After exploring “many options,” officials with the Algonquin Snowmobile Club say they have figured out a reroute for Trail 77 in Lake of Bays.
In a Facebook post, they say the trail will be closed from the south end of Trail 78 to Tally Ho Rd. However, the section from Penn Lake to Nadrofsky Lumber at Tally Ho Rd. will be unchanged.
Officials explain sledders coming from the south will have to follow Tally Ho Rd. from less than half a kilometre to Limberlost Rd. and follow it for close to three kilometres before getting onto Trail 78. For those riding in from the north, they will have to drive for less than a kilometre on Hutcheson Rd. to get to Trail 78.
“While road running is never ideal, this will at least provide a link from Penn Lake to Trail 78,” they write. “During the off-season, ASC will continue to pursue a better option.”
“This could not be avoided,” they added.
The trail previously crosses over the McCabe property to get to Tally Ho Rd. However, in a letter to Lake of Bays council last week, Steven Barnstaple, interim president of ASC, wrote the landowner is planning to build a home where the trail would be and has revoked access.
One of the club’s ideas was to reroute the trail over part of the Maplewood Cemetery property. Barnstaple was due to speak to Lake of Bays council about the proposal on Jan. 10, however, Carrie Sykes, the township’s director of corporate services and clerk, says representatives from the club asked for their proposal to be pulled prior to the meeting.