I have just posted an extensive set of postings on detailed directions on a big trail system just north of Sault St. Marie, Ontario. If you looking AT ALL for a new place to ride, you owe it to yourself to at least to check it out. Please print it out as it is just on a message board like this and will "fall" off soon. Just follow along the responses to get the whole story. Please understand that there are 5 parts to this set!

Searchmont trail directions

Part 1 of 5 part series

 

Ok you have me intrested. I have friends that have done this ride on snowmobiles and it sounds like a good time. Are there trail maps of the area? How many days should one plan for the ride? A friend of mine and I are looking for a ride something like this in early June.
Thanks Tim

 

Grizzlytim;

If you read ALL of the series of posts you will find A link to 1 map. There is also a map on the Dubreuilville site too. They aren't the best, but you get the idea. there should be some left over maps from the sled season at any of the places I mention in the artical. If you make reservations with any of these places, I'm sure they will send you a map. But for planning purposes the ones online and an atlas should give you the idea.
I live just over the Ohio line and I can get to Searchmont in aboot 6 1/2 - 7 hours, uload and be to 1/2 Way Haven 5 hours later. Otherwise, from Searchmont to Wawa is aboot 9 1/2 hours. Add a couple more to get to Dubreuilville.
Just remember to take DEEP BUSH OFF! As long as you are moving there is no problem. But it's a good idea to stop in a windy spot. But we just don't stop too long is all. Maybe 5 minutes at a time. As long as you dope up and wear long clothes, your fine.
We are heading up in a couple weeks to run a different trail. But we will probably hit this one in Sept. And go farther north in July.
Once in Wawa or Dubreuilville there is a LOT of riding in those areas. Dubre is soley a logging town. Lots of trails.
If you want to, you can buzz up the trail and back down in 2 days. Or take a week. 170 miles to Wawa.

 

We to have ridden these trails on snowmobiles many years. One thing to remember is there is no way you can travel as fast or as far on an atv than you can on a sled. Many of these towns are a distance apart. Most sleds have at least 10 gal gas tanks-atvs have 4 or so. The bugs in the spring are horrendous-lots of bug spray and stop at windy points.As for the maps another to remember is that in most instances,the snowmobile maps can at times be useless. The reason is many of the trails cross lakes, rivers and vast swamps.You will sometimes find no way around them.There are many nice atv trails up in northern Ontario and in these areas the lodges and tourism people have some atv maps available.I take a few riders up a few times each year.The 1st time we went on a guided tour which was a great time. We have found some new areas in which to ride and if none of you have ridden up there you are missing some beautiful trails. The Ontario government and local atv clubs are just starting to see the potential money the atvs will bring, same as the snowmobilers have done. Anyone would like alittle more info, feel free to e mail me.PS- May 5th is a great MUDRUN in Madawaska. There are about 12 of us from NY-PA going up, after the run is a big dinner which is included in your entry fee.

 

That's why I posted THIS. All of this is do-able in the summer. I have done it all in the summer 2-3 times depending on which section.
NO, you can't necessarily just go anywhere. BUT a lot of the time the ride out to where you can't go through and back IS a good ride in itself. We did that one day from Dubreuilville towards White River 'till we couldn't go any farther, and then turned around and came back, played in the gravel pit a while and called it a GOOD day.

 

If any of the ATV trails are half as nice as the snowmobile trails in Ontario, that would be some nice riding. Does anybody have any additional information on trail riding in Ontario? Please e-mail me with whatever you are willing to share. Thank you, David...

 

Dave;

I just (OK, almost 2 weeks ago, I've been meanin' to get here) returned from the Great White North with info on another area.

We went to Thessalon (1 hour east of Sault St. Marie) and then north aboot 20? miles. We stayed at Tunnel Lake Trading Post and Motel. 705-841-2508. This place has anything you could want.

This place is right under 2 different high voltage hydro (power) lines. You cannot go west but only a couple miles. You can go east to the river,

1) Keith at Tunnel Lake Post says that sometimes the river is crossable. NOT when we were there. Although it is not very deep at all. But it is fast. If you wanted to cross, I believe you can take the dirt road south to the paved road and go a ways to cross, and then buzz back up to the powerline. From this point you should be able to go all the way to Elliot Lake and beyond on the powerline access road.

