revrnd Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 On 3/15/2018 at 1:48 PM, tricky said: Thanks for the leads, ski, but I had gone ahead and booked into the Zero-100 Motor Inn for Wednesday night. I liked the name, even it it doesn't say MPH, and I believe that is the same inn that we stayed at 12 or 14 years ago. Now I can't wait to get north again, especially to experience the trail to Marathon! Sorry for the late reply. We ate there 2 summers ago (pickerel was good), but the motel doesn't look like the Waldorf Astoria. Lots of contractors trucks in the lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 Met an oc'r and his buddy at Valentine's (Chapleau) who sledded White River to Marathon and back a few days ago. Wonderful trails according to them. They marked it at 250 kms return trip (they slept in White River). Groomer Guy and I did the southern, D'ville to White River portion 2 days ago. Washouts are no more difficult than going around a parked car at a gas station - turn off the trail onto a field, turn back onto trail. Photo of signs at south end of White River (for snow conditions) Can't comment on the northern portion you're considering - but thought the D'ville to White River portion was some of the best snowmobiling I've ever done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northstar Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 On 2018-03-15 at 9:40 AM, tricky said: So I really want to get to Marathon next week. I have convinced my group, that bailed out three weeks ago, to go back and finish the trip. I booked Driftwood Valley, Magpie Relay and then ..... No rooms available at Marathon Harbour Inn!!!!! Ouch. Does anyone have any other recommendation for Marathon? I have to stay in Marathon because we have one senior, senior rider who is stretching it to do 230 km from Dub. I can't find anything but bad reviews on the other motels in Marathon. Any first hand accounts would be appreciated. I would sleep in a dump to get this trip in, but my friends are fussier. We stayed at the Airport motel room was clean and modern would stay there again Airport Motor Inn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Techdenis007 Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 5 minutes ago, Canuck said: Wow, those are pretty narrow trails ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 1 minute ago, Denis007 said: Wow, those are pretty narrow trails ... They only seem narrow @ the speed you ride @ ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Techdenis007 Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 2 minutes ago, revrnd said: They only seem narrow @ the speed you ride @ ... Touché Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northstar Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 The good thing about Canada is everyone can have there own opinion, I have a season pass for both Ontario and Quebec and I am very close to the Quebec border . District 13 is a fantastic place to sled, the trails are always in good conditions, the business owners/workers are friendly and can t do enough for you. The Gaspe is a nice area to sled , and already in discussion in its own thread on this forum . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Techdenis007 Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 4 hours ago, northstar said: District 13 is a fantastic place to sled, the trails are always in good conditions, the business owners/workers are friendly and can t do enough for you. The Gaspe is a nice area to sled , and already in discussion in its own thread on this forum . That's a pretty classy thing to say about the North .... thanks for that. We take care of you the best we can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sledjunk Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 On 3/21/2018 at 1:04 PM, Denis007 said: We take care of you the best we can. And that is pretty damn good!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whits-end Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 Pretty boring riding in Gaspe: Up a mountain, down a mountain, across a bridge, past a church. Up a mountain, down a mountain, across a bridge, past a church. Up a mountain, down a mountain, across a bridge, past a church. Up a mountain, down a mountain, across a bridge, past a church..................................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 Never been to Gaspe. Never done the "up a mountain.." out there. Just sense there's so much to see in Ontario. Never been drawn to 'there'. Enjoyed Longlac last week. Many edges to Ontario boundaries. Hope to touch them all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 13 minutes ago, Canuck said: Never been to Gaspe. Never done the "up a mountain.." out there. Just sense there's so much to see in Ontario. Never been drawn to 'there'. Enjoyed Longlac last week. Many edges to Ontario boundaries. Hope to touch them all. We feel lucky to have been able to do the Tracks to Trails trip on the ACR. Plus checking out the Greenstone & White River areas. Only main trail up there that I havent ridden is TOP D from Heyden to Wawa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yamatario Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 We did Gaspe this year and just finished this week 1500km loop from Searchmont over Dub to Cochrane, down to Chapleau and back to Searchmont. We have to say the trails were far better in Ontario than Gaspe. The trail grooming is suffering in Gaspe but getting better and better in northern Ontario. