Creating a Cross Canada Overland Route

deadly99

Explorer
but in the end we all ride and we all seem to hate cages :)

Not me, I prefer riding a bike as it provides a sensation a truck never will. That being said I prefer a truck sometimes as it let's me enjoy traveling with my family and when it's raining....well....riding a bike for days on end in the rain can be a bit demoralizing. So I am a 50/50 kinda guy I suppose.
 

deadly99

Explorer
Snapped my driveshaft in half two days ago while driving a section of the TCAT....good thing it's a ranger as second hand parts are in an abundance. 160 bucks later and it was ready for pickup but got a flat on my bike going to pick it up....ever had one of those days? Pushed the bike the final couple if km's to my buddies garage where the truck was and left it there until I get a new tube for it tomorrow.

When it rains it pours :(

Good news is the summer weather is hanging on and I should have time to squeeze in some more work (aka riding) on the route :ylsmoke:
 
Not me, I prefer riding a bike as it provides a sensation a truck never will. That being said I prefer a truck sometimes as it let's me enjoy traveling with my family and when it's raining....well....riding a bike for days on end in the rain can be a bit demoralizing. So I am a 50/50 kinda guy I suppose.

I agree. I like 'em all. They all have their place.

I agree that bikers have more good-natured ribbing between brands. They also seem to actually get out a WHOLE LOT more than truck guys do. Seems truck guys spend 80% of their time and money wrenching, and 20% driving. If that. Bike guys... well bikes just work so you can ride them a whole lot more. They don't need to be modded, and only occaisionally need to be fixed, and when they do, it's easy. And bike guys are more adventurous.
 

ini88

Adventurer
I do like both. I started in truck first then migrated to bikes. 2 Land Rovers and a KTM. 7 cylinders less to take care of!
 

zeke2.0

Adventurer
I more of a street rider than off road. Getting where I like my comfort. Leave the hard core stuff to the younger crowd.
 

zeke2.0

Adventurer
Well, there's always a bit of friction between KTM riders and all the other brands that don't break down as much. ;) You know, you wait for us in the corners, we wait for you back at camp. :D

Yep, lots of fishing along the route as well as on many other sideroads near the TCAT. It goes right through lots of prime fishing areas.

I was looking at getting a KTM Adventure, are you saying they break down a lot?
 

zeke2.0

Adventurer
Better book 6 months to do the trip if you're planning on catching fish every day.

I prefer battered and fried. With a nice beer.

/Not much of of a fisherman

That's usually how I cook them, along with hush puppies, corn on the cob and cold beer. I grew up fishing, frying, baking, grilling, and mostly eating fresh caught fish. Haven't done that in awhile. I imagine up in Canada it's mostly trout and pike?
 
I was looking at getting a KTM Adventure, are you saying they break down a lot?

I'm not going to put that in writing for fear of being lynched. :peepwall:

It's hard to say if it's just because 90% of offroad racers are on KTM so more are in the pits. Or maybe because the KTM trail riders tend to be more hardcore and run harder. But I always see a lot of KTM bikes being worked on.

A buddy of mine brings along an entire spare bike to make sure he has the parts he needs. I never had a DNF in the 2 years I raced, and never brought a single spare nut or bolt.
 

zeke2.0

Adventurer
I'm not going to put that in writing for fear of being lynched. :peepwall:

It's hard to say if it's just because 90% of offroad racers are on KTM so more are in the pits. Or maybe because the KTM trail riders tend to be more hardcore and run harder. But I always see a lot of KTM bikes being worked on.

A buddy of mine brings along an entire spare bike to make sure he has the parts he needs. I never had a DNF in the 2 years I raced, and never brought a single spare nut or bolt.

Hmmm, maybe I should look at the BMW's instead. I'm not what you would call hard core, I just like to ride. My last 2 bikes have been sport tourers (Kawasaki Concours and Honda VFR 800). Not fit for the TCAT.
 

Alltwistedup

Observer
Ktm

KTM trail riders tend to be more hardcore and run harder. But I always see a lot of KTM bikes being worked on.

A buddy of mine brings along an entire spare bike to make sure he has the parts he needs. I never had a DNF in the 2 years I raced, and never brought a single spare nut or bolt.

I own a KTM 950 ADV I ride it hard like 20,042 total miles with 4,500 miles of dirt and gravel mixed in their in 80 day's. I am not afraid to say it break's and part's are hard to find sometimes. I waited 6 day's to get part's from North Dakota shipped into Whitehorse, Yukon after calling all the dealers in a 900 mile radius. On the plus side I can disassemble the bike in a parking lot or campground with minimal tool's, theirs no computer glitches, most parts don't cost a fortune. Their are work a round's for all the known problem's. I like to say it's a crotch rocket motor in a dirt bike chassis.



