Leaderboard

Summarizing what happens on this trip. Taking it day by day, no real plan... Day 1: Leave trail 16 to 83. Head east on mostly garbage...rough and low snow until the ski area (aka relais spandex). There it is freshly groomed but still low snow. Local 21 looks great, didn't take it. Groomer comes out from St Felix and I'm second tracks and it's perfect. Local 22 looks good, didn't take it. Perfection to 383 (eternity), it is freshly groomed, didn't take it. Continued perfection to 383 west, it's freshly groomed, didn't take it. Continued down 83 to the 301, it's freshly groomed, didn't take it. Continued down the Claremont express, the south side was groomed the day before, 4" powder, but smooth. Just made it to Claremont for first gas at 103 miles, light was on for a while. Noticed the skidoo dealer moved, maybe this isn't news? Snow is thinner here, but fine. Doubled back to 383 west. On the 383, groomer stopped quick, but it was smooth with 6" powder. Took the 22, same conditions, then gassed at St Felix. Took 83 west to 21, but didn't take it. Back at relais spandex the groomer came through most of the way back to the city. Nice easy run, 200 miles. Heading to Valinouet tomorrow, by truck.

My Brothers and I should be there as well. GutZ

OK. I meant to talk about the 850 but supper was calling. Now this isn't to turn the thread into this sled vs that sled. I try to keep my reports about the trail conditions. This is for all those that are wondering how the Gen-4 850 is. We have a Gen-4 850 Renegade X. It replaced my 800 E-tec Renegade Adrenaline. Yes Dave the 850 was the first sled out of the tent during the fire. It just happened to be closer to the door than Sandi's sled. With only one day on the 850, I can say if you liked your 800 E-tec, you won't be disappointed with the 850. In my humble opinion, the Gen-4 handles and rides better than the 800. The suspension feels more balanced from front to rear. It is peppier and does pull very smooth. I won't say anymore because I just don't have many miles on it. Until tomorrow's ride, good night. Jack & Sandi

Be careful if your out there.

29 Dec update -4c now with snow. Pretty intense at times. So far about 2.5" of new snow.

Claudine and the folks at trak maps are the best...

started snowing , big snowflakes !! -20c right now !!! jean-guy

72 hr gfs model snowfall in inches

I was so impressed with Trakmaps. have the 590 as well. if u hit "Where to". It will take u to gas lodging etc by trail and tell u distance. i was amazed!

Wow.......Sandi may have saved the sled insurance companies at least $100k (10+ sleds not burned up). You should be comped rooms for the season!!!

Nice ride Gary. The Claremont Express is such a good trip. Don, Sylvie was our server tonight. She was working by herself with quite a few tables. The wait staff here in Quebec always amazes me. They almost run from table to table. Jack & Sandi

Now for today's ride report. We leave the Sag and head east on 83. The snow depth is a little thin in the corners but it is December. A little bumpy but it had been groomed within the last couple of days. We turn right onto 368. Running along and a few miles in - oh boy. That is a groomer approaching us. Today may be good. The fields by Evasion are nice. We can see where it was drifted before the groomer made his pass. Oops. The groomer came from his house on the left just past Evasion. A little rougher but still good.. We stay on 368 all the way to the 23 junction. Time for a quick break. Oh look at that. 23 was groomed overnight. We turn right on 23 and it is perfect. A few sleds have already been on it but very nice. Not much traffic. We run all the way up to Presbytere for lunch. Soup and a club sandwich and back on the trail. We head back down 23 and turn left onto 83. Not perfection but good. At Relais Grenouille, we cut across the corner of Lac Kenogami heading towards Jonquiere. We get off the Lac and it is not groomed. Oh well. Maybe the trail will be groomed where the local trail comes down from 383. Wrong. We saw the good now we are seeing the ugly. This hasn't been groomed at all. Here are a few wet spots in the swampy areas. That is why Mr Groomer hasn't made an appearance yet. We are 10 miles into this and it is bad. The local trails running back up to 383 aren't even broke yet. We stay on 83. It could always be worse. It could be raining too. We get to local trail 6 and it is finally groomed. Salvation! The ride into Jonquiere and back to Chicoutimi is much smoother. We tank up and put the sleds away for the night. Note to myself. Remember that 83 is not groomed early in the season because of the swamps. Time for a little food in the tummy. Jack & Sandi

Wow, with that kind of excitement at Hotel, the trails are bound to be just as amazing. Good to know that front desk is keeping a close eye on those Cameras pointed at the tent. Last year a tent collapse this year a fire. Hmmmm. I have used the tent. However i prefer not to. Usually i like to get one of those ground floor rooms with the sliding door and Lock them right there. This time of year the tents are usually empty, in season it's too crazy to deal with usually. Could be Mice with Matches.