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viperules700 Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 4 minutes ago, Yamatario said: We did Gaspe this year and just finished this week 1500km loop from Searchmont over Dub to Cochrane, down to Chapleau and back to Searchmont. We have to say the trails were far better in Ontario than Gaspe. The trail grooming is suffering in Gaspe but getting better and better in northern Ontario. Just finishing up too. Only seen 3 sleds along 800 km's over that way too. Perfect grooming too. Steller week with sun out too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 7 minutes ago, Yamatario said: The trail grooming is suffering in Gaspe but getting better and better in northern Ontario. Touche! Heard that a few times last week. BUT ..Gaspe is a trip I want to do. Feel great for folks that hit it at it's peak. Recent tales of 60 km to Town A in moguls (groomer down) followed by a further 50 kms of rough stuff on a different trail system (groomer down). These were stories from this year. Agree that: - resources are making it to northern Ontario; - trails up north are awesome. Anyone up there, in northern Ontario, can send you a pic of boot high snow at the edge of the trail. Go one foot further and you're up to your waist in snow. Today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PISTON LAKE CRUISER Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 12 hours ago, whits-end said: Pretty boring riding in Gaspe: Up a mountain, down a mountain, across a bridge, past a church. Up a mountain, down a mountain, across a bridge, past a church. Up a mountain, down a mountain, across a bridge, past a church. Up a mountain, down a mountain, across a bridge, past a church..................................... We always refer to that day of riding across the top as "The 8 mountain day". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ox Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 13 hours ago, Canuck said: Never been to Gaspe. Never done the "up a mountain.." out there. Just sense there's so much to see in Ontario. Never been drawn to 'there'. Enjoyed Longlac last week. Many edges to Ontario boundaries. Hope to touch them all. I'm good with the "up a mtn" part. I can't stand to ride the Northern Corridor or R/R grades! I'f I'm going to be riding something flat, it better be a river! As per your ref to many areas in Ontario, have you ever been west of Nippigon? I never hear anything about anything that direction ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tricky Posted March 24, 2018 Author Share Posted March 24, 2018 Just got home at 2:30 AM today from our Searchmont to Marathon and back ride. All I can think of are superlatives to describe the whole trip and experience. WOW! Magnifique! I have been a touring sledder since 1993. I have never had the kind of conditions that we enjoyed for four consecutive days. Trails groomed smoothly, almost ridiculously so, all the way. Every type of trail from wide open expressway to fairly tight technical trail was included, and the type of trail changed in a timely manner - never got bored or tired. Weather - perfect. Accommodations - three perfects and a good. Great at Driftwood Valley Chalets and Magpie Relay(twice), and after all my concern, a good night at Zero-100 Motel in Marathon. A little bit of pavement scraping to get from the access trail to the motel door, but not bad. Service from all hosts - very good to excellent, the latter of course being the staff at Magpie Relay. From Dub to Marathon and back, see saw 2 other sleds. Saw almost no sleds on the trails every day. Incredible! Scenery - 8 out of 10, even if no Gaspe. I enjoy the scenery, but the trail itself is more important to me, probably because I am usually moving along too briskly to gawk. On the outbound, we used D North, Wawa 5 and D North to Dubreuilville. On the return, we took D west from Dub, to 6 south to the Magpie River, to Wawa 7, D, Wawa 5 back to D South. I didn't realize before this trip that the river route shaved 25 km off the trip between Wawa and Dub. Will have to edit my pics and post some here. Oh, and I did experience some deep snow - again! Gotta stop that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slomo Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 17 hours ago, Canuck said: Heard that a few times last week. BUT ..Gaspe .......Recent tales of 60 km to Town A in moguls (groomer down) followed by a further 50 kilometers of rough stuff May have had something to do with the weather in the area as well.....constantly tracking weather and trail conditions in northern New Brunswick - the area has been hit with four north eastern gales and rain/snow blizzards - there has alternately been too much snow to groom, not cold enough to groom, warm temps at night and trail won't set up, and of course broken groomers. Northern Ontario has seen fairly consistent temperatures and snow fall. All the above factors in deciding a destination during March break recently - head to New Brunswick and possibly sit in dark motel rooms during storms, power out and 4 foot drifts on trails for a week, or head to northern Ontario. