October 2021 – Report
Well, I’ve been in and out of the bush this fall, assessing the situation and it doesn’t look pretty. In fact, it looks downright ugly.
DEVASTATION
For those who are from the region, you likely remember the tornadoes that rolled across the north shore of Lake Huron in the afternoon of Wednesday August 11th, levelling trees and carving swaths in a west-to-east direction. One of the areas that we often ride is north of Iron Bridge, Ontario and it too was severaly hit. A quick walk into the bush shows what cross-country riding is up against this winter. This is going to be a work-out season aka my title: Axes, Chainsaws and more. 4 Confirmed Tornadoes along the North Shore region of Lake Huron.
REMOTE WILDERNESS
Clearing a route can take hours or days, depending how severe the summer was and how often someone has been through that section of bush. Although side-by-side and ATV sales are strong, the areas that encompass remote cross-country snowmobiling are seldom touched by the 4 wheel civilization. Last winter, Chad, Curtis and I made an attempted trip from Endikai Lake to Black Creek Outfitters, cross-country. One of the key sections I planned for the route was the usage of a bush link between Finn Lake and Bond Lake. That area was carved out in the early 1900’s by the lumbermen to get access to timber. Unfortunately, a few winters of no one going through is now resulting in the need for attention, just like other areas that are seeing less traffic in recent years.
DIE HARDS
People come and people go, but there will always be a group of die-hards out there still breaking trail to keep these routes open and create new ones. I’m excited to get started for the upcoming 2021/2022 winter season and look forward to trekking existing and new routes within the golden interior of Northern Ontario.
Author: Dan Kachur – https://sled-x.ca
