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Wasn't expecting this. Dropped them a quick thank you note and they put it in their news letter. Thought that was pretty cool.

Tonight we are in Comfort Inn in Sep-tile, just back from dinner @ St. Hubert, spent an hour and a half there smiling about a really fantastic day of adventure. we say and rode thru almost everything Quebec can possibly throw your way on the trail today. Started out of Baie-Comeau on 6 to 8 inches of fresh powder, then to a few tracks going North in front of us. We were on the trail just before 8 am, on the east side of the mountain we caught and passed those sleds at the new bridge. Now breaking trail and it is absolutely incredible conditions with no traffic and an amazing trail all for us!! We traveled in to Godabout for fuel, signs directed us there, but there is no gas in this village, but it just so happens that a very generous older gentleman has some at his house for the fine price of 12$ a gallon.Sno Horse and I are both carrying gas so we pass on this deal and go 25 more miles and the 4 of us fuel at Baie-Trinite. We do not stop for lunch today, having way too much fun for that, besides, we ate very well yesterday!! Despite the fresh snow we are making very good time and are looking for a way to fill the day before lodging in Sep-tile. No problem finding a little extra riding here and Sno Horse has a gps, what could possibly happen?? Jared promptly buries the long tack Yamaha in 7 ft. of powder, and the Federation trail patrol just happens to be on the trail to kindly assist the boys who passed them 3 miles earlier, OOPS, did not recognise them, after a little lecture about having my trail sticker too low for them to see , they let us go. Then having a little spare time on our hands we take what we thought was an M-trail into the back woods thinking it would go some where. It turns in to 1 sled wide, out in the mountains in 10 to 12 feet of snow pac, like riding in a tunnel and no possible way to turn around, but it is a nice ride so we keep going and cross a few lakes and 20 miles in Phil decides we are getting farther away from trans Quebec 3 and it probably goes somewhere, but not to gas or lodging. The last lake we crossed had some serious slush in spots so time to turn around at 345 pm. I leave last so I can keep a eye on the 2 young guys with us and Jared hammers thru a big drift right in front of me to make sure he can get through and I have my shield open and as he rises up blinds me face high, I let off the gas and sink in 10 ft. of powder, as he drives 2 miles down the lake, never looking in his mirrors. Snow Horse see him coming and leaves the end of the lake and his son waits for us. Jared is on the hammer at the end of the lake and tries to power thru a mountain of snow and buries it. A half hour goes by and I am alone 20 miles out in the real back country, with my back country buried and I am thinking about the possibility that these guys got onto the m-trail and are unable to turn around and will have to go get gas to come back to get me so I continue digging the sled out, what could go wrong they have a gps and know here we were. So the 2 young boys are now coming to find me and think maybe I fell thru the ice, but boys will be boys and these guys are still playing Johnny stand up and Jared buries the Yammie AGAIN!! At this point I am thinking I may be spending the night out here and can hear wolfs howling, great!! There is a cabin a half mile away but walking there to break in is nearly impossible in 12 ft. of powder! Soon I hear a sled and Phil's son Nick, is coming , then Jared, YEP, they are loving it and ribbing the old guy and now it is after 4pm and staring to get dark. I think they waited for me to get it dug out!! Finally Phil pulls up to lay it on a little more, all in a days fun and we get out of this place at dark and find our way back to trail 3 and head west back to Sep-Tile. Not all over with as Phil tips over going over a snow bank at 3 mph, no one hurt and nothing damaged, but we finally get to lay it on him, tomorrow is Nicks turn. The waitress @ St Hubert is getting us a report on trail #3 conditions to Havre-St. Pierre as we head farther East tomorrow, she is 24 and rides a 2018 850 Summit, with pink powder coating, Nicks eyes lit up when he heard that, he wants one, I think I am talking about the sled!! In all my years dating back to the 80's today was the finest day of riding and camaraderie I have had, terrific trails, amazing terrain, and really great riding partners, only 5 more days of riding left on this trip, what could possibly happen, Phil has a gps.......to be continued!!

Conditions on 23 were fantastic today from St Ray to Le Tape, fresh few inches on top of just groomed. More sled traffic than I remember for a Monday, but not bad. some patches of sun, some miles of heavy flurries, but mostly an overcast day. Towards Hebertville there was clearly less base as others have reported, with more wind swept fields, and likely some prior and rain melt, but the trail was still great. Continued thin around Roberval and fluffier near St Felicien. Quite windy here, easy to see how the fields clear and drifts pile up fast. Car parking lot is near empty, and only a few other sleds in the corral at Du Jardin tonight, but it is a Monday night. Smoked meat in the bistro was very good, but I think Roquemont’s is tastier, will verify that Friday night :<) Over the top of the lake tomorrow, where we land is not yet known, maybe Jonquiere

