What's Your Plan

[tricky]

But seriously, back to the plans for this winter. I have been a touring sledder since 1994. In the earliest days, we would just head north on a Wednesday or Thursday after work and stage where the driver got tired or the snow got good. Sometimes that was south of 17, sometimes it meant Cochrane. Never did we not find a room. In the 21st century we started to book the staging motel or lodge earlier in the travel week. Until 2019, we almost never pre-booked on route rooms, and then we ended up one cold February Wednesday evening in White River and found nary a room to be had. Miners and construction workers had all the rooms booked Monday through Thursday. Being quick learners, we have started to be a little more aware of where we are heading and book some nights in advance. This winter we will book all nights in advance, but not now for January, February and March. I see OCers have already booked accommodations night by night at various times during the winter. This seems to take some of the adventure out of sledding.

Some days the weather is great, conditions are great and the group is in sync, so we doo 600 km in the north or 400 in the south. Other days we are out of sync, stuff happens and we have a tough time doing 250 km. I am really going to miss the spontaneity of booking from the trail at lunch time for that evening. I have stayed in a number of great lodges across the north and near north, that I would not have discovered if not for our now outdated travel routine. The other risk I see in long term planning, is the inability to always sled in the best conditions. Our group watches the two week weather forecast religiously and tend to plan trips no more than 10 days in the future. We go where the chances look best for exceptional conditions. Easy to do now that we are mostly retired, but we operated that way while still working. That's with a mix of self employed, small to medium business owners and large corporation management and union workers. I may get totally shut out this winter, because I can't bare the thought of organizing a trip with dud weather or trail conditions, buy booking now for the unknown.

I hope everyone's plans work out and that there are some rooms open somewhere on a week's notice once the white gold covers the ground. Our ace in the whole is that we have learned that there are great sledding opportunities from Cornwall to Kincardine, and Orangeville to Longlac, so as long as the conditions are good we will go anywhere.

[slomo]

13 hours ago, Blake G said:

BRP needs to offer a LINQ mount for that thing.

Maybe revrnd can get on this....looks like fairly simple aluminum assembly.

[Blake G]

Great post, tricky.

[Blake G]

You too, slomo!

[02Sled]

12 hours ago, Spiderman said:

We need youth, not more women!

 

Women are important to the sport. It helps development as a family sport. Guy & girlfriend, husband & wife then along with that comes the kids. The kids get hooked at a young age and become life long riders. What we don't need is more throttle jockey guys trying to outdo the next on how fast he can get from point A to point B along the trail.

[Dave K]

6 minutes ago, 02Sled said:

Women are important to the sport. It helps development as a family sport. Guy & girlfriend, husband & wife then along with that comes the kids. The kids get hooked at a young age and become life long riders. What we don't need is more throttle jockey guys trying to outdo the next on how fast he can get from point A to point B along the trail.

X2

[PISTON LAKE CRUISER]

10 hours ago, tricky said:

But seriously, back to the plans for this winter. I have been a touring sledder since 1994. In the earliest days, we would just head north on a Wednesday or Thursday after work and stage where the driver got tired or the snow got good. Sometimes that was south of 17, sometimes it meant Cochrane. Never did we not find a room. In the 21st century we started to book the staging motel or lodge earlier in the travel week. Until 2019, we almost never pre-booked on route rooms, and then we ended up one cold February Wednesday evening in White River and found nary a room to be had. Miners and construction workers had all the rooms booked Monday through Thursday. Being quick learners, we have started to be a little more aware of where we are heading and book some nights in advance. This winter we will book all nights in advance, but not now for January, February and March. I see OCers have already booked accommodations night by night at various times during the winter. This seems to take some of the adventure out of sledding.

Some days the weather is great, conditions are great and the group is in sync, so we doo 600 km in the north or 400 in the south. Other days we are out of sync, stuff happens and we have a tough time doing 250 km. I am really going to miss the spontaneity of booking from the trail at lunch time for that evening. I have stayed in a number of great lodges across the north and near north, that I would not have discovered if not for our now outdated travel routine. The other risk I see in long term planning, is the inability to always sled in the best conditions. Our group watches the two week weather forecast religiously and tend to plan trips no more than 10 days in the future. We go where the chances look best for exceptional conditions. Easy to do now that we are mostly retired, but we operated that way while still working. That's with a mix of self employed, small to medium business owners and large corporation management and union workers. I may get totally shut out this winter, because I can't bare the thought of organizing a trip with dud weather or trail conditions, buy booking now for the unknown.

