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Abitibi Canyon Loop? Worth it? Opinion?


sledzz

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Wondering if the drive to Kirkland Lake is worth the drive to do the canyon loop? or up and back one side?? Current conditions? never been so any info provided would be much appreciated. Thank you

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1 minute ago, sledzz said:

Wondering if the drive to Kirkland Lake is worth the drive to do the canyon loop? or up and back one side?? Current conditions? never been so any info provided would be much appreciated. Thank you

 

There is lots of other great trails to ride other then this remote loop. I love the ride out to hearst or even Kap. Depends if you want services during the day, such as a nice lunch and fuel. The canyon not much of that besides smooth rock falls has a few choices and fuel.

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I heard there is no gas at the abitibi camp till Tues 

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Everybody should do the canyon once in their life, just for the view at the dam.

 

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We went in April last year, simply awesome late season trip! Loved the barge ride too. Really neat. Supposed to be some freezing rain this week so that doesnt sound fun. The Polar Bear riders have a facebook page that's updated daily. Someone else will chime in soon about conditions. But ya go for it. 

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3 hours ago, sledzz said:

Wondering if the drive to Kirkland Lake is worth the drive to do the canyon loop? or up and back one side?? Current conditions? never been so any info provided would be much appreciated. Thank you

A bit of a tough question to answer - in line with "Honey does my butt look big in these slacks.." Answer depends on several other considerations.

I've been doing up north (from Ottawa the last 16 years) almost every year in a week long trip. The trails are great when the weather cooperates as the clubs up there have retires to groom often and the businesses know how much money sledders drop per night. I've traillered to Cochrane Thursday night, ride Friday up East side, down to Smooth Rock and out to Kap or Hearst. Next day back to Cochrane (no Canyon - one 450-500KM day is enough), next day a morning ride and then trailer home. Like already said, everyone should do the loop once, with the East side the best and the West side called Piston ally (the last 2 stroke I owned popped about 45KM south of Fraserdale - very long day and night for me.)

You don't mention how many days, how many riders or the age (typical distance in a given day).

Looking at the Ottawa trails around me, they are going fast, so up north may be your only option.  I have years worth of trip data I can share, (safe harbor statement - gas stops change all the time).

We use to stage out of KL, but now stage out of NL when heading up to Cochrane and Hearst.

Cheers

 

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Calling for some nice snow fall amounts this week up that way, compared to rain and mild south of there.

Is it worth it, I just look at it as another great northern trail to ride, if never been, great to say you have.

If you are at all interested in the off trail side of the loop, you have that option.....I'm usually a bit of pussy when I go, too conservative as I would hate to have an issue so far from town & getting out of the canyon with a busted sled would be an adventure. 

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40 minutes ago, stoney said:

Calling for some nice snow fall amounts this week up that way, compared to rain and mild south of there.

Is it worth it, I just look at it as another great northern trail to ride, if never been, great to say you have.

If you are at all interested in the off trail side of the loop, you have that option.....I'm usually a bit of pussy when I go, too conservative as I would hate to have an issue so far from town & getting out of the canyon with a busted sled would be an adventure. 

It is an adventure breaking down anywhere in the loop, and tends to be expensive..(even excluding the sled repairs) Trying to figure out how many times I've done it..worth it to me.

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That's what someone mentioned last week - desolate area to play in the powder.  Kudos to those that doo. 

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6 minutes ago, Canuck said:

That's what someone mentioned last week - desolate area to play in the powder.  Kudos to those that doo. 

I remember reading about a couple that was riding together doing canyon loop. Short story was both sleds broke down and they ended up at moon beam club house, until they were later rescued by police. What an adventure that would be. 

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7 hours ago, Viperules700 said:

I remember reading about a couple that was riding together doing canyon loop. Short story was both sleds broke down and they ended up at moon beam club house, until they were later rescued by police. What an adventure that would be. 

I read that story with great interest, as it had some common elements to my adventure.  I believe they were preparing to spend the night in the warm up shack part way down the west side, which isn't that far off of the roadway. 

As I blew the piston just south of the rail line, after we realized that our group wasn't coming back for us (a whole other story), my bro towed me back to the camp. There, the owner of the camp gave permission for his future son in law to carry my sled (first cost)to Cochrane ( which left his daughter at the camp alone). In Cochrane we dropped the sled in the guys yard. Then I had to hire someone to drive me  down to New Liskeard to get my trailer (actually I drove his car). After digging out my trailer, drove back up to Cochrane in snow storm. At 1130pm tried to load the busted sled onto my trailer, finally just pulled the plug on the bad piston and drove it on. Then drove to Kap, to meet with the rest of my group who had my son with them. Got into Kap at 0130AM. 

Walked into the Yamaha dealer the next morning and bought a 4 stroke. (That was the 2nd piston in 3 years on BRP (600SDI)The first piston left me stranded in Timmins family day weekend. )

Came home and my wife asked why the sled color was different, I said Happy Valentines day, thanks for the new sled. (it all happened on 15 Feb.)

(I have her facial expression on video - priceless..) ya, been married a long time, to get away with it, for you young guys.

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Something to be seen, I haven't yet.  Prolly gonna reserve that adventure for a trip later in the season.  Prolly be polluted with asshats by then ...

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Quite the adventure G-man. Valentine's Day advice is noted LOL.

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Wow Gadgetman. Nothing personal but glad it was you and not me. As for the being married part, I learned lothng ago it is far better to just go ahead and get what you want and beg forgiveness rather than risk talking about it and being told no. If you go ahead after a no you're in much more trouble.