I finally got out of the shop @ 3 am Sat. morning, went home and packed, on the road @ 730 am, off to Universal in Riviera Du Loop to meet Sno Horse and his 17 year old son , for 8 days of adventure. Minor details, we lost the alternator in the truck 40 miles south of the border in Vermont, half hour detour @ Napa, fixed it pit-stop fast in the parking lot, then got thru customs fast. Arrived RDL at 430 pm, put sleds in locked down area and went to dinner, we were spoiled by the restaurant there at dinner and breakfast. We were on the trail by 8 am, trails are hard and fast all the way to Matane, many places faster than I will admit to!! We were very fortunate, police were checking sleds at a road crossing 30 miles from Matane, and were writing tickets as we approached, they were so busy with the dozen sleds they had, that they waved the 4 of us thru. We took the ferry over to Baie- Comeau and arrived just at dusk. It is colder here and a LOT more snow. As we were riding in the dark a blinding storm dropped a quick 2 inches in less than an hour. Trails here are as good as it gets, no other way to describe it. Sno horses' son is missing a week of school, and he really misses it!! Great rider for 17, very impressive. I have a former employee along with me on this trip, another young guy, 24, he is in heaven, never ridden Quebec before, and he is starting at the top!! We checked in to the Comfort and took a taxi to dinner@ Greco's, nice place, middle of the road prices, when I saw Jared and Phil's steak, I new I had ordered the wrong entrée. Other than a couple of wrong turns, that we quickly righted, the days ride was great. We are not expecting much traffic going North to Sep-tile and if the trail is reasonably passable we will continue East of there, we would like to be back to the truck in RDL by dark on Saturday. Tomorrow I will try to post some pics. Ice, sorry you could not make this trip. I changed the skis on the 850 Back Country for this trip and went with Simmons gen 3, 8 " wide, what a good choice, flotation in deep snow is amazing, 0 darting, much more planted and all the tippy stuff from being high and narrow is gone, only a tad more steering resistance, you would have to be unreasonable to even mention it, it may have lowered the mpg by .5, I will know better after another day. We are all looking forward to the trial in the morning...to be continued!!

Snowfest Acadie. https://snowfestacadie.com/en/ Sounds like one hell of a weekend long event. Quebec, Maine and New Brunswick all participating in one event. If nothing else, the $40 passport thing makes a cheap way to add Northern Maine to your Quebec ride. Brett Turcottte jumping over the ST John river from Maine into Canada would be quite a site

