If you are heading south from Sundridge and want to save yourselves from the 306, take Pevensy rd south from sundridge to Kents mill rd, then west to the D trails, or lf going to Burks falls, there's a shortcut across Pickerel lake to the D123. There's lots of snow on those back roads. There is deep snow and slush on Pickerel Lake so you need to keep on the loud handle. Kind of treacherous on Saturday because of blowing snow covering the tracks. OK if you know the lake but I had 6 sledders on my beach, lost because they veered left instead of going straight across the lake. The Magnetawan River flows in and out of the lake, so there are 2 places you could go for a swim if you got turned around. Be sure you know where you're going, especially at night or during horizontal snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkronOrange Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 Day 3: South River back to Haliburton. C105D to D to D101B to Dorset then club trails 64 and 16 to B back to Haliburton. About 170 miles. I'm safely back home. It's been 7 hours since we ended our ride. The blood almost completely gone from my urine. We rode about 20 miles of wonderful trail today. The trails can be groomed. The rest of the trails were garbage. Some will say there isn't enough snow. If they can't be groomed how can they be listed as green? Trails in the condition I rode today are not safe. It is much more difficult to stay right when there's a 48" snow on the right and a valley without snow on the left. I also found myself looking for the smooth line weaving and dodging. It really was ridiculous. There was an obscene amount of "follow road to trail", they could save some money on signage if they flipped to say "follow trail to road". As I was scratching my way through this mess, I wondered; do these count as trail miles? If so, I think they should implement this idea in Chapleau, just put a "follow road to trail" on routes 101 and 129, call them the new "F" trail. We encountered hundreds of sleds today. The a$$hole percentage was way up. I find it interesting that each time we stopped for a break, there was at least one rider going past us that had to show us how much snow he could displace, it was also interesting that on a number of occasions, while I was climbing one of those 4 ft. banks, staying right, the rider coming toward me on the left, couldn't slow down and again made every attempt to move as much of whatever happened to be under his track at the time. I realize those a$$holes I referenced are a small percentage of the whole. In actuality; the best part of the trip were the people. If we had a map out on the trail; people stopped and offered us help, whenever we asked for directions, people were glad to give them. All of the people in all of the towns were fabulous. The highlight of the trip was our visit with Nunz and his group at the Iron Skillet in Kearney. What a great group of guys! Leaving Kearney, I also ran into Akronsnow; it was also a pleasure. Thanks to everyone who helped me along the way. Needless to say, this will be my last trip to this part of Ontario. I can't justify spending my disposable income on this type of abuse to my sled and my body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 It's too bad you feel that way. I've gotten a grand total of 8 miles on my sled. Unless we get a decent amount of snow it's looking like a less than stellar season for me this year. Paudash has been getting complaints about the state of their trails. I thought yellow meant limited. IMO that pretty much means they're borderline. As for the trails being green, maybe someone @ the club level got carried away. When we did our RAP & RAN tours the last 2 winters, we planned them so that we'd be home Fri' afternoon. That way we'd be parked while the sno x wannabes were still in the GTA. During those 2 trips any of the sledders we saw were touring riders as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildbill Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 If they cannot be groomed they cannot be green Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PISTON LAKE CRUISER Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 While this is certainly a different snow year than last year, we did the RAP last year starting in Dwight and like Revrnd we did it on a Tuesday to Thursday. Trails were all awesome. You have learned the hard way that it is often hard to have good trails to ride on in that part of Muskoka late in the weekend. Not the club's fault in most cases just sheer volume IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nunz Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Day 3: South River back to Haliburton. C105D to D to D101B to Dorset then club trails 64 and 16 to B back to Haliburton. About 170 miles. I'm safely back home. It's been 7 hours since we ended our ride. The blood almost completely gone from my urine. We rode about 20 miles of wonderful trail today. The trails can be groomed. The rest of the trails were garbage. Some will say there isn't enough snow. If they can't be groomed how can they be listed as green? Trails in the condition I rode today are not safe. It is much more difficult to stay right when there's a 48" snow on the right and a valley without snow on the left. I also found myself looking for the smooth line weaving and dodging. It really was ridiculous. There was an obscene amount of "follow road to trail", they could save some money on signage if they flipped to say "follow trail to road". As I was scratching my way through this mess, I wondered; do these count as trail miles? If so, I think they should implement this idea in Chapleau, just put a "follow road to trail" on routes 101 and 129, call them the new "F" trail. We encountered hundreds of sleds today. The a$$hole percentage was way up. I find it interesting that each time we stopped for a break, there was at least one rider going