Weekend Bucket List: Explorer's Edge, Temiskaming Loop, and Algoma Country

The lake-filled countryside around Algonquin Park is one of Ontario’s most well-known and beloved regions. Start early Friday afternoon before rush hour hits, and an hour later you’ll be cruising the long sweepers, banked corners, and dips and rises of one of the most fun highways in Ontario; the Buckhorn Road. Starting in the town of Flynns Turn, about 40 km north of Peterborough, follow Highway 507 north to Gooderham.

Looking down the barrel of the famous Buckhorn Road.

You’ll want to stay the night in one of the many comfortable Bed and Breakfasts in the Haliburton Highlands, and get an early start north on Saturday morning to catch the morning sun on the glittering lakes along Highway 35 on the way in the heart of Explorer’s Edge, the world-famous Algonquin Park.

A BMW GS taking a break on Highway 60 in Algonquin Park.

Highway 60 through the Park is a great cruising road, with easily accessible beach turnoffs. On the other side, grab lunch at the Mad Musher in Whitney before heading south to ride the glorious Elephant Lake and Peterson Roads. The historic Peterson Road, one of the best riding roads in Southern Ontario, begins in Maynooth. The long sweeping tree-lined curves meet the sparkling blue waves of Baptiste Lake and continue as Elephant Lake Road for another 15km to the small town of Harcourt.

The Mad Musher Restaurant in Whitney, ON – amazing burgers!

But the fun’s not over – Regional Road 48/Dyno Road between Highways 118 and 28 adds another 5km of tight little twisties through a sun-dappled green canopy overhead, ending right at Silent Lake Provincial Park.
On your ride home on Sunday, stop at the Petroglyphs Provincial Park for a look at the pre-Columbian rock carvings. Take the backroads home through Keene, near Rice Lake, for the best BBQ of your life at Muddy’s Pit. Or if you’re looking for something a little fancier, the Riverhouse Company in Lakefield is a treat.
Northeastern Ontario

Eau Claire Gorge, on Highway 17 near Bonfield.

For those looking for a weekend adventure further afield, try the Temiskaming Loop around Lake Temiskaming, through Ontario and Quebec. The stunning combination of geography – with scrubby bush giving way to rolling farmland surrounded by massive cliffs and mountains and the boreal forest – is rare in North America.
Starting as early as you can from Toronto, head up Highway 11 to North Bay, and make your way east on Highway 17 to Mattawa. If you can, don’t miss the spectacular Eau Claire Gorge Conservation Area along the way.
The road in is a little rough – a ride that can handle gravel is definitely required. Staying the night in Mattawa sets you up for a morning ride up the Mattawa shortcut, Highway 533. It’s a bit of a wild ride – if you’re on anything with decent ground clearance, long travel suspension and some tires with aggressive tread, this will be some incredible fun. Those on a Goldwing or Harley will want to take the 63 north to Temiskaming, which is easily one of the most scenic in the province, as the road runs directly beside the Ottawa River.

Maison Pierre Moffat, Ville-Marie, QC

At Temiskaming, you’ll cross the lake into Quebec. Highway 101 north winds you through golden canola fields and the historic town of Ville-Marie to Notre-dame-du-Nord and the bridge back into Ontario. Make your way around the Lake to your room at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites in New Liskeard, where they take good care of riders.

Lac aux Brochets, QC

Sunday morning, cruise your way around Lake Temiskaming to Haileybury, and head south on Highway 11 to North Bay. Have a late lunch or dinner at Winnie’s Pub before heading back to the big smoke.

Highway 101, QC

Grand Algoma Ride
For those who like to pack on the miles, the loop of the Grand Algoma Ride gives you almost 2000 km on some of the most epic roads in the province. Six hours north of Toronto, the tiny town of Thessalon is the starting point for Ontario’s Tail of the Dragon, Highway 129, which weaves through incredible landscape that changes as rapidly as the technicality of the road.

Ontario's Tail of the Dragon - Highway 129

Starting with lush farmers’ fields and long gentle sweepers, soon you’ll be looking over boreal forest with sharper, never-ending sweepers and dramatic descents surrounded by massive cliffs and endless forest valleys. A 10 km stretch of incredibly tight turns next to a beautiful river caps off the route. There is a two-mile patch of gravel, so if you’re on a heavy touring bike, be prepared to stand up!