We had to deal with another warm up this last week, all had freeze back on wednesday night lefting some time for the dozers to work the hard surface and loosen-up some snow. At home we had another hotflash friday end of the day with a bit of gresil and a 2 mm ice crust. fortunately this turn to be snow a bit more north. I was still confident to get highway type trails condition so we decided to go for the big loop Joliette/Grand-Mère/Mattawin/St-Zenon/Joliette, a ride of 320 miles mostly on open path trail. Glad we did, we had good to very good conditions conditions all over the ride. Let's check it in detail but first, here is the trail path of the day:-5C when we left under a cloudy clearing sky directly from home in St-Thomas de Joliette in the south of Lanaudiere. The major thaw during the week had left an hard trail base and the small episode of ice Friday night had left a thin crust of 2mm ice on the groomed trails so scratchers were necessary to start the day early. Here in the field near my home.As expected, the trails were very hard and fast, not a single bump. With the snowtrackers my venture was like on rails, very precise direction and easy driving: ideal conditions to crank up many miles without getting tired. Here in the maple grove in St-Cuthbert: the water pipe was installed high enought to allow us to continue to pass without problem. We then took trail #3 to go toward Grand-Mere I take the opportunity to write a bit about scratchers: In my case it's been part of my essential accessories for more than 10 years after we got traped after a rainy day on a trip ... after that I understood !!! I use the cheap model at $ 60 which clings under the footrest. Some will say: yeah but you can not back up with them ... in my life of sledder it never happened that my engine overheat or my slides stick when going in reverse so I think I can raise them during that time!!! Jokes aside, I happened to bent one at the beginning when I had forgotten them and I just had to bent it back in shape (otherwise in case of badluck the spares are sold for $ 20 each). By putting them as far forward as possible they are very effective and installed as I put them I do not even have to stop to put them on: just to lean and pass the hand under the edge of the footrest to pick them down. Often just one side is enough and in the most extreme condition both will do the job. In my opinion it should come standard with a snowmobile, it is not very often that it is absolutely necessary but when you need them your $60 investment is right there to save your ass and when they are there easily usable we used them regularly, most often in the morning when the trails are very hard and we are in the first to pass. It is easier on the engine cooling system and help on hifax life. Yesterday we took them off in the middle of the morning. It's the worst we've seen and it was just a few spots in St-Barthélemy area (very south of Lanaudiere along St-Laurence river)Otherwise it looked like that on most of the rideGiven the very good conditions we chose to extend the ride a bit going through #63 trail to see the Magnan fallsA beautiful site, ideal place for a trail side breakThe sky had clear up leaving us a beautiful sunshine for the rest of the dayThe pics bring up the beauty of the scenery so much better with some sunWe stopped to refuel in St-Étienne before crossing the St-Maurice. Policemen were passing there but must believe that we did not look too fishy they just continue their way We then continued trail # 3 eastboundAnd crossed the St-Maurice river at La Gabelle. A little bumpy but very solid no movement with the warmth.The trail had a small hi frequency ripple east of St-Maurice a little tiring but it still ride at a good pace.An FCMQ patrol accosted us but they were satisfied by my just seeing my sticker, no need to stop and dig in my pockets to do the paper thing on the trailside to my great satisfactionWe then took the St-Maurice river trail in Grand-Mère.It was quite bumby, especially up to this point but still solid as a rock no slushThen further north was less bumpy and it was done at maximum legal speed except for 2 small ice jam sections at the very end. When we observe in the side of the mountain the warmth have formed several large glaciers Once back on the shore just beginning the trail we faced to that... oupsss, that's when it came back to me that my friend Snowcruiser had told me a few weeks ago that they had plowed a section of the trail there this year ........ Fortunately, it's like that for only a few hundred feet up to the top of the hill not far,And then it's looks like that's ....oufff!!! next optimal trail conditions, good and fast Nice trail and even nice scenery We arrived for lunch at Marineau at 12:45 with 141 miles on the dreammeter. A first real break for us because we had almost not stopped in the morning feeling we does not needAfter a good meal for us and a fuelup for the venture, we leave for St-Zenon via trail #360The #360 was nice and fast, a small ripple in some curves but very pleasant to do on this beautiful sunny dayThe ride going so well why not expand it a little more circuit through the M20 trail! A beautiful segment that once again was worth the detour. This trail is a bit different from the rest of the area. The mix of scenery and mountain/lake remember me the Laurentide park each time I ride it We did not had the chance to see a lynx or a beaver but at least a small partridge who obviously felt at home in the trailThis trail also includes a couple of interesting and safe trail stretchs. We must still take care because we do not want to have any incidents or problems especially in those remote spots that are very far from roads and services. Once arrived at the next junction we took a short break and then continue on the #345 southThe #345 was just perfect not a single bump. Never saw it so good on a Saturday late afternoon. We then continue to the Mattawin River Bridge where we took a good breakMe doing a 360 with the Gopro to immortalize the moment up there Then we continue on #345. Given the mild day, I was expecting more bumpy trail but no, the conditions were very beautiful ...On the other hand, there were icy washed curves that we had not seen elsewhere must be more vigilant and have good runners to keep on your side. We then crossed the dozer grooming this already beautiful trail making the conditions almost perfect We did a last fuelup at the Cabanon and then continued the #23 southbound Still beautiful conditions, it had just been regrommed there too. Sun was already down We stopped to eat at Real Masse around 5:45 pmAfter our good meal break we started our last stretch to the house. The conditions were still good, no beated trail with this hard base and as a bonus we started to encounter just grommed trails in St-Gabriel de Brandon and Joliette. We left the house at 8:15 in the morning and came back home at 8:15 pm with just 320 miles on the dreammeter. In summary very good conditions everywhere on the circuit we did and the today falling snow will give the little notch that was missing with some new material on the good hard base that was already there as the cream layer on the cake! There is no rain in the extended weather forecast and despite the temperatures being slightly above the average, the nights would be cold enought to groom so the picture is good to keep a full operational trail system for the next weeks in our area. Let's enjoy it! Alain

Thanks. She's a trooper. Had dark days in the beginning but she eventually pulled through. Good thing snowmobiles are inherently all hand controls. A hook-up for electric socks and she's good to go. I see your from Enfield, CT. I've spent a lot of time there for work recently. Heading there again next week. We did a town-wide energy project there. You've' probably seen all those LED street lights that everyone hates. :)

YEP, we will post some pics , but they do not need any help with ideas, hopefully they will not read these posts until they get home, really wonderful watching these young guys, they are good riders and are having as much fun as one can have, I remember when I was that age, back in the early 70's, when the sleds were nothing like todays , it is a really great feeling treating them to this adventure and watching them enjoy it, giving a little back, and they don't know I am probably having more fun than they are!!

Matagami Tomorrow night if we play around here for a bit or LSQ hoping for misstissini above chibougamau

You can try lance's gas station.

The internet connection is giving me problems. Satellite must be struggling. We took 5 east to 597 south. We stopped for gas at Murdochville. It looked like they received some fresh powder. We head south to Chandler. 597 was in good shape. Going west into Chandler was not great. It's getting pretty choppy. Spotted Team Ice stickers. Doonali your slacking on this bridge.

