Backroads Mapbook? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Backroads Mapbook?

KLR Junkie

Well-known member
Anyone use the Backroads mapbook for Cottage Country? It covers a triangle from Toronto-North Bay-Cornwall. http://www.backroadmapbooks.com/bac...ackroad-maps/cottage-ontario-backcountry-maps

I bought their Newfoundland book for a trip last year and wasn't all that impressed. Maybe it was just that there weren't many trails in NFLD?

Anyway, I'm looking to do some more light trails and seasonal roads this year and the good old Ontario Back Roads Atlas doesn't have much of that kind of thing. So is the BRMB any good?
 
The Garmin version on a good hiking GPS like the Montana is awesome. The detail is great and looks wicked with shaded relief turned on.

Here is an image of how the screen looks at a lookout the BRMB helped me find near Bancroft... those blue lines are ATV trails that are a lot of fun to ride.

2017_02_02_12.jpg


I have one of their books too, but barely use it because I have this on the GPS.
 
I have that exact book, I use it all the time. When I get a gps I'll do what Mike did. Check out "Old Wagon Road" runs off 118 and looks promising. I'll be checking that one out this year.

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By the way, the screen shot I posted can be found in the Cottage Country map book, pg 28, c - 1, just West of North Eels Lake... so you can compare the two and see how far I can zoom in (and I wasn't zoomed all the way in with that shot).

2017_02_02_13_37_17.jpg


postimg is pissing me off... the image is rotated correctly at postimg, I swear.
 
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Looks like the printed Cottage Country book doesn't have a direct GPS equivalent, so you're looking at the full $150 Ontario version if you want something for a GPS. I've got the previous GPS version but haven't really used it since the maps I'm interested in turned out to be too large to fit on my old Garmin eTrex Venture HC. As I recall the DVD version of the GPS maps that I have are also locked to a particular device, so you're faced with buying the maps again if you get a new GPS. Neither of those issues will be a problem with any recent GPS though, assuming that you get the SD version of the maps.

Trail detail is pretty good. It doesn't have much, if any, of the single track in Ganaraska, but all the access roads and double track appear to be there, for instance
 
I haven't explored the ganny much, are all these green lines double track then?

ganny.png
 
Hmm, that's more detail than I recall on my maps. I might have an older version than I thought. The blue stuff is a mix of snowmobile trails and access roads wide enough to easily run a Jeep on. The green stuff is mostly double-track, but I do recognize a bunch of my favorite single track in there. The double-track and access roads can be very sandy, and some of the single track would be extremely difficult on a dual sport, so it'll be hard to tell just from the color what you would encounter. If you're really interested in exploring the Ganny I'd recommend that you pick up the West Forest map ($2, I think) when you get the day pass. The single track and double track are more clearly differentiated on their map.
 
And just realizing that map page lists something called Cheddar (ghost town)... so I had to google that, now I need to go back:

The lookout I referred to before is the remains of the old fire tower lookout... now there is just the concrete base for it at the top of that hill.

http://www.ghosttowns.com/canada/ontario/cheddar.html

Cheddar is a ghost town extraordinaire. A trip to its present location will baffle the mind at its illustrious past. The ghost town has been literally reclaimed by the forest and only one building remains. Cheddar began in 1871 when Benjamin Woods opened a store and post office along the windy and new Burleigh Road (a colonization road). It was called Wood's Corners. Mr. Woods offered "entertainment to the travelling public". Soon after came the hotel, a blacksmith, sawmills, 2 churhces, a school and a second general store (owned by A. Southwood in 1890). Mr. Southwood got the new postmaster contract and instantly changed the name of the prospering settlement to Cheddar after a town in England. By the 20th century uranium was found nearby. The Cheddar Mine opened in 1932. By 1942 the mine was abandoned and soon the town began to fade in importance. In the winter months to keep active the local men formed a hockey team that would play local larger towns like Wilberforce. A fire tower was located south of Cheddar past the mine at Hook Mountain. Built in 1931, its towerman protected the local forests by an early detection of forest fire from the tower's cupola. The farm soils had become depleted by the 1950's. New roads were built and paved to welcome the new cottage boom in Haliburton. The old windy gravel trails that were the Burleigh and Monck Rds. were paved and straightened to bypass Cheddar. Suddenly the once strategic junction was left behind. The forest has reclaimed the entire town site and mine site. All that remains is the old boarding house, a cistern and fragments of the Cardiff fire tower. The village was located in the former Cardiff Township in what was once the northern part of Peterborough County. Today it is in Haliburton County on the Cheddar Rd just south of Highway 118. The old mine 1 km south of Cheddar is supposedly out of bounds but the old town site east of the boarding house through the forest might still contain some worthwhile photographs of sagging buildings. Submitted by: Clayton Self


By the way, the screen shot I posted can be found in the Cottage Country map book, pg 28, c - 1, just West of North Eels Lake... so you can compare the two and see how far I can zoom in (and I wasn't zoomed all the way in with that shot).

2017_02_02_13_37_17.jpg


postimg is pissing me off... the image is rotated correctly at postimg, I swear.
 
I visited Old Wagon Road last year, but was too early in the season and it still had a lot of snow and ice so I turn the V-beast around and stuck to gravel.

I'd happily have another go at it this year a bit later in the season when it dries up, I'll bring the Z this time though... let me know when you plan to go.

I have that exact book, I use it all the time. When I get a gps I'll do what Mike did. Check out "Old Wagon Road" runs off 118 and looks promising. I'll be checking that one out this year.

Sent from my SM-A500W using Tapatalk
 
I have that exact book, I use it all the time. When I get a gps I'll do what Mike did. Check out "Old Wagon Road" runs off 118 and looks promising. I'll be checking that one out this year.

Sent from my SM-A500W using Tapatalk

I visited Old Wagon Road last year, but was too early in the season and it still had a lot of snow and ice so I turn the V-beast around and stuck to gravel.

I'd happily have another go at it this year a bit later in the season when it dries up, I'll bring the Z this time though... let me know when you plan to go.

If you guys are taking the V-Stroms I'd like to tag along as well :) ...back on subject...have the GPS version on SD card of the mapbooks as well and can echo Mike's posts.
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I think I'll start with the book for now and upgrade to the gps later.

Cheers
 
i bought the Ontario GPS maps for my garmin gps. It clearly shows crown land tracts which is awesome. I don't like to trespass and when some lunatic tells me I am on his land I can tell them he is wrong.

There is a lot of crown land in northern Ontario that has private no trespassing signs posted on it.
 
Well I just bought Chasem's old garmin 62s off Supernam, came loaded with maps, back road maps etc. If I can figure out how to use it I'll be in business. Very confusing lol.?

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