yamadan700 Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 The Buckhorn trails we have open are in very nice shape. Flat but you will hear a few carbide ticks from the Canadian Shield. The further south, the worse the ticks. The coming snow will alleviate that. We are going out tmo to finish brushing the 503 and hopefully stake most of the lakes. Mississauga Lake will not be one of them. Will have to do that another day. Should see some colour soon on the ITG. Went for a ride today up to Harcourt via Gooderham and back via E/E108. Trails were good to excellent other than the 607(fair). There is a solution for the missing link between the 607 and the 606 but do so at your own risk.. Follow the 607(from the west) until you hit the boat launch at Billings Lake(can't miss it). Hop on the lake and look for the small island to the right. Stay to the right of the island and go to the boat launch at the end of Eureka Road.(There's lots of tracks as of today). Follow Eureka Road(approx 1km) to the end and turn right on to Glamor Lake Road. Follow until the sharp right hand turn(approx 1 km) and look to the left. There is a trail there and it will take you to the 606(rail line). Decent snow on the roads today. Would suck on a warm sunny day tho. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yamadan700 Posted February 23 Author Share Posted February 23 The 503 has not been groomed. The Snow Rabbit, we share with Stoney Lake, is down. That's what we use to groom the 503. Apparently, it doesn't like deep snow as the air intake likes to ingest snow and freeze up. A new intake is being built. We have been packing with the BR and then grooming with the T6 all week. Most trails are groomed. Some trails are just packed. Overall, the trails are good/excellent. Mississauga Lake is not staked. Too much slush. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yamadan700 Posted February 25 Author Share Posted February 25 We staked and signed the swamps on the 501 all the way to Big Bald Lake. Needed snow shoes to pack some of it first. Saw some deep holes where others got stuck. Should see some colour soon. Snow is deep. Stay on the packed trail. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yamadan700 Posted February 28 Author Share Posted February 28 501 is now fully open to Big Bald Lake. 502 is now fully open. A bit of road running along hwy 36 between the 501 and the 502A. Can't get the groomer down some of the trail on the west side. Should be okay with the snow falling as long as the plows are conservative with the shoulder plowing. 503 is still closed. Haven't been able to get the Rabbit as of yet so no grooming has been done in well over a week. May get the Rabbit tmo so may see colour sometime this weekend. Mississauga Lake is not staked and won't be this year. Too late now. Juice is not worth the squeeze. 506 North from P2 to the E108 was packed before the warmup and is now yellow. First time in years! 509 hasn't been touched for a week. May get touched tmo or Sunday. We've been grooming for the last 2 days so many, but not all, trails will be groomed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yamadan700 Posted March 7 Author Share Posted March 7 We groomed most of our trails smooth and flat before the warmup and they mostly stayed that way after the freeze up. We did receive 2-3" of snow in some areas so there is some fluff for cooling and sliders. There is a few slushy areas where we have gone through and I'm sure there will be some water issues but most of the trails that are open are looking pretty good/excellent. No idea on the lake conditions. I would expect slush out there. Don't know, don't go. It's been very windy here so there may be some branches/trees down. Had a big tree down on the E211 that was cleaned up today. Truck and trailer on the 502 close to the E211 intersection. Road running will be marginal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yamadan700 Posted June 12 Author Share Posted June 12 Just to give all of you an idea of what we are dealing with in our area because of the ice storm back in March. We try to go out every Wed and bang some more off. However, 6-8 guys and 5-6 hours later, we have managed anywhere from 0.5-1km of trail cleared each time. It will be tough to get it all done by the time snow flies. The struggle is real! If you can help the affected areas, it is appreciated!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PISTON LAKE CRUISER Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 11 hours ago, yamadan700 said: The struggle is real! If you can help the affected areas, it is appreciated!! While myself and most others really appreciate your efforts, it is just WRONG that the OFSC (if they haven't already) has not gotten directly involved to supply mechanized machinery and operator(s) or at least the money required to clear all the affected trails. This is above and beyond what should be asked of the volunteers. Lord knows there is more than enough work to be done through a normal year. I sincerely hope I will be informed that the OFSC has been directly involved through the districts in dealing this unusual situation but unfortunately I will not be surprised if they haven't. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mach Z Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 This is shameful. To rely on the backs of these guys just because we wont raise the permit prices. Fund it properly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoney Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 2 hours ago, PISTON LAKE CRUISER said: While myself and most others really appreciate your efforts, it is just WRONG that the OFSC (if they haven't already) has not gotten directly involved to supply mechanized machinery and operator(s) or at least the money required to clear all the affected trails. This is above and beyond what should be asked of the volunteers. Lord knows there is more than enough work to be done through a normal year. I sincerely hope I will be informed that the OFSC has been directly involved through the districts in dealing this unusual situation but unfortunately I will not be surprised if they haven't. "Day to day" work is expected, but some of these areas were hit so hard, you need heavy machinery to make light work of the daunting tasks. Emergency funds should be used or seeking funding from the province for it should be - I know many places did and I recall hearing on the radio recently about that being settled in some places for those that asked for it. Did the OFSC make a request for that from the storm like many municipalities did? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grover_yyz Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 thanks for all your dedicated hard work. I would help but I have appointments on Wednesdays. We were hammered in Lindsay area and we have cleared some trail. We are waiting now until the fall to continue. The OFSC has so little money that they want some trails closed and groomers gone. How will that save money is beyond me. Jerry 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yamadan700 Posted June 18 Author Share Posted June 18 We were out today again(Wednesdays) and we had a discussion about using a mini excavator. It's difficult to know where one is useful as we can't assess the carnage on the trails as we can't get to them without cutting ourselves through. So far, minus the one area, it has been a few trees down and then it's good for a hundred feet. So far, we have determined that an excavator would not be as useful as previously thought. Where does the excavator put all the broken trees as our trails are lined with trees? It all needs to go back into the bush as our trails are not that wide. We would also need to have a few guys leading the excavator to cut down the fallen trees to manageable sizes and that would be a fulltime commitment if we rented one for a week. We have 160kms of trail so it would be hard to hit them all in a week or two. Tough call as they are not cheap to rent. It may an option in the future if we come across another area like some of the previous pics. Possible solution. Maybe the OFSC should purchase a few mini excavators and they can float them to areas in need? Don't know if that's feasible. However, a bulldozer may work good!!!..lol.. Not sure if the Provincial Park would approve or even on Crown Land! The swampy areas may stop both. Jerry Yes I have heard that as well regarding the OFSC's cash crunch. They would like parallel running trails or dead end trails be eliminated. It would save on groomer costs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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