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SledHeads Excellent Adventure –
2009
SledHeads at
Large:
Leanne & Paul
SledRick & Sue
Curtis
Paula (SuperSledder)
Randy & Lori (SledHeads for the week)
We missed our absentee SledHeads this year (Greg, Jean,
Wayne, Blair & Carol) – hopefully all will be well next year for
another great adventure.
 Cochrane! Saturday, February 28th,
2009 started as a cold but bright sunny day as trucks and trailers headed
north on Hwy #11 bound for Cochrane – our favourite sledding
destination! A rendezvous at the
Webers parking lot just north of Orillia
to rally the troops and we had a convoy enroute to the James Bay Frontier!!
Arriving at Lillabelle Lodge around 4:00pm it was time
for cocktails and a warm welcome from Rod, Kim and Belle (the Lodge
dog)! Our welcome home meal was
every bit as good as we remembered from past trips – T-Bone steak,
just the way we all like it with Kim’s famous Coconut Cream Pie for
dessert……..yummy!
Lillabelle Lodge is located just outside of Cochrane
– the trail ends in their parking lot so it’s easy access to
the trail system from there. They
offer clean spacious rooms and great home cooking. $75.00 per person (2009 rate) for the
night includes your dinner and full breakfast. It’s our favourite spot in Cochrane
to stay – you just don’t get better than Lillabelle!
The next day we woke to typical Cochrane temps -40c
brrrrrr…
 but that didn’t stop our gang from
making the trip up to the Canyon! It
was so cold that even the gas line anti-freeze was frozen! The great thing about riding this far
north in March is the spring sun….it’s warm during the day
– and can make a bone chilling -40 (Celsius or Fahrenheit it just
doesn’t matter at this temp – they are the same!!) in the
morning almost bearable by afternoon!
Just make sure that all exposed skin is covered and double up on the
neck protection and face coverage!
Some of our group even got the early stages of frost bite and wind burn
through the protective layers and visors!
Trails had not been groomed since the storm two days
prior – but they weren’t in bad shape considering all the
blowing, snowing and drifting that had gone on.
The snow is deep this year in the Canyon
– and getting stuck in the deep powder – even with a long
track, was a work-out! You just
can’t go to Cochrane and not ride to the Canyon – it’s a
must Doo for sure. The Ice Bridge
over the Abitibi
River was 100cms
thick – certainly more than enough to hold our 9 sleds!
Even Super Sledder was on hand for some fun! George at Extreme Tours Base Camp just
didn’t know if it was a bird – a plane – or what to make
of our masked and caped sledder – but then again – he’d
been up at Base Camp in the Canyon for 13 days straight and thought he
might be seeing things!
The Polar Bear Snowmobile Club once again has done an
outstanding job keeping their “Johnny on the spots” clean and
comfortable for sledders. I would
like to make a suggestion here – however – there is another one
needed on the trail up to the canyon!
It’s a long haul up and down A103 from Fraserdale to Cochrane
without a rest stop for the ladies.
It would be perfect to put one up at the railway crossing just north
of the Abitibi
River!
Possibly the train could drop off the supplies needed to
build it?? It’s most
inconvenient for our female sledders when they have to wade waist deep in
snow to find privacy at -40c!!! Just
a suggestion to ponder for the future please!
Back at Lillabelle it was Hot Tub Time and some Après
Doo were in order before digging our choppers into an enormous roast beef
dinner prepared by Rod & Kim. I
say enormous because the roast was 15 pounds of it to be exact!  Apparently there were supposed to be 10
other sledders joining us for dinner that evening – but due to sled
problems they were a last minute cancellation – too bad – they
missed an outstanding meal!
Gogama! The next day was sporting -30c
temps as we loaded up our saddlebags for a two night loop through Timmins, Gogama, Matachewan and Kirkland Lake
before returning to Cochrane.
Unfortunately, our departure was delayed due to the Polaris in the
bunch having some carburetor problems due to the extreme cold early in the
morning.
