(Season 2007-2008) Doktorc's TY Mileage Log

[maim]

lol we always where lazy. favorite sliding hill is at camp. 1987 scandic 503 wide track with a 8' coffin sleigh. 5 kids + guests +mom. one person drove up the hill with a sleigh full and went back down. we switched off every couple of times so everyone got a turn. great fun.

 

[silversurfer]

Nice pics, Doc. I've gotta get up and ride in Canada someday...man the trails up there are huge.

 

[DoktorC]

Friday February 22/08

This is the start of our winter vacation. We drove up to Elliot lake Thursday night and stayed in a cabin at Dunlop Lake Lodge. This allowed us an early start Friday morning. This year we had the fewest number we've ever had for our trip but it did make for quicker and easier days. We even had a new guy (to us) and he was even riding a Skidoo!!! This usually isn't allowed but he seemed legit so Doug let him come .

Along for the ride were:

Doug (ramsomair) - 06 Apex RTX
Art (Doug's Dad) - 06 Nytro
Andrew - 02 Renegade
Me and Rexy

The trails started out quite smooth from Elliot Lake but we soon ran it to a plowed logging road (complete with logging trucks and a HUGE Cat scapping the snow off). The logging road was in pretty good shape overall..after the logging road the trail got pretty choppy but still not unbearable. After a quick lunch at Flame Lake we continued on towards Chapleau on PERFECT trail for the duration.
Both the Apex and my RX turned the fuel lights on at 200kms which gave us LOTS of range. The Renegade used an incredible amount of fuel in comparison....most due to a wayward DPM line that wasn't found until Day 3!!! He went from using more then 50% more fuel to about 10%. It was at the gas station in Chapleau that I jokingly pointed out that the Renegade was missing parts pointing at an empty hole in the tunnel...well...I was right. The front suspension mounting bolt had snapped off!!!
We limped it to the NAPA dealer to see if we could get a bolt and some washers for the repair. It was here that we determined that the bolt was broken in the shaft....which..is usually bad news...but not here in Chapleau!! We pulled the skid in the parking lot, removed the shaft and went in to the store to beg/borrow/steal a drill or ANYTHING to get the busted bolt out. Turns out they have a tech on staff who handled the job in about 3 minutes!!! He didn't even want to charge us!! With the old bolt removed we installed the skid and bolted everything back together and it was off to the hotel for the night.

We cannot thank the folks at NAPA enough for the help they gave us!!

Today's mileage: 290kms

 

[DoktorC]

Saturday Feb 23/08

This morning it was brisk!! We were headed to Wawa via Missanabie and Douberville. Once again we had fantastic trails. Alot of the day we were making first tracks on freshly groomed trails. From Chapleau to Missanabie (about 100kms) we didn't see one sled...not one!! It was on this leg of the trip that there were some signage issues that lead us on a bit of an unexpected adventure. We came across some logging and continued to follow the trail signs and grooming ended but the signs and some tracks kept going...so we followed not realizing that the tracks we acouple of guys going in AND coming back lol. We eventually found our way into Missanabie for lunch.

After lunch it was on to Douberville on freshly groomed trails and aside from a group we met just as we left Missanabie we didn't see another sled for another 100kms. Once in Douberville we headed south on the Magpie river/resevoir to Wawa. The Magpie is 35 or so kms of river running. The most impressive part was that the level of the water had dropped about 6 feet since ice in which left some amazing ice shelves. Once at the end of the Magpie there is a MASSIVE hydro dam. Very cool stuff in the middle of nowhere!!

We stayed at the Wawa Motor Inn and had a fantastic evening!! Though Doug wasn't able to get his wings (my Dad's first comment about the place was "they've got GREAT wings") in the fine dining side of the restaurant we still enjoyed the food...I REALLY like breakfast .

I've got a ton of pictures from this day...lots of great scenery on this trip!!!

Today's Mileage: 260kms

 

[DoktorC]

Sunday Feb 24/08

Today started out warmer and cloudier then the rest...perhaps it was just us that we foggy lol. We were headed to Searchmont via Halfway Haven. Once again we were travelling through absolutley gorgeous terrain on fantastic trails.
We saw a total of 2 sleds from Wawa to Halfway Haven...I honestly don't know where everyone was. The hotels were FULL of sledders but there was no one on the trails!! The nice folks at Halfway informed us that Searchmont's groomer had experienced some trouble so there was about 10miles of not so good trails between Halfway and Searchmont. It was bumpy but again...not too bad.

