2017 Day trip photo sharing thread | GTAMotorcycle.com

2017 Day trip photo sharing thread

PrivatePilot

Ironus Butticus
Site Supporter
I know a lot of us do (sometimes lengthy) day trips here, so I thought we could start a thread sharing locations/ideas as well as photos. It might give others ideas to do the same, or hey, at least make for some photos to look at. ;)

I'll start.

This morning after taking my daughter to the barn I hopped on the scoot around noon and headed for Gravenhurst - I had a 4:30 reservation on the RMS Segwun steamship, a real piece of history. Built in 1887 it's the oldest still operating steamship in the world and one of the last 4 ships in the world still carrying the Royal Mail Ship (RMS) designation.

Grabbed lunch in Port Perry, avoiding the Tim Hortons (it was littered with Timmies Angels sitting next to their bikes drinking coffee) and grabbing some pizza instead from what used to be Yellow House Pizza but is now something else - not as good as it once was.

I arrived about an hour early and toured around on foot - Gravenhurst is such a picturesque town.

The ship arrived back from the previous tour at the time we were supposed to be boarding, so by the time they disembarked everyone and got us aboard we were about 20 minutes late leaving, and since the next cruise was a premium dinner cruise, we got the short end of the stick with a truncated trip that was only about 40 minutes.

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Regardless, I was there not for the scenery, but for the machinery - I'm a ship buff. Once we backed out of our slip and were underway I headed for the wheelhouse (I had asked about a tour when boarding) and spent about 25 minutes chatting with the captain and watching things as we were underway - totally awesome, a real window into how ships used to be 100+ years ago. This is Titanic era stuff still in use in modern day - the engine room telegraphs are original 1887 as is the compass. The steering gear has been upgraded from the old chain system to hydraulic, but the wheel remains...and captain said it was not assisted, so swinging the rudder from lock to lock did look like a task involving some amount of strength - I asked and he said the steering was reasonably light around midships, but was a bear towards lock, especially under power.

seguin4.jpg


seguin5.jpg


Next I headed for the engine room - it's actually surprisingly open (at least the control station, the machinery room below is out of bounds) and you can walk through the control area. Again, for a history or ship buff, this is awesome stuff - again, original engine room telegraphs still in use, and the coal fired boiler & steam engines are still ticking. Yes, it was hot - the Segwun is still powered by coal and there was no shortage of heat in the vicinity of the machinery room/control station. You can look down through grates to see the crankshafts and other machinery below - neat stuff.

seguin6.jpg


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Anyhow, for anyone looking for nice northern day trip destination with something to do at the end, here's an idea - even for the people with no interest in the mechanics or history of the ship, it is a great scenic tour down millionaire alley north of Gravenhurst, and if you go for one of the longer tours they reportedly serve a great meal.
 
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If you like machinery and stuff.A good destination is Port Burwell to take a tour of the Ojibwa.http://www.hmcsojibwa.ca/about.html
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Did that 2 years ago actually - we weren't on the bikes (I had a horse to haul from Port Burwell back this way so I had the truck/trailer) but we stayed in town and did the tour. We will be out that way again (on the bikes this time) in a few weeks so I might pop by again actually, I really enjoyed it. My claustrophobic wife, well, I'm not so sure she enjoyed it as much as I did. ;)
 
Did that 2 years ago actually - we weren't on the bikes (I had a horse to haul from Port Burwell back this way so I had the truck/trailer) but we stayed in town and did the tour. We will be out that way again (on the bikes this time) in a few weeks so I might pop by again actually, I really enjoyed it. My claustrophobic wife, well, I'm not so sure she enjoyed it as much as I did. ;)

Lol.Stubby sat at the picnic table while i did the tour.She made it as far as the second door.Nope nope nope nope.
 