Stocking up on snacks and treasures at Young’s General Store in Wawa.

Continue north to the historic logging town of Chapleau for lunch at Gus’s Family Restaurant, then head west on Highway 101 to Wawa. If it’s a hot one, stop at Potholes Provincial Park to soak your feet in the ice cold river.
In Wawa, plan to spend at least an hour at Young’s General Store, chockablock full of intriguing gift ideas, local snacks, fishing accessories, and a giant pickle barrel. It’s a must-see, from the stuffed moose on the porch to the jalapeno fudge. And don’t forget to snap a photo of the iconic Goose on your way out of town.
The ride between Wawa and Sault Ste Marie is one of the most exhilarating parts of the Lake Superior coastline. In 230 km, the road goes inland just once – through the deep green of Lake Superior Provincial Park – before you come out again at the absolutely stunning Agawa Bay, where peach-colored sand stretches out for miles. 

Approaching Agawa Bay on Lake Superior.

If you finish for the day in Sault Ste Marie – about 600 km from Thessalon – the Water Tower Inn is a good place to rest your head. Ask for one of the Trailhead rooms that has handy hooks for helmets and gear. From the Soo, you can head home the way you came, or dip down along Highway 6, one of the prettiest roads in the province, over the hundred-year-old swing bridge, and ride through the rolling hay fields of Manitoulin Island, the largest freshwater island in the world. Stop in Little Current for lunch, or if you arrive on Saturday night – for a 900km day – there are a few motels on the Island, including several in the lovely town of Mindemoya.

Lake Superior

From the island harbour of South Baymouth, hop on the Chi-Cheemaun Ferry to Tobermory and enjoy the view of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay stretching into the horizon. The quaint villages and quiet countryside of the Bruce Peninsula and Grey County offer a peaceful finish to a weekend on the road.
No matter what your riding preference, from the renowned Highway 60 through Algonquin Park, to the ride along the Ottawa River in Northeastern Ontario, or the epic scenery and long distance touring options in Algoma Country, I’m confident in saying, once you go north your weekends will never be the same.

2000 H-D Screamin' Eagle Road Glide

Los Angeles, June 13, 2000 -- Remove your brain. Right now. Read not another word unless you have already done so. Why? Put plainly, Harley-Davidsons, in general, are viewed as unique, overpriced, modern antiques. Not much reason in that, really. So when you take one of their bikes which retails for over $15,000 in stock form and let Harley's Custom Vehicle Operations program (CVO) "showcase Screamin' Eagle high performance parts," to "reflect Harley-Davidson's racing heritage," what you have is a recipe for some hard-core eyebrow raising and head scratching that would make the Three Stooges proud: $22,495 and it won't comfortably seat a family of four or win a World Superbike title? Pardon us while we remove our own collective brain. 

Our new CEO, Philip Strauss, has owned a number of bikes over the years and more than one of them has been a Harley-Davidson. Always eager to check out the latest addition to the MO stable, Strauss took the Screamin' Eagle Harley home for the weekend to do a little bit of personal taste testing. When he pulled up to the Rock Store (a local biker hangout) on Sunday morning, he encountered something he's never received on any motorcycle prior: laughter. Well, he'd encountered laughter before, but usually it was directed at him, not his ride.

This weekend's incident included more than just an isolated snicker. There was a myriad chuckles from men and women, young and old, directed at our CEO aboard the nearly $23K steed. Harley-Davidson reportedly looked to the Screamin' Eagle Pro Stock race team for inspiration in building this limited edition (only 1500 will be made) FLTRSEI. So what's so special about this bike? For starters, on top of the standard Road Glide, you get more than $7,500 in Genuine Harley-Davidson custom accessories and a choice of two paint schemes, both featuring the Screamin' Eagle on the front fairing. In addition to the paint and chrome bolt-ons, there are also a few performance-enhancing modifications which have been performed to elevate the Road Glide from Floundering Beagle to Screamin' Eagle status.