Just before reaching our destination, during a rest stop I took the opportunity to reverseroost Doug who had stopped in front of me. While I did succeed in filling him in I also managed to run over my snowflap, ripping it off the sled!! Luckly it fits nicely under Rexy's hood. According to Art it was about 15 feet further down the trail that one of my rear idler wheels fell off. He handed it to me the next time we stopped. No big deal...we're almost done for the day.

At the cabin I decided to take my center idler and put it on the outside (a la XP). While doing so I found my other outside idler to be in pretty bad shape...but I figured it would make the next 100km run to the next town in the morning. I figured wrong.....

Today's Mileage: 265kms

 

[DoktorC]

Monday Feb 25/08

Today was warm again but the trails were still firm. As I eluded to in my last post my other rear idler decided to let go about 2kms after we left the cabin. I did manage to cross a rather thin looking river on one idler wheel and my track making some aweful noises. I was lucky to be able to borrow Doug's center idler for the rest of the trip (I'm thankful that his idlers held up for the rest of the trip lol). It's surprising how quickly you can disassemble two rear axles and get everything realigned while working in the snow!! We didn't even lose a washer!

Once back on track the trails were again phenominal! Though Andrew did has trouble negotiating a straight stretch early in the day. Luckly it wasn't a serious off trail adventure...but...it was VERY entertaining to watch!!

We ran to Thessalon for lunch and fuel where we were informed that their groomer has been down for quite some time. This was the only section of really bad trails we had the whole trip. It was about a 20km stretch but once we were through that...boy...did the trails improve!! It seemed like a blink of an eye and we were back at Dunlop Lake Lodge!!

The four days FLEW by. What a fantastic trip! Great trails. Great scenery. Great weather. Great freinds! I can't wait to do it all again!!!!

Today's Mileage: 232kms
Total trip: 1040kms
Total Mileage: 2687

 

[DoktorC]

Tuesday Feb 26/08

Doug and I spent the morning switching idler wheel back. We both decided to make/install fourth rear wheel kits for added safety and I had a chance to re-install my snowflap...again...

After our maintenance session we took a quick ride around some of the lakes. We made our way down to Bass Lake Restaurant for some wings then headed back...I figured I'd taken enough pictures and left my camera at home lol.

Today's Mileage: 100km
Total Mileage: 2787km

 

[DoktorC]

Here's something I found funny. I went sledding for 5 days and covered 1140kms and I'm not sure on my mileage but it was around around 16-17L/100...check out how the Hemi did.....

 

[maim]

sounds like you guys had a good ride.

 

[DoktorC]

This was my first time riding that far west. The scenery over there is incredible!! I'll go back.

 

[DoktorC]

Saturday March 8/2008

We rallied the troups after some poking and headed off towards Dorset looping back through the Muskoka Lakes. The trails were great to start the day. Unfortunatly I had a MINOR (thank heavens) off trail trying to avoid my buddy in front of me...I assumed I knew what he was going to do...I assumed wrong...NEVER ASSUME!! Nothing hurt but my pride..After that nonsense the trip to Dorset was almost uneventful. We ran into some rough trails around Huntsville which was tough of the old sleds. After that it was pretty much lake running right into Dorset....except when we arrived we were short one sled!!! Well after 10 faithful years and many thousands of kms the old XTC puked it's chain and refused to move. We decided it best to let it rest and grab it after lunch. We purchased a crazy-carpet from the home hardware and dragged her and her owner off the lake and left both on a snowbank waiting for the truck.
As some of you know a trip to Dorset isn't complete without some watercrossing....this is FAR...Dave measured on his odometer .6km..which is about 2300ft...even with some slippage...FAR. Ramsomair and Dave did it in tandem...twice...awesome.
During all this playing around the weather turned nasty with some snow falling and the wind really kicked up. This made the lakes...all 100+kms of them very drifty..it was a bumpy ride home but we were able to get most of the lake riding done in daylight and everyone made it home in one piece.

Todays Mileage: 300km
Total Mileage:3087km

 

[DoktorC]

Sunday March 9/2008

Today was VERY short...we were playing around on the lake and in the field abit. Dave jumped an outcropping on the lake...I followed (THE SAME TRACK) and managed to clip a rock. It appears to have tried to rip the wheel off of the rail (stupid single bolt mounts lol)....so...time for some welding. This was a tough weekend on me and Rexy...kind of humbling.....

Today's Mileage: 5km
Total Mileage: 3092