sinjin Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Group of 8 of us completed a ride last week from Heyden-Wawa-Chapleau-Cochrane-Hearst-Wawa-Heyden. What a trip, 1352 miles were covered in 6 days. Conditions where fantastic, people we met along the way were super and a great time was had by all. We were a group of riders from very diverse parts of the US. MN,MI,OH,PA,IL,and MO and we drove anywhere from 6 to 17 hours to get to Ontario. We have done this trip with all or parts of this group every year for the last few years and look forward each year to getting back to ride the Northern Ontario area. Weather was perfect this year with temps in the upper 20F most days, sure beats other years when we have ridden in -40F temps. Day 1, Friday 2/1 - We left Heyden which is just a few minutes north of Sault Ste. Marie and rode the Top D trail to SSM 5 north to Searchmont. What a great start to our trip, trail was freshly groomed after about 10 inches of new snow and we where the first sleds down the trail. One minor water hazard along ssm trail 5 that was easily detoured around by going a short distance on a logging road. Got to Searchmont to find that the gas station there was out of gas. We were sent over to the ski resort and they filled us up for $1.25/liter which wasn't too bad considering. Off to Halfway haven on trail that was a little rough due mostly to the fresh snow and traffic. Not bad, but this was the roughest trail on our whole trip. Having started previous trips in Wawa, this is the first time I have ridden this trail and it is a very nice ride with great scenery. We had to do a little brush clearing on this trail. It always amazes me how people will ride around or over a hazard instead of showing a little common courtesy to others and removing the hazard if possible. Met up with zrtcat and his group and heard some tales of their trip. After a brief stop it was on to Wawa on nicely groomed trails all the way - Thanks Jonesy!! Spent the night at our favorite spot in Wawa, the Wawa Motor Inn. Their Log chalets are the ticket and 2 of them accomodated our group nicely. Day 2 Sat. 2/2 - rode from Wawa up to the magpie on trail 7 through the badlands and were the first sleds down the recently groomed trail. Weather was kind of foggy and fog was freezing on our heated face shields going up the magpie so a few stops were required to de-ice. Rode through Duebreville and on to Ernie's in Missinabi. Trail F was great - thanks Luc/Big Reg. After gassing up and filling our bellies with one of Ernie's burgers we continued on to Chapleau. You have to take the road from Missinabi-Dalton which has been the case many times before when we have traveled this route, except this time the road was very well plowed and sanded. 18 miles of this kind of sucked and I can still smell the melting hyfax. Once back to the trail everything was fine. There is brush on parts of this trail but it is mosty small sticks and overhanging trees that really didn't create much of a problem. Had a good dinner and a few beers at Aux Trois Moulin. Met a group that had come in from Timmins and they told us the trail wasn't very good and we would never make it to Cochrane in a days ride. One note here is the gas station by where the F comes into Chapleau is out of business, so you have to get gas on the other side of town. Day 3 Superbowl Sunday - After talking to the group the night before, we decided to leave an hour earlier and were on the sleds at 7am. Trail was recently groomed and despite a little brush was in very good shape. After fueling in Foleyete, we rode out on untracked fresh groomed trail on our side of the trail. Shortly down the trail we met up with the groomer coming back towards Foleyet and now we had freshly groomed trail 2 widths wide - Fantastic!! Made it to Timmins by about 1pm and had a good laugh about the group that told us we wouldn't make it before dark. Got on the A106c towards Cochrane and if you have ever ridden this trail I don't have to tell you it didn't take us very long to get to Cochrane. This is one fast trail!!!!!!!!!!! Got to Lillabelle Lake Resort and finally got to meet Rod & Kim. We have planned to go to Cochrane that last 2 years trips, but Skidoo's famous piston problems prevented us from making it. What a great place to stay with great hosts and super food. Thanks a lot Rod and Kim. Day 4 Monday 2/4 Took off fairly early and along the trail towards Smooth Rock I came around a corner and encountered my first ever Ontario Moose. It was really cool and I only wish I could have gotten the camera out quick enough. Actually the moose wasn't in any real hurry to get off the trail but my camera batteries were cold and didn't want to work well. From Smooth Rock we split into 2 groups of 4 with my group wanting to ride up the new trail to Abitibi Canyon before heading on to Hearst. What a fun run up to the canyon on a trail that was groomed but with few inched of fresh snow. This is one fun and fast trail. Played in the canyon for about 30 minutes and came back down the trail. This little detour only added about 2 hours to our days ride. The ride across Top A was great. We encountered a couple of groomers along the way and one of the guys commented he couldn't believe they were grooming trails that were already so smooth. This was the longest ride of our trip at 304 miles. Day 5 - Hearst to Wawa today on freshly groomed trails again. It was misting and that created some icing faceshield problems early on. This day we encountered our only problem of the trip. We had a Yamaha Attak blow a chain case about 25 miles north of Hornepayne. Towed him in and started trying to figure out what to do. Gene, the mayor of Hornepayne, came to our rescue as he was headed to Wawa the next morning with his pick up. We loaded the sled in the back of the truck and were on our way taking turns riding our sledless buddy 2-up. Trails were nice going down to Duebreville, and the magpie was a blast with some fresh snow on it. Jon with the broken sled arranged to have someone drive his truck/trailer up to Wawa to load up his downed sled the next morning. Day 6 final day - We got up early and were on the sleds at 6am. Very cold this last morning at -15F. Quick ride to halfway as it was too cold to stop along the trail. After a quick warm up and some gas, we were on towards the trucks in Heyden. It was a very pretty