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slomo Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 5 hours ago, Ox said: I'm good with the "up a mtn" part. I can't stand to ride the Northern Corridor or R/R grades! I'f I'm going to be riding something flat, it better be a river! As per your ref to many areas in Ontario, have you ever been west of Nippigon? I never hear anything about anything that direction ever. Search for a few posts from RWS - sleds from the U.S. into Kenora, Ontario area fairly frequently. From where most of us on the forum originate, you would be two days on the road to get to Thunder Bay with good highway conditions. Have thought of making the trip from time to time though. Like being in different places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ox Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 Quote and 4 foot drifts on trails for a week I'm good with that! Quote From where most of us on the forum originate, you would be two days on the road to get to Thunder Bay with good highway conditions. We make central Colorado in 24 hrs straight through. I'm sure that I kin git to Kenora from here.... Looks like lot's of chain-of-lake type riding. But I don't know what's between the lakes? Is it still Canadian Shield? Or just swamps between lakes? I understand that the U.P.'s Porcupine, or Iron Mountains just wraps around Lake Superior and is just known as the Canadian Shield, so I should ass_u_me that it is all topographical. Just aint seen it yet... I've been real close, both in Nipigon as well as well as picked up a sled in Eveleth, Minn once. Need to try to link the two sometime.... I guess I should take a road trip up that way sometime? There's got to be a hydro line going through there somewhere.... edit: This doesn't look too bad if they git some snow on it, but any further west looks pretty docile.... https://www.google.com/maps/@48.6455011,-90.4622578,3a,75y,47.27h,94.12t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s0CXDkzMa3eqsyr_CaXqmug!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 2 hours ago, slomo said: Search for a few posts from RWS - sleds from the U.S. into Kenora, Ontario area fairly frequently. From where most of us on the forum originate, you would be two days on the road to get to Thunder Bay with good highway conditions. Have thought of making the trip from time to time though. Like being in different places. Emphasis on good highway conditions. The drive from the Soo to Nipigon is long enough during the summer. TB may as well be in Manitoba for those of us in southern Ontario. Even crossing over into the UP, going west thru WI & MN, may make for an easier drive (I've driven twice to Duluth for the SX races from the GTA) but doesnt reduce the distance a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slomo Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 1 hour ago, Ox said: We make central Colorado in 24 hrs straight through. I'm sure that I kin git to Kenora from here.... Looks like lot's of chain-of-lake type riding. But I don't know what's between the lakes? Is it still Canadian Shield? Or just swamps between lakes? This doesn't look too bad if they git some snow on it, but any further west looks pretty docile.... https://www.google.com/maps/@48.6455011,-90.4622578,3a,75y,47.27h,94.12t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s0CXDkzMa3eqsyr_CaXqmug!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 . Have a look at this thread from September 2014 - pictures showing plains in Manitoba into the woods adjacent to Ontario border - White Shell MB area close to Kenora. (going from west to the east) Sasquatch later post some pics of the Shield area not much further. On the highway the transition seems to take a blink of an eye. http://ontarioconditions.com/forums/index.php?/topic/13128-where-the-buffalo-turned-around-and-went-back/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ox Posted March 25, 2018 Share Posted March 25, 2018 Well down on 11 it turns to fields just outside of Fort Francis. (per Google maps) However - I noticed the same transition on 90 crossing the Mississippi River from Minn to Wisc back in '98. We had went to Wyoming to ride over Christmas/NY's and that winter was the first time I had ever heard the term El-No-No. They had Jack for snow, and what was there was so dry that it was like walking in packing peanuts. We had a cabin paid for _ for a week, but we came home aboot 5 days early, and ended up rejetting/clutching and heading for the Searchmont trail. (which sucked too) But on the way back, there was a huge decent to the river, and I tossed the 'Burban into N and let'r go. I had a 2place trailer behind, and I didn't expect to hit 100mph by the time that we hit the bridge, but we were sailing! .. now this is winter of course, but I really noticed a huge change in scenery just by crossing the river! One side was dry, and the other had moisture! You can see it all along the Miss river - or at least on 70 and 80 at least, but not quite as drastically. Just ass_u_ming that the Miss river is the lowest point between the Rockies and the Appilations (spell check doesn't like it - but it doesn't seem to know any better spelling of it either, so - it stays) of course, it's like the clouds can carry it all the way to the river as they can hang lower and lower all the time, but once it crosses the river - it's all uphill after that, and down she comes to lighten the load. That seems over-simplified, but I'm not sure that it is... ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ox Posted March 25, 2018 Share Posted March 25, 2018 2 hours ago, revrnd said: Emphasis on good highway conditions. The drive from the Soo to Nipigon is long enough during the summer. TB may as well be in Manitoba for those of us in southern Ontario. Even crossing over into the UP, going west thru WI & MN, may make for an easier drive (I've driven twice to Duluth for the SX races from the GTA) but doesnt reduce the distance a lot. Ontario is HUGE! I have always guessed it to be 24 hours from stem to stern. Montana is large. I think that you can sneak in 1000 miles accrost her too, but you can scoot along pretty good out there... I've not been east of Mississauga or west of Nipigon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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