Rail Ride to Canada

[JJWickenhauser]

I live in Wisconsin. My dad a year or so back read in a SnoGoer about a trip where you load your sled onto a train and take the rails up into Canada. Then they let you off and you ride back and they follow with a groomer to pick up broken down sleds. I think it was like a three day ride, they provide the lodging and meals. Has anyone gone or heard of this? Summer is too damn long and it's time to start thinking snow. Has anyone ridden in Canada? What are the trails like? What does a person pay to ride up there? We'd like to go on that trip and also ride Canada this winter. Never too early to start thinking about it!!

 

[grapeape]

The Algoma central train "snow train" goes from Sault Ste Marie to Hearst. There are other places you can get off at, and if you want to sit on the train for a day to see the scenery it would be worth it to ya. Personally I would rather sit in my truck for the 2.5 hr drive from the Sault to Wawa on one of the top 10 most scenic highways in N America and ride more. If you want help planning a trip on the best tails, give us some time peramiters and mileage requirements, and a ride to suit you will be made. My dad is 57, and his longest day on Ontario trils is 325mi, with his preferance at 250 or so. Mookster, Ecopter, Sinjin, Skidooboy and others are also up to speed on Northern Ontario if that is where you are looking to go. Also, what kind of mileage do your sleds get???

 

[Fergie]

I was also wondering if there was something like that going from the oldforge area toward montreal

 

[craze1cars]

Snow train is outstanding! Do it. Cost is a bit high compared to US....it's been a year or two but I believe a trail permit is somewhere between $100 and $200 per sled. And gas is higher. But it's only money, right? If you want a guided tour, try Decker. Costs a bit more but they handle everything (like moving luggage from one place to another so you can do a long one-way tour without a chase vehicle) and will accomodate all ages, speed, and skill levels within any given tour.

Trails are second to none if you're into high speed trail riding. Expect a LOT of long, straight, wide, and gentle sweeping curves with no bumps. Not as much tight & twisty as in the states, and much better maintained. I don't think bumps have been invented in Canada yet.... Your average speed will be much higher up there than in Wisconsin and you can cover a lot of ground in a day.

 

[Swiss Sledder]

And some web sites you can visit include.
http://www.algomacentralrailway.com/

http://www.snowtrain.com/

For Ontario trail map go here http://trailmaps.ofsc.on.ca/viewer.htm?ofsc=true

 

[pat the rat]

i'm from northern ontario,earlton to be exact,about six hours north of toronto.the riding here is awesome.our trail passes are expensive but its worth it(180$).we start riding sometimes in late november and finish at the end of march.i think the cochrane area have some sort of train ride to mossene.the trails there and up to kapuskasing and hearst are unbelievable.something to think about if you ever come down in ontario.the gas right now is $1.10 a litre,pretty bad.

 

[maim]

we save the trail pot holes for our roads. im about 2hrs south of pat. we can start in dec if you like doing lots of maintence on your sled and usually finish off in march.

 

[pat the rat]

nice to see northern ontario people on this site.

 

[rx1mtn]

I'm with Grapeape, the ride to Wawa in a truck is much better than the train. It all depends on the amout of time you have. We did a trip 3 years ago left Searchmont to Wawa, Hearst, Timmons, back to Wawa then back to Searchmont. 6 days total, everyone said to leave from Wawa, and they were right. The train would be ok, but 1 day riding the train? I would rather ride my sled.

 

[sinjin]

Like Grapeape said let us know how long you want to go and some of us here can help you set up a trip itinerary with great places to stay and eat. I would highly recommend starting in Wawa and riding about 4 days. Sleds in your group need to be able to make it at least 100 miles on a tank of gas. Trail permits in recent years have been $100 canadian dollars for a 7 day pass. Dave

 

[JJWickenhauser]

Thanks for the info

Thanks for all the great information. I will be in contact when we figure these things out. THANKS GUYS!!!

 

[revster]

Snow train is outstanding! Do it. Cost is a bit high compared to US....it's been a year or two but I believe a trail permit is somewhere between $100 and $200 per sled. And gas is higher. But it's only money, right? If you want a guided tour, try Decker. Costs a bit more but they handle everything (like moving luggage from one place to another so you can do a long one-way tour without a chase vehicle) and will accomodate all ages, speed, and skill levels within any given tour.

Trails are second to none if you're into high speed trail riding. Expect a LOT of long, straight, wide, and gentle sweeping curves with no bumps. Not as much tight & twisty as in the states, and much better maintained. I don't think bumps have been invented in Canada yet.... Your average speed will be much higher up there than in Wisconsin and you can cover a lot of ground in a day.

I find it kind of funny when guys refer to the trails in Quebec and Ontario and they just refer to those areas as "Canada." The trails around our cabin in Manitoba are ungroomed so I assure you we have plenty of bumps in the rest of Canada.

I'm not knocking anybody I just think it's funny.