Posted in Trip updates on February 23, 2012| 1 Comment »
Our President, Bill Bradfield is very good with figures and he has another to add to his records. His sled will go exactly 148.8 miles until it runs out of gas and this is fact because today he tested it and sure enough he ran out of gas. If his sled would have gone 149 miles he would have made it because he was only 1 block from the station. Thanks to George and his trusty bungee Bill made it to get gas.
Posted in Trip updates on February 23, 2012| 1 Comment »
We all had a fantastic dinner at the White Otter Restaurant tonight.. here is a video of Sandy and Dave Upthegrove having fun with Dessert!
Posted in Trip updates on February 23, 2012| 2 Comments »
We have all arrived safely in Atikokan, Ontario this afternoon after about a 160 mile ride on virgin trails, (groomed with 6 inchs of snow and no tracks) most of the way. We have reviewed the snow & trail conditions in Northern MN and WI and have decided to ride further north in Ontario and than double back and ride back across Ontario to Wawa. We will be posting more stories, pics and video’s later this evening.
Posted in Trip updates on February 22, 2012| 6 Comments »
Posted in Trip updates on February 22, 2012| 6 Comments »
The easy scenic morning to Nakina
The trip started well with 17 riders heading up to Nakina, Ontario, meeting up with Gaby and his wife of OFSC district 16. The morning ride Longlac to Geralton via Nakina was scenic with excellent trails conditions and markings.
The railway to Jellicoe, Ontario
During lunch in Geralton, Ontario we coordinated with local guides to help us ride down to Beardmore, Ontario. The plan was to ride the railroad grade (old train tracks – removed) most of the way to Beardmore and then hop on the gas pipeline the rest of the way there (about 60 miles). The ride started fine with the trail narrowing down to one snowmobile track after 25 miles. The deep snow inexperienced riders starting getting stuck. Riding just a few inches off the single track would pull a sled into waist deep snow and precariously close to falling off the railroad grade and was an ominous job get back on the trail. 
Breaking trail
At this point the previous tracks we were riding stopped and turned around, leaving only one of our guides in front of me breaking a fresh trail. I quickly realized this was going to be impossible to get the group through and stopped and radioed the other three sleds in the group behind me who were radio equipped, telling them to turn around. I called the support vehicles drivers with the Sat Phone to have them come to a point where we could have most of the sleds and drivers picked up. I then went after the local guide breaking trail to make sure he turned around and to ensure he did not get stuck out there by himself.
Getting turned around
After catching up with the local guide, I got turned around and started back to catch up with the rest of the group. Getting each rider and sled turned around as we met them, unfortunately the railroad grade is elevated, domed and only about 12 ft wide in a lot of places. Just meeting another sled going in the opposite direction was a difficult challenge to work through. 
On top of this one of the sleds, Ralph G’s Arctic Cat broke its front axle and would need to be towed out. Fortunately we had the MichCanSka Mule a 2012 Ski-doo Scandic wide track to pull him back to where we met the support vehicles along the highway. At this point it was just after dark and we loaded a total of 12 sleds of the 17 in the group. Our plan was to have the remaining 5 sleds and the 2 guides jump on the Gas pipeline and ride the 40+ miles to Beardmore, Ontario, and Our destination for today.
Riding the Gas Pipeline
By this time it was snowing pretty hard and the ride was challenging with deep snow and confusing navigation trying to follow the tracks of previous snowmobiles. A couple of riders got stuck along the way, but nothing serious. We had to stop and put gas in the local guides sled since they were now on fumes and the one gas station we stopped at was already closed by just a few minutes.
The wall
About 8 miles from our hotel “Roxey Place” in Beardmore, we came upon a wall of plowed snow about 10 – 12 ft straight up, it was made by a snowplow grading a road crossing the pipeline and in the dark there appeared to be no way around. By the time the group of 7 got done, we had to dig out, cut out and/or use the snow bungee 5 times. One o
f the guides jumped on Don L’s sled and went so fast it not only climbed the Wall it bounced and went over the other side of the road down in the ditch sending the guide over the handle bars into the brush, bending the handlebars and breaking the windshield. He was ok, but will really be sore in the morning. I called the support vehicle to come pick up Don’s sled and stayed with him while sending the rest of the 5 sleds onto the Hotel. We finally all arrived at 10:30 P.M. We were on the trail for over 15 hours today.
In Summary,
1) We had all the right gear and tools.
2) No one in the group hurt (Local guide appears to be sore)
3) Successfully extracted broke sled and 12 sleds & riders
4) We worked as a team!
5) Our radio communication method worked reasonably well
6) People made sacrifices for the good of the Group
Pete Pattullo
Safety Officer – Michcanska Adventures
Posted in Trip updates on February 21, 2012| 1 Comment »
Posted in Trip updates on February 21, 2012| 5 Comments »
Posted in Trip updates on February 20, 2012| 2 Comments »
17 riders left Hearst this morning heading for Longlac. It was a good ride with just a few mishaps. Larry Wormnest had a little encounter with the deep snow off the trail but was rescued by Randy Belliel and Dave Upthegrove but in the mist of sawing a few trees out of the way – they forgot the saw on the trail and Randy B and Dave U went back to recover the saw but Dave U found a few more trees off the trail and had to be helped out of the pucky brush…..On our way again and Ron Krupp thought we needed a little more excitement and he checked out how deep the snow was off the trail…..Stuck again….. but thanks to all of our safety people we had a bungee on board and he was pulled to safety..We had a long day today 250 miles and one of the things we have to do is gas our sleds. With so many sleds it takes between 20 to 30 minutes to gas everyone up. Especially when you are at a remote stop that has only one gas spigot.
Posted in Trip updates on February 20, 2012| Leave a Comment »
We all safely made it in tonight about 6:00 P.M after riding about 250 miles from Hearst, Ont.. will post more later
Posted in Trip updates on February 20, 2012| 1 Comment »
Sunday, Feb 19th, 2011 – Today we rode about 75 miles around a loop trail north of Hearst, Ontario. As you can see they were EXCELLENT!
Michcanska Adventure 2023 