Creating a Cross Canada Overland Route

[deadly99]

The bridge out section

The coast road

We finished riding the coat road and eneded up at our destination, the town of Perce. The Perce Rock is a landmark in this area and the small town is a hub for tourism. Lucky for us tourism season was over as I understand it gets a bit chaotic here in the summer. We had the campground to ourselves with outstanding views of the "rock"

One of the more scenic camp sites I have been to in a while. The pictures dont seem to do justice to the size and beauty of the landscape around here. A lighthouse on one side of us and the rock on the other :thumb We setup camp and put back a bottle of vino

We headed down into town to get some grub...I have never understood why people put pictures of their food in a ride report, perhaps because the riding was lame and they had nothing better to talk about? That being said I call the next installement..."The Dinner"

 

[deadly99]

The dinner

We walked into what we thought was a pub but were soon to discover it was probably the most expensive restaurant in town. Screw it, we had been eating Mc DOnalds and Tims for days and decided to splurge on some fine french cuisine. We drank a few too many beverages and had some real laughs as we read Jenna's rr about finding a creek to sleep near so she could clean up. The contrast between here voyage and where we were sitting was huge and made for some guilty laughs. I am not known as a very refined person but Sean and I did our best to fit in with the crowd and between laughing fits and having folks stare at the two "dirt bags" taking pictures of their food I think we pulled it off, well we didnt stick out too bad....alright we didnt fit in but I bet we had more fun than anyone else n the establishment :nod

First up were some local beers

Next on the menu was a nice seafood pate made with locally caught fish

Next up was a locally grown organic salad followed by a cheese platter. The cheeses were each from a different region in Quebec and the hostess gave us a run down on each one. The brie from the Charelvoix region was a winner with a nice oak taste and a lively spring to it :rofl

Beers turned to whiskey and I always appreciate my ginger in a seperate glass

The main course was a wonderfully prepared sirloin with a bourgois sauce that was made locally. An amazing piece of meat

The vegetable platter made with veggies grown "out back" was a delight to the senses :1drink

Whiskey turned to doubles of Amaretto on ice

A nice truffle cake was had for desert, this was followed by Sean explaining, between laughing fits, how to properly drink coffee in this atmoshpere. You'll notice the correct method of raising the pinky finger :rofl

"The Dinner" had more laughs than I have had in a long time and other than the insane bill at the end was a very memorable experience. Maybe some day I'll grow up and mature and live like this on a full time basis...ya probably not but it sure was nice to see how the other half live :nod

The view from our table

Still laughing we made our way to some tourist shops to grab trinckets for our families

Back to the campsite, another glass of vino and what not and called it a day

 

[deadly99]

The night was windy, VERY windy. The kind of wind that would blow your tent out into the ocean if you werent inside it to hold it down. I woke up at 5 am and Sean was already up and mumbelling about no sleep and how he will never camp again :rofl

We hit the road nice and early and headed up the coast to the town of Gaspe where we got some fuel for the bikes and ourselves. Nothing shakes off the booze from the night before like a brisk ride and some Rotten Ronnies :thumb

He rode inland to the town of Murdoch. A fun spritied ride along empty roads.

We headed down a road that follows the Chic Choc mountain range and provincial park. The mountains in this area break treeline and for me were a treasure to see. After living in the west of the country for ten years and making a living "in the hills", mountains seem to smooth my soul. Its hard to explain but anyone who has livied in the mountains and then moved away will know what I am talking about.

We left the mountains and followed the coast down the St Lawrence to catch our ferry. It was VERY windy and made for a few pucker moments trying to keep it on the road. Lots of scenic villages and tons of windmills making money on a day like this one.

The ferry was smooth and lasted for just over a couple of hours. The plan was to grab a motel room in Baie Comeau and hit the TCAT in the morning.

Sean take

F.ck that dinner was funny.... like Ted said, a couple of dirt bags in the best seat in the house, laugh untill the tears rolled off our cheeks. I thought we'ed get our asses kicked out. I think the waitress was happy to serve us as we were not the typical clients in that establishment. To her, we were normal..... sort of speak. She took the time to explain in her broken english what the hay we were eating... Some of it I still don't know what it was... Mom always told me to try everything on my plate..... really!!!



Hardware gril has the right to call us dirt bags, as we talked about her in ditches, and us in a fine dinning... Where we clearly did not belong... We should of been in the ditches.... We could of ate for a week for the price of that meal... it was very good however...



