Northern Roads - Sand and Road Conditions 2021
- Thread starter shanekingsley
- Start date
I keep wanting to go back on Turtle Lake, but Swords keeps calling my name. Maybe it means a loop is in order!
If you are up near the Bunny Trail and want to hit up a nice bit of hard packed dirt, mixed with flawless paved twisties, then check out Lorimer Lake Rd. The southern portion of it is brand new pavement up to the Tim Hortons Memorial Camp and then it becomes a beautiful narrow dirt/gravel road all the way to the 124. If they ever pave that dirt section that road will be one of the best we have.
manuel hung
Well-known member
In need of some expertise....I've never done Bogie area roads so I decided to make Combermere my base, I figured it'd be a good middle ground to still hit some roads west of here but now I won't be too far from Bogie.
So my questions are, which is the most entertaining route out that way and once there what is the best way to link all the good roads together?
So my questions are, which is the most entertaining route out that way and once there what is the best way to link all the good roads together?
Hey - long time!
Look in the thread below and scroll down near the bottom of the first post. Lots of roads marked out there and some routes for the Barry’s Bay and Calabogie areas.
You could also do a search in the rides/hookups forum and there will be routes for those areas which people have done and posted up over the years. Our Summer Solstice rides hit up most of the best roads in those areas too.
Re: The best roads/routes in Ontario/Quebec/U.S.
Re: The best roads/routes in Ontario/Quebec/U.S. A few notes: Google Maps occasionally updates or even some of the websites further down, and so some of the links below may not work - if you find something not right, please let me know and I'll correct it. For an excellent and free motorcycle...
www.gtamotorcycle.com
You are dead centre of some awesome roads.
you could make a nice loop to Calabogie and back without repeating a road.
Here is a suggestion I quickly prepared on scenic.
Enjoy
scenicapp.space
you could make a nice loop to Calabogie and back without repeating a road.
Here is a suggestion I quickly prepared on scenic.
Enjoy
Combermere to Calabogie
Motorcycle Route shared with Scenic - Motorcycle Navigation App
scenicapp.space
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manuel hung
Well-known member
Hey - long time!
Look in the thread below and scroll down near the bottom of the first post. Lots of roads marked out there and some routes for the Barry’s Bay and Calabogie areas.
You could also do a search in the rides/hookups forum and there will be routes for those areas which people have done and posted up over the years. Our Summer Solstice rides hit up most of the best roads in those areas too.
Re: The best roads/routes in Ontario/Quebec/U.S.
Re: The best roads/routes in Ontario/Quebec/U.S. A few notes: Google Maps occasionally updates or even some of the websites further down, and so some of the links below may not work - if you find something not right, please let me know and I'll correct it. For an excellent and free motorcycle...
Hey Shane, long time no doubt! Now that work is finally starting to slow down I'll be here/Muskokas almost every weekend until the end of the season, we should link up sometime when you do another northern ride
Cheers for the map STARSHIP, I'll be spending today in that area.You are dead centre of some awesome roads.
you could make a nice loop to Calabogie and back without repeating a road.
Here is a suggestion I quickly prepared on scenic.
Enjoy
Combermere to Calabogie
Motorcycle Route shared with Scenic - Motorcycle Navigation App
manuel hung
Well-known member
Will do! I'll probably hit it today but I'm here til Wed, so it'll definitely get explored.
For the ride in and out.
manuel hung
Well-known member
So I entered the area from Buckshot Lake rd, nice very fast road, then took 509(very nice aswell)with plans to hit S. Lavant but there was no pavement, so continued on planning to hit Ardoch, even worse looked like a dirtbike would even have trouble going down it lol.
So I stopped for gas on 7 and took this route back to the cottage.
Oh and if you're ever looking to stay in Combermere I highly suggest Hush Lodge & Cottages, the owners are riders so they're very knowledgeable, accommodating and friendly and the prices are fairly cheap compared to many other places I've stayed.
So I stopped for gas on 7 and took this route back to the cottage.
Oh and if you're ever looking to stay in Combermere I highly suggest Hush Lodge & Cottages, the owners are riders so they're very knowledgeable, accommodating and friendly and the prices are fairly cheap compared to many other places I've stayed.