Harley says the powertrain uses Screamin' Eagle performance parts, "configured in a special street-legal package," that includes big-bore cylinders, flat-top pistons, more aggressive cams, an intake calibration cartridge and an air cleaner. The changes result in a ten-percent increase in horsepower and a 14-percent gain in torque. Compared to Philip's personal Fat Boy, we expected the Screamin' Eagle Harley to be the Big Boy on the street and leave the Fat Boy behind even though it had a high-flow air filter, Vance and Hines pipes, re-mapped ignition and a Mikuni Smooth Bore carburetor. With a big-bore kit and so many modifications (not to mention, again, the price and "influenced by the drag-race team" statement) we expected the Fat Boy to get eaten alive by the Road Glide. Unfortunately for Harley-Davidson, a lightly tweaked Fat Boy beats up on the bigger bike at every opportunity. Not to mention the fact that it sounds a lot more brutish and appropriately obnoxious.

Which brings us to another complaint we had about the Screamin Eagle Road Glide; it's too quiet! This thing's supposed to be a lion but it sounds like a tabby cat who's had a bit of vicodin mixed into his Friskies. We're all against the "loud pipes save lives" argument (we think caution and rider skill saves lives), but what's the point in building a free-breathing motor if you're going to keep things plugged up at the back end and effectively negate all the hard work? When you come up with the answer, please drop us a line.

All this arm-chair quarterbacking and that's not what this bike is all about. The Road Glide was meant for the open road. Load up a few garments, a wife, and head out for a weekend away from all the chaos that is the day-to-day shuffle. Here the bike shines as you start to look at both it and the world in front of you in an entirely different way. What is a heaving, wheezing horse-drawn wagon around town becomes a thoroughbred once it breaks out of the gate and gets an opportunity to stretch its legs. At 75 mph, this bike is in its element. Everything is just about perfect here except for the odd bit of buffeting from the relatively short windscreen. Harley has a taller windscreen than the tinted one that was fitted on our particular bike and, though it may not be as aesthetically striking, it would probably be the hot ticket for sustained cruising at speeds over 70 mph. When the dash-mounted speedometer clears 80 mph, the motor stays smooth and encourages even more rapid progress, but the buffeting from the rushing wind made riders over six feet tall feel like they were doing a headstand on top of an unevenly loaded washing machine.

Surprisingly, the buffeting lessens with a passenger aboard. What was miserable at 80 mph is now tolerable, and the Screamin' Eagle motor has no problem pulling a passenger along. You hardly notice anybody is back there. But the passengers were quick to notice their right calf toasting and their butt getting sore. People complained when we did not include this bike against the BMW K1200LT and the Honda GL 1500 Gold Wing but we had good reason; the Harley is not nearly as comfortable or competent as is either offering from competing manufacturers. At speeds above 90 mph the Harley started to "float" on the road. Where most ground-based vehicles are engineered with some degree of downforce above a certain speed, the harder the pilot twisted the Road Glide's throttle, the more the bike felt disconnected with the road's surface. The motor would willingly pull beyond 110 mph, but those speeds became far too sketchy for any sort of real rider comfort. Still, if our touring plans were more localized and placed an emphasis on outlaw style and a high "ooh - aaah" factor, the Eagle would be our choice.
The layout of the gauges is extremely tidy and features classy, chrome-bezels. The radio features only a tape deck, but the audio quality is on par with that of Honda's Gold wing, though only as loud as the BMW K1200LT which is just a shade quieter than the Honda. We would appreciate a CD-player option on this Road Glide, and the passenger would certainly appreciate a set of speakers mounted someplace on the back of the bike since, at speeds above 45 mph, the music becomes indistinguishable from ambient noise. As for the mufflers themselves, they're too quiet to make beautiful music on their own, yet just loud enough to drown out the music. Harley should make them quieter or just ditch the stereo and give us something that sounds like the Screamin' Eagle moniker would suggest.

Harleys are about emotion, and not rational thought processes. Sure, there's resale value, but we have a grandfather clock with good resale value. So what? Harleys are about the feeling you get when riding one. They're about pulling into a parking lot and being on the
receiving end of admiring glances. This bike will definately garner its fair share of glances and comments even if they're not all positive. The motor is not modified to suit the faint of heart or weak of spirit. Obviously, neither is the paint job.

Harleys are still about style first and performance second. And while this bike is no slouch in the style department, its Screamin' Eagle upgrades bring the performance closer to where they belong, though still fall a little short of expectations. But if a brash, in-your-face attention grabber is what you seek, then this Screamin' Eagle is just what you're looking for and you can put your brain back in now and enjoy the ride.

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