OK, BACK TO OUR REGULAR SCHEDULED POSTINGS
I LOVE CANADA :wings::wings::wings: been to the top and trying to get to the east coast. 1 day, 1 road, 480 miles one way, 8 hours of riding with 1 mile of pavement can life get any better. With this tread I might not ever see pavement in Canada again.
 

deadly99

Explorer
North West Ontario Part Two

Part two of Jenna's pre run of the TCAT in NW Ontario

....Part 2.

I felt a bit like a heel. Mike thought maybe he should go back to Silver Dollar for assistance, or at least run up 642. I didn't think either was a good idea, and I was really surprised my bike was still stuck.



Yep, still stuck.



We discussed the pulley system and looked around at very little options. Then Mike had an idea.

Dig a hole...



Cut down a tree..



We basically made a lever, and I guess we could have dug multiple holes to use as anchor points, but honestly, that ground was a ***** to dig. Very sandy and rocky. For the lever hole we had to pack rocks at the front as the hole was eroding. It worked like a charm.





By this time, we were pretty tired and quit taking pictures.

My hair began to turn grey as we sorted out our next move and I wondered how I was going to tell Mike the bike had been in 2nd gear.:huh I assume it upshifted one of the 2,819 times it fell over.:dunno



Do we camp? I was too tired to camp, cook, or do much of anything after that last few hours. Doesn't seem like a such a big deal now, but at the time it was a major buzzkill.!!

After this wash out the railbed gets very over grown. You'll be ducking under trees and getting smacked in the face by smaller ones. There is a swampy looking area just after the wash out that could be a potential water crossing, but was bone dry and lumpy when we had gotten to it.

Again, no pics. But, we crossed 642 and hit a dead end on the rail bed.



Apparently this "private road" gate is new and not legal. There really wasn't a way around, but I didn't look very hard as I am not about to recommend trespassing on the TCAT. I was told that the owner of Discovery Lake Lodge has closed it without permission or purchase of land. So that's what I know. We were bummed after passing the wash out and being prevented from riding the rail bed into Sioux Lookout. We rode 642 all the way in, I'd say we were maybe 20 miles from town.



We chickened out and stayed at the Forest Inn, so we don't know where a good camp spot would be near Sioux Lookout.



It was nice to be in a hotel room and get a chance to dry out maybe one pair of socks and underwear. We smelled bad, we were hungry, and we were slap happy. I do not recommend the pizza at Desperate Dicks and Durty Nellies. But I liked the bar at the Forest Inn. The bartender was a pretty neat girl and told us stories of fishing and hunting with her dad. We had some errands to run the next day before making our way to Ear Falls.

:D





Heading out to look for a big *** logging road that would take us to Ear Falls. Better known as Vermillion River Rd or the "Old Bush Road".

Lots of locals told me to watch myself in the turns as the "natives" have no driving laws and will hog the road. I was more worried about the logging trucks and the sky.....







The road was a nice, well maintained road, but had tendencies to collect sand in weird areas. So mind the sand pit, the road is all one color so it was hard to see where the sand may be.



It was a fairly uneventful day to Ear Falls. The only bummer was the rain and the falling temperature.

We had to stop and put on some extra layers, but there wasn't a whole lot of cover.



Lots of small bridges on this stretch.





We got into Ear Falls as the heavens opened. We spent a bit of time inside of a gas station and car/truck/tractor/snow machine/motorcycle repair shop. The guy gave us some great directions to a favorite camp spot of his about 1 hour outside the city.

Stay to the right when you see this intersection.




QUOTE]
 

deadly99

Explorer
The sun did make an appearance.



We got to the lake and had many options to camp, but ultimately we ended up by the lake.



There is a forked intersection around the lake, and if we had taken the right fork there was a camp site with a 4 post for tarp hanging. So if you've got a big tarp and crappy weather a comin', maybe the moose hunters site is for you!!! Look for 2 roads just past the forked intersection where you go to the left and they will be on the right. We took the second road and ended up here.



It was a cold nite, Mike hung the tarp (tall guy) as I hunted firewood. It began to snow.



It got colder.



I was happy I had brought the tarp as we began doing everything underneath it. Peeing, cooking, drinking, smoking, drying clothes, ect.

Coldest nite by far. I couldn't tell you the temp but I'm certain it was close to 0c.



Oh hail!



On with the heated gear (thx Dan A.), and off to Kenora!!









Had to reroute the end into Kenora, no biggie and was able to stay on the dirt just a few miles of pavement into Kenora which was a plus.!!


This is where we supposed to turn for the last stretch to Kenora.



That was it. We had done it. Time for a beer and some food at a local pub. Mike took a pic of the place. It was somewhat anti-climatic, not sure what I expected. I was tired and we planned to camp again and went straight to work trying to find the next spot.

I would say this section could easily be done in 3 days with picture taking, 2 if you want to seriously haul ***. There are 2 sections that are not that big bike friendly but can easily be routed around.

Thanks all for including us in this, it was a lot of fun
 

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