Attachments
Sorry about the road work as it is everywhere this season with the extra money Ottawa has been handing out for infrastructure.
Thought they had completed Ardoch as they had been working on it last year.
The good news is that they should be in great shape next year.
Thought they had completed Ardoch as they had been working on it last year.
The good news is that they should be in great shape next year.
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manuel hung
Well-known member
No worries about the construction I'm probably going to go back tomorrow and inspect both roads from the opposite ends. But you're not joking about Ottawa spending money, I think almost every road I hit today had construction or detour signs on them but most of them the construction was already complete. The signs messed with parts of my ride because early on in my ride(forget which road it was)there were 2 small sections getting worked on that were loose gravel, the 1st one had a warning the 2nd one not so much and it was on a slight bend, so every time I saw a sign I slowed up considerably because of that road early on, but atleast now I know that the construction is done.
Do you have the Ride the Highlands link?
manuel hung
Well-known member
Yes I saved it to my phone.
So today I decided to enter through the 506, it was overcast the whole way there but then about 5mins from Cloyne I saw hell coming towards me over the lake. Torrential down pour for about 10mins, stopped at the Shell station and the sun came out blazing, so I let my gear dry a little bit and then headed on my way.
So entering Ardoch from 506 was fine for about 1/3, 2nd 3rd was tar and stone, last 3rd was hard packed dirt with lots of loose stones.
Turned left on 509 then right on Elphin-Maberly 36 to Macdonalds Corners/route 12.
Then hit 511 to see what the other end of S Lavant was like....B-E-A-UTIFUL!....until you hit Lavant Mills, S Lavant after that was way worse than Southwood has ever been, I turned around and headed back to 511.
Took 511 to 508 to Centennial Lake rd 65 to Matawatchan 71 back to 41, 28 and back to the cottage. 508 and Centennial Lake have absolutely stellar road conditions and even 71 was pretty good.
Good times, thanks to all for any inputs.
Nice stuff. If you haven’t already, make sure you hit up the 512, 514, 515, Siberia Rd, Old Barry’s Bay Rd and others in that area. If you go back to ride the 511 again, then also check out Tatlock Rd #9 which runs east off it and just do it as an out n back for the two storey portion of it.
Closer to Maynooth and Wilberforce are also Elephant Lake Rd, Loop Rd, South Baptiste Lake Rd, Essonville Line and also near Bancroft is Dyno Rd which is worth a couple of runs.
The 509 is my meditation road. Stretch it out a bit to get to Wheelers pancake house and have some homemade maple sausages, pancakes and home made maple syrup. Wheelers requires a tiny bit of gravel/dirt road riding depending in where you approach from but it’s worth it. Depending on what bike you have you can hop off the 509 to take the K&P trail north to Calabogie or south to Sharbot Lake on gravel roads at various places. I think snow road station is one but my memory might be wrong on that one. South of Sharbot Lake on the K&P is off limits for bikes though. There’s snowmobile trails east and west from Sharbot Lake too but you need passes for those. Mostly larger gravel/deep gravel/baby rocks though on the westwards one at least. These are disused rail beds.
Not far from Ardoch/ north of highway 7 is a recently used uranium mine apparently. I’ve been meaning to try and find it but I think it’s out in the boonies somewhere. Some locals had bumper stickers with some choice phrases about it a while back.
Just west of Poland were the best stretches of road a while back but I haven’t been recently.
I really like it up that way, it’s only about an hour from where I am and there’s usually no one about and the roads are generally great. Pick your spot and there are decent swimming holes in the Mississippi River too.
Not far from Ardoch/ north of highway 7 is a recently used uranium mine apparently. I’ve been meaning to try and find it but I think it’s out in the boonies somewhere. Some locals had bumper stickers with some choice phrases about it a while back.
Just west of Poland were the best stretches of road a while back but I haven’t been recently.
I really like it up that way, it’s only about an hour from where I am and there’s usually no one about and the roads are generally great. Pick your spot and there are decent swimming holes in the Mississippi River too.
manuel hung
Well-known member
Update, 518 is now passable 
