Staff Report
One of the best things about the Muskoka Snowmobile Region (MSR) is its easy access for the six million plus population of Southern Ontario. From downtown Toronto it’s barely two hours until you’re riding smooth Muskoka trails.
The MSR is a banding of twelve snowmobile clubs into a regional trail system and it provides snowmobilers with hundreds of kilometers of 12 to 16-foot wide trails and some of the finest scenery in North America.
The region is home to four of the biggest lakes in Ontario and a significant collection of smaller ones, too. Snowmobile trails wend around the vast shorelines of Lake Muskoka, Lake Rosseau, Lake Joseph and Lake of Bays.
The association’s central grooming program allows efficient use of grooming equipment shared between the 12 clubs and that results in consistent quality trails for permit holders.
At the top of the system, MSR trails link up with Parry Sound and the Near North and their clubs, allowing great opportunities for high-mile adventures.
At the opposite end, the MSR’s trail network adjoins the massive Haliburton County Snowmobile Association grid and from there you can experience the MSR’s Tall Pines Snowmobile Club trails through the busy town of Dorset and make a stop en route at the famous Oxtongue Shelter. If you approach from here you’ll link up with the Algonquin Snowmobile Club’s trails, another MSR member. At this end of the trail system you can also connect to the Deerhurst Inn and all the other great winter resorts in the Huntsville area.
Departing Huntsville, you can head toward the town of Port Sydney on Mary Lake. Our last trip there, the quantity of snow we encountered was amazing. Feet deep and still falling, another mid-winter squall had brought amazing quantities of our favorite form of precipitation.
At some points we actually had to sweep destination signs to verify our route. Good snowfall is typical of this region mostly because of its geographical location and the fact it receives a steady diet of winter streamers off Georgian Bay.
With plenty of snow early on in the season the clubs can get out grooming as early as November some years and with consistent in-season snowfall, MSR routes have a tremendous base able to hold up late into the winter.
Speaking of routes, this region is well signed and easy to navigate. With the MSR’s excellent trail map onboard, you simply cannot get lost. You’re never far from good places to stay or eat or from gasoline stops or repair facilities. It all works together to make the riding fun, convenient and easy.
You can refuel in Port Sydney and ride the amazing trails groomed by the Muskoka Snow Bombers and the Hill & Gully Riders between Port Sydney and Bracebridge.
Another option is to head toward Gravenhurst, then the town of Baysville in the Happy Wanderers Snowmobile Club area on beautiful Lake of Bays for lunch.
The MSR offers tremendous opportunities to sample great dining and to experience some of the most impressive winter accommodations in Canada. Our last trek there produced better than 300 kilometers of riding and was handled in total comfort and confidence without a guide.
Think about visiting MSR trails for your next ride. You’ll be glad you did!
For maps and lodging information visit www.msrsnowtrails.com and call 800-328-7245.
