673 is a very picturesque stage. In real life that is: however I suspect that RGT will not be able to do it justice. The stage climbs away from the coast to make the land gap between Basswood Lake and Bright Lake high up on the hill. It then picks up the line of the Mississagi River (that’s not a spelling mistake by the way) as it flows south east from Red Rock Lake further north into St James’s Channel to the south.
The rollout is east and calm for a couple of miles before the road hangs a left at Maple Ridge Road and starts climbing up the hillside. The climb’s steep and puts on a hundred and fifty feet of ascent by the time the road snakes right then left two miles later. At just over eight hundred feet, the five mile mark at Maple Ridge Aggregates is also the highest elevation of the stage.
There’s then a descent down to cross Pickerel Creek at six miles before the next climb takes the road to Huron Shores which sits on the southern shore of Basswood Lake. Highway 17 descends from Huron Shores down to the narrow strip of land that separates Basswood Lake from Bright Lake at nine miles, but that merely sets up the next lumpy two part climb to Clear Lake two miles to the east at eleven miles.
At Clear Lake, after passing by the campsite, the road bends right past Warnock Lake at the start of a steep descent to the left hander at Bright Lake Road at thirteen miles. And just like that, the hottest action is over, as in done and dusted: the remaining eight miles are either flat or very close to it. It is such a contrast in profiles between the first two thirds of the stage and the final third.
At fifteen miles, Highway 17 rolls into Iron Bridge after crossing the Mississagi River: the road swings right through the town before emerging on a south easterly tack alongside the river. It passes close to Pahpashcah Creek at nineteen miles, close to where Dean Lake Road branches off the highway to head south over the Mississagi River, then a mile later, it finally crosses Pahpashcah Creek where it flows into the river. There’s a small bunch of water on the left soon after, close to Farmer Road, and the finish in just after that at the water’s edge.
Distance: 21 miles / 34 kilometres
Distance: 21 miles / 34 kilometres
Ascent: 561 feet / 171 metres
RGT Magic Road: wNUP3GssTRzW
Max elevation: 806 ft
Min elevation: 589 ft
Total climbing: 563 ft
Total descent: -609 ft
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