Giddy UP Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Well folks Headed up to Kearney on Thursday and was planning to meet up with Faceman and his better half as well as The irREVerent's. Got a call from Faceman on Thursday morning that Mrs. F was all sledded out for the week ...and they were taking a "snow check" and heading for home. Sorry we missed you Faceman - we'll catch up again soon! The irREVerent's sledded up from their cottage near Huntsville and arrived in Kearney early Saturday morning to a bitter -25 below sunny day! Unfortunatley Mrs. I's visor was icing up and a quick road trip via Mr. Giddy's truck back to irREVerent's cottage was in order to fetch a replacement helmut before we could saddle up and head out on the trails. Our day didn't get started until almost noon - but at least it had warmed up since the earlier morning hours. The plan was to head up D to Sundridge - cross Lake Bernard to "The Grill" for some lunch - then over to Magnatewan and back down 711 to Sprucedale to D East and back to Kearney! Nice loop! However - because of the delay we had to cut it short and headed back down D123 instead and cut out the Mag/Sprucedale part of the trip unfortunately. I had been up to the Edgewater Park Lodge the previous day and spoke to two of the groomers. Both their groomers had been down all week - however - now up and running 24/7! They had just groomed the 303 up to Pickeral Lake as well as D south to Rain Lake Rd the previous night - D123 the day before and were planning on grooming D North from Sand Lake to Sundridge later that day or early morning. Giddy UP! Looks like our route was going to be in great shape! Once we got underway - the D trail out of Kearney was still in good shape up to Sand Lake - then! OOOPS! I think the groomer must have broken down again - because the rest of the ride to Sundridge was awful!!! We did stop at the Maple Syrup stand on D so that Mr. Giddy could have some maple fudge for his sweet tooth - and the irREVerent's had never seen it before so it was an interesting stop for them! Make sure if you travel the Top D north of Sand Lake that you keep your eyes open for this wonderful little stop......it's an "on your honour" system. The syrup and fudge are all individually priced and there's a box for you to put your money in and make change to boot!!! A wonderful idea - as long as nobody abuses the system! The trail conditions for the rest of D and D123 up to Sundridge and back made us wish we had stayed in front of the roaring fire we had left behind at the cottage! Once we passed Pickeral Lake Lodge on the trip back and onto the 303 south the trails once again were in good shape back to Kearney thank goodness. However! Here's a fellow that should have stayed on the plowed road instead of trying to DRIVE DOWN A SNOWMOBILE TRAIL - the 302 into Kearney!! He was fortunate that there were about 5 other sledders as well as our group there to give him a hand to get out! (our group being Mr. Giddy and irREVerent - Mrs. I and myself were there as part of the cheering section - and took photos so that everyone could see!!) He had tried to "move over" on the trail for the sleds and sunk his truck up to the axel in deep snow! The guys literally had to "pick up" this truck to get it out! I think he must have taken a page from STG's book Back at the cottage a well deserved beverage was in order after that day and a wonderful steak dinner with creme brulee for desert in front of a roaring fire to end the day!!! Not a bad day all things considered. The forecast was heartbreaking for Sunday as most of you are well aware How does it go from -24 below to +7 with rain???? An early start was in order as The irREVerent's were sledding back to their cottage and wanted a head start on the miserable rain in the forecast. The trail conditions all the way were outstanding - freshly groomed - and only a couple of other sleds had been down them before us! D trail to 101 south to 79 over to Penn Lake and across to Deerhurst were some of the best trail conditions so far this year! A quick stop at Deerhurst to say goodbye to The irREVerent's as the freezing rain had now started (early) and we were becoming ice carvings and needed to Giddy Up back to Kearney! The 102 was also in incredible shape too bad the ice pellets were stinging my eyes so bad I could hardly see! I think it might be time for yours truly to invest in a "heated visor" Because of the slower pace we came upon 3 beautiful deer out for a stroll - this guy was hiding behind the bend as we approached and then dashed off into the trees for a better look at us! We also happened upon 6 or so dog sledders as well further north on the 102 just south of the 101 junction - weren't the Kearney Dog Sled Races 2 weeks ago?? Finally got back to Kearney just in time for the freezing rain to turn to just plain old rain!!! But not before I took this pic of Mr. Giddy covered in sheets of ice! I'm sure everyone that was sledding out there yesterday looked like this! The trail base today was very icy on D trail and D123 up in Kearney from what I could see as we left Kearney to get a jump start on the snow squalls predicted for later today. The B trail here in Anten Mills looks like it held up better than further north - still in good shape from what I can see as we passed by a couple of the crossings. A great weekend - even if we had to cut it short! Next week - it's off to Cochrane - can't wait! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slomo Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Great pics and story GU! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maple Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Glad to have you back, Giddy UP! Great pics ... sounds like you had a decent weekend riding. How did the sled hold out this weekend? PS Where are the food pictures? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giddy UP Posted February 18, 2008 Author Share Posted February 18, 2008 Glad to have you back, Giddy UP! Great pics ... sounds like you had a decent weekend riding. How did the sled hold out this weekend? PS Where are the food pictures? Thanks Maple! The sled was awesome - I just can't get over the mileage/fuel - just amazing! irREVerent told me I was NOT ALLOWED to take any food pics!!! Did you get out this weekend? Where's your report Hmmmmmmmmmm???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maple Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Thanks Maple! The sled was awesome - I just can't get over the mileage/fuel - just amazing! irREVerent told me I was NOT ALLOWED to take any food pics!!! Did you get out this weekend? Where's your report Hmmmmmmmmmm???? Right here ... District 3 Ride Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway23 Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Nice report and pics!! Was up there this past week also.Kind of realized that the Almaguin groomers were down. Hope the rain didn't mess things up to bad. We already had planed to go back up this Wednesday. Forecast on accu-weather says up to a foot of new snow by Wednesday. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