past us that had to show us how much snow he could displace, it was also interesting that on a number of occasions, while I was climbing one of those 4 ft. banks, staying right, the rider coming toward me on the left, couldn't slow down and again made every attempt to move as much of whatever happened to be under his track at the time. I realize those a$$holes I referenced are a small percentage of the whole. In actuality; the best part of the trip were the people. If we had a map out on the trail; people stopped and offered us help, whenever we asked for directions, people were glad to give them. All of the people in all of the towns were fabulous. The highlight of the trip was our visit with Nunz and his group at the Iron Skillet in Kearney. What a great group of guys! Leaving Kearney, I also ran into Akronsnow; it was also a pleasure. Thanks to everyone who helped me along the way. Needless to say, this will be my last trip to this part of Ontario. I can't justify spending my disposable income on this type of abuse to my sled and my body. It was great meeting you guys albeit not for a long visit, Certainly hope to meet up with you guys again maybe under better conditions up north.. We took the 80 series of trails back to Huntsville and they were in excellent condition kinda of hoped the same for you guys on your way back to Huntsville... Hope you have a great rest of the winter my friend... Nunz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Another thing to consider about touring in southern Ontario, it's not always a good thing to plan/schedule too far ahead. This is especially troublesome for folks that have to put in for their vacation weeks or months ahead. I had booked the 1st week of Jan' '98, months earlier in '97. Good thing I hadn't made any plans (prior to our Northern Blastoffs) since as it turned out it was the week of the big ice storm. Basically sat in Apsley & watched it rain. Afterwards the trail system in eastern Ontario was screwed for the rest of the season due to downed trees. The conditions during '96 on my 1st RAP tour was OK other than dealing w/ some kind of a flu bug which made for a miserable trip. Bad enough dealing w/ frigid rooms (old Katrine Motel) & crummy signage Trout Creek & Deux Rivieres areas. The following winter, we tried to due it again & we made it from Haliburton to Mattawa w/ 2 days of good weather then on the 3rd & last day we had 2 sleds go down & wet snow changing to freezing rain. We pulled the plug in Powassan. Got a ride to our motel in Port Sydney. Then another ride back to get our trucks & trailers to rescue our sleds @ Gieslers. Our sleds were OK, we just left them overnight @ the shop. Thaws & just regular rain are regular occurrences too "down south". We've had weather affect our trips up north to a small degree, but nothing terrible. Last year our RAN tour was pretty much a spur of the moment deal. Trail/snow conditions were ideal so we could ride right from the door. The only issue in our planning was a red section north of Parry Sound which we took into account. When I was working would I have planned a RAN tour, doubtful. Pretty much when I was assigned vacation time, that was a done deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I recall a post by Evil. "The tales of 2 RAP's". One great, one brutal. Snow conditions/grooming schedules, etc. all play into southern Ontario saddlebag trips. Thanks for your brutally honest reports, Akron. "Blood almost gone from urine" is tff, in a sledhead kind of way. We ran D123 from the Sundridge area and can second your emotion re moguls in places north of Buks Falls/Kearney. The groomer went north after lunch (but that's like knowing the lottery numbers the day after the draw, lol). Enjoy your northern Ontario jaunts. May the hockey moms book every hotel room in town ... and find space for you on the couch. Happy trails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkronOrange Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 I may b!tch about the experience some, but all of it really is part of what we do. As bad as it was, it was still good in many ways. The experience will always be with me, the people we encountered along the way were wonderful, and we met some new friends. These are the real reasons we keep coming back. Thanks to the volunteers and thanks to all of you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbakernbay Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 BB - we did have a better day than you. Sorry to hear about the injury. Thanks for all of your arc work over the years. We'll ride through your neck of the woods end of February. All good on the old 1996. 140 psi in each cylinder and it started right up this evening. Mechanic said the warm temperatures on Saturday, stop and go doing signing and running out of oil likely caused it to shut down with no apparent damage. I keep my tool bag on the dash and that blocks me from seeing the oil warning light. Going to top up after every outing from here on in. I dodged a bullet there, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I recall a post by Evil. "The tales of 2 RAP's". One great, one brutal. Snow conditions/grooming schedules, etc. all play into southern Ontario saddlebag trips. Thanks for your brutally honest reports, Akron. "Blood almost gone from urine" is tff, in a sledhead kind of way. We ran D123 from the Sundridge area and can second your emotion re moguls in places north of Buks Falls/Kearney. The groomer went north after lunch (but that's like knowing the lottery numbers the day after the draw, lol). Enjoy your northern Ontario jaunts. May the hockey moms book every hotel room in town ... and find space for you on the couch. Happy trails. Anybody ever hear from the terrible twins? The S-I-L was talking to Evil when we were @ Gowganda in '12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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