sledjunk Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 This past weekend, OntarioF7, his friend Andrew, Noisy1Eh and I were planning to head to Bancroft to check out the conditions there. On Friday afternoon, Noisy1Eh called me to say that he had injured his back and would have to pass for this weekend. I arrived at the Bancroft Inn and Suites (Formerly Bancroft Motor Inn) Friday night and got unloaded and settled in. OF7 and Andrew were to arrive aroung 9 Saturday morning. Once the wrrived and unloaded, we suited up and headed off to do a loop up through Whitney, Barry's Bay. Combermere and back to B106E. Shortly after we started out of Bancroft, we realized that the B106E must be home to a lot of speed freaks as there was a whole group of NASCAR fans who had set up a spectator area along the trail. Sunday Morning, I returned to 'Occupy' the stands :D The trails were in great shape and the rail bed a little chop but nothing terrible. When we arrived in Whitney, we figured it was still too early for lunch so we figured that we would push on and figure something out later. We figured that Madawaska would be a good place to get fuel and when we were paying for the gas, we asked about restaurants in the area. The attendant recommended Spectacle Lake Lodge. I had never been there but had heard good reports. I even remember seeing the signs along the trail! We continued along and headed into the lodge. The food was excellent and we even got to give a new waitress a hard time :D She did a great job! After lunch, we continued on past Barry's Bay, Combermere and back to B106E. The trails degeaded somewhat as the day wore on but the B106E was probably the worst. This was not unexpected as it is the main run from Bancroft up through Lake St. Peter and gets a lot of traffic. On top of that, it had started snowing in the morning and had snowed on and off all day. We probably had 3 to4 inches of fresh snow by the time we returned to the hotel. Here is our route from Saturday It continued to snow and blow through the night and in the morning, probably had about a foot of new snow on the ground. After packing up, we dressed and headed out. First stop was to the 'NASCAR Fans'. We were disappointed to see that B106E had not seen a groomer since the night before and was quite rough. Thankfully, our plans were to head south of Bancroft so we turned around. Just south of town, we turned onto B110. This was the start of the Paudash Trail Blazers trails. the trails were superb and the fresh snow in the trees was awe inspiring. Here are a few pictures that Andrew took. The include one where we used the hand chain saw referenced ina previous thread to cut down a windfall to clear the trail. Here are a few of the shots that I took as well. Before returning to the hotel to head home, I took the opportunity to 'Occupy' District 6 The day turned out to be excellent with snow off and on all day again. This was a great weekend for riding! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barberch Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Nice to hear the trails were good for the weekend. We did a similar loop to your first one on Friday except we started and ended at Golden Lake. The trails were great! We are considering a loop like your second one this Thursday, were the Paudash trails in good shape? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sledjunk Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 Excellent with the exception of a short section of B110 between Monck Road and Hwy 118 at the Cardiff General Store. Apparently this is swampy and not frozen yet so it cannot be groomed. It was bad enough to have us thinking of turning back if it continued like that. It is probably a 1 Km section at most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo Doo Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Great report SJ. Good pics.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barberch Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Excellent with the exception of a short section of B110 between Monck Road and Hwy 118 at the Cardiff General Store. Apparently this is swampy and not frozen yet so it cannot be groomed. It was bad enough to have us thinking of turning back if it continued like that. It is probably a 1 Km section at most. thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 It's E110, not B110. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sledjunk Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 Oops Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slomo Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 It's the little things like those pictures of the 'spectators' along the trail make these reports special. Have copied your maps and stored for future use. Thanks ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo Burgo Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Looks like an awesome weekend. I'd love to ride that area during the week after the groomers have cleaned up the mess of the weekend riders. Would make for a fun fast ride! How many km's was your Whitney>Barry's Bay Day 1 Loop? What were the trails mostly like during that loop (rail trails, tight narrow single track, forest, hydro line, etc)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sledjunk Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 Looks like an awesome weekend. I'd love to ride that area during the week after the groomers have cleaned up the mess of the weekend riders. Would make for a fun fast ride! How many km's was your Whitney>Barry's Bay Day 1 Loop? What were the trails mostly like during that loop (rail trails, tight narrow single track, forest, hydro line, etc)? I would say probably 50% rail line / forest access roads and the rest forest trails. Some were narrow and twisty and others a little more open. The loop was 250 Km on the GPS and about 