We haven't seen a lot of group rides being posted up, so we decided to post up our own. Our plan was to explore some of the snowmobile trails that we were unable to complete early in the season last year because of snow and fallen logs.
After putting the call out, we were surprised to see quite a few bikes show up. As usual, everybody wants to follow, no one wants to lead... Still, not a bad turnout for a mid-week afternoon ride!
We used to post up a lot of group rides on the web-based forums, but they're not as popular as social media these days, so we are getting a lot more interest when posting up rides on Facebook, WhatsApp and Tonit.
After a quick 15 minute jaunt on the highway, we leave the tarmac and hop onto the snowmobiles trails which head north towards the provincial park. Can't believe these trails are so close to our house!
There's a dam there that supplies water to the neighbouring towns:
The summer drought and a month of 40°+ temperatures have dried out the dam, the water level is much lower than last year. One of the water crossings across the dam which was knee high last year is now a dry bed of gravel!
At the south entrance of the provincial park, we stopped for a quick snack break at a cabin built by the local snowmobile club.
This is the first time we've been out on the trails in a couple of months. The weather has been so hot and dry that off-road vehicles have been discouraged to ride the trails because of the danger of starting forest fires from our exhausts or even from a spark coming off a foot-peg hitting a rock.
Surveying the damage from the forest fires earlier on this season. Most of the forest fires are man-made, either set by cigarettes or unattended camp fires. Sad.
And then our fist casualty of the day:
The WRs rear tire picked up a nail. This probably happened at the snowmobile lodge. Wooden pallets are frequently used for campfires. Unfortunately, the only thing left over after the fire is out are the nails used to hold the pallets together. He must have ridden over one of these nails on his way out and he developed a slow leak which finally made itself known later.
A lot of experience in this group, with everyone helping, we had that rear tire changed out in less than 10 minutes. And then back on the trails!
The trail inside the park is not maintained, as it's not designated an FSR, so there were lots of gnarly, rocky climbs and fallen logs to negotiate. We had a ton of fun! Nice scenery too!
Ohaiguyz!
It wasn't all just riding though, our route takes us past a basalt formation so we abandoned our bikes and hiked a little bit to get a closer look:
The polygonal basalt formations are a popular spot for rock climbers. Here's a video of just that:
We had started pretty late in the day because of the cold weather we've been getting lately. However, this meant that the sunlight was getting scarce by the end of our long ride. Or was it because of the rain clouds rolling in?
It totally rained on us as we left the provincial park. Thankfully, it was at the north end after all the gnarly hill climbs and by the time the waterworks hit full blast, we were back on the FSR where the gravel was graded. I had my tinted goggles on and the combination of the setting sun and rain meant the only thing I could see were Neda's tail lights in front of me...
Despite this, it was a great day out on the trails. Also met a bunch of cool people that we can always call on during the week for a quick rip! Awesome!