Christmas eve into Christmas morning has always been my favorite night of the year to work. It is the one night there seems to be peace on earth. The city is quiet, the few people out and about are cheerful and concerned more for others than themselves. The last several hours lived up to my expectations that there is one day in the year that gives hope to all. Merry Christmas! mike

Finally done, our first ride this season along with here our first ride report! We surely crossed Hden that posted earlier with pretty much the same path but in reverse: we did Cabanon/ Mattawin round trip Saturday morning, around -18C very gray sky and snow. Starting from the Auberge Le Cabanon parking lot in St-Zénon Dooright had trace the route for us earlier this last week and it was an easy one to pick this path knowing that the vast majority of the trail is on forest road base so it is easy to get beautiful trails condition even with a limited snow cover There are a few miles from the start of the auberge out of these forest roads which still lack some snow but on this Saturday morning, freshly groomed with cold temperature it seemed almost perfect. Once back on the main road, it feels like in the middle of the season, almost no rocks and very beautiful Here at the entrance of the Mastigouche wildlife reserve What helps a lot is that the firsts snowfalls threy got were very wet, which once frozen left a dense and compact material on the ground rather than fluffy snow this is what explains the good trail condition the snow cover still thin at about a foot before the precipitation of the weekend. In many spots this snow had stay in the trees creating magnificent scenery Here the Mattawin River Bridge There are a couple miles more rough after the bridge Until we get on the #360 in Zec Chapeau de paille territory. Very nice trail The trail is groomed up to the junction with #345 north to Lake Repos outfitter. Then there are a 10 miles that were not groomed yet before joining the section maintained by Mattawin. Honestly, apart from a few trees that have fallen in the road and it did not really made a big difference and it is still a pretty fast section while staying alert. Here on the section maintained by Matawin with the glaciers that begin to form Very nice and fast This section along the river is always very nice to ride. The beauties of winter It looks like this on many miles !! The #360 at its best All this on a beautiful and fast trail The last miles to join the Marineau auberge once out of the Zec are obviously less beautiful because the base is more rough and there are still some holes not completely clogged but it ride well even two-up. Here the classic view of the Mattawin River We arrived at noon at the auberge Marineau with a little less than 80 miles on the dreammeter. We had a good lunch break and were nicely received as always. The sun tend to point a bit after the lunch. Here a snowy section just after the bridge leaving from the Auberge The view over the river with a little more light We took the reverse path on the #360 to return It looks like mid January in this area We must pay attention to the branches that can hit our helmet. I got screwed and almost lost my Gopro when it got hit by one that I had missed and got ejected in the side trail snow. It was snowing a little less in the afternoon glaciers section seen the other way Here in the ungroomed section, the worst pass with a lying tree in the trail that you must care of. There are a couple others that just partially obstruct the trail (I don’t even let the throttle) and all them can be seen very well in advance no problem And although it was not yet groomed, we pushed some good speed spikes without problem Since the #360 was riding so well, we decided to push up to the Taureau Dam before returning to the Cabanon. Minimum as beautiful if not better on this side Dam crossing is no longer possible but it is still a nice place to take a break On the return on the #345 not far after the Mattawin bridge we crossed the dozer And we continued at a good pace towards the south. We took a small break at the entrance of the Mastigouche reserve We finally got back at the trailer a little before 4:30 pm with 178miles on the dreameter, not bad for a first ride. In summary already very good for a season start, very few rocks and the snow that is actually falling in quantity will help to improve the conditions and widen the trail network. Temperatures are winter one and the lakes and rivers are actually at freezing, we can safely say that the snowmobile season is already begin and we will be able to enjoy it for the Christmas holidays! You may want to take a look here to follow how the trails opening will go on, many details here: http://snowmobilecountry.ca/en/conditions Alain