Thanks to Bert Schuh (who lives in Muskoka) for recommending this route to me, while we were out mountain biking together. Bert explored this route, which was then documented and published by Paulo Laberge here > https://bikepacking.com/routes/ridout-bigwind-rugged-ramble/. Following is my August 24th trip report of riding this 74 km route “plus” 36 km to/from Spring Lake where I left my car.
I enjoyed riding this route as it winds its way through many beautiful lakes and dense forest with nary a sign of civilization, except for a few friendly ATVers, on a network of rough gravel roads and technical ATV paths. The loop route starts and ends near this pile of logs on a reasonably good dirt logging road.
However, beware that about the first 9km of trail is pockmarked with huge mud ponds which required hopping off the bike and either bushwhacking around through the forest, walking around the edge through thorny raspberry bush, or wading through the pond. This route’s Trail Notes say “the first half is a rugged challenge”. Luckily the slog through the mud ponds ended after about 9kms, otherwise I might have abandoned the ride.
This is a remote route with no places to re-supply, so I brought water purification tablets and enough cold food for an overnighter. I met only a few people on the trip. A couple of ATVers in the first 9kms were surprised that someone was biking this rough and muddy ATV trail, which gave me the incentive to bike up an extremely rocky hill in front of them. Another group of ATVers refilled my water bottles, so I didn’t need to use lake water with purification tablets. I did see lots of moose tracks, bear scat, a great blue heron and a wild turkey.
On the route’s main loop I saw several nice wild campsites by rivers and lakes, such as this one.
The route’s Trail Notes say “If you’re planning to camp at Pairo Lake or Carcass Lake, prepare for a knee-deep stream crossing. It’s well worth it for a nice, secluded camp spot.” Well the beavers had started to create a dam so it looked more like waist deep. But I did want to see these lakes, so I gingerly walked across the very shaky narrow beaver dam of sticks.
The out-and-back trail to Pairo Lake and Carcass Lake is a very narrow up and down rough trail that doesn’t look much used. Both Pairo Lake and Carcass Lake are beautiful places for a remote wilderness camping.
With rain forecasted I decided not to camp at Carcass Lake and to try and finish the ride the same day. I followed another out-and-back section of the route to a route noted campsite near Black Lake, which was just a field, and not worth the effort. Instead I would suggest continuing on the trail to Black Lake to camp.
I returned to and continued on the route’s main loop. At Echo Lake I turned south onto Old Wagon Road and soon entered Bigwind Lake Provincial Park. This park is day-use only, with no facilities for visitors. However there is talk of adding some proper backcountry campsites on the many lakes in this park.
Due to the rain forecast, my revised plan was to visit and stay overnight at my friends’ cottage on Leech Lake, which is just west of Bigwind Lake park. I had seen a RideWithGPS heattrack heading east from Old Wagon Road to Pine Lake and then Leech Lake. Unfortunately the trail entrance had a sign “Trail closed. Unsafe bridge” and required wading through a swamp.
So I continued and finished the Bigwind loop route. Then continued riding back on Hwy 118 to where my car was parked on Spring Lake. Then drove to my dear friends’ cottage on Leech Lake, for a really appreciated shower, dinner, beer and sleep!
Future Plan: I will revisit this route and see if I can replace the mud bog section by creating an even bigger loop using HATVA Trail B east to St. Nora Lake, HATVA Trail 1.1 north along the lake, and then HATVA Trail 23 to rejoin this route. Stay tuned.
Cheers…Greg
Life is like riding a bicycle.To keep your balance, you must keep moving. – Albert Einstein
Follow my adventures at: https://gregbikingwithoutborders.blog/
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