I hope everyone's plans work out and that there are some rooms open somewhere on a week's notice once the white gold covers the ground. Our ace in the whole is that we have learned that there are great sledding opportunities from Cornwall to Kincardine, and Orangeville to Longlac, so as long as the conditions are good we will go anywhere.

While I agree with much of what you have stated, I wonder at your worry about booking a trip and rooms ahead of time. I can only suggest that you are forgetting one thing which would be the ability to cancel. Both rooms and trips can be cancelled if necessary and most often, rooms can be cancelled same day and often until noon or mid afternoon without charge. Its a good to check the cancellation policy when booking ahead.  If you have an issue such as a breakdown that isn't going to let you get to your booking before the cancellation deadline, call the establishment and explain what has happened.

In over 30 years of pre planning and booking trips, only once were we ever forced to pay for a room we weren't going to be able to use and that was a late day cancellation due to a breakdown. We like the idea of being able always stay in the establihments we want to when possible with good in building restaurants and often with connecting rooms as we normally have 2 rooms booked at each stop. We have occasionally run into some cold  or stormy weather on our travels but for the most part nothing that would stop our days ride.  I have our rooms booked in NCDN for this years early March trip since a month ago but I did find in talking to the people taking reservations that for what we wanted there were more weekday rooms already booked than in most years.

[stoney]

10 hours ago, tricky said:

But seriously, back to the plans for this winter. I have been a touring sledder since 1994. In the earliest days, we would just head north on a Wednesday or Thursday after work and stage where the driver got tired or the snow got good. Sometimes that was south of 17, sometimes it meant Cochrane. Never did we not find a room. In the 21st century we started to book the staging motel or lodge earlier in the travel week. Until 2019, we almost never pre-booked on route rooms, and then we ended up one cold February Wednesday evening in White River and found nary a room to be had. Miners and construction workers had all the rooms booked Monday through Thursday. Being quick learners, we have started to be a little more aware of where we are heading and book some nights in advance. This winter we will book all nights in advance, but not now for January, February and March. I see OCers have already booked accommodations night by night at various times during the winter. This seems to take some of the adventure out of sledding.

Some days the weather is great, conditions are great and the group is in sync, so we doo 600 km in the north or 400 in the south. Other days we are out of sync, stuff happens and we have a tough time doing 250 km. I am really going to miss the spontaneity of booking from the trail at lunch time for that evening. I have stayed in a number of great lodges across the north and near north, that I would not have discovered if not for our now outdated travel routine. The other risk I see in long term planning, is the inability to always sled in the best conditions. Our group watches the two week weather forecast religiously and tend to plan trips no more than 10 days in the future. We go where the chances look best for exceptional conditions. Easy to do now that we are mostly retired, but we operated that way while still working. That's with a mix of self employed, small to medium business owners and large corporation management and union workers. I may get totally shut out this winter, because I can't bare the thought of organizing a trip with dud weather or trail conditions, buy booking now for the unknown.

I hope everyone's plans work out and that there are some rooms open somewhere on a week's notice once the white gold covers the ground. Our ace in the whole is that we have learned that there are great sledding opportunities from Cornwall to Kincardine, and Orangeville to Longlac, so as long as the conditions are good we will go anywhere.

 

Totally agree with this and the booking part. 

On a couple of occasions we did a QC saddle bag trip for a week with no bookings and where we stopped for the day, we found accommodations successfully with no pre-bookings....I am not so sure in Ontario we would have been so lucky.

It was crazy the hospitality we received and how some places opened up there doors for us mid-week when they were typically closed other than weekends when more people were looking for a place to stay.

[slomo]

7 hours ago, PISTON LAKE CRUISER said:

While I agree with much of what you have stated, I wonder at your worry about booking a trip and rooms ahead of time. I can only suggest that you are forgetting one thing which would be the ability to cancel. Both rooms and trips can be cancelled if necessary and most often, rooms can be cancelled same day and often until noon or mid afternoon without charge. Its a good to check the cancellation policy when booking ahead. 

Concur ...I have been lucky so far with booking some places in advance that have VERY onerous cancellation fees up to 50% or more.  A couple of days of rain in one place can put a damper on a longish stay. I really like the booking internet sites as well as the chain book online sites in that the cancellation policies are explained and can be printed or saved for display if any disagreements result - either through poor language comprehension or lack of knowledge. 

[volunteer2]

Garage meeting tonight. Making plans. Oh and of course some drinks of a sociable   nature. 

[soupkids]

My plan this year is the same as last year, ride from home 90% of the time.

