‘THANK GOD WINTER HAS RETURNED’: IN PRAISE OF SKIING, SNOWMOBILING, SHINNY
Ed. note: My dad loved nothing better in winter than to doff his shirt, put on his x-country skis and head up Lake Muskoka with our red Irish setter dog Whisky and ski to the narrows, while occasionally dropping in on a lake resident like John Brownlee for a hot toddy on a sunny cold day. Here’s an old column of his, from the Feb. 27, 1975 Gravenhurst News, sent to me by Gravenhurst archivist Jack Cline, which that reminds us of the joys of winter when snow was snow.
YESTERDAY’S SNOWSTORM may have had a lot of people moaning and groaning, but it was welcome to the winter sports crowd. Continuous mild weather – even a thunderstorm on Monday – made it look as though we were in for an exceptionally early spring. But all that changed overnight.
On Tuesday, there was 10 inches of snow on the ground in Muskoka. Yesterday, there was 21 inches. And those banana-country temperatures we’ve been having slipped back to freezing, helped along by gusty winds that often turned the countryside into a white sheet.
Now that’s more like it.
Years past, I would have been with the moaners and groaners when I awakened yesterday morning and saw winter had decided to hang in there for a while longer. But having worked my way into condition and feeling able to take advantage of the pleasures of winter, I was among the happy ones to see the weather return to normal.
And one of the reasons for my elation at the return to winter was because there is nothing quite so sad as to see a snowmobiler who has been forced out of action by inclement weather.
I saw this first-hand on Sunday. I was among some area newsmen who were to be shown how and where snowmobiling is booming in Muskoka. We were to have gone from the Inn On The Lake Hotel (Miramichi) to Torrance by snow machine. It was supposed to have been a crisp sunny day as we rode the trails. That’s how John Marchington, Dick Ellis and Ralph Tippett, all of the local Natural Resources office, had planned things a few weeks ago.
As it turned out, Sunday was one of the lousiest mid-winter days on record. Our snowmobile safari was cancelled because the trails were too soft, due to mild weather that was also producing rain on this Sabbath. Everybody but God was apologizing. He must have been consoling those who are longing for arrival of the golf season.
Gord Scott (not to be confused with Ambulance Gord Scott) did his best to cheer up the assembly on this rainy February day. He is president of the local Gateway Snowmobile Club, whose trails are mostly to the west of town. Gord is one of those who would agree that snowmobiling is the greatest thing to arrive on the scene since sliced bread. He enthusiastically backed up the statistics presented by John, Dick and Ralph.
In the Muskoka-Parry Sound area, as many as 6,000 machines were said to be running on 1,000 miles of trails on any given winter weekend. There were nine clubs and they spent more than $50,000 on the trails. But there was nothing really solid here tying the whole thing together. And for that matter, there wasn’t any unifying force anywhere else, either.
Enter now the Ministry of Natural Resources. The time: November 7, 1974. Hon. Allan Grossman speaking: “Here’s about $1 million for your trails.” Snowmobilers throughout Ontario responded: “Three cheers for Hon. Grossman.”
BALA BEEF awaits snowless snowmobilers
Precisely 11 days later, a personable young man named John Marchington arrived in Muskoka by car. (There wasn’t enough snow for him to come by snowmobile.) And with him came $30,000, our shard of the $1 million melon.
John talked things out with the clubs. Safety standards were set and 225 miles of trails were opened to the public in what is known as the Bracebridge District. “We call this a Grand Trunk System, joining up such population centres as Gravenhurst, Bracebridge, Port Carling, Port Sydney, Huntsville, Dorset and Parry Sound. Future routes to North Bay, Haliburton and to the south are under consideration. An estimated 2,500 use the trails on weekends.”
“I’m not a snowmobiler and have only ridden one a couple of times. But I realize the machines have been a big economic boost to such places as Muskoka. And they’ve opened trails nearly everywhere. And furthermore, the trails are groomed twice each week. Just excellent for walking through the bush, especially during mid-week.
And for that, the snowmobiles have my blessing. What this all means is that the bush country has been rediscovered and we’re also likely to get trails for summer hiking and bike riding.
One of the few machines moving on Sunday was the Natural Resources grooming equipment at Muldrew Lake. Bruce Pedersen gave us a demonstration. That was just before we went by motor car to Torrance for the Bala Lions Club’s beef barbeque. I went with Dick Ellis, who also operates a store at Ufford. Dick says there’s been some good pickerel fishing in Three Mile Lake and invited me to try my luck some weekend.
Tom Purkis, our News man in Bala, was among the many workers at the Lions’ cookout. He’s got a full account in this issue. I’ll only add that it seems to me to be the kind of thing that service clubs should be doing more of. It’s a great idea for a community get-together.
Congratulations, Bala.
Arriving home early Sunday afternoon, I had thought of travelling to North Bay that night for the final show of the Ice Capades’ five-day run. That was cancelled with a knock at the door. It was John and Barb Christensen and Glen Williams. And away we went on a walk to Inn On The Lake (Miramichi Lodge). I reported on my Saturday night viewing of The Longest Yard at the Muskoka Theatre. This was first run in the district and, with Burt Reynolds, as the star and attracted a fair crowd at $3 per person.
We used to hear the same language in the washrooms for nothing. Such are modern movies. The excellent photography far outclasses the mediocre scripts. But the likes of Grizzly Adams, which played here to enormous crowds earlier in the week, is even a bigger puzzle. Anyway, I enjoyed a midnight Chinese dinner at the Rickshaw.
TIME FOR SHINNY GAME
Tom Robinson used to be the service manager at Green Motors and is now manager of the Bracebridge Community Centre. He persuaded me to come up last Thursday and participate in a shinny hockey game. This is a weekly event open to all male adults who still think they have a little Gordie Howe in them.
I was surprised to find myself playing along side former Gravenhurst resident John Scott, Cal’s son. He’s left the travel agency in Guelph and now lives with his wife and two children in Bracebridge, where he’s establishing Spectrum Industries, specializing in paints.
John was one of this town’s better minor hockey players in his youth. Now he plays to try and sweat off some excess beef. After a stiff workout, we players bought food from the mobile lunch wagon and recalled our better hockey days.
Tom Robinson reported that that morning, 80 ladies attended the two-hour skating party, setting a new record for the weekly attraction. They also get coffee, donuts and a chance at a draw prize. The skating party started a year ago with only 18 ladies showing up.
Later Thursday afternoon, I made my way to Windermere, via Highway 532 and the road that passes Dinosaur Park. Most of the last 10 miles was on a road that was one of the roughest I’ve ever travelled. It was almost impassable.
On the other hand, I was pleased to see Mary Elizabeth Aitken in much better shape. She recently underwent surgery at London and is busy with major expansion plans for Windermere House. Her assistant, Beth McCarthy, reports that early bookings indicate another great year for the popular Muskoka resort.
It was so sunny and warm on Friday, I didn’t even wear a hat on my 35-minute walk to Inn On The Lake for lunch with Maisie and the Bouldens.
As I walked home, the hotel’s dogs were following. The school bus came along. Driver Bea Hornby stopped. Out stepped Janet and Sabrian Holberg. They called the dogs. And on board went the 150-lb. Great Danes, Duke and Bengy, and little Coco, a long-haired dachshund. That’s rural service.
At that very spot on Tuesday, it was impossible to walk further because of water over the road. Yesterday you could skate there.
In yesterday’s storm, Milford Cook, 80, took a heart attack at the post office and died shortly after. There is no funeral. He donated his body to medical research.
And Bob Morgan also died in Mexico.