Every trip should have at least one meal like that...... The next few days turned cold wet wind rain and late night runs... to sleep on a coffee table????

 

[deadly99]

While on the ferry I hear the fellow behind me on his cell trying to get a motel room, he explains to his wife that the town is sold out. I do a bit of phoning around and sure enough every hotel I phoned says the same thing. The sun drops just before we land it the rain begins like rain I havent seen in years, Drops the size of golf balls and lightning flashing up the sky. Baie Comeau is pretty far out there and the nearest town is over a hundred clicks away. I get a lady at a gas station to let me use her phone and I phone around for a hotel in the next town (Forestville) and again I am presented with a sorry sir we are all sold out. The next town is a good 3 hour drive, its dark, late and raining like heck. Finally I get through to the Four Seasons Hotel and indeed they have one room left and its a nice suite the lady informs me. We make the reservation and hit the road. The water in town was up to my axles on the bike, SERIOUS rain :nod Not much to say about those 100 km's, miserable, cold and wet.

Rdiding around Forestville we cant seem to find the fancy Four Seasons. Now let me tell you about what was running through my head, a nice hotel with a pool and sauna...maybe spend the next morning just lounging around the pool and enjoying the good life as we had been pushing pretty hard up until this point in the trip.

Lets just say that there is a BIG difference between the Four Season Hotel and the Quatra Season Motel :huh

The suite only has one bed and the plave is a bit of a dive, to be polite. Ah well its warm and dry. A Granola bar for dinner as everything was closed in town and got my gps out and discovered I has inadvertantly erased the gps files for the TCAT in Western Quebec..ARG! Juames to the rescue as he set me up and I reloaded the GPS.

Fabrice created the TCAT section from the end of the Trans Lab (Baie Comeau) to the town of Chibougamau. It begins with a 380 km section of logging roads that lead to a gas station and general store in the middle of nowhere (Labrieville which is a hydro plant and entrance to a Zec). Next up is a 250 more km's of logging roads to a lodge called KM31 where gas and lodging can be had. I expect this would be a huge day for folks and suspect most end up camping along the way and make this a 2 day ride. From the lodge its another hour or so to Chicoutimmi which is a city of 200, 000 people. The roads from the lodge into Chicoutamii are a bit narrow and have loose rocks. One section has been penned as Fab's Hill and will be a highlight (or lowlight) for most folks. Loose rocks the size of soccer balls require you to keep momentum and pick your line carefully. The hill climbs for a few hundred meteres before levels out for about 30 feet and you round a corner and have another climb equal or larger in size than the first. Fab's Hill WILL be talked about in future reports of the TNE and the TCAT. For us it wasnt crazy but for larger bikes and less experienced riders it may very well be a daunting climb :deal After Chicoutimi Fabs section continues on to a town called Chibougamau, this is where the TNE heads north up the Rue Du Nord and the TCAT heads southwest towards Ottawa. I expect most folks will take between 2-5 days for this section of the route (Baie Comeau to Chibougamau). This section makes the Trans Lab look over populated. For about 600 km you are unlikely to see anyone otyher than maybe a hydro worker. This is what the TCAT is all about, showing people places in canada that never get seen. Fab created something special and I think many other folks will enjoy it as much as I did :nod

Since we had lost some time we werent able to ride Fab's entire section but the parts we did ride were amazing. the scenery and the roads were great. The road surface is similiar to the Trans Lab, sandy with rounded rocks. I was surprised at the size of the mountains in this area, it reminded me a lot of the Squamish area in BC. Large cut faces of rock on the hills reaching 1-2 thousand feet in height. Both Sean and I were blown away with the scenery.

The must find gas station. Waypoints for the gas and Lodge31 have been taken and will be added to the gps files. Learn from my mistake, call ahead for reservations if you plan on staying indoors as the lumber and hydro industries seem to book entire motels/hotels for their staff :deal

Your going to get dinged about ten dollars here as you'll be riding through a ZEC. A ZEC is a managed forest area where recreation is allowed (fishing, hunting and riding dual sport bikes). Like a national or provincial park except logging and hydro dams are prevalent.