A BIG thank you
once again goes out to Papp’s Powersports the local Ski-Doo dealer in
Cochrane – we had that Poo up and running in no time and on the trail
towards Gogama by noon! They went
above and beyond the call as it wasn’t even a Skidoo!!! Although – our SledHead Paula was
thinking about surprising Wayne
with a new Doo and scrapping the Poo if it couldn’t be fixed –
I’m thinking it’s a wise idea for next year!
The trails were in excellent shape down the A106C and C
Trail towards Timmins
and all the way down to Post 392 before the grooming became non-existent. 
We encountered loads of powder off the trail on the
Hydro Corridor to play in!
Yippeee! Just
don’t get stuck in it!
Not sure what’s happening down in this neck of the
woods around Gogama – but C Trail south into the Gogama Club area
didn’t look like it had seen a groomer since the beginning of the
season. Unfortunate – because
these are lovely trails in this area and would have made our trip down
absolutely perfect if not for the bumps we encountered south of Post 392
into Tata-Chika-Pika.
We arrived at Tata-Chika-Pika Resort at 4:00pm.
 A lovely lodge – beautiful
décor, nice clean rooms, and a warming 8 man Hot Tub coupled with some
Après Doo after a long COLD day of riding was welcoming. Not so welcoming were our hosts however. We had heard such great things about this
place – but disappointment was an understatement! We won’t be coming back here
anytime soon – I sensed that sledders might be an inconvenience to
these folks? It was too bad –
because the lodge itself is beautiful – the view – breathtaking
from the front porch – the rooms clean – the setting-
tranquil - but the owners need a course in
hospitality I’m afraid.
Tata-Chika-Pika charges $90.00 for a room with two double beds. Meals are extra – but you must make
sure you tell them what you want to eat and also make sure you get a price
for the meal! Otherwise they will
just charge you “whatever they feel like at the time”!. We were not impressed with this
policy. This establishment leaves
you no other choice than to have your meals with them as they are in a
remote location. A suggestion here
would be for them to charge a per head price like Lillabelle and other
lodges in the north for the room and include the meals. We do NOT RECOMEND this place as it does
not appear to be sledder friendly no matter how “lovely” it
looks – looks can be deceiving unfortunately.
We woke the next day to -28c as we started up the sleds
and headed to Kirkland
Lake. A slight detour up to the Scenic Lookout
just outside Gogama found this fellow
 
I think he must have followed us from Cochrane last
year! This lookout is worth the
detour on a clear day – it’s not groomed up the trail –
but it’s a short ride and well worth it as you can see for miles and
miles.
It was then on to Matagami for a quick stop at the
general store for a warm up and chat with the local entrepreneur of the
establishment. There is food and gas
at this stop for those that need it – but we were too early for
either and pressed on to Matachewan and
lunch at Camp
Matachewan. A quick stop for fuel here as well had us
back on the trail by 2:00pm. The
trails were great once we left the Gogama area! This region is beautiful! Long winding trails – very scenic
– it looks like Hallmark might use this region for the pictures on their
Christmas Cards! Most trails are
either Hydro corridors or logging roads not used during the winter
months. Long – wide –
winding trails that offer great touring and scenic views of the
landscape! Definitely near the top
of the list as one of our favourite areas to ride.
Kirkland Lake!
We arrived in Kirkland
Lake around
4:00pm.
 Staying at the Howard Johnson’s is
a great location. Tim Horton’s
next door for the morning coffee and light breakfast and the Beer Store
walking distance from the hotel – as well as the gas station close by
-- nothing fancy – but very convenient location!
It was time for
Après Doo as we corralled the sleds outside our rooms and set up the bar!
We carry a 15ft cable with lock (purchased at Home Depot)
that is easily rolled up into your saddlebags as a security measure. It can lock up to 8 sleds positioned 4
back to back if you are travelling where there is not secure sled lock-up. You just never
know………….
 After our morning coffee and muffins from
Timmies it was on to Butler Lake Truck Stop – a recommended stop for
breakfast (about 1 hour by sled) from Kirkland Lake. Kirkland
Lake to Cochrane is an easy day of
riding on a good day – so we took a detour and did the L103 loop off
the A Trail north of Iroquois
Falls up to
Cochrane. Very scenic ride through
this wide trail – many tracks for lynx and moose here as well as
great photo opportunities!