2) There is a dirt road - Midway Road that goes north along the river - Little White River. This road is dirt at at this point is quite wide and a lot of fishermen use it. You can take this north quite a ways and it viers off to many lakes and other places. Some of the forks towards the north east edge of it go back into a section where the road is unimproved and has had some washouts and "highway" vehicles are not allowed beyond (and couldn't if they wanted to). This is a lot of nice riding! If you keep following Midway road north and west you will come out to the powerline and go under it and out to Wakomata Lake. This is only a ski-doo trail and takes you out to the lake. Unless your machine floats this part may not be for you. This lake is said to be 300' deep in places.

The other option from Tunnel Lake Trading Post is to take the other line north which will bring you out to Midway road as mentioned before. This section is rough terrain. Goes way up in elevation too. Lots of rocky hills through here. You will come out to a lake that you have got to cross. We crossed the lake and swamped the machines on the north side. Just over the intake is all. Maybe 2 1/2 feet deep. We winched out only to find that someone had cut a trail over to the beaver dam and crossed there and didn't get wet at all. Oh well. That's the stuff that makes a trip memorable! LOL!

From the point that this powerline comes out to Midway Road-on, it looks like on the TOPO that the terrain settles down a bit. We turned on Midway and went back, but looks good to go on.

If you follow this on north it will bring you out to "Stop 129" 705-841-1063. This is a small truck stop out on the paved road ( I wouldn't call this a highway). From here I believe you can head towards Chapleau, or head back south on the ski-doo trail that is just on the west side of the road. S'posed to be some mud in there. You can ask Rick at Stop 129, and he also has motel rooms.

I would say that the ride from Tunnel Lake to Stop 129 (they call this the "wilderness trail" and is marked with a few signs [WT]) might be a good days ride. Maybe not quite, but I wouldn't want to have to come back same day unless you like to run hard. Especially on the rocky section. There is plenty of riding to spoil the rest of whatever day is left in that area. Maybe just head towards Chapleau a ways and turn around.

I have 3 diff maps of this area, and the only one that shows all these riding trails is my TOPO map - 41-J Blind River. You can buy these at some trading posts. I'm not real sure if Tunnel Lake has them or not. I get them at www.worldofmaps.com . For riding in this area this is a GREAT map to have along with the Forestry map that IS available at Tunnel Lake Trading Post. Between the two and possibly a snowmobile map, ou can find LOTS of riding here.

Any questions just le'me know.

 

Dave;

I just (OK, almost 2 weeks ago, I've been meanin' to get here) returned from the Great White North with info on another area.

We went to Thessalon (1 hour east of Sault St. Marie) and then north aboot 20? miles. We stayed at Tunnel Lake Trading Post and Motel. 705-841-2508. This place has anything you could want.

This place is right under 2 different high voltage hydro (power) lines. You cannot go west but only a couple miles. You can go east to the river,

1) Keith at Tunnel Lake Post says that sometimes the river is crossable. NOT when we were there. Although it is not very deep at all. But it is fast. If you wanted to cross, I believe you can take the dirt road south to the paved road and go a ways to cross, and then buzz back up to the powerline. From this point you should be able to go all the way to Elliot Lake and beyond on the powerline access road.

2) There is a dirt road - Midway Road that goes north along the river - Little White River. This road is dirt at at this point is quite wide and a lot of fishermen use it. You can take this north quite a ways and it viers off to many lakes and other places. Some of the forks towards the north east edge of it go back into a section where the road is unimproved and has had some washouts and "highway" vehicles are not allowed beyond (and couldn't if they wanted to). This is a lot of nice riding! If you keep following Midway road north and west you will come out to the powerline and go under it and out to Wakomata Lake. This is only a ski-doo trail and takes you out to the lake. Unless your machine floats this part may not be for you. This lake is said to be 300' deep in places.

The other option from Tunnel Lake Trading Post is to take the other line north which will bring you out to Midway road as mentioned before. This section is rough terrain. Goes way up in elevation too. Lots of rocky hills through here. You will come out to a lake that you have got to cross. We crossed the lake and swamped the machines on the north side. Just over the intake is all. Maybe 2 1/2 feet deep. We winched out only to find that someone had cut a trail over to the beaver dam and crossed there and didn't get wet at all. Oh well. That's the stuff that makes a trip memorable! LOL!

From the point that this powerline comes out to Midway Road-on, it looks like on the TOPO that the terrain settles down a bit. We turned on Midway and went back, but looks good to go on.

If you follow this on north it will bring you out to "Stop 129" 705-841-1063. This is a small truck stop out on the paved road ( I wouldn't call this a highway). From here I believe you can head towards Chapleau, or head back south on the ski-doo trail that is just on the west side of the road. S'posed to be some mud in there. You can ask Rick at Stop 129, and he also has motel rooms.

