Rich Weinert made an offer I couldn't refuse - join the guys for 3
days of riding from his lake-side cabin next to Bon Echo Provincial Park.
Ralph Beemer rode from London to head up with Rich to Orangeville, where
we all arranged to meet on Friday morning. The weather didn't cooperate
and they sat in Timmy's in Waterloo for an hour waiting for the snow to
stop! Fortunately the weather improved, and apart from a few flurries
near Barrie, we had a pleasant trip to Bancroft, for another coffee stop
at Timmy's by Eagle's Nest.
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Clean bikes - must be the start
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Eagles Nest, Bancroft overlooking
Timmy's
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Hwy 28 from Bancroft to Hardwood lake took us to Trout Lake road where
we headed for Denbigh via the dirt roads/trails. 20 minutes south of Denbigh
is the cabin, situated on a steep hillside overlooking a beautiful lake
- must be one of the most tranquil places I've visited. Later that
evening we were joined by Rich's brother, Terry, and Mike Schorpp - in
fact, we'd almost given up on Mike. He was leaving after work, and riding
from Scarborough on mainly dirt roads and rail trails. He didn't arrive
until after 11pm and was lucky to find this well hidden cabin in total
darkness.
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Rich's cabin
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Sunrise, from the cabin deck
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Saturday morning arrived real early - 6:15am and we are all up and preparing
to depart for breakfast at 7am. The ride started before 8am just north
of Irving Lake, on Browns Rd. This dirt road rapidly changes to snowmobile-type
trails and, this early in the year, had a pretty good amount of mud. This
wasn't quite what I was looking for with dual sport tires fitted to my
KLR, but we got through it. The only downside was that Mike lost his gear
shifter in one muddy stretch and we searched for almost an hour without
finding it. Fortunately he travels with a pair of vice grips which work
well as a temporary shifter, but he was forced to head for home as soon
as we made it out onto paved roads. After a stop in Plevena, we took
a great hydro line trail from Mosque Lake Rd to Black Donald Hydro Dam,
and then on to Calabogie for lunch. More great trails and a rail
trail took us to Lavant and then back to the cabin by road just in time
for supper. All-in-all a great days ride that took it's toll as we started
hitting the sack at 9pm!
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Ralph on a wet trail
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Mike's new shifter
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Ralph & Rich, Rich, and
Bob & Rich
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Rich playing in the sand
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Lots of lakes here
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Calabogie Peaks
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Lunch break in Calabogie
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K&L Rail trail near Lavant
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Ralph and Rich needed to be home by 3pm so prepared to leave after breakfast,
but I didn't have any deadlines so we planned to ride together as far as
Coe Hill and then split. We took Skootamatta Rd from Bon Echo and it quickly
turns to a rough trail and comes out near St Ola 20 or so miles later.
After splitting in Coe Hill, I checked out Red Eagle Park to see when I
could visit with my trailer, and then headed for Bancroft for lunch. A
full days ride took me to Madawaska, Barry's Bay, Combermere, and Foymount
(the highest settlement in S. Ontario at 502 m), where I turned round and
headed west to Haliburton and Bracebridge. The twisty roads ended here
as I took to Hwy 11/400/401/427/QEW for a fast trip home - arriving after
dark at 9:30pm. 800 Km since 8am and loads of fun. Can't wait
to get back there :-)
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Skootamatta Road
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Pollution in Muskoka?
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1543 Km later...
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