The NDATV Club hosted a camping and ride weekend in Madawaska.
A group of us rode on Friday July 14, heading towards Whitney. We travelled through some amazing bush trails canopied by the trees, the beavers have been busy creating their dams, which allowed us to rinse off the bikes. We travelled along the hydro lines, which provided us with a good view of the hills and rock formations. Unfortunately, our day was shortened, as the skies opened up and the rain came down in buckets. Just a note when it rains in this area it rains hard. We logged about 45Km before returning to our campsites.

On July 15, clear skies and lots of warm sun, which was a blessing since that day was our scheduled main ride. We had 25 bikes with 30 riders attend from Renfrew, Nation Valley, Ottawa Valley, Johnston, and Peterborough ATV Clubs. We completed the Logger’s Loop, which begins in Madawaska travelling south and southwest to Lake St. Peter where we had lunch at the Porterville Dinner, if you are ever in that area please support this restaurant, good food and great service. The Lake St. Peter trail had a mixture of terrain, which tested and developed everyone’s riding skills. From Lake St. Peter, we travelled north to Whitney. This portion of the ride saw mostly logging roads, however there were some very rough sections with large exposed boulders, as well as some steep hills with lots of loose rocks making the trip slow and challenging. We gassed up and made our way back to Madawaska along the rail line, this very route follows the Madawaska River providing the riders with very scenic sights of rapids, waterfalls and slow moving parts of the river. Many of the riders stopped along the way to take pictures of this amazing area. We arrived back in Madawaska completing the 110 km loop in a record-breaking 10-hour excursion.

On July 16, forecasts of rain again, but this did not deter nine courageous riders, including Murff, who headed out to Spectacle Lake Lodge for breakfast. We were treated to a fabulous all you can eat breakfast buffet in a beautiful lakeside setting, very picturesque. After breakfast, we made our way to Burnett’s Lookout, which provided the riders with a breathtaking view of the Madawaska Valley. After a photo session we made our way back to Madawaska, but not before the clouds opened up and we were blessed with more rain. The positive side to the rain was it eliminated the dust from the rail line. We arrived at the campsite completing a 50 km loop.
In summary, we would like to thank Scott and Laurie for organizing the ride and everyone who attended the weekend as well as our day riders from the other ATV Clubs. Everyone had a safe and memorable event with good friends, good food, good memories.

Pictures of the ride, are available here.