Once back at Lillabelle we got another warm
“welcome home” from Rod & Kim and more great home cooking
– it was steak again – this time with Rod’s famous red
wine reduction! Mmmmmmmm!
Hearst! Day 4 of our trip had the SledHeads
headed to Hearst for the next saddlebag trip. Only our merry little group was down by 1
sled as one of our members had to
leave us in Cochrane to head off to work.
We bid a sad farewell to Curtis and left him at Lillabelle. Temps
were on the rise and it was snowing as we departed for an easy ride along a perfectly groomed A
Trail with a stop in Smooth
Rock Falls
for fuel and then the Moonbeam Clubhouse for lunch and a rest-stop.
Stopping one more time in Kapuskasing for fuel - we
arrived at Hearst and the Companion Motel around 4:00 and headed for the
secure and heated garage for the night – then it was a bee line to
the Hot Tub for some much deserved Après Doo!
We even had Jacuzzi tubs inside our rooms! A real bonus for those not wanting to use
the public hot tubs!
The Companion Hotel is a great location – the Snow
Train arrives just outside the back parking lot. It’s a convenient location for
those sledders either arriving or departing to Sault Ste. Marie and the
Algoma Trail to off load or load their sleds onto the train. It also affords a secure and heated
garage to store your sleds for the night – complete with security
camera and work bench if needed to wrench on your sled if needs be. Well worth the extra $5.00 charge to
store your sled there.
This year we decided to stay in Hearst for 2 days to explore
the local loops surrounding the area we had heard so much about. It had
snowed overnight and a winter wonderland awaited us as we started our
day. Fresh powder to play in and
those trails didn’t disappoint us.
Outstanding!
 
We didn’t pass one sled and we had the trails to
ourselves. Freshly groomed with
about 6 inches of powder on top to play!
WhoooHooo!
 
Loads of critters hanging out up there too –
moose, lynx, wolves, rabbits among others.
Although we saw many tracks at the side of the trail –
I’m sure they were all hanging out in the bush with beady little eyes
spying on us as we strained our eyes to capture a glimpse of the elusive
critters!
Great places to eat in Hearst as well. There’s a great restaurant inside
the Companion Motel along with some of the local establishments -
John’s – specializing in souvlaki and great pizza as well as
King’s Chinese Food – both are walking distance to the
Companion Motel – great food and good prices.
I couldn’t believe how many trains we encountered
during our trip. We were stopped at
least 5 times by the iron horses.
Just remember folks – train time – is ANY time and most
of the crossings are level crossings without lights – so be vigilant
and stop each time!
 
The last day of our trip started with heavy snow as we
left the warm garage at the Companion Motel with mild temps at only
-3. Certainly not as cold as the
beginning of the week had been thank goodness! The trip home was a sad one – as
this was our last day of sledding for this adventure. The snow then turned to wet snow combined
with some light rain to accompany us back to Cochrane. It was almost like the sky was sheading
our tears as this could be our final hurrah for 2009. The trail conditions had deteriorated
from what we had experienced all week – but we can’t complain
because at least there is snow up here to ride on and we have had an
awesome week of great trails and great memories to share.
Once back at Lillabelle – our home away from home
– it was time for one last Hot Tub and Après Doo  before a fantastic home cooked Italian
dinner. Spaghetti with Rods home
made sauce that had been simmering for days. Caesar salad, garlic bread and topped off
with Kim’s home made wild blueberry pie alamode!
We were even graced with our very own Miss Cochrane 2009
and her Sherpa Hop Sing for dinner………the SledHeads never
fail to entertain! Hey wait! Who is Miss Cochrane wearing this year?
Is it Versace? – NO! Is it
Channel, Armani ?? NO! It’s
Lillabelle haute couture - the shower curtain from Room 3!!!!
Another great trip -
1656.7kms in total – full of surprises as usual. And - as always the most awesome trails
in Ontario!
District 14
– Feel the adrenaline as you cruise the scenic trails of this
region.
District 15 - Cochrane – Hearst
- Feel the RUSH!
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