Well I have to confess I
have never been on an ATV before so this was to be a special treat and so
here are some photos from my day...
The previous evening I met Alan Stewart from
Scotland who is a long term resident of Elliot Lake
The start of the day was down at the local
tourist offiice where I met all the friendly staff
And this is the Maria the head of the tourist
operation :-)
You can see they are into adventure!
This is an old map of the area
And this is me trying my helmet on :-)
The first picture is the grader that maintains
the trails and the other are the ATV's we'll be using
And this is where we ended up on the first
part of the outing. I confess I was gripping on rather hard so didn't have
the courage to reach for my camera on the way up but it was a spectacular
ride
And there are hiking trails along this route
as well
Superb views over Elliot Lake
And that's me on the bike getting some
instruction on the next dangerous part through mountainous lakes... well
just a deepish puddle to be honest :-)
Decision being taken on which way to go :-)
And you can what some of the trail is like :-)
This was part of the trail that was washed out
earlier in the year taking several beaver dams in the process
We joked about how neat the beavers left their
logs behind and the other picture shows more of the devastation
Some of the ski slopes can be seen in the left
photo and on the right some new ATV vehicles
The one on the left can carry your canoe
This is where you can get all your sporting
goods
And then it was time to get a wee refreshment
:-)
The chef is on the left :-)
And then it was time to head home :-)
So as a general overview there are some 1200km
of trails where you can ATV, snow mobile over, ski over, hike over, etc.
All of those trails are maintained by the community and there are guides
available to take you around and give you lessons where you need them.
There are four full day routes that take you
in a giant loop around Elliot Lake and you can pick up an ATV at the hotel
and go straight onto the trails. I might add that the trails will also
pass MacDonalds and Tim Hortons so you can also pick up a snack on the way
if you wish. There is also superb hunting and fishing and these routes
will take you into the outback where you can canoe, see bears and other
wild life or even go on an historic tour or just out for a picnic.
The locals can advise which routes are best for novice and experienced
travellers alike. You can even fly into Elliot Lake and let the charter
company take your luggage to the hotel while you ATV in. |