Requirements for trail riding near Calabogie?

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Originally Posted by rf2

Thanks for the info. I was thinking more about the trails near Barret Chute. I was aware about the North Frontenac road access permit, but I wonder if I would also need some sort of ATV club permit to ride the trails around there. Some of the sites pointed out by a couple of posters indicate that they have jurisdiction over those trails (in the North Frontenac Parklands). It's extremely confusing, even more so when one considers the Crown land aspect.

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Barrett Chute is a little trickier to figure out, All land on both sides of Barrett Chute Rd are privately owned, but if you are going in off Barry Lake Trail, I wouldn't buy a permit, as this is our land (crown land) the ATV club can't do anything but whine about no stickers. These trails are the only reasonable access to several lakes, and you can rest assured that no ATV club built theses trails. They were made by loggers and true hard core sportsman many years before ATV's were on the market. If you are still leary about using the trails without paying ransome money to an ATV club, bring a small fishing rod with you, or pack a .22 and if anyone asks, you are skunk hunting (which is open year round)

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Originally Posted by B Wilson

Barrett Chute is a little trickier to figure out, All land on both sides of Barrett Chute Rd are privately owned, but if you are going in off Barry Lake Trail, I wouldn't buy a permit, as this is our land (crown land) the ATV club can't do anything but whine about no stickers. These trails are the only reasonable access to several lakes, and you can rest assured that no ATV club built theses trails. They were made by loggers and true hard core sportsman many years before ATV's were on the market. If you are still leary about using the trails without paying ransome money to an ATV club, bring a small fishing rod with you, or pack a .22 and if anyone asks, you are skunk hunting (which is open year round)

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I was actually hoping to do some fishing while out riding. Some of the trails go right by small lakes.

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Originally Posted by trimmer21

All this "trail permit" stuff needs to be streamlined with ONE province-wide permit much the same as a Provincial Park pass for off-road access,inclusively. The current disjointed "system" is a total PITA.

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Completely agree, but people have been trying to organize that for quite some time. Don’t hold your breath.

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Originally Posted by 73hunter

Completely agree, but people have been trying to organize that for quite some time. Don’t hold your breath.

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Yup, just when things start looking good, some whiner club will take their trails and not play with the rest. As far as I'm concerned, they can go suck _______________, apply whatever suits the sentence.

I went riding today in the Calabogie area. I didn't go in near Barret Chute because I didn't want to deal with riding clubs harassing me for using Crown land without paying for their trail pass. Instead I went in from Calabogie Road since there is barely any private land around there. I parked at a pit off of a road (trail?) that goes to Limestone Lake. I checked out Limestone Lake and did a bit of fishing from shore, then rode some trails to Wabun Lake and got on a long power line trail with some nice climbs and incredible views. It's a really beautiful area with lots of space for recreation - Crown land camping, fishing, ATVing, soooo much space for hunting. I didn't see a ton of deer sign, but I almost had to run over grouse to get them off the trail. I'd love to start hunting deer there.

Come back during the rifle season and there won’t be nearly as much space - lots of hunting pressure in that area.

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Originally Posted by buckchaser

Come back during the rifle season and there won’t be nearly as much space - lots of hunting pressure in that area.

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Actually, I have to admit that after exploring the area, I started looking at your posts about deer hunting around there. Seems like you have had mixed results. I'd like to hear more, but maybe we can do that by PM?

Sure - brief summary is that there are a lot of traditional hunting camps in the area, the recent logging in the area has pushed more roads in and opened up access (making it busier), and the deer population is much less than it was about a decade ago. During rifle season you are pretty much guaranteed to bump into other hunters - unfortunately not all those encounters will be positive.

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Originally Posted by rf2

I checked out Limestone Lake and did a bit of fishing from shore, then rode some trails to Wabun Lake and got on a long power line trail with some nice climbs and incredible views. It's a really beautiful area with lots of space for recreation

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rf2 how was Limestone and Wabun for garbage? Been hearing far too much these past years about both those lakes being real bad. I think I may have heard something about no camping signs at the Wabun launch.
If you decide to back that way again try Limestone around the corner to the east where the old slide is. That's where it's deep and rocky. Also you may want to do a little jaunt up to Little Black for specks if you can find the trail, or what's left of it, but honestly I have no idea what it's like anymore. I imagine it still sees some use though. Last I heard about it was 7 or 8 years ago but they walked in after driving a truck to Limestone. Good luck.

Cheers

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Originally Posted by smitty55

rf2 how was Limestone and Wabun for garbage? Been hearing far too much these past years about both those lakes being real bad. I think I may have heard something about no camping signs at the Wabun launch.
If you decide to back that way again try Limestone around the corner to the east where the old slide is. That's where it's deep and rocky. Also you may want to do a little jaunt up to Little Black for specks if you can find the trail, or what's left of it, but honestly I have no idea what it's like anymore. I imagine it still sees some use though. Last I heard about it was 7 or 8 years ago but they walked in after driving a truck to Limestone. Good luck.

Cheers

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Limestone Lake was fine where I was. I was on the west side at a vacant campsite, sort of close to the only cottage on the lake. There was nobody else at the lake that I could see other than some guys at the cottage. There was a small amount of garbage at the campsite (pieces of partially burnt paper/plastic, some fishing line, the occasional can), but nothing extreme. Wabun was also relatively clean. There were several groups camping around there, and they seemed to be keeping the area tidy. I would camp in either of these areas. I actually want to go camp at the site at Limestone with my kids. It would be nice to bring the canoe, do some fishing, and do some swimming there. It was a nice, quiet spot.
I guess is depends on what you are used to. The public forests that I frequent around Ottawa are in way worse shape than what I saw while I was in the Calabogie area. That being said, I only drove about 30 km, so I covered a relatively small area.