*subbed
This looks like it could be a good thread :D

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Well, ended up with close to 1300KM on the scoot in the last few days (FINALLY getting some serious riding in, weather be damned) and plenty of new places visited all within easy day trip range of Toronto. Will get around to posting some pics when I'm less tired.
 
The Keewatin in Port McNichol is an interesting piece of history. Lots of other riding in the area as well.

The Keewatin is floating but not operational. At that age I wouldn't be either.

I'd post some pictures but for some reason it's more of a PITA than it's worth.
 
I know a lot of us do (sometimes lengthy) day trips here, so I thought we could start a thread sharing locations/ideas as well as photos. It might give others ideas to do the same, or hey, at least make for some photos to look at. ;)

I'll start.

This morning after taking my daughter to the barn I hopped on the scoot around noon and headed for Gravenhurst - I had a 4:30 reservation on the RMS Segwun steamship, a real piece of history. Built in 1887 it's the oldest still operating steamship in the world and one of the last 4 ships in the world still carrying the Royal Mail Ship (RMS) designation.

Grabbed lunch in Port Perry, avoiding the Tim Hortons (it was littered with Timmies Angels sitting next to their bikes drinking coffee) and grabbing some pizza instead from what used to be Yellow House Pizza but is now something else - not as good as it once was.

I arrived about an hour early and toured around on foot - Gravenhurst is such a picturesque town.

The ship arrived back from the previous tour at the time we were supposed to be boarding, so by the time they disembarked everyone and got us aboard we were about 20 minutes late leaving, and since the next cruise was a premium dinner cruise, we got the short end of the stick with a truncated trip that was only about 40 minutes.

seguin1.jpg


seguin2.jpg


seguin3.jpg


Regardless, I was there not for the scenery, but for the machinery - I'm a ship buff. Once we backed out of our slip and were underway I headed for the wheelhouse (I had asked about a tour when boarding) and spent about 25 minutes chatting with the captain and watching things as we were underway - totally awesome, a real window into how ships used to be 100+ years ago. This is Titanic era stuff still in use in modern day - the engine room telegraphs are original 1887 as is the compass. The steering gear has been upgraded from the old chain system to hydraulic, but the wheel remains...and captain said it was not assisted, so swinging the rudder from lock to lock did look like a task involving some amount of strength - I asked and he said the steering was reasonably light around midships, but was a bear towards lock, especially under power.

seguin4.jpg


seguin5.jpg


Next I headed for the engine room - it's actually surprisingly open (at least the control station, the machinery room below is out of bounds) and you can walk through the control area. Again, for a history or ship buff, this is awesome stuff - again, original engine room telegraphs still in use, and the coal fired boiler & steam engines are still ticking. Yes, it was hot - the Segwun is still powered by coal and there was no shortage of heat in the vicinity of the machinery room/control station. You can look down through grates to see the crankshafts and other machinery below - neat stuff.

seguin6.jpg


seguin7.jpg


seguin8.jpg


Anyhow, for anyone looking for nice northern day trip destination with something to do at the end, here's an idea - even for the people with no interest in the mechanics or history of the ship, it is a great scenic tour down millionaire alley north of Gravenhurst, and if you go for one of the longer tours they reportedly serve a great meal.
I went to a cruise/dinner yesterday with misus because of this thread.

Tnx for the info.
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I went to a cruise/dinner yesterday with misus because of this thread.

Awesome, glad you enjoyed it, how was the dinner?

Anyhow, I'll post some more daytrip ideas we've done.

The Diefenbunker. A genuine real life decommissioned Canadian government nuclear bunker just west of Ottawa.

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We have been there twice, and both times I have noticed new things. You can either do a guided tour, or a self guided tour..or literally just wander around at will as anything that's off limits is locked up, so you can just go wild. It's awesome and for anyone who's into that sort of thing it's well worth the trip. Yes, Carp/Ottawa might be outside the day trip ideas of some but with the tour only being about 1.5 hours (go for the early one, you'll want to spend an hour wandering afterwards, but the late tour ends up only leaving you about 30 minutes before they close) it's doable for sure in a long day.

