Winter 2008

March 18-19, 2017 Torbay ATV Run: (20 Photos)

20. With the excitement of last weekends Windstorm all over, this past Saturday was much more relaxed! After clearing up Friday night's 10cm of fluffy snow I detached the plow and headed out for a post storm ATV run leaving from the house.

19. I figured there would be quite a few trees blown down with the storm so I strapped on my old wooden box so I could easily carry some trail maintenance gear, including chainsaw, axe, gas, etc.

18. There was still a lot of snow in the woods from our February two day blizzard, trails that were packed down by skidoo were still very firm but the edges and secondary trails were very loose from the warm temps and rain we received over the last couple weeks.

17. The afternoon brought overcast skies and chilly near zero temps, my Heat Demon Hand & thumb warmers were very much appreciated on this adventure!

16. Signs of Spring around the corner were prevalent everywhere, trails with moving water are starting to or are completely broken out, and about a third of the puddles were open often having steep ascents and descents into the water.

15. Thankfully a lot of people in the area had the same idea as I and had all of the main paths opened up. There were a lot of deadfalls across the trails so someone had been busy!

14. The less used side trails I often frequent were still blocked off so I made quick work of them with my Princess Auto special yellow chainsaw.

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11. Sunday arrived and brought with it beautiful sunny skies and temps slightly north of freezing, absolutely inviting people to spend the day outside. I took mother natures invitation in stride and headed back out on the trails of Torbay leaving again from the house.

10. I got a late start but left the house mid afternoon and promptly got stuck exploring an un-used side trail. The snow was fairly firm but the bike dropped into a hole created by drifted snow on top of dead trees.

9. With nowhere to go forward I (for the first time ever) set up my winch line for a reverse pull anchoring it high on a large tree. This worked perfect as it lifted the front of the bike up out of the hole as I reversed to solid ground.

8. The main trails have an average of 18" hard pack snow, even more in the woods, and as much as 4' in places along the West side of the airport fence!

7. Although temps are still chilly the sun had a lot of power opening up water holes on a clear day like today.

5. Among my travels following other bike tracks and finally located a trail crossing Indian Meal Line. This will open up a lot more riding area this coming summer.

2. Crossing a mud puddle on a pole line near the Torbay Bypass Road the ice bridge gave way under the weight of my bike and the late afternoon sun. The front dropped into a 2' deep hole, thankfully my locked front differential forced the front tires to bite their way up and out the other side.

1. The hole was too deep and traction non existent on the ice to pop the rear end out of the hole and up on the ice ledge (even after multiple attempts) so I spooled out the line on my Warn Provantage 2500 winch and had the bike out in no time. The rest of the ride home was uneventful and a heck of a lot of fun, all in all an excellent day on the trails!

Cheers, MIKE