Just had to rave how good the riding was in Ontario this weekend. We spent Friday around the Soo and then Saturday around Wawa and Duberville. All I can say is wow! The trails were in exceptional condition, bumps were uncommon, traffic was uncommon and the scenery was nothing short of majestic. It's not that much further than the UP but the riding was better than anything I've experienced so far.

We found powder around Wawa and Duberville that was over 5'! Yes, that's 5 feet. I got stuck pretty good in a bowl that we were screwing around in and every now and then one of us would sink to our arm pits and still not be touching actual earth. Pretty much everyone in the group got stuck off the trail at one time or another, it was an absolute blast.

In the bowl that we were playing in I took a different route than some of the other guys and ended up looking straight down 10' to the bottom where I thought it would be a gradual slope down in, all I could think to do was pull the trigger. It worked, I landed perfectly horizontal in a cloud of powder and managed to throttle my way out. My buddy Carl wasn't so lucky with his RX1, he was following me and ended up trying to stop when he realized it was straight down, he and his sled took a nose dive and were burried in 5' of snow. It took us a little over 45 minutes to dig him out. Luckily all he did was break the windshield minorly.

All in all it was some unbelieveable riding and I for 1 will be buying a yearly pass for Ontario next year and hope to make Hurst and Marathon during a much longer trip next year.

I posted the pics from the trip on my Clubphoto web site but they really don't do justice. You can check them out here (http://members12.clubphoto.com/art634816/1163010/owner-e287.phtml).

Beerman:
Did you ride sleds from SSM to WAWA?? It looks like you trailered to WAWA, just curious as to why you didn't ride from SSM, as we have done the wawa thing a couple of times and mid march plan on doing ssm to wawa and wanted to some trail info.

Oh I definitley agree on the trail conditions and next year I might not even buy a MIchigan trail permit just a year pass to Canada and try to ride their 4-5 times, and will never regret it.

Art I am glad to hear you guys had a great time ;) I knew you would. You have just begun to scratch the surface . It will take the rest of your life time to ride all of our trails.

Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip Beerman, like Perm said, you've only seen a fraction of the trails. If you like scenery, try and include the Hornepayne-Manitouwadge leg next trip, scenery and trails are awesome. Austin

real nice pics! :D

Funny picture of your buddys big ###.
Nice pics Beerman.
I'm all fired up for a 4 day ride this weekend form Huntsville to Val'Dor Quebec. Looking forward to having some brews with the ladies at the local ballet.

Originally posted by mookie 600@Feb 25 2003, 08:49 PM
Beerman:
Did you ride sleds from SSM to WAWA?? It looks like you trailered to WAWA, just curious as to why you didn't ride from SSM, as we have done the wawa thing a couple of times and mid march plan on doing ssm to wawa and wanted to some trail info.

Oh I definitley agree on the trail conditions and next year I might not even buy a MIchigan trail permit just a year pass to Canada and try to ride their 4-5 times, and will never regret it.
We drove to Wawa becasue one of the guys has been there and said the powder up around Duberville and Marathon would be awesome. I wanted to just ride to Wawa to put on some serious miles. We need a 4 day weekend for sure next time we go, with only 2 days of riding (not even really) it wasn't nearly enough.

Here's one of the pics of me stuck in the powder. The picture is deceiving, the snow in the bowl here was well over 5' deep.

This is me and one of my buddies racing on Lake Wawa. He just got rid of a ZR500 after riding my TCat and bought an '01. This race made me realize that with 6000 miles on my engine it's time for a compression check and maybe some rings. He busted my arse, lol.

Those of us that have been up there knew you'd have a great time. :D :thumbsup:

We were there the same time stayed in wawa for 9 days. We had some mechanical problems, but over all had a great time. I have yet to buy a Wisc. trail tag and have been to wawa twice. Nicer people and trails you won't find. Dub does an excellent grooming job. Wawa must have too much to do to keep up or just don't try as hard as Dub. The boys at Jones Power Sports did their best to keep us running. We will be back.

Just wait untill you ride the rest of our trail system,then you'lll want to move here :D

Originally posted by doonut@Feb 26 2003, 08:36 AM
Just wait untill you ride the rest of our trail system,then you'lll want to move here :D
Lol, I called the wife from Wawa (couldn't believe I got a signal) and told her to pack up our stuff and put a For-Sale sign on the lawn. She didn't think it was all that funny. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a Green Acres episode. I could easily live in the UP or somewhere like Wawa, but she'd shrivel up and die.

Here's a pic that shows the absolute majesty of this area, I'm still awe-struck.

Great pics Art...maybe I won't wait 'til next year to head up there!!

BTW, did your buddy find a leftover T-kitty, or was it used?

Jim

Beerman- glad you had a great trip also. We just did a 938 mile ride up in that area a few weeks ago when the temps were like -44 in the morning and highs of -10 during the day. The Ontario trails are awesome and have met a lot of good people over there.Guess thats why I don!t ride much here in NY anymore. The 5 days we were there I think we were only on 1 bumpy trail and when we got into Dubville I looked up Luc-" the groomer guy" at his store and talked with him awhile. He said the groomers had been down but they were just fixed and he was going out that nite.Quite the fella he is. He did tell me that the Wawa trails are not groomed as much as his clubs were. He said that he stops at their clubhouse and has offered Wawa to keep going with their groomer as its bigger asnd faster but for some reason or another they said no so he just turns around there and heads back. You are lucky living so close-I had to truck 700 miles each way but will do it again next year for sure. Hey the pic of you and your friend on Wawa Lake, that is where the trail over your shoulder comes onto the lake isn!t it? The nite we were there we rode over to Dubville for lunch and on the way back hit a wild snowstorm! We got off the trail where you and your friend are and couldn!t see 100 feet down the lake and seeing I had never been on that lake decided to go back to Wawa on the hilly trail. Great decision as that trail was fantastic,just groomed and no one had been on it. Well enjoy whats left of the season See ya later. Pete/NY

Originally posted by JIM FRITCH@Feb 26 2003, 09:56 AM
Great pics Art...maybe I won't wait 'til next year to head up there!!