600 XC Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Hey GU, great report. I'll have to get you to show me how you add pics to a report. Like we were saying on Saturday evening it looks like you guys should have gone down to the Ireverent's instead of the other way around, as DuYaWanna's 80 series trails were in awesome shape. We decided to forego the rain day & just dig out my trailer & make other preps for Cochrane next week. See Ya Soon!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giddy UP Posted February 18, 2008 Author Share Posted February 18, 2008 Hey GU, great report. I'll have to get you to show me how you add pics to a report. Like we were saying on Saturday evening it looks like you guys should have gone down to the Ireverent's instead of the other way around, as DuYaWanna's 80 series trails were in awesome shape. We decided to forego the rain day & just dig out my trailer & make other preps for Cochrane next week. See Ya Soon!! We noticed that you headed out on early on Sunday....you will need to bribe me to show you how to post pics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildbill Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 any idea how the trails held up after the rain ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maple Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Hey GU, great report. I'll have to get you to show me how you add pics to a report. Like we were saying on Saturday evening it looks like you guys should have gone down to the Ireverent's instead of the other way around, as DuYaWanna's 80 series trails were in awesome shape. We decided to forego the rain day & just dig out my trailer & make other preps for Cochrane next week. See Ya Soon!! We noticed that you headed out on early on Sunday....you will need to bribe me to show you how to post pics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giddy UP Posted February 18, 2008 Author Share Posted February 18, 2008 any idea how the trails held up after the rain ? They looked pretty icy when we were leaving today. The base looks like it held up well...but very icy. We could see D Trail in Kearney and also a section of D123 as well as part of the Seguin......very icy...but it was snowing when we left Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giddy UP Posted February 18, 2008 Author Share Posted February 18, 2008 Hey GU, great report. I'll have to get you to show me how you add pics to a report. Like we were saying on Saturday evening it looks like you guys should have gone down to the Ireverent's instead of the other way around, as DuYaWanna's 80 series trails were in awesome shape. We decided to forego the rain day & just dig out my trailer & make other preps for Cochrane next week. See Ya Soon!! We noticed that you headed out on early on Sunday....you will need to bribe me to show you how to post pics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
600 XC Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Hey GU, great report. I'll have to get you to show me how you add pics to a report. Like we were saying on Saturday evening it looks like you guys should have gone down to the Ireverent's instead of the other way around, as DuYaWanna's 80 series trails were in awesome shape. We decided to forego the rain day & just dig out my trailer & make other preps for Cochrane next week. See Ya Soon!! We noticed that you headed out on early on Sunday....you will need to bribe me to show you how to post pics Ya I heard you were easy but not cheap LOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giddy UP Posted February 18, 2008 Author Share Posted February 18, 2008 Ya I heard you were easy but not cheap LOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irREVerent Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Hey, Giddy Great report and nice pics...I almost felt like I was there... It was awfully good of us to arrange for those deer and dog-sled teams to be out for your photo ops on D102B, don't you think? Thanks again for the superb hospitality Chez Ziraldo...too bad you two don't enjoy cooking very much... And thanks for doing an OC report WITHOUT inane pictures of the gourmet food (as superb as it was.) There oughta be a law... That trail-side maple syrup stand out in the middle of nowhere on TOPS "D" was too cool...really nice to see the underlying trust that riders who stop and buy will adhere to the honour system and not rip those folks off for the maple products and/or the cash-box. Next time it's our turn to host...now that we know the Huntsville-Kearney trip can be done so easily and quickly, provided trail conditions are decent. And nice to meet you Saturday, 600 XC...we'll look forward to riding up to the Abitibi Canyon with your group when our group crosses paths with the Sled Heads in Cochrane next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maple Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Thanks again for the superb hospitality Chez Ziraldo...too bad you two don't enjoy cooking very much... And thanks for doing an OC report WITHOUT inane pictures of the gourmet food (as superb as it was.) There oughta be a law... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irREVerent Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Thanks again for the superb hospitality Chez Ziraldo...too bad you two don't enjoy cooking very much... And thanks for doing an OC report WITHOUT inane pictures of the gourmet food (as superb as it was.) There oughta be a law... Hey, Maple...lighten up! :poke: :poke: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlowTouringGuy Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Thanks for the report and pix. Sounds like you had a great time. Too bad about those ugly trails you hit - should have had me leading :P :P :poke: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giddy UP Posted February 19, 2008 Author Share Posted February 19, 2008 Thanks for the report and pix. Sounds like you had a great time.Too bad about those ugly trails you hit - should have had me leading :P :P :poke: :poke: :poke: :poke: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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