As a child, autumn was my favourite season: the crisp air and endless colours sparked inspiration for me. It only seemed fitting that, for this trip, we would ride through thousands of acres of autumn\u2019s most colourful palette, which also contains some of the best riding areas Ontario has to offer: the eastern part of the Haliburton Highlands and into the Ottawa Valley. We headed out for three days to experience the joy of childhood again.<\/p>\n
In British Columbia, we have very little colour change, and although the bright yellow larches are spectacular, nothing quite compares to the sea of deciduous trees that becomes an array of colours once fall arrives and the weather gets colder.<\/p>\n
Another bonus of the area is that these locales are a melting pot of rich history and diverse culture in Canada. It\u2019s often overlooked, but every small town or roadside stop in the Ontario Highlands offers a unique look at the foundation on which much of modern Canadiana was built.<\/p>\n
The All-Important Map<\/strong><\/p>\n We skipped out on work early and headed north to Gooderham and then Barry\u2019s Bay. We soon found ourselves on Elephant Lake Road and Peterson Road (one of the highlighted rides on the map), a twisty and curvy road that, despite bringing seemingly endless traffic, in the few instances without cars, also brought a smile to my face.<\/p>\n Dad decided that it would be a good time to use his GPS as it had seen little use before this trip. I\u2019ve always struggled with the lack of focus gained from using a GPS. Fortunately, within a few short hours, the battery died without being plugged in, and we were left exploring roads the way they were meant to be explored: by map.<\/p>\n Squiggle Factor Wins Again<\/strong><\/p>\n We scouted three roads that would usher us into Barry\u2019s Bay. Based on the squiggle factor, we opted for Old Barry\u2019s Bay Road and were not…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Ontario Highlands is the perfect sandbox for these two playful cats. Every year, my dad and I try to get out for a motorcycle trip together. Short or long, warm or cold; it doesn\u2019t matter. It just so happens that he\u2019s my favourite person to ride with and, although we live 4,000 km away […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":62176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2604,228],"tags":[2171,840],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/MG_2894-300x200.jpg\")
We pulled out the Ride The Highlands map, which is designed specifically for motorcycle touring, and looked at routes and roads that intrigued us, which we judged purely on the amount of squiggles we could count. We knew the highlands tourism map is a great resource, since we had used this map a few times before and found it especially handy for a quick motorcycle trip.<\/p>\n