 

Peoples adventures of being stranded have made me a firm believer in GPS even if it doesn't show the trails. It does put where you are in perspective shows the location of roads, towns and where you find a cluster of roads there are usually houses. I know of one person who broke down and walked back down the trail for a couple of hours to get help. With a GPS they would have realized the trail was running almost parallel to a major road about 300 feet away through the trees.

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10 hours ago, 02Sled said:

Wow Gadgetman. Nothing personal but glad it was you and not me. As for the being married part, I learned lothng ago it is far better to just go ahead and get what you want and beg forgiveness rather than risk talking about it and being told no. If you go ahead after a no you're in much more trouble.

 

Peoples adventures of being stranded have made me a firm believer in GPS even if it doesn't show the trails. It does put where you are in perspective shows the location of roads, towns and where you find a cluster of roads there are usually houses. I know of one person who broke down and walked back down the trail for a couple of hours to get help. With a GPS they would have realized the trail was running almost parallel to a major road about 300 feet away through the trees.

You and I operate on the exact same page regarding a GPS - and in the days of sledding up thru Caramat to Longlac, it came in handy just to figure out which trail to take.

In theory, I could have been towed south to a road and then out to the 634. But then I'd be sitting on the side of no where - thought was that at the camp, at least I had a roof (and heat) until it was figured out how to get me and the busted sled to Cochrane, because nothing much goes up and down that road.  

 

We have drifted off from the original question - so, sledzz - is a drive to KL and doing the canyon worth it; I have done the canyon at least a half dozen times, maybe more, and to me the East side is one of the best runs (when no logging) up there. Oddly enough, I enjoy coming down the East side a bit more than going up. Anytime we get up north, we do the Canyon, and as I pass the Tow truck symbol on the GPS, I give the spot a particular digit from my hand...to mark the end of my BRP days.

BRP Ends.png

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Finally found a couple of pics from atop the dam...

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1 hour ago, Gadgetman said:

Finally found a couple of pics from atop the dam...

 

009.JPG

 

Anti-suicide barrier? 

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2 minutes ago, Denis007 said:

 

Anti-suicide barrier? 

No idea - built strong enough to hold a logging truck back- so that is my guess...lots of other places to go swimming one last time..

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2 hours ago, redsled22 said:

dont waste your time northern new brunswick is the cats ass there now trails are table top 900 miles in three days .DONT NEED TO SAY ANY MORE .northern ont is over rated

I'll let you know if I agree in a bit over a week. We leave Saturday for NB for a week of riding. We even have a native NB sledder to guide us.

 

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  • 1 year later...
On ‎2017‎-‎02‎-‎22 at 5:03 PM, redsled22 said:

dont waste your time northern new brunswick is the cats ass there now trails are table top 900 miles in three days .DONT NEED TO SAY ANY MORE .northern ont is over rated

I think it's time for you to come back and see the trails up north again.  :)

 

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On ‎2017‎-‎02‎-‎20 at 6:04 PM, Gadgetman said:

A bit of a tough question to answer - in line with "Honey does my butt look big in these slacks.." Answer depends on several other considerations.

I've been doing up north (from Ottawa the last 16 years) almost every year in a week long trip. The trails are great when the weather cooperates as the clubs up there have retires to groom often and the businesses know how much money sledders drop per night. I've traillered to Cochrane Thursday night, ride Friday up East side, down to Smooth Rock and out to Kap or Hearst. Next day back to Cochrane (no Canyon - one 450-500KM day is enough), next day a morning ride and then trailer home. Like already said, everyone should do the loop once, with the East side the best and the West side called Piston ally (the last 2 stroke I owned popped about 45KM south of Fraserdale - very long day and night for me.)

You don't mention how many days, how many riders or the age (typical distance in a given day).

Looking at the Ottawa trails around me, they are going fast, so up north may be your only option.  I have years worth of trip data I can share, (safe harbor statement - gas stops change all the time).

We use to stage out of KL, but now stage out of NL when heading up to Cochrane and Hearst.

Cheers

 

You should head west passed Hearst and down to Hornepayne and to my trails, you wont be disappointed.

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On 2017-02-20 at 5:02 PM, soupkids said:

Everybody should do the canyon once in their life, just for the view at the dam.

 

X2. I agree that the canyon trip is not a "be all and end all", but it should be done by all OCers at some point. I am partial to the east side trail, and have the time and fuel range to use it up and back. The west side is really boring unless you are traveling near 100 MPH, which I have no desire to do.

Having said that, Wawa/Dubreuilville/ White River/Hornepayne/ Hearst area is most excellent right now. Absolutely no need to head to NB/Gaspe.

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Is the winter road under the hydro plowed these days?

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On 2/22/2017 at 5:03 PM, redsled22 said:

dont waste your time northern new brunswick is the cats ass there now trails are table top 900 miles in three days .DONT NEED TO SAY ANY MORE .northern ont is over rated

I've ridden northern New Brunswick 3 times. It's nice but no better than northern Ontario in my opinion. You can be lucky and get tabletop your whole trip or you can get well used trail. I will say that you won't see the volume of sleds in New Brunswick that are in Northern Ontario the last couple of years so I'm sure NB trails have reflected it.

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On 2/22/2017 at 5:03 PM, redsled22 said:

dont waste your time northern new brunswick is the cats ass there now trails are table top 900 miles in three days .DONT NEED TO SAY ANY MORE .northern ont is over rated

Same conditions in District 15. 

 

How many hours driving to New Brunswick?

 

Maybe you should be posting on New Brunswick Conditions?

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