So one of the places I wanted to go on my Great Lakes Coast line trip was the Park to Park trail. Thanks to my taking that old logging road that part of the trip never happened.

So a month later, the bike is all repaired and while the weather is still nice and the leaves are changing in to their fall colours, I decide it's time to do the Park to Park.

Load up the bike with less stuff than usual. I am staying at an old high school buddies place near Parry Sound so I don't need the tent, cooler, Coleman stoves, etc...

 So on Friday as my friend goes to work I head out on the trail after purchasing my pass online. Yes you have to buy a pass to use the trail with a motorized vehicle. The money from the passes is supposed to go towards mainaining the trail.

So on to the trail. Starting at the south Parry Sound entrance. The trail at this part is smooth and well maintained. It is a little scenic and somewhat boring but the scenery picks up the further from town you get.

So you come along to a bridge and get the above scenic views. The trail then follows a road and eventually goes on to a road for a bit, then back on to a trail that crosses the 400 highway.

After crossing the 400, there is a gas station at this point, the trail becomes more of a dirt driveway. A long section of this part of the trail will have cars on it as it goes to cottages and hunting camps.

The trail/road is still smooth with the occasional pot holes and bumps.

After this we come upon the first problem with the trail, a bridge is out. The frame of the bridge is there but there is no deck on it. This is just after crossing Tally Ho-Swords Road (love that name).

So turn around jump on the road and rejoin the trail just before Orrville.

The above two photos where taken just after South Seguin Estates Road.

So continuing on the trail we come upon a flooded section just after Nippissing Road West. The section is about 100 metres in lenght and about 30 to 60 cm deep. Since I did not bring my winch with me I decided to turn around and catch it on the other side. I still think I would have made it.

This section, I forget where, was nice with a steepish downhill and uphill.

 Once the trail crosses the 518 it really starts to deteriorate. It starts to become a large washboard. Riding over it feels like a small boat going over three foot waves. And if I tried to ride on the edge of the trail it is very violently washboarded bouncing the bike to the point I thought it would fall apart.

You can see some of the larger washboard in the above picture. This went on for kilometres and kilometres.

Just outside of Sprucedale.

The washboard trail was so bad a this point that I stopped at the Sprucedale Hotel where the owner had a petition going for the Park to Park organization to fix the trail. 

I really wanted to make it over to Algonquin Park but with the washboard trail and finding out there was a larger section east of Sprucedale under water I concluded my journey here and just took the road back to my friends place.

As my Gopro was still drying off from the last trip thefre is no video.

I hope to do the trail again once I hear that it is in better condition. For the cost to use the trail I expect it to be better maintained end to end, not just the parts close to Parry Sound.