It's official—the spring ATV season in Ontario has begun! You can set your calendar to the season starting by the onset of the Ompah Volunteers Spring Ride. Like clockwork hundreds of ATVs roll into the village of Ompah on the last Saturday of April to get their ride on. There's no way that my club—the Nation Valley ATV Club—was going to miss out.
Each Spring Ompah puts on a ride to support Ompah Volunteer Firefighters, Ompah Community Volunteer Initiatives, the Ride for Dad in their fight against prostate cancer, and the Relay for Life Canadian Cancer Society.
Ompah was made for ATVing, with ample parking to accommodate trucks and trailers of all shapes and sizes, and many many many different options for all sorts of accommodations from rustic cottages, to fully outfitted chalets—everything to fit all walks of life. We had the opportunity to check out Griffin’s Hide Away this year, a quaint cottage setup perfect for relaxing before and after the ride. We arrived to the cottage to find the wood stove already lit, and the beds turned down. We could get used to this kind of service!
700 ATVers from near and far gathered at the Double S Sports and Marina to register for the Spring Ride, and they were ready for action. With the late spring this year, there was plenty of mud and water to satiate any and all appetites for the dirty stuff, but with enough by-passes to allow even the most novice ATVer to participate.
The route led everyone through 100-km forest access roads, hydro cuts, pipelines, and bush trails. The route was well marked, and this year the Ottawa Valley ATV Club were on hand wardening the trails to ensure everyone was on track and made it where they needed to go.
At the Mountain Chute, the volunteers were set up to fill some empty bellies with all sorts of hot and cold beverages and grilled delights. Proceeds from the lunch were donated to the Relay for Life/Canadian Cancer Society.
After lunch, there was a choice to take a dry route, or a more challenging wet route – you chose your own adventure. Whichever route you took, you eventually travelled through 30 km of the Quackenbush loop, but this time of year, they should have called it the Quackenbush Swamp!
Upon return, there was a charity bike wash available to clean the “Quackenbush” off of your machine, and for those that wished to partake, there was a dinner put on by the Ompah Volunteer Firefighters, with BBQ chicken, veggies, potatoes and all the fixins.
Prizes were awarded for money raised in pledges for Ride for Dad, door prizes, and many more. ATVers have raised over $86,000 for prostate cancer research to date!
Ompah puts on a fantastic ride, and the numbers in attendance prove it. The addition of the Ottawa Valley Wardens, trail choices based on how muddy you wanted to get, and much improved trail markings were a great improvement. I know we will be back next year, and I bet those numbers will be higher next year!
