Day 2 - July 13 - North Bay to Cochrane

Weather: Sunny +31c little humidity, made for nice riding weather.

Distance: 394km, time 8hrs 

Today was our first full day on Highway #11, we travelled due North from North Bay to Cochrane, but we did have a few stops on the way.  First one was the ONR Station in Temagami.

After a lunch stop in New Liskard it was off to the ONR Division HQ in Englehart, which was very quiet with no trains, however since last September they have finished re-painting steam engine #701, and it is an excellent job, see this photo.

Next stop was CFS Ramore.  That is Canadian Forces Station, and yes it is abandoned but with a little detective work and the advice of some locals we found an almost intact Pine Tree Line Radar site.

So was is left, the Guard House, all the maintenance garages and over 12km of paved road, including one leading to the very top of Lava Mountain.  Now to get to the top or the last 1.7km requires about a 20 minute hike or if you have the skill and you can get an 500kg motorcycle over dirt and a small space you can cut that to 5 minutes.

Guard House

The Access Road

The Radar Tower Base

Ken's Bike on site at CFS Ramore

Warning: Asbestos present in this old building

The Aux Radar Tower

A almost in tact GE Mastr radio unit, I can almost here the cryptic com "CFSRAMORE INCOMING DETECTED"  If I had the car this would be heading home, what a find a item of technology from the Cold War like it was only yesterday.

Another Road view - this place had a staff of 800 in the 1950 and was one of the largest Pinetree Sites.

After spending more than an hour at Ramore it was time to hit the road, we still have 47km to go and it was 4:45pm, but the sun sets at 9:24pm, when you are north of 49!

Cochrane for the night.

Just an unbelievable day and an excellent fine a Ramore!!