January 31 / February 1,2, 2020

 MACDOWALL to CHOICELAND 20-05 VF

 20-05 VF
Friday, Macdowall to  Choiceland

Friday:
I spend a bit of time tweaking (scrapping and reconfiguring) another camera mount, tossed the aluminum cooker in favor of  a stainless one, a drive belt, and if you are looking at the picture right, and are wondering what on earth all the duct tape is about...well...jest look at last years,
- 30 Ride Out!! 

On our way to our first fuel stop. We had stopped 1/2 way to check cameras, good thing, we had 2 cameras that just get started. Then it turns out the 3rd camera doesn't get going until after our fuel stop!! This is one of those days that only come around a few times in a life time. You have been planning this ride like other years, but this year we get unbelievable warm temperatures, perfect sunny days for spot on definition....and the snow. The snow is better than we even imagined and it is getting deeper every mile we ride into the NE country side.
Lets Rock! I see my odometer was reading 28 miles at our first fuel stop. OK we fueled up and are headed for the North Branch and the icy river crossing. conditions are so fantastic and knowing we plan to meet the truck somewhere in the wide yonder, we have the pedal to the metal....then after a series of back road corridors we hit the river for some aggressive sliding and fun, as much fun for the next 15 miles that I have ever had. My odometer read 88 miles (141 KM) as we short stop for fuel, and have a BBQ, meeting our support truck. Some time later odometer reads 113 miles (182 KM) as we rolled in to Choiceland.
At the Choiceland Curling rink, we go curling just like just about like every other year. Check out our page it is a one of the best days of riding I have ever had.

 MACDOWALL to CHOICELAND 20-06 VF

20-06VF
Saturday, Choiceland to the Trail system.

A simple line in the snow.... We choose a route east to the groomed trail.
It is GO DOG GO TIME!
The trail system is calling our names. A slightly cloudy day at time we head out. Yup we all made it to the groomed trail but Yourstruly heard a big crunch when I rolled to a stop along a scenic lake. The majority who had not seen the Eskers up north on the Esker Trail went on to return later in the day. Our plan was to tow back to civilization off the snowmobile trail in there absence..

 

 MACDOWALL to CHOICELAND 20-07 VF
 
20-07VF
Sunday, Choiceland to Macdowall.

We enjoy a community breakfast 10:30 AM ish. We pack up and head out, with a plan, of new country exploration.....oh boy....deciding on the fly, inputs being snow conditions we find, river crossings, fuel stops and overall riding area country side, landscape and scenery conducive to some of the nicest riding conditions you could ask for. Man back into a semi cloudy day similar to Saturday! We end up off course a couple times, always corrected, but running very low on fuel we just barely made it out of the Fort a la Corne forest. Man, first planned experimentation caught us with disappointment IE:   A Bridge to Far?  Yup we could of used more than a bridge. Back tracking, then heading off in a "out of the forest" mode we get caught on a Trail that looked right, ... for a while. Then the game was over.
 Yourstruly pirated 6 L of fuel from our CF 8 KiD, who was next lowest and took on the last 4 L of the gas.  We reassessed our position with maps and and reassessed where we could of gone wrong. Would of never guessed the intersection and how it has changed in a couple years. (OK looking back now I see it has been 4 years!)  Definitely reduced to an ATV trail rather than the main route it used to be. We rode the next 15 miles with out any sign of it being familiar from our Early season ride. (A ride we rode in on at least 10 miles.....) I really questioned whether we were on the right track or not....what a relief when portions of the trail suddenly were familiar from 20-01F !!!
It was back 20-30 miles or so in the forest that we split up remaining fuel after dipping tanks with sticks,  so at this point, really low again on fuel as soon as we break out of the forest in a very strong wind and cooling temperatures we found the first really deep ditch surrounded by highlands and trees and we pulled down in there and just laid up against the snowbanks and waited for our rescue truck to bring out another 50L of fuel. A relief when the truck came along around on the speed curve next to the forest entrance! With the sun dropping fast we quickly fueled up spreading the fuel around and put the wood to 'ER !! With the sun seriously setting we rode the next 25 miles crossing the North Branch and finally reaching the black top in good time, and for good reason. With out distant landmarks it was going to be especially slow going in the dark. We have to make time. Getting to our last fuel stop was tricky, a couple of us took the most direct route up on the shoulder of the road to save fuel.  It was another quick official fuel stop, the latest in the day  ever, even including the last fuel stop of the day in *2012, cameras rolling, let 'ER rip my friend! We pound drifts and buck a heck of a wind while landmarks permitted...once it was dark it was a whole new  ballgame of being careful and following more ditches than usual. It was late, like 7:30 or 8 PM when we rood up to our trucks in the dark in our staging area.

*MACDOWALL to CHOICELAND  12-05.5  
The Forks to Birch Hills.