On Saturday, November 10, 2007, my husband and riding buddy, Andy Brandt, and I left our home in Ross, Manitoba, accompanied by our friends Chris Fox-Decent, Don Dwyer, Ryan Lentz and Doug Ranger at approximately 7:45 a.m. and headed for Stead to meet a group of riders from trackshare.com at the Northstar Trails at 10 a.m.
Travelling down Forestry Road 13 towards Highway 15, we crossed CN’s mainline to Elma. Once we reached Highway 15, we rode the ditch until we got to Colony Road, then headed north to the second mile road and east until we were back on Road 13.
We continued north through lots washouts. A while later at Seddon’s Corner, we fuelled up, then took the Milner Ridge train bed until we got to Provincial Road 435. We travelled the backroads until we met up with 14 other riders. Heading down the Northstar Trails, we made our way towards Albert Beach.
After a few wrong turns, we finally arrived at Albert Beach, where we had some lunch, introduced one another and had some typical bull sessions. Following our lunch break, we rode back south down the old train bed towards Belair and fuelled up at Traverse Bay Corner.
From there, we headed east down Highway 11 and then got onto the trails. Andy, Chris, Don and I left the group on the trails close to the Jackfish Creek warm-up hut and set out for Stead. From this point, Andy—with his awesome knowledge of GPS tracking—led us through the Brightstone Hills area.
With road access from the farmer’s fields and swamps, it was a hilly, scenic area secluded by birch trees and Jack pine. We continued to Lac du Bonnet, fuelled up again and then went to Chicken Chef for supper. Our tummies full, we jumped back onto the quads and headed down the Milner Ridge train bed.
We ended up making the same trek back to Ross, getting home around 9:30 p.m.; it had been a successful 385-kilometre day ride. I really enjoy sharing my riding stories, and I enjoy the outdoors no matter what time of the year it is.
There are always awesome nature scenes and sightings to remember and tell about. I am always looking forward to the next ride and hope that others can enjoy these outings like I do.
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