Canadian Ride 2016- The Story

Having coordinated literally dozens of snowmobile trips over the years, you’d think leading a few mudslingers would be a piece of cake. But beings as my PolCat was in the shop and we were to pick it up on the way to Canada, freshly rebuilt. As I have never ridden the route we were to ride without 3-4 ft of snow on it. As everyone in my group had been riding ATV’s since birth and I have 16 months experience. And to get a call at 8:30 a.m. on Fri day morning as I’m leaving, from the dealer, that my machine also had a bent valve and wouldn’t be ready, yeah you could say I had a little anxiety.

However, thanks to my good buddy Joe, I had a one year newer version of my machine to ride. And once we all met at Studebakers Restaurant in the Soo Michigan, the pressure was off. Everyone was introduced and the excitement was high as we all fired questions and laughed through lunch. After a quick stop at the Duty Free Store to exchange to funny money and a probing at the border, all six vehicles with “bikes” in tow were headed north out of the Soo Ontario. In Canada, Off Road machines are called “bikes” , for future reference.

We arrived at The Driftwood Lodge in Searchmont around 4pm. Carl had the two chalets (cabins) ready and we unpacked. As Kurt had been in Searchmont many times, he graciously volunteered to lead us on an afternoon ride to a secluded spot featuring some falls on the Goulais River. (Pronounced Ghouly.) After a 4 mile tour of every back trail around the Ski Hill and getting a combination warning/ directions from a nice employee on a bike, we were off. Now I’ve ridden trails in Atlanta, Black Lake, and Kalkaska, as well as many trips to the Mounds and Bundy Hill, but they were only a precursor to what we were about to experience. We went up and down some of the muddiest, steepest, rockiest, tightest trails ever. We even had to make use of Paul’s Stihl chain saw more than once.
Just shy of our waterfall destination, we came to a spot where the bridge over the river was out. The river was narrow and the current swift. Kurt, Joe and I decided we would not be able to make it through. Then came Paul. Ha, he said. That’s nothing, and he proceeded to muscle his 8oo Can Am across the flowing river. So one by one we all rolled across with the water up to the seat bottoms and the river flowing fast into our side panels. After a long uphill climb, we popped through the brush and out onto a huge rock outcropping with an amazing view of the falls right in front of us. It was almost a religious experience. So, I got out my $800 Galaxy S-6 Edge Plus phone and baptized it in the water. It must’ve been possessed, because it got hot and died from the water.



After taking videos and pics, we made the trip back to the Chalets to enjoy the lasagna we had left slow baking in the oven, along with garlic bread, salad, macaroni salad and blueberry and apple pie. Mmmmm.


Saturday Morning, I warmed the pre-made breakfast burritos and we downed them along with coffee, milk and O.J. After packing the machines, we lined up and all 11 of us were on the trail by 9am. Halfway Haven, our destination for this day was 92 miles out. There are no houses, towns or gas stations between Searchmont and there. The first 54 miles is pretty uneventful, consisting of mostly flat logging roads with beautiful scenery. Then you pop out onto the Hydrolines. These impressive high power lines were built in the 60’s over some of the rockiest, hilly terrain this side of the Rockies. As this was my first view without snow for over 20 years, I was in awe. All I could think was, “Holy crap, I’ve been riding my sled over those rocks and the mounds I launch off of are boulders bigger than a house.”
We arrived at Halfway Haven around 3pm. Sean was standing outside in shorts no less to greet us. After unpacking, we decided against going for an afternoon ride and to rest for tomorrows 150 mile adventure. All but Paul. Paul took the trail north for 7 miles and returned in time for dinner. Tonights dinner would be Roasted pork loin, BBQ beef brisket , potatoes salad, veggies, chocolate cake, apple pie and a Canadian favorite, sugar pie. Sean is an AMAZING cook!

Sunday morning, We awoke to a nice dusting of fresh snow and temps of 26 degrees. We feasted on another amazing breakfast and headed north on what would be our big day. The trails north of Halfway, on the way to Wawa are beautiful and the zip codes change from the top to the bottom of some hills. All I could do was shake my head as I looked up at the 450ft rock faces that we climb in the winter with sleds.
I asked the group If they were up for an off trail climb to a favorite spot for pics and they all started their machines for my answer. Up we went. Once on top, I pointed to the trail we could take, had it not been converted to a lake by the beavers damming it up. Kurt went down to investigate. We all watched in awe as he straddled the top of the 300 yard beaver dam and crossed it. Guess where we all went? One by one we crossed the dam. Except for Paul. Paul rode in the water next to the dam the whole length. He is fearless for an 80 year old guy. (kidding).
I took the group up to several other lookouts of mine and we made it to the Michipicoten Dam around 1pm. Great place for pics too. Then on to Wawa for lunch at the Wawa Motor Inn. Excellent lunch stop. From there we worked our way out of town with a stop at the lookout hill. You can see Lk. Superior from there. Then back toward Halfway Haven. About 30 miles back, we encountered our next water crossing for the day. This one was much longer and looked intimidating, but not for Joe. He dove right in and made it look easy. So one by one we made the Long Deep water crossing.
As we were to have dinner at 7pm, we needed to pick up the pace, so for about 12 miles on the logging road, we flew low, stopping every few miles to let Gary and his grocery getter catch up. A side note. Tresa decided to ride shotgun in the Razor to take pics and with her half helmet and mouthguard in, resembled a running back. But a cute one. And she returned with teeth intact after slamming a couple washouts at high speed with Gary at the wheel. We made it back to Halfway as the sun was setting. 8:30 pm. Right on time for our dinner of Steaks and Whitefish plus ALL the trimmings.
After dinner, we all got together and decided that Jeff and Peggy would follow Plumbob and Ed back to Searchmont by leaving at 7am, as they were loading up and heading back Monday. I would lead Joe, Kurt, Fudd, Tresa, Gary and Paul and leave around 9am. We sat around the rustic setting of Halfway Haven for our last night in camp, reliving the weekends adventures before saying goodnight to Sean who is always the last to bed and the first to rise.

Monday morning we wished the four leaving early a safe return as they struck out on the 92 mile journey back to Searchmont. After we wolfed down our breakfast, we said our goodbyes to Sean and the 7 of us enjoyed a leisurely ride back to Searchmont. Knowing we had to have our machines spotless to cross the border, we went down to the Goulais and ran them along the gravel beach again and again splashing and wetting each other as well as our bikes. After loading up, we drove by truck to a little known eatery called The Mountain View Lodge. And once again we enjoyed a fabulous Canadian meal. We then returned to the Driftwood and laughed for over an hour as we watched our recorded videos from the weekend on the T.V.

Tuesday morning we sadly said goodbye and set off for our return to the USA. There’s no way to retell the entire details of our adventure, but I hope you get the idea that we had a blast! I want to thank each and every attendee, as they ALL made the ride a huge success. We just might have to do it again sometime.
Sleddog