All filled up with gas we hit the road. I carry a Dromedary bag for extra fuel. Works well (smells a bit as the fumes leak through the material) and packs up small when you dont need it. It holds ten liters of fuel and if you plan on using one switch out the cap for a Nalgene water bottle cap as the stock one will leak. All told its about $40 at Mountain Equipment CoOp :thumb

 

[deadly99]

Two yellow dry bags

Two yellow dry bags but one is sliipping out

One yellow dry bag, barely

Sean comes up and informs me has no more yellow dry bags. Well we think they were on about 75 km's ago. I cant go back or we wont have enough fuel to get through this section. If Sean goes back and uses my aux fuel we should make it but it might be dark and cold. Sean heads out while I enjoy a Siesta. I am expecting him to be gone for an hour or more, 30 minutes later he comes back declaring (and I might say he looked happy) thats its official, we wont be camping anymore :rofl The camping gear was far from new and wasnt a heart breaker for him, although not having shoes for the rest of trip was a bummer for him. With a late start and tons of delays we pushed on. Fab had been watching the Spot tracker and had headed out to meet us on the trail. Its funny what you expect after exchnaging hundreds of emails with someone but never having seen each other. Fab is a part time web developer and has been helping me with the new site, it was great to finally meet him and go for a ride. FAB IS FAST :deal

A spirited ride to his plave took place with a stop for fuel along the way at lodge31. Great place and I highly recommend folks stay there.

The view from the lodge

Hard to pass up a sand pit along the way, thanks for helping me get that 500 lb bike back on the road :thumb

Sadly I have no pictures of Fabs Hill. I was a bit consummed with keeping it rubber side down :wink: A couple of km's after Fabs Hill is a ski resort and the end of the gravel for a stretch of the route before it begins again and heads north.

 

[deadly99]

We spent the night at Fab's place. A superb dinner and a few bottles of wine were consumed. Discussions of routing for the TCAT, skateboarding, BC and other items of similiar interest were discussed prior to crashing on his couch. Maybe its just me but folks from Quebec really know how to cook. Fab and his wife preppared a dinner that is worth mentioning, a fondue with flank and filet steak, fresh vegies and home made sauces. I havent had fondue for many years and damn was it good. THANKS FAB!

In the morning we hit Fab's shop and he welded Seans skid plate back together, it seems like Meca Systems isn't as tough as Fab's Hill :rofl Giving the bikes a look over I noticed a few items that needed fixing, Seans bike had melted wires due to being installed incorrectly by "some mechanic", my bike had a missing cable tie and the front brake line was rubbing through, chains needed lubing and a general tighten up of all the seeable nuts and bolts. There isnt much I enjoy more than sitting in a garage working on bikes

Fab and his lovely wife cooking up a storm

Fab's 1100 gs getting an overhaul

A cool project he is working on, attaching the front end from a CR250 (I think) to his big GS. Welding was to take place after we left. vroom vroom

AFter getting the bikes on the road we headed into town to get my new rear tire. I have to say the price was outstanding. A rear d908 for 203$ AFTER TAXES and IT INCLUDES FREE INSTALLATION (about 90 bucks cheaper than I normally pay and I dont get free installation). I have never heard of a shop offering free installation when you buy a tire, awesome :deal This shop will be included in the guidebook as it would make a convienent place to get new rubber while on the route. We headed out for some lunch before saying our goodbyesand heading for home. It took us a day and half to get back home and was an ejoyable ride. Some fun roads through the Laurentian mountains and then some super slab for the final push.

A great trip all around, good weather, met some great people, saw some cool scenery, finished the TNE through New Brunswick, got to ride a good chunk of the TCAT that Fab has put together, drank beer, ate good food and all the other fun stuff a bike trip includes.

:freaky

 

[deadly99]

 

[zeke2.0]

I'm thinking about getting a 2011 Ford Raptor Crewcab. I"m hoping it can be used on most of the trails.

 

[deadly99]

I'm thinking about getting a 2011 Ford Raptor Crewcab. I"m hoping it can be used on most of the trails.

The truck would be more than capable as the bulk of the TCAT and TNE routes are gravel roads, the only concern would be scratching the paint as a couple of trails have overhanging branches. Nice choice of truck, if I had to pick a vehicle and money wasn't an issue, the Raptor would likely be the one I would get.

Have fun in your new ride

 

[deadly99]

Went and did some more filming with the fellow who made this video for us last year...he is working on a promo vid for the TCAT which should be ready in month or so

 

[deadly99]

As things are kind of bouncing around and some great reports coming in from folks involved in the project I figured a map would help folks visualize where we are talking about.