I would say that the ride from Tunnel Lake to Stop 129 (they call this the "wilderness trail" and is marked with a few signs [WT]) might be a good days ride. Maybe not quite, but I wouldn't want to have to come back same day unless you like to run hard. Especially on the rocky section. There is plenty of riding to spoil the rest of whatever day is left in that area. Maybe just head towards Chapleau a ways and turn around.

I have 3 diff maps of this area, and the only one that shows all these riding trails is my TOPO map - 41-J Blind River. You can buy these at some trading posts. I'm not real sure if Tunnel Lake has them or not. I get them at www.worldofmaps.com . For riding in this area this is a GREAT map to have along with the Forestry map that IS available at Tunnel Lake Trading Post. Between the two and possibly a snowmobile map, ou can find LOTS of riding here.

Any questions just le'me know.

 

UPDATE;

Quote from my last post - "If you wanted to cross, I believe you can take the dirt road south to the paved road and go a ways to cross, and then buzz back up to the powerline."

This is Midway Road that goes north/south along the west side of Little White River. DO NOT access this road from the main entrance at the corner on road 554. This IS a major entrance that goes right through an IRRATE landowners property. This IS where the logging trucks enter as I fallowed one in thinking that I was right and went back in there with truck and trailer and drove 45 minutes back in there. When I came out he had the gate locked. WE HAD WORDS for aboot 15 minutes. We were both pissed as it was also 10:30 at night. He has a gate and No Tresspassing signs - YES. But I know how some people are aboot claiming rights to things that are actually public (I know many instances to this)- AS A ROAD ACCESS into public grounds. And also the general idea of non-responsibility if injured. I have lots of experiance with public land use roads in the area, and am not sure of his rights to close this off. But what is a Yank supposed to do aboot it, eh?

In "talking" with him and his wife (before he opened the gate to let me out), they told me there was another entrance to the road. THIS may be the only way that he can close it off. From his entrance just go south a 1/4 mile on 554 to the township line. There is actually a staging area right there too. I saw some trucks parked there but assumed they had still entered from the main entrance. There IS a small road cutting in east right there. I did NOT notice it as I was NOT looking for it because both of my maps that I was using show it (a BIG orange line) at the corner of the road a 1/4 mile north of the township line. So that is where I went. The trail from the staging area will go east a bit a then on north and hook up with the main road outside of his property line. I had no idea of the existance of this "trail". I do NOW find it on my TOPO map as a dotted line. The minor dotted line goes through a word and then right on the crease of the map (kinda a high wear spot yunno) AND right on the township line which is in grey yet to boot. NOW that I know it is there I see it. I was just fallowing the BIG ORANGE LINE and was not looking for a small entrance to such a big road. I recommend getting the TOPO map for riding in this area. Map # 41J "Blind River" can be ordered at www.worldofmaps.com, or picked up at some of the bigger Trading Posts in the area possibly. I think the one on the north side of the Sault carries them in stock, sorry, I don't know the name. The "Forestry" map does NOT show this entrance AT ALL!

The landowner tells me that it may be difficult to get OUT even with 4WD when it is wet. Something aboot a big hill (I haven't went back in there yet). The guy at Tunnel Lake says that a lot of guys drive back that trail though. Others unload at the staging area and ride their wheelers back in. This small section is "unimproved" and IS probably bad if hilly. Should NOT be any trouble on a big bad ATV though as most of the riding area is unimproved. Just trouble for the trucks.

If you are riding OUT of there (as if riding the powerline from Tunnel Lake and want to cross the river) you need to fallow the trail right along the river (south) and then out. Then go aboot 2 miles down the road (NOT BUSY) and then cross and just keep left as best you can back up to the line again. Shouldn't be any trouble at all.

Considering what he says aboot the hill in there, I would NOT recomend that you trailer back in there UNLESS you maybe bribe the landowner to let you use HIS access. I do think he will rent out his drive. He does actually seem like a decent enough guy under normall terms. WE were BOTH mad while we were "talking". I think that if you asked him permission to trailer through and slipped him something for his trouble, I think he would let you through. He claims ownership for the first 1/2 mile is "all". If you have your machine in your truck - or most people have johnboats that I have seen still take their 4WD's back in there (the other way apperantly). I just assumed they came through the same place I did. When talking to some others back in there aboot the entrance, they didn't tell me anything aboot another way in. BUT, now I have to assume that they came in the other way.

Keeping this in mind will make your travels much less troublesome. I am sure that you will have a good time! There is LOTS of riding in the area. Remember to Tread Lightly!

If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me for more info. It is always better to learn from the mistakes of OTHERS eh?[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]