Snowmobiling the Cartier Moose Loop

With it being a craptacular winter for snowmobilers in Southwestern Ontario, Darrell and I decided to pack up the sleds and head to Sudbury for some trail riding. We’ve spent a lot of time in the Cartier area in the past year and I’d been wanting to ride the Cartier Moose Loop to see even more of it.

After dropping off the dogs with Darrell’s parents, we headed north, and by late afternoon we arrived at Village Inn & Suites in Lively, our home for the weekend. There’s a snowmobile trail that runs right to the motel. It was open when we booked, but closed by the time of our arrival. The weather hasn’t been cooperative this winter.

It felt beyond weird to not be setting up a tent or trailer on arrival. Instead, we just had to drag our clothes and electronics into the motel, then go in search of dinner.

Since trail conditions had changed so much, we had to change our launch area for the Cartier Moose Loop. On Sunday morning we headed for a quick breakfast and then arrived at a parking spot I’d found on the OFSC trail app. Unfortunately, it was a completely bare parking lot that required you to cross a main road, and then drive down a completely bare road, and then we couldn’t even figure out how you picked up the trail. I had no desire to melt my carbides immediately, so I hopped on a Facebook group and searched for better parking spots in the area. With that, we headed to Capreol.

As we finally unloaded the snowmobiles in a gas station parking lot, I felt a hum of anticipation. We’d never ridden a loop this big, let alone through an area like this, one that I love to visit on overlanding trips. We normally ride our local trails and keep the rides to a few hours so we can do other things. Or we ride into lakes so we can ice fish and camp. This was something different that I really looked forward to.

We didn’t have the newest sleds in the group that was leaving from that parking lot (ours are almost 20 years old), but they started up without problem and we were on the trail in no time.

The trail was green leaving Capreol and heading north, for good reason. There was plenty of snow. It was, however, a little on the bumpy side of things, especially as we crossed over Rockcut Lake. I found myself standing a fair bit to keep my knees from complaining too early in the trip.

There were ice crossings, trails running alongside the road, trails through forests, and even a section through an active logging area. I was surprised there was enough snow to ride on there since the area had been plowed previously.

At one point we stopped to check our location on the app and were confused to find that we weren’t remotely close to the trail that showed on our phones. We were in the right spot according to the trail signs in front of us, but that did not line up with the trail layer on the app. As a former GIS tech, I had a few choice words about not updating layers properly since that shouldn’t be a difficult task, though every system has its quirks.

We made good time and within a couple of hours we’d arrived in Cartier. I always think of Cartier as the Last Stop when we’re up that way on trips. It’s the last place for gas, food, or bait for a while if you’re heading north. Since the dogs are normally with us, we hadn’t had a chance to eat at Kelly’s Family Diner before, but you better believe we took the chance to eat here this time around.

By the time I’d sat down in the diner, I realized my body was a little stiff and I was grateful for a break. While we ate our delicious clubhouse sandwiches, we talked about the rest of the loop and listened to the chatter around us.

We heard one guy mention to a friend that instead of continuing on the loop, his group was going to turn back and take another trail back to where they started. He implied that the rest of the loop would have some rough riding through town. I wish we had taken that advice. Of course, we wanted to ride the full loop, so off we went.

If you’ve ever driven from Cartier to Windy Lake, you know that it’s a hilly area. From reading posts about this loop in various Facebook groups, I knew there were some good hills that could be tricky if icy. People always seemed to talk about one hill in particular. Let me tell you, if you’re riding this stretch of trail, there’s not just one hill.

We came to the first big climb and I thought, “Oh this must be the hill they talk about.”

Then we came to another one. And another one.

Honestly, the hills were such a blast to ride. My snowmobile does not have a studded track, or aggressive lugs, and has to haul my heavy butt, so I tend give it a good speed heading into a big hill. My usual tactic is to slow down to put enough space between myself and Darrell, then give her the gas and be flying by the time I start climbing. I really didn’t need to worry since the conditions were actually perfect in this section of trail and I could go slower.

By the time we’d gone up and down several hills, the two of us stopped to have a laugh. Not only was that a ton of fun, but it was way hillier than I’d expected.

From there it was onto more lake riding, my favourite being the Windy Lake crossing. It’s a fun time to really open up your sled, within reason. Darrell’s “within reason” is a lot different than mine.

Throughout the ride we’d encountered very few other sleds. We passed a handful of riders going the opposite direction, and played cat and mouse with two other groups of riders going the same way as us.

By the time we got to Chelmsford, I was starting to feel the ride and wished I had some Advil. It felt like we had forever left to go and the trails were getting worse as we went. After riding on some of the best trail sections we’d ever been on near Cartier, we were now riding on pavement, blast rock, gravel, dirt, and ice chunks. I apologized to my sled constantly. I really wish we had turned around in Cartier.

Not only had the trail quality tanked, but so had our pace. It was taking forever to finish this ride, largely because of the conditions. I’m sure Darrell was happy that we didn’t have a way to talk to each other while riding, so he didn’t have to hear the swearing, the moaning about how much longer this was going to take, and the constant apologies to my sled.

Eventually, we got back out of town again and came across a groomer on a much nicer section of trail. That stretch was such a nice break from the crap in town.

By the time we made it back to Capreol, it was 9pm. I’ve only been that happy to see a gas station sign once before in my life. We stopped at the pumps to fill up the sleds, loaded them on the trailer, and set out on the half hour drive back to the motel. Back at the motel I downed a bunch of Advil and wished I was 20 instead of 40.

Although we’d planned to do a bit more riding on the Monday before heading home, both of us were tired and thought it would be better to have a relaxing drive home instead.

That relaxing drive ended as we got off Highway 400 and smoke billowed out from under the snowmobile trailer. After pulling onto the shoulder of Highway 9, Darrell got out to check and found that the suspension on the trailer axle had given way. The tires were now pressed up against the floor of the trailer, rubbing away. Thank goodness for CAA!

So despite everything, was the Cartier Moose Loop worth it? Absolutely! We ended up having a lot of fun, checked off an adventure we’d been wanting to go on, and have another great story to share. If you’d told me last year that Darrell’s nightmare sled could handle doing a ride like this without dying on us, I would have laughed at you. I don’t regret anything about this trip. However, if you’re not real set on completing the loop and it’s a poor snow year, you might want to just turn around in Cartier.