Outdoors: Five towns with snowmobile attitude

Imagine giving your kids a ride to school on your sled, popping up to the variety store for a loaf of bread on your sled or ripping up to the local coffee shop... yep, you guessed it, on your sled.

This is real Northern Ontario small-town snowmobile culture. Where you ride your sled each day the ground is white, and two-stroke smoke is the winter fragrance for both men and women.

So when you roll into the small towns with your rig and sleds, you don’t get blank stares – you get instant rock star status.

We’ve compiled a list of small towns in Ontario, Canada’s Algoma Country that embody the heart and soul of snowmobile culture.

Wawa - Situated inland from Lake Superior, Wawa has been in the sled game since the first Bombardier was a sketch on a shop towel. The winds blow off the lake and Wawa gets dumped on.

Hearst - Only 500 miles from Duluth, or 680 miles from Detroit, Hearst, Ontario boasts iconic Canadian wilderness and over 621 miles of networked snowmobile trails. This railway town has a heavy French influence, as indicated by the town's name, pronounced "Erst."

Dubreuilville - Just less than an hour north of Wawa, Dubreuilville made its small-town roots in the lumber industry, and these logging roads make for dream-like winter trails. Both the groomed trails and riding season are long (often lasting into April) and the snow base is deep.

Elliot Lake - Elliot Lake has long been famous as one of the early adopters of ATV trails, and before the ATVs came the sleds. Locals are cool with anyone who rolls into town with a motor between their legs. Located near the north shore of Lake Huron between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury, Elliot Lake is a destination town for riders.

Hawk Junction - Directly East of Wawa, along the tracks is "Hawk," a one-business town. Hawk holds a special place in a lot of sledders' throttle thumbs as the place where they got off the Snow Train from Sault Ste. Marie.

It’s where they rode their sleds off the rail car into remote Canadian Wilderness. The Sled Train does not come anymore, but the sleds still do, and for a good reason: the Big Bear Restaurant.

Read the full article to find out the Five Towns with Snowmobile Attitude