Another awesome day into Hodges.  We had a group from Gander today who have been to Mount Peyton many times.  They were very impressed with Hodges and the conditions.  We had a ball at the landing drift and a few of us got some pretty good air.  The conditions here on the roads and trails are perfect.  There is some icy road for the first km or so into Cornfield but after that they are flat and lots of snow.  We have openings all this week so whether you stay at the chalets or not you should take advantage of the great riding around here.

Not over yet!  Just had a great weekend on the sleds with an awesome group.  Although the roads and trails were hard dues to the temperature we had about an inch of snow fall on Saturday which kept the machines cool.  Lots of snow in Hodges.   The open country through Peace Valley is still nearly void of snow in places but there is enough to pick your way though.  We could have avoided it and kept to the trails but the view, as always, is too much to pass up.  A few stucks in around Hodges Pass but a great time had by all!  We decided to truck to Dawes Pond Road on Saturdays Gaff tour as we had some people two up.  I also knew that conditions in the Mary March Brook area were excellent and wanted to spend the bulk of our day there.  We had 4 new guys join our group today and two of them had overheating issue so it was a good thing we started at Dawes Pond or it would have been a very long day.  Interestingly, they were both on Yamahas with 4 cylinders.  There were two other Yamahas there with 3 cylinders and didn’t have a hitch.  They were all very similar machines.   The temperature stayed very cold all day which kept the trails hard until we got to the Mary March Brook area where there was loads of soft snow to play in.  With 15 machines we ripped up the brook from one end to the other…a great time and certainly no overheating!  For those of you booked in next week we are supposed to get snow on Monday and Tuesday….30 to 40 cm!  We are in for an awesome week of snowmobiling!  For those of you thinking about coming out you should tell the boss you are sick and come out to ride Sheila’s Brush"! 

Two weeks ago four friends and I did a trip from the chalets to South Brook via Warrs road.  We had an excellent lunch at Eddies Restaurant and headed on through to Kippen’s Ridge, Seal Bay Bog, Frozen Ocean lake, 9 Mile Bog, Hodges and back to the chalets.  It was definitely one of the best trips in my life for sure!  Today, we did a the same loop and added in the leg to Roberts Arm.  I have to say, if you like hilly landscape with lots of sharp turns and beautiful views you should do this trip!  Its about 220KM of consistent pure fun!  For those of you familiar with the trip from Deer Lake to and up White River road this trip is very similar with the same kind of terrain and trails.  The only exception for the better was the leg to Roberts Arm which is like a amusement park ride with constant sharp turns and quick inclines and drops.  The trail was in really good shape until we got about two km from town where heavy traffic had made the trail way too rough to travel at a fun speed.  We turned around at this point before and headed back to continue our trip but I will never be able to pass that side trip up again.  I will be posting the track on this blog soon so if you have the time, download it and ride this loop.  You will be glad you did!

Had a great weekend snowmobiling this past weekend.  Snow?  The pictures speak for themselves.  We headed to Hodges on Friday for some hill climbing where the snow on the hill was plenty but pretty hard as it was near zero degrees.  Still for all we had a few sleds stuck climbing the slopes.  It was the Gaff for Saturday.  Unfortunately South Brook was out so we had to run up the tracks from Dawes Pond Road.  The going was pretty good so we were able to travel pretty fast all the way up to the Gaff.  It was a little picky getting up there once we hit the open country but the amount of snow past the Quarry was amazing.  In fact I don’t the Gaff has lost much snow at all.  If you look at a couple older posts from this season, above the pics of the same cabin are not much different than they are now.   The snow is still up to the eve!  This is the time to be on the Gaff, only for the going to be comfortable it needs to be warm.  At least 15 degrees would be best!  As for this weekend and Hodges, I will be taking a run in tomorrow and provide an update as we did have it fairly warm this past couple days.  I will keep you posted.

Paul

A sad day for me!  You all know how much I enjoy snowmobiling.  It all went out with a bang yesterday.  We had two great tours to end it off though!  Friday was fantastic.  Still lots of snow but it got pretty soft towards the end of the day.  However we still did the regular route to the top of Hodges, through Peace Valley, back-country chalet, Monica Bog and out.  We only had one small brook go out on us which wasn’t a big deal.    It was over 20 degrees and we were riding with shirts or thin jackets on.  On the way back out to greet Saturdays tour (my family was spending Easter in the back-country chalet) it was clear the snow was going to take a beating that day.  I met the group, drove to the top of Hodges and looked down on Peace Valley (where I passed just 2 hours before with very little slush evident) and saw that the  whole valley was filling up with water.  It looked like fun to me and after consulting with the group, we decided that we would take the fun route….through Peace Valley where we normally go.  Keep in mind the water was not deep and the group was very interested at learning what this “skipping water” was all about.  It was a laugh!  I would go through first on my wide track which cleared the slush which filled in with water and the group, one by one would follow.  Out of the group there was only one guy who had skipped water before so it was a wonderful learning experience for them all as they found out the true capabilities of them and their machines.  I think when it came to the Peace Valley portion of the trip we did more sea-doing than ski-dooing with no incidents and no-one getting stuck.    All arrived to the back-country chalet with-out incident.  One exception actually…a brand new floater coat got sucked into the suspension and torn to shreds.   In hindsight we all had a good laughat that.   The temp at the chalet was nearly 20 degrees and sunny…a beautiful day and it was hard to leave.  We had lots of water skipping up to the higher country again with one ski doo getting stuck which only took a few minutes to get out.  There is till lots of snow on the back-country roads, over 2 feet for much of it.  I was in for a ride this morning.  With these higher temps though, it won’t last long.  Now its a waiting game until enough snow is melted off the tracks to get to the Gaff Topsails where I hope to get another couple weeks.  Other than that, my cousin and I are heading to the West coast for some playing soon.   As you all know I am very grateful for all the snowmobilers who rode and toured with us this year and I thank you all.   I make so many freinds with this business..how lucky am I at all?  Now the only thing I have to do is prevent that pit that is proposed for just upstream of us.  Please visit savetheexploitsriver.ca for more details.  See you all next year and even this summer for most of you.

Paul