This is a pretty rough outline of the Eastern TCAT

The green line on the right side is Newfoundland. Skibum69 is making this section...not complete but I believe it will involve some slab up the vgiking highway, part of an old rail line and maybe some gravel roads. (approx 2-4 days)

The black line is the Trans Labrador Highway. Over 2000 kilometeres, about a 65-35 mix of gravel and pavement. Nice big easy to navigate roads. (Approx 2-4 days)

The yellow line is Fab's section of the route. It could be broken into three parts. Baie Comeau to Labrieville is the first section (heading west to east) and is a mix of logging roads, 380 km between gas. This is the section Fab is referring to in his previous posts. The second part if from Labrieville to Chicoutimi and is about 250 km's of logging roads. Keep in mind that Labrieville is a very small general store and gas stop. Very remote section of the TCAT (the 380 + 250) and from fabs words and from my experience.....way the feck out there and a consistant source of people loosing their shoes, lol. The third part of Fab's section goes from Chcoutimmi to Chibougamua, again logging roads make up the most of this section. (approx 3-6 days)

The red section is Juames and myself section. The first half (from Chibougamau to Ottawa) consists of logging roads, the second half consists of gravel roads and a handful of trails. (Approx 6-12 days)

The grey section was built upon sugesstions from Finnidian (Gord). A mix of gravel roads, logging roads and some trails. There are previous posts by SDWebb, myself and Gord on this area. (Approx 2-4 days)

The pink section was created by myself and parts have yet to be tested, but looks good on paper :rofl Next summer this is on the plate for me. (Approx 1-2 days)

The blue section is the one that Hardwaregrrl is reporting on and has been kind enough to "test ride" for us :lurk (Approx 3-6 days)







As you can see it is all coming together nicley. The bulk of this half of the route is complete or very close to being complete. Based on some rough educated guesses I would say this half of the TCAT will take folks between 19 to 38 days to complete.


The western half has also had a lot of work on it by those involved and looks to be good on paper. The bulk of it has been ridden and from the pics and reports looks to be outstanding. If all goes to plan I am taking the bulk of next summer off (August-Sept) and will be riding the entire western half in one go. I think I am in for something special

 

[deadly99]

Hey Deadly, do you have a pic of the TNE now as it stands? on some kind of map?

Yellow line shows the TNE route, you can see how Fab's section of the TCAT is also utlized for the TNE route.

 

[deadly99]

NW Ontario

Jenna from Atlanta came and prerode a section of the TCAT in NW Ontario (ThunderBay to the Manitoba border). Here is her report...


I left work early to get this sucker done!!! Mike and I will write up a full RR and post the link here. But I don't want to muck up this thread too much....

Mike and I



So, I contacted Deadly99 on the whim that I may go visit my family in Detroit. Then head up to ride the portion of the TCAT north of Superior. But when he told me they needed to map out NW Ontario, I cut my family out of the picture. Ha! They never come to Atlanta to visit, so I needed a real vacation. One where the men are separated from the boys. My mom is turning over in her grave right now wondering where she went wrong....:ear

So, I'll just start at the beginning of the route Ted sent me.



So we were met at the border by Old fart at play aka Steve. And it's a good thing we were. He ended up cutting out a large portion of TC17, and kept us on the railbed almost from TB to Sioux Lookout. That's Steve in the yellow Darien.



Just from the beginning, we had already hit a snag in the GPX file. We were supposed to cross a bridge that looked as though it had been long gone. So Steve rerouted us to this trusty bridge.



The roads out of TB and to the rail bed were very nicely maintained logging roads. No pucker moments at all. But I have to admit, I dropped my bike in ZZR Ron's driveway.:shog I was carrying so much ****, I'm 5'4", and I was backing up on an angle downhill. It was a perfect start to the TCAT. Oh, and we were seriously hung over. Thanks Ron, you made my hands shake all day.:freaky

And here's the start of the rail bed.



Nice rock on the sides for a bit.



Not too long after we began, we ran into the one and only tunnel you'll pass through on this railbed. Super cool to hang out in and was a nice 20 degrees F cooler in the tunnel. And it was warm outside. Y'all had been having some strange weather that we benefited from and suffered through.



Captain Mike.





We hung out and snapped some shots, Steve took a few of Mike and I!!! Again, my friends are always asking why I want to spend my vacation in Canada. You guys are just, friendlier. I mean, I know Steve was having fun showing us around, but it took all day to babysit us!!! So again, thanks for the wonderful warm welcome STeve.!!!