Lots of photos can be found online, but they do not replace the actual tour - not even close. Just do it.
 
Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area, Halton.

http://www.conservationhalton.ca/park-details?park=rattlesnake-point

Not on the radar of a lot of people (I had no idea it existed and was so cool until we went) but it's close to the west side of Toronto and definitely worth the adventure if just for the view.

Not really suitable for little kids so leave them at home - there are sheer open cliff faces you can walk right up to and there are actually people doing mountain climbing there routinely, but be cautious - someone died falling off the cliff just this past May.

But the view is great and you can hike the trails or even camp if you want.

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Take note that the road leading up to the point is steep with several sharp turns including one complete total (and tight) switchback and steep grades and weird camber in many of the corners - perhaps not suitable for lesser experienced riders. Watch out for the cars, many were going WAY too fast for the road both up and down. Coming back down be sure to use engine braking instead of your friction brakes as you can easily overheat them - I smelled hot brakes on several of the cars coming down the grade because people were riding them the entire way down.
 
Fort Mississauga - Niagara on the Lake

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Mississauga

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You have to be a little bit of a history buff for this one, but if you're interested in that sort of thing this one is actually totally awesome - a real 1800's fort still in existence and free to tour. Built in 1814 actually.

It's now surrounded by a golf course but is easily acessable via a walking trail. We were surprised to find that the fort was actually open and we walked right inside - NOT for the faint of heart - it was fairly dark, very damp, and there was unfortunately some garbage and indications of campers/partiers having taken up residence, but bring a flashlight and check it out - the tiny stone staircase to the upper level is open and so long as your not claustrophobic, it leads you to the upper level and roof hatch area. It was closed off and we didn't try to open it, and we also found a massive dead rat up there (might have been a possum actually, in hindsight), so again...not for the faint of heart. ;)

You can also walk the grounds outside and many of the "bunkers" are still there, but again, unfortunately signs of vandalism and damage are everywhere. There's also a cool tunnel that leads to the lake - look up at the brickwork, it's amazing stuff for being hundreds of years old.

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Please follow the explorers mantra - leave only footprints and take only photos.

Of course, once you're done at the Fort (we spent close to an hour and I could have spent more time yet) you can go into Niagara on the Lake itself and enjoy the town - if you've never been there it's most excellent - very picturesque and enjoyable to just walk around and take in the sights.

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There's some great places to grab lunch as well while in town - I highly recommend the Olde Angel Inn which is a bit of an experience in itself (built around the same time as the fort, 1816!) and the food was great - a lot of classic English fare, and the fish and chips was most excellent.

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Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area, Halton.

Mind the hairpin going up or down it ....cars hog the road and bikes have been dropped.

It's a decent road up past there and you can get to Rattlesnake from the east instead of the south thus avoiding the hairpin.
 
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That bunker has been added to my list. Thanks!

Here's some photos from my ride this weekend.

Route: (Who says Ontario only has straight and boring roads?)
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Sunrise on Southwood Road
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Is it just me or does wet pavement look sexy in photos
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Dorset Lookout Tower
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Going down?
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Awesome. Southwood road was one of the most memorable roads I've ever ridden in Ontario. I left quite a lot of aluminum off the bottom of my floorboards on many corners there. ;)

I've been to the tower but could never climb it. Fly a plane? No problem. Climb a tower? A whole lot of nope!
 
Awesome. Southwood road was one of the most memorable roads I've ever ridden in Ontario. I left quite a lot of aluminum off the bottom of my floorboards on many corners there. ;)

I've been to the tower but could never climb it. Fly a plane? No problem. Climb a tower? A whole lot of nope!
Southwood is one of my favorites as well, but I live nearby so it's at either the start or the end of nearly every ride I do.
The tower I've done numerous times. Flying a plane? Not so much...

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