ride down to Searchmont with crystal Blue skies and snow laden trees. Had a little problem towards Heyden with getting across the Goulais river. The access point was open water and there was no way we were going to try to cross it. A local guy from the general store drove along with us in his car to a point where we could get on the river and run a 1/4 mile down to where the trail started again on the other side. Thanks to the Yamaha rider in the Store. Whew, that is it for this report. Hope I didn't bore you but I promised a few of you I would write a report. Another successful trip to the best snowmobiling area in the world!!! Thanks to all the people we met along the way and a BIG thank you to all the people involved in creating and maintaining the trails in this area. Your hard work is much appreciated and maked it worth my 10 hour drive from Minnesota, just wish I was closer so I could come more than once a year. I will try to add pictures after I figure out how to resize them. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuvMyViper Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Hey Dave.. Great report!!!! Not as boring sentence I have sent you a pm regarding pictures.. Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polaris1 Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Awesome report on your trip.Heading that way in a week and a half.Thanks alot,I already cant sleep,you made it worse..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Reg Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Great report Dave, can't wait to see the pictures. I'm happy you enjoyed our trails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vipers Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Dave, I couldn't of said it any better. What a great ride I had with all of you. I will post a couple pics that I have also. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
14 snow Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Great report and very encouraging as we are doing a good part of that route starting Feb 23rd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinjin Posted February 9, 2008 Author Share Posted February 9, 2008 OK, I have added pictures to the ontarioconditions photobucket site in an album under my username - sinjin but I can't figure how to add them here. Any help?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jigger Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 All you have to do is left click on the IMG code then right click to copy. Paste the IMG link to your post and it should work. Just like this. If you leave space between the links you can add comments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ox Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Now that pic just aint right! :curse: And you know which one I mean too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZR1BANDIT Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 All you have to do is left click on the IMG code then right click to copy. Paste the IMG link to your post and it should work. Just like this. If you leave space between the links you can add comments is that cute bar tender stiil there in chapleau, reminds me of shania twain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fixit Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 Awesome report, Can't wait to get there! Only 5 more sleeps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowberg Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 Thrilled to hear about your week. We have a group made up of guys from Western NY and Ohio that do a week long trip every year. We have a 1500 mile trip planned for the last week of February. After reading your post it sure gives you the itch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maple Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 Great pics and report. Sounds like you guys had a great time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Domino Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 I saw it, I was horrified!!! Can you hear me now? :poke: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giddy UP Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 Outstanding!!! I can't wait to get up there - my favourite place to ride! I'm also looking forward to Rod & Kim's cooking at Lillabelle!!! Thanks for the report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreezerBurnt Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 Great report Nice to know why we have yellow snow now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Now that pic just aint right! :curse: And you know which one I mean too! LOL......... Great report!! Gotta love Northern Ontario! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zrtkat Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Dave sounds like you guys had a great trip ,the pics look great make me wan't to go back riding this winter, oops I forgot I sold my snowmobile so it will have to wait until next year to return to Ontario riding. It was a pleasure meeting you guys on the trail zrtkat&crew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Reg Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Dave sounds like you guys had a great trip ,the pics look great make me wan't to go back riding this winter, oops I forgot I sold my snowmobile so it will have to wait until next year to return to Ontario riding.It was a pleasure meeting you guys on the trail zrtkat&crew you sold your sled?? it was new........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zrtkat Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Big Reg I know but I decided to sell it ,it was a bit too heavy for me ,I think I am going to go Ski-doo next year ,or maybe I can get a good deal on a 2008 ,i am mthinking about getting a GTX 800 what do you think about them Reg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Reg Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Big Reg I know but I decided to sell it ,it was a bit too heavy for me ,I think I am going to go Ski-doo next year ,or maybe I can get a good deal on a 2008 ,i am mthinking about getting a GTX 800 what do you think about them Reg I never try one of those, I can't tell you. But I'm sure others member can give you info that sled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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