BTW, did your buddy find a leftover T-kitty, or was it used?

Jim
Jim, you gotta go. Be it this year or next you owe it to yourself. Just make sure you take enough time off to make the haul up there worth it. We only had 2 days of sledding and it wasn't enough.

And my buddy found the '01 with only 1100 miles on it and it's cleaner than a new one. Just a clutch kit and 192 studs and it hauls serious arse. Busted mine by about 6 lengths.

Originally posted by PETE/NY@Feb 26 2003, 09:58 AM
Hey the pic of you and your friend on Wawa Lake, that is where the trail over your shoulder comes onto the lake isn!t it?
Pete, yep that's it. I can't wait to go back. I saw your other post and am interested in the guide you used. I'm not sure if the rest of the guys would consider that, but I had one in the UP this year and thought it was a great way to travel.

Glad you had a great time.

Parts of Ontario just want to make you call your boss and quit so you dont have to leave.

Originally posted by Machzzzz1@Feb 26 2003, 10:22 AM
Glad you had a great time.

Parts of Ontario just want to make you call your boss and quit so you dont have to leave.
This area definately qualifies. How far is this from where you ride Martin?

Originally posted by Beerman@Feb 26 2003, 08:07 AM
This race made me realize that with 6000 miles on my engine it's time for a compression check and maybe some rings. He busted my arse, lol.
If you had an RX-1 the engine would just be getting loosened up :D

:withstupid: And you'd have replaced 3 chaincases, a gear reduction unit, and had back surgery! :blahblah:

Hope this is considered "clean".
Who says us people in the Great White North arent the friendliest?
(Best welcome sign Iv seen in a long time!)

Originally posted by Beerman+Feb 26 2003, 12:05 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Beerman @ Feb 26 2003, 12:05 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin--Machzzzz1@Feb 26 2003, 10:22 AM
Glad you had a great time.

Parts of Ontario just want to make you call your boss and quit so you dont have to leave.
This area definately qualifies. How far is this from where you ride Martin? [/b][/quote]
Oh man. I ride really far away from WAWA. Almost the other side of ontario. But I somtimes go up in that direction.

From my house to wawa would be about 8 or 9 hours. Im not sure. But its far.

But you got to check out other areas of ontario. Wawa has awsome trails. Timmins and area have wide open trails simular to wawa but diffrent. ;)

Muskoka has awsome trails. Lots of lake crossings and awsome snow and a lot of towns so stuff like gas and food isnt a problem.

And then theres my area. Same area ladyk and permafrost ride in. its a little bit of everything.

Beerman- the fella who we went with is Bryan and Judy Pacello from www.comeplayinthesnow.on.ca We have done atvs trips with him before and for the $$ can!t be beat. The prices we paid were just about what you would pay if you did the ride yourself. He and his band of merrymen(Rusty&Jamie) showed us some beautiful territory.There are some others here on the forum who have gone with him also. You definitely get what you pay for.We are going again next year with him again. Check out his website.He said his wife Judy just retired from the snowtrips after logging on more than 100,000 miles in her trips but is still doing the atv trips in Summer. Food and lodging was AAA#1. You ordered off the menu and didn!t matter if you wanted to eat steak and lobster everynite-he didn!t care.He is a pretty well known guy up there and its getting harder each year to get a booking with him so plan ahead if your!e interested. Pete

Beerman,
I&#39;ve been wanting to go north of the Soo,but was curious about a couple things? How much did it cost for your trail permits, and what about the speed restrictions? These were my only concerns :thumbsup: SWRules

Beerman,

You are now an honorary citizen, please leave your gun at the border. :)

Glad you enjoyed your time here.

Please come back soon!

Originally posted by teabagger@Feb 26 2003, 09:25 PM
Beerman,
I&#39;ve been wanting to go north of the Soo,but was curious about a couple things? How much did it cost for your trail permits, and what about the speed restrictions? These were my only concerns :thumbsup: SWRules
Trail permit was $35/day Canadian. I think that&#39;s like $4 US, just kidding. Next year I&#39;ll buy the yearly pass cause it&#39;s kinda pricey with the daily if you ride more than a couple days. We saw no police of any kind on the trails though some locals said they had seen them going the opposite direction as us. The speed limit didn&#39;t seem to be a factor, we just took it easy around the towns. The riding North of the Soo and around Wawa was remote enough that I wouldn&#39;t worry.

rode from the sault to wawa last tuesday feb 18th. Trails were OK, but bumpy. Gas at halfway haven was $1.47 a litre canadian. A bit pricey.

Our trip consisted of Sudbury to blind river, to sault, to wawa, to chapleau, to elliot lake, to sudbury.

Had a blast, but liked the cochrane area last year. Really nice scenery around the Sault though made up for the bumpy trails. We also heard reports of broken groomers attributing to the bumpy trails. I guess we just went out the wrong days.

Steve