Day 3 the original plan was to head to villa Marie, then north to rouyn Noranda but wasn't sure on snow depth there so the plan was tq83 towards la sarre. Don't know if it was a good choice. First word that came to mind was Spanked! The pure anticipation of every turn to be greeted by an array of moguls, some big some small but all equally enjoyable! Into Rouyn Noranda for lunch which was a chore in itself. After circling the city looking for a place to eat, which we found everything but that. Finally found quality inn la cage aux sports . After a $40 burger and beverage we where off! From there up to la sarre nice! thank god finally. Into villa mon repos for the night 198 miles. Warm temps and weekend traffic took its toll

Day 5 to Matane, GT, sorry we missed you, I think you got an earlier start than us. Laying in bed last night listening to the wind howl didn't make me all that anxious for an early start. I saw a few sets of eastbound tracks that started at MSP. I assumed one of them was yours, maybe next time. Enjoy your ride. .Trails were all pretty good to st ann except for a couple spots GT mentioned that were icy or thin up high in a logged area. The wind didn't seem to hurt that area. After st ann some of the trails got a little bumpy in spots, mainly as you would expect in narrower sections like where the trail would share half road half trail. They also must of had some more blowing snow because they had drift bumps. Still a very nice day. The relay that we like for lunch just west of St Ann, we knew was closed on monday so we went into St Ann to subway. Catching the morning ferry and will post on Cote Nord site tomorrow. Jeff and Sandy

Awesome report and great pics. Thanks

That looks so cool! We can't make arrangements to free us up. I hope this becomes an annual event. Let us unfortunate people know how great it was. Jack & Sandi

Marriot wanted 166.00 USD with no Breakfast for the Delta. The Delta charges 143.00 CAD for 2 breakfasts included. (Snowmobile Package) They have two packages, one has breakfast and one has dinner too. Later GutZ

Jealous, for sure. Wishing I was there with you guys. Ride On!

Looks good Alain, hopefully the warm weather doesn't include rain or a lot of sun

1st day Time to knock the rust off. We both got new helmets so I install new speakers and microphones for the communicator. Well it doesn't work. I waste an hour switching stuff around. The Collett is going in the garbage. I need to find a new communicator. Does anyone know where I can find one in Gaspe? We go to get gas. As I am filling up my GoPro falls off. The new helmet strikes again. Finally we hit the trail and it could not be nicer. It's 23 degrees and we have a white carpet. Traffic is lite. We stop for gas in Ste. Ann. As we go east the trail is not as nice. It's getting thinner and corners are choppy (but better than last year). Overall a great start. I'll try some pics. todays trails. %5BURL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/jjh1425/media/Quebec%2018/01%2018_zpsompw4h3k.jpg.html%5D%5BIMG%5Dhttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v450/jjh1425/Quebec%2018/01%2018_zpsompw4h3k.jpg%5B/IMG%5D%5B/URL%5D

Day2 Super dinner last night at Cheval, probably one of the best filet mingion ive had up here. Up at 6 breakfast at 7 on the trail at 8 tq13 up to the 83 towards Clova all sweet! Arrived at clova 11am fueled up took an early lunch. Started snowing hard and super windy. Passed 4 sleds. Train came in and picked up 5 or 6 people, is anyone left in town? Jumped back on the 83 to Lac Fallon for fuel. Was worried about the snow and high winds in the burnt section. Was great to see the forest regrowing giving you a tree line on the trail again. Been a few years since I had been through there. What a difference. Saw a burnt up Yamaha in the trail, still smoldering, maybe Bill is on to something with the fire extinguisher! Took the orange trail down to Louvicourt, very light rain at this point at least not freezing. That trail sucked, logging and pretty whoppped. Fuel in louvicourt and back on the 83 to valdor at the forestal for the night. 289 miles. Was thinking of dropping down the 309 to villa Marie in the morning. If anyone knows the conditions that way please chime in. Otherwise west then north towards la sarre. So far no shortage of snow anywhere we have been. Till tomorrow! Would post more pics but painfully slow

Another great report with lots of great pics Alain, thank you! Looks like the trails are holding up nicely. Great run!

Day 4, to Mont-Louis, Another ideal day to ride. Blue skys and very little wind. I think tonight will be different, its about 3:30 now and clouding up with some wind forcast for tonight. Got to Grande-Vallee early, got gas and a nice early lunch at hotel GV. The place then filled with a lot of sledders. A lot of them looked like 2up dayriders. It was a short day but between Gaspe and Matane is about 500k, which is way too much for us in 1 day so we have to split it somewhere. It has been several years since we ran the 5 between Gaspe and the 597. It seemed faster and more open than I remember it. There were a lot of windmills, so I'm guessing they are utilizing some of their new roads? Most all trails were in good shape today with not a lot of traffic.

I don't see a glass of Rouge?!?!