The Sledding Sisters Come To Cochrane!
The Sledding Sisters Linda, Joan and Susan recently visited Cochrane to take a trip up to the Abitibi Canyon. Here is the story of their adventure.
"We left Timmins, ON late morning on Thur. Jan. 26th heading to Cochrane, ON but unsure of our plans for the next two days. Arrived at the Westway Motel in Cochrane just past noon and decided to see if we could get a room. They were almost fully booked but were very accommodating in getting us a
room for the night. The motel is conveniently located beside a Tim Horton’s so we had lunch and decided to head out to see how the trail was going up to the Abitibi Canyon.
Except for one section where we had to go on a logging road it was awesome and we went 40 km up to the Ice Bridge which crosses the Abitibi River. It was very interesting – they measure the depth of the ice every day and today it was 100 cm. – was hoping for a car or truck to go across but none were around. As it was after 2:30 p.m. we decided it was too late to complete the trail, so we headed back and decided to spend another night and head out in the morning. We topped up with gas which is conveniently located by the motel. We were fortunate (again) to be able to get a room for the Friday night and had dinner at the Swiss Chalet/Harvey’s across the street. Looking forward to tomorrow!
Woke up to a fresh 2 inches of snow, -7 and overcast. After breakfast we headed out around 9:45 on our new adventure. The Abitibi Canyon Trail is one of the few trails in Ontario east of Thunder Bay that we hadn’t been on. We headed up the east side of the trail. It is a great, beautiful trail out in the middle of nowhere and we even saw the sun for awhile! Our only “episode” was Linda’s belt blew on her Yamaha after the first 100 km. We had the old one off and the new one half on when a couple from London came along and kindly offered to help. So we let him finish the job. After 150 km we arrived at the Abitibi Canyon Base Camp where one can get gas and snacks. There had to be over 50 machines there and you had to line up to get gas and line up to pay for the gas. (Note: It is cash only.) When we left there it was only 2 km to the Abitibi Canyon and the huge hydro station there. Amazing. Headed back south to Smooth Rock Falls on the west side of the trail which is very fast, smooth running along the hydro lines. Arrived around 2:45pm, got more gas and had dinner. To that point it is 235 km from Cochrane to Smooth Rock Falls via the Abitibi Canyon Trail.
Returning to our motel in Cochrane made it a 310 km. round trip but what a great day. Really glad we changed our plans and had the chance to experience this wonderful trail."
The Sledding Sisters – Linda, Joan & Susan