Ok, enough pansy ****. ZZR Ron kept saying that we would love it on the railbed. We would be totally in the wild and wouldn't see anyone for days!!!! Ah,....fail.





This dude was a bit weirded out that I was snapping photos of him. I mean, can you blame him.? I do look like a midget in my riding suit on my giant bike.



See. Weird looking midget type person.

So the gravel on the rail bed changes from nicely packed, to just barely. There is no reason to be freaked out about riding on the rail bed. A novice could easily do it with an unloaded bike. We averaged that first day around 40mph. But beware, there are side streets that do enter the rail bed that are kind of hard to see until you're on them. It would be unlikely to meet someone, but it could happen. So really pay attention to cross roads. There are several from TB to Upsala, then they taper off to about one every 20 miles or so.

So, Ted had asked if I was afraid of heights as we may be passing over some of the old rail bridges. This is what came to mind...



Ha ha!!! I'm such a dumb ***. This is what we ended up with as the first bridge.

 

[deadly99]

You can see the new CN rail line running along side here as we are very close to Upsala.



We got into Upsala around 4.30. Steve bought us lunch at the shop.



There are a few provisions here besides gas.





But not many. We hadn't had breakfast this morning, and add in the hangover and just the joy we felt from being in this environment, we were starving. Thanks for lunch, Steve. But people, the food here was not very good. You've been warned. There is a LCBO store combined with the Post Office, its the white and red building in the background. They were closed on Sunday...:cry....and had limited hours. If you want beer that first day, get here before 6pm on a weekday. I think Saturdays till 4pm

Look for this weird *** thing....



Upsala was about a 10 mile jog to get to off the rail bed. We said our goodbyes to Steve here as he had to go and see his Dad on his b-day!!! All the way to Atikokan!!!! What a ride!!!

Bye Steve.



Oh ****! We're on our own now for real.:eek1 No beer!!!! No idea where we'll end up (lie). We shot for Quorn lake as was recommended by Steve and Ron. But, we weren't really sure how far time or distance wise it was. We also couldn't remember how to get back to the rail bed as I was a dope and turned off the track mode when we turned to Upsala. What a bunch of idiots.!!!



We eventually found our way back. There is a boo-boo on my gpx file for Ted that I don't know how to edit. And this is where it happened trying to get back to the rail bed.



We got to Graham, and it's a bit of a crap shoot navigating using the gps file off the rail bed and back on here in Graham. But this sign is a good mark to shoot for as it begins just past the sign. I kept wanting to turn east for some reason until Mike threw a rock at my head and said "west, we want to go west. right?". Mike had not looked at a map or had even brought one with him. He was navigating blind. If he was in front, I'd just buzz him with my uber powerful BMW and dictate the turn. That worked pretty well the whole trip. It was good keeping him in front on interstates as the BMW can get away from the KLR pretty easily.

While in Graham I noticed my boxes felt a bit....shaky. Earlier in the day I had lost some hardware to them after we had gotten off the only "goat trail" of the trip. I figured they'd let loose again..

Fail...



Aw, ****. I really should rework the whole system, but I usually just reweld it when I break it. Which is often. Straps to the rescue. Graham was also quite busy that Sunday nite. Lots of trucks with people asking if we needed assistance! I think they were all berry picking. I was tempted to ask these guys if we could buy a few beers.



Strapped up and ready to head, ah, west! Yes! Now, mind you it's super fun to haul *** on the rail bed, but mind those cross streets and the SAND!

Landing gear.



Loud cackling noises..



Butthole puckered face.



The sand will snag your *** down if you aren't careful. The cool thing about having too much **** on your bike is you can really wheelie through it super easy.!:deal

Now, I feel like a **** cause it was getting late, and we hadn't reached the lake. We knew we needed to take bear precautions tonight and that would take a minute to set up two camps and hang our food. We came upon this...



The only water crossing of the trip. It was probably about 18"-24" inches deeps. Knobby rocks lined the bottom. Good traction, but keep her moving or you will loose momentum.

Big feet.



We made it!!



Lovely full moon.

Drying out the boots and drying socks on a stick. Or in my case, burning socks.



