Discovered: Ride The Highlands

Story: Lawrence Hacking

There is an odd human perception that things that are easily accessible or close to home are not special. Nothing could be further from the truth. I was reminded of this recently when my friend Dustin Woods (you can read his work in Vicarious as well) and I finally connected for an adventure bike ride on the invitation of the Destination Ontario people, who are charged with tourism marketing for Ontario. After a few delayed starts the two of us met up riding two new Harley-Davidson Pan Americas at the peak of fall colours season. We headed North to Ontario’s Haliburton Highlands to take a crack at one of the many pre-planned routes that are carefully scouted for the discerning adventure bike rider.

On what could be considered some epic roads, two tracks and trails we sliced and diced for three days in the brisk temperatures all the while enjoying the company of ace videographer/ photographer Virgil Knapp. Virgil kept us on the straight and narrow hitting all of our designated marks that the Discover Ontario people set out for us- visit this site- have coffee at this quaint location-check out his panoramic view – stay here – eat there. I have to say the detail at which the different routes are laid out makes it easy and fun to see and do a lot in a short period of time. We chose segments of the Pick Axe and Gravel Crusher loops, these routes use some excellent winding gravel roads including Old Hastings Road that is infamously used for the Tall Pines Car rally.

We stayed on pavement most of the time, in my mind nothing beats carving some crisp corners on paved backroads especially on a bike like the Pan America. With multiple modes and infinite adjustability, the Harley is well suited to Highlands riding. As one would expect the roads can be bumpy, the roads follow the terrain for the most part so undulating is a useful adjective when describing them to say the least.

On day one, we met our intrepid photographer in Norland in a rainstorm. Virgil immediately put us to work shooting in case the weather took a turn for the worse. Instead, we lucked out with empty roads and perfect light for photography after the rain let up. So much for the predictability of weather.

With the pre-ride jitters and ample pictures out of the way we pulled up at our first overnight destination the Somerset Resort near Bancroft where we were treated to a hearty meal and good conversation that prepared us well for the following day. In the morning the sun was shining and temperatures stayed above freezing, we rode a wide variety of roads and buzzed through small towns such as Minden, Haliburton village, Maynooth and Gooderham. Our final day we rode to the outlook above the town of Haliburton to shoot some photos and capture the golden hour of light towards the end of the day.

Once the sun neared the horizon, we beelined it to the Bonnieview resort on Kashagawigmog Lake for a well-deserved rest and recharge.  The Harleys were a great choice for this ride, the fuel range is more than ample for this relatively remote riding, comfort was key, the grip warmers were on max the entire ride and wind protection kept us acceptably warm.

We went our separate ways in Kimount, as I tightened my gear bag down for the last time I called out to Dustin, “awesome ride, let’s do it on snowmobiles next,” but I don’t think he heard me. Upon reflection I realized you don’t have to go far to do some epic rides, the Haliburton Highlands are so close yet have world class adventure riding in our backyard and that is something special.