Fall Foliage in Ontario’s Highlands

Travelling off the beaten path on a pair of Harley-Davidson^® Pan America^™ Special models

By Dustin A. Woods | Photos by Virgil Knapp

A riding buddy and I were looking for destinations relatively close to home where we could explore some nice roads and take in the fall colours before the end of the riding season.

Ride the Highlands has been inspiring road trips through Ontario’s Highlands for years by crafting well-curated route recommendations. Searching out the best roads, points of interest and motorcycle-friendly resorts, they offer suggestions to match the motorcycle and rider.

Complementing their long list of routes that favour smooth, serpentine asphalt, they have recently started adding options that take riders where few have ventured. This, of course, is often where the truly beautiful sights are. We chose to explore the Timber Trail Loop. We rode Pan America^™ Special models for this trek, as these large adventure bikes were a good match for a route consisting of winding gravel back roads and forest access trails with limited technical sections.

The Pan Am weighs in at 258 kilograms in running order but is nonetheless quite quick and adept at managing twists and turns. The engine’s placement within the frame as part of the bike’s structure means that it is incredibly well balanced. Switching from Sport to Adventure mode activates the various throttle response and suspension pre-settings at the push of a button to suit the conditions.

Autumn is a spectacular time to explore southern Ontario. Kids are back in school and most of the city folk have closed up their summer homes for the season. The traffic becomes sparse as you leave the city behind. As the roads start to bend and undulate, the smell of wood-burning fireplaces wafts through the crisp air and into your helmet. Along the virtually uninhabited roadway, the changing leaves put on a performance that even the most vivid filters on your smartphone can’t match.

Venturing off the asphalt onto cottage roads takes you to scenery few people will ever enjoy. We passed through towns I’d never heard of and rode along lakes, rivers and waterfalls I’d never seen. Among the colour-changing trees, we found a random graffiti-covered relic of unknown age and origin: a derelict streetcar rusting away deep within the forest along Kennaway Road. We stood there staring at it for several minutes, agreeing it was as good a destination as any to search out when the real mission was the riding itself.

Limiting our riding to hours when the sun was up allowed us to enjoy the warmest part of the day and avoid coming into contact with any wildlife in the area. Before retiring to our private cabins at the Somerset Lakeside Resort, we enjoyed a delicious meal and toasted a successful ride. We had both explored roads and trails we hadn’t seen before, and taking in the fall foliage by exploring back roads in the Highlands was a great way to wrap up the riding season.

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