[infernobuster]

Right now the start of the season, plan on riding within an hour of home. Once i see what this "new flu" will do to the sport, ill decide whether to run up north or not.

[volunteer2]

We used to ride 90 percent from home too in the old days 

[Strong Farmer]

I plan to ride from home. If I can’t throw sled into storage and try again next year. 

Edited December 11, 2020 by Strong Farmer

[tricky]

14 minutes ago, volunteer2 said:

Garage meeting tonight. Making plans. Oh and of course some drinks of a sociable   nature. 

 

Each planner two meters apart of course.

[tricky]

15 minutes ago, volunteer2 said:

We used to ride 90 percent from home too in the old days 

 

10 minutes ago, Strong Farmer said:

I plan to ride from home. If I can’t throw sled into storage and try again next year. 

Speaking of riding from home in southern Ontario, has there been any news of trails re-opening this year on conservation authority lands that were closed last year over insurance concerns? Grand River, Conestoga and maybe Credit River authorities were effected close to me. 

[PISTON LAKE CRUISER]

26 minutes ago, Strong Farmer said:

I plan to ride from home. If I can’t throw sled into storage and try again next year. 

What about your "disability"?

[Strong Farmer]

8 minutes ago, PISTON LAKE CRUISER said:

What about your "disability"?

Right now I can’t ride, let alone walk properly. Maybe another 2 months and I will be ok. Orthotics coming next week, so that should help no doubt. Happened in September. 

Edited December 11, 2020 by Strong Farmer

[Blackstar]

2 hours ago, tricky said:

 

Speaking of riding from home in southern Ontario, has there been any news of trails re-opening this year on conservation authority lands that were closed last year over insurance concerns? Grand River, Conestoga and maybe Credit River authorities were effected close to me. 

Someone may correct me, but from what I've read on Facebook, the Hillsburgh Snow Roamers have signed a 5 year lease agreement with Credit Valley Conservation and those trails have been put back in place. They have also rerouted from Belwood to Orangeville.

 

Nothing has been resolved with the GRCA by any club.

 

From the Snow Roamers Facebook Page.

 

It’s official.....I have now received the signed the CVC lease which gives us access for this year and for the next four years too!

Please spread the good news and speak positively about the Hillsburgh Snow Roamers with all your felllow riders!

 

 

Edited December 11, 2020 by Blackstar

[tricky]

Thanks Blackstar. That is great news because my daughter lives in Erin close to the rail trail, and sledding from her driveway is the closest thing I have ever done to "sledding from home".

[volunteer2]

12 hours ago, tricky said:

 

Each planner two meters apart of course.

Yup and masks when closer to go over the maps.   Got one trip planned   but still unsure about other trips with this group

[02Sled]

I tend to be one of those that will only travel so far to ride. It seems that based on an OFSC survey I remember the majority are willing to travel 1.5 to 2 hours. I leave home on a Saturday morning and drive 1.5 hours to Port Severn. Unload, get dressed and hit the trails with the group. At times when conditions have required it, we have driven to the Seguin to ride from there and I have on occasion driven to Gravenhurst from Port Severn. If I have to drive over 3 hours one way it's not likely going to happen.

[AC+YA]

1 hour ago, 02Sled said:

I tend to be one of those that will only travel so far to ride. It seems that based on an OFSC survey I remember the majority are willing to travel 1.5 to 2 hours. I leave home on a Saturday morning and drive 1.5 hours to Port Severn. Unload, get dressed and hit the trails with the group. At times when conditions have required it, we have driven to the Seguin to ride from there and I have on occasion driven to Gravenhurst from Port Severn. If I have to drive over 3 hours one way it's not likely going to happen.

Perfect road conditions we can get to Searchmont in just under 7 hours.  Last year in two different storms we spent a night along the way and kept going the 2nd time for an 11 hour trip time.  We then unloaded the trailers as we pulled a 2 place and also pulled 3 sleds from our base trailer.  Then we left as it became dark & went straight to Chapleau to get dinner and stay at Valentine's.  OPP had all the roads shut down leaving Chapleau.  Deep snow all the way from Searchmont to Chapleau.

[Strong Farmer]

Looking out my window looks like if I want to ride any time in next month going to have to trailer above Barrie most likely, unless district 9 gets some lake effect. 

[soupkids]

4 hours ago, Strong Farmer said:

Looking out my window looks like if I want to ride any time in next month going to have to trailer above Barrie most likely, unless district 9 gets some lake effect. 

Still grass in sudbury