It is a really nice spot to camp. I recommend as did Steve, leave your bikes on the rail bed and just walk down. It's a pretty steep hill down to wet sand. No fun on a loaded down, big fat, DS bike. We did hear and see 3-4 trucks pass in the night. But I have an awful lot of retro-reflective crap on the bike. So I wasn't worried. So, not too much navigation today, it can easily be made in one day if you're sightseeing. Quorn lake is the camp spot for this leg.





Day two. No beer last nite, and more importantly, no bears. I had a flask of whiskey and Mike had some Vodka. We were happy with our drinks and rice and tuna night. Hopefully today we'll get past Sioux lookout. I was thinking about finding a welder there and having the rack re-welded, if we got in early enough. Foreshadowing.:deal


Lots and lots of lovely rivers, creeks and lakes in these here parts.




>

But not a whole lot of curves.:evil



Crossed a few cool bridges on this day. Mike wanted to take a dive off of this one. If it had been warmer I think he would have. It began to rain on day two. It followed us the rest of the way home.

 

[deadly99]

Random shots of isolation.







Here's a good look at what you'll see as you come onto the 599. Take a right to Silver Dollar for gas and booze, showers and cabins. Or pop up a tent if you'd like! There isn't much else there. But the people were so damn nice.







So, Wally owns this place. Mike got a pic of him I believe. But you can ask them about the roads out of there and they probably would have pretty up to date info. We were told about a wash out that wasn't all that far up the rail bed from Silver Dollar. It was passable by ATV, so we figured, what the hell?!. Ted had routed us up the 642 to Sioux Lookout. But we were here to map. And we knew that the 642 was passable. But what we didn't know was , was the rail bed? We felt it was our job to navigate the rail bed and keep it off road as much as possible. We were the perfect demographic to test the wash out on. Mike, and his limited off road motorcycling experience, although this dude never falls down. He's got lots of experience riding mountain bikes, and that comes in handy. So we've got Mike on his KLR that he kitted out himself, including replacing a blown motor. Then there's me.....short **** on a very heavy bike. A good bit of off road motorcycling experience. But I fall, a lot. I mean, a lot. It isn't uncommon for me to fall several times in a day. But, it's usually when I'm stopped and the earth just isn't there for me to put one toe down.

So onto the wash out!!!!!:gun2:defend:gun1:2guns:shoot:thwakep

That's code for a dirty word.

Here it is!!!





Nice roost tracks.



It was literally 15 minutes from Silver Dollar...and we had done it.!:clap:freaky:wink::lol3

Easy peasy for a big DS bike. Keep the speed up going down, 'cause you'll need it on the way back up!

I just love it here, couldn't take enough photos of just the emptyness of open space. And the beauty of silence.



But then, there was this little, itty bitty, wash out.





Wondering what to do?? It was an easy descent. But the problem lied at the bottom. There was a creek about 6 inches deep, a very narrow creek. Lots of big rocks, and a steep, sandy, rocky, long uphill at the other side. We would need some nuts to ride this thing. Yeah, we were not going to ride up. I thought we should get the bikes to the creek, than walk them up with the clutch. Mike seemed to go along with the idea. It began to rain. I unloaded everything I could, including boxes off of my bike as Mike did the same.



I just had filled up at Silver Dollar. Let me say that again, FILLED UP WITH GAS!!! By the way, my tank holds 11.3 us gallons of fuel. ****.

We got her good and stuck as I slung rocks right below Mike's waist. Sorry man. It rained harder.



I had brought a little folding **** shovel with me. I always have a shovel as I hate to stumble upon someones used lunch when I'm out in the woods. So I do the courteous thing and bury my ****. Well, I began digging my bike out with it. **** is ****, tomato tomato.

The other bummer was we didn't have a plan for a camp spot that nite, and I wanted to weld up my luggage rack. Mike was having a problem finding a good place to push on my bike as he didn't want to destroy the rack any more than I already had. We were a bit nervous, Mike wondered why we didn't turn back. So did I. We hoped for a local out picking berries with a winch, we weren't far from Sioux Lookout at this point. We should've stuck to the gps file. Dammit!

Oh, oh!!! I brought a pulley/recovery kit just for this thing here exactly. Pulling my bike out!!! Hurray, as I dumped out 30 ft of webbing, a 50 ft rope, and a couple of biners with pulley wheels. "How does this work?", Mike asked. :shog I felt a bit like the fat kid in stand by me. I brought the comb, for our hair when we get our pictures taken for the paper. ****. I didn't really have an idea given our surrounding and the circumstances before us. No trees on a rail bed friends. Now what?