260 on the odometer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Loop 1 is railbed running from Bancroft to Lake St. Peter, and Whitney to Barry's Bay. The rest is trails. Loop 2 uses the same railbed to Lake St. Peter. The portion from Bancroft to where E110 crosses Hwy 28 is the hydro line section. The rest is a mixture of forest access roads & bush trails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ontariof7 Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Thanks SJ for arranging the trip, it was excellent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rageit Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 so who is going to do the loop this weekend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2fast4u Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Was the hotel in Bancroft right on the trail? I think we may head there this weekend. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Was the hotel in Bancroft right on the trail? I think we may head there this weekend. Thanks Someone has posted that the trail is "better" than in the past. I'm not sure how that is possible as some ditch banging & a bit of road running is needed to get to B106E. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sledjunk Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 Was the hotel in Bancroft right on the trail? I think we may head there this weekend. Thanks Someone has posted that the trail is "better" than in the past. I'm not sure how that is possible as some ditch banging & a bit of road running is needed to get to B106E. It is not right on the trail but as revrnd stated it is a bit of road running and ungroomed trail. It is very easy to find and less than 5 minutes to the trail. The road had a solid base as well as the fresh snow that fell on Saturday & Sunday. It shouldn't be too bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 The road had a solid base as well as the fresh snow that fell on Saturday & Sunday. We've had rain since & anything that was plowed is pretty icy now. The road running is quite short, so not a big issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlowTouringGuy Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Thanks for the report SledJunk. Loved the pix too. STK1, STK2 & STK3 were out that way just before your ride. Combining the info from them and the report you posted here, it's looking like an attractive target for an upcoming sojourn for a Slow Tour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
**Summer*Snow** Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Thanks for the report SledJunk. Loved the pix too. STK1, STK2 & STK3 were out that way just before your ride. Combining the info from them and the report you posted here, it's looking like an attractive target for an upcoming sojourn for a Slow Tour. I looked at Bancroft in mid january for a weekend get away. It is nice to see pix of the area, thanks SJ. "What's his name" tweaked my sled last week so we are ready to go! We are looking forward to the Slow Tour! See you soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlowTouringGuy Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 I looked at Bancroft in mid january for a weekend get away. It is nice to see pix of the area, thanks SJ. "What's his name" tweaked my sled last week so we are ready to go! We are looking forward to the Slow Tour! See you soon! Looks like the Friday Attitude Adjustment Hour is the four of us. DON'T BE LATE ! Most of the folks are riding over from "The Rapids" or riding up from east of "The Big Smoke". So our Saturday loop will be similar - just the four of us. You , me, SlowTouringGal and What's his Name. We'll leave SlowTouringGal and What's His Name in our SnowDust !! HA ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlowTouringGuy Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Hey, Mr. Junk ! I was looking at the pretty pictures you drew: http://i263.photobuc...28-Bancroft.gif and http://i263.photobuc...29-Bancroft.gif and was wondering (because I'm too lazy to add up all the tiny little numbers on the District 6 map when I can ask you) what the distances were for those two loops. Murky Buckets ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
**Summer*Snow** Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Looks like the Friday Attitude Adjustment Hour is the four of us. DON'T BE LATE ! Most of the folks are riding over from "The Rapids" or riding up from east of "The Big Smoke". So our Saturday loop will be similar - just the four of us. You , me, SlowTouringGal and What's his Name. We'll leave SlowTouringGal and What's His Name in our SnowDust !! HA ! Sure! We might even save them a beverage or two? Bring on the snow! :snow-141: :snow-141: :snow-141: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sledjunk Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 Hey, Mr. Junk ! I was looking at the pretty pictures you drew: http://i263.photobuc...28-Bancroft.gif and http://i263.photobuc...29-Bancroft.gif and was wondering (because I'm too lazy to add up all the tiny little numbers on the District 6 map when I can ask you) what the distances were for those two loops. Murky Buckets ! Very murky I think the first day was 240 Km and the second day ???. Maybe OF7 remembers? Damn KRAFT disease :oops: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dweese Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I'm thinking I'll drop in Gilmore and zip in to the area Saturday morning, not sure if I'm running solo or not, but I'm tired of sitting around looking at the sled just sit on the trailer in the garage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Dave, I'm hoping to ride up to lake St. Peter. If you see a REV w/ a 40th Ann' Apex following, it'll probably be me. What colour is your GSX? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.