Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/28/2019 in Posts

  1. My sweetheart being back from her trip, she accompanied me riding yesterday to see the Black Mountain of St-Donat. We made a nice big loop of 235 miles following the route below The bad weather last Thursday (January 24th) left some ice in the trees in the south of my area. Here on trail # 43 near home in St-Thomas We took the #3 trail westbound. Beautiful hard and fast trail, a bit hard (-17C this morning) so I lowered a scratchcher for security but not really necessary. Here a river in St-Roch l'Achigan area. A little scary but it's just some water that had risen on the ice and frozen there, very solid. We crossed several rivers and they were all in good condition, this one being the worst In St-Lin direction, still some ice in the trees and perfect trail We passed through St-Calixte ... and ride to the #33 trail that we took in west direction(northwest) Here on the lake at Ste-Marguerite Lake Masson We had not seen any trace of ice for a while but here a little north of Esterel there is a still icy area. So beautiful with the sun! And going north towards St-Donat it quickly becomes a white painted scenery the beauties of nature ... We turned before St-Donat to get the local trail to the Mountain Here the view of the summit taken from the top of the belvedere ... It was our first time on a clear day. The view is simply amazing The gray jays were there again always as hungry We spent quite a bit of time at the summit as we improvised a dinner/snacks there. Cold for the fingers but it allowed us to enjoy the place a little longer. No it's not one of her finger that the bird is eating but a piece of saucage!!! We then continued on the other side of the mountain(north) the north side trail is also really nice to ride/see and the snow is really good We crossed the Archambault Lake to return to St-Donat and refuel And then returned to the east by the #33 trail, first part was somewhat bumpy but we met the dozer there We passed the Coin Lavigne, joined the #63 trail and ride back down to Ste-Émilie de l'Energie Where we crossed another dozer We stopped to have a good meal break around 5:00 PM in St-Jean de Matha before continuing and come back home around 7:30 PM with a total of 235 miles on the dreammeter. In the end, the bad weather of last week has not damaged the trails and on the contrary had increase the snow to the ground. In fact the snow is impressive especially on the north side, we are really spoiled this season with a really better than average snow cover. The best of the season is now, don't wait because it is too cold: it's winter !!! go out and enjoy, it's now that it is happening !!! You can still take a look here to see trails details in the trail condition section or use the rest of the site as a planning helper for your next trip: https://www.snowmobilecountry.ca/en/conditions/ Alain
    10 points
  2. Hot Breaking News from Quebec!!! -Took the RR out as a spare sled today. -As NoHair crosses to the Gas Station from the Delta to fill up, POP!, Spark Plug shoots right out of the head...... -So after two trips to Canadian Tire, we Heli-Coiled the plug and went for a ride!! -Maybe tomorrow will uneventful!! Later GutZ
    6 points
  3. Well, back to the truck in Shawinigan, 1130 miles for the week. The 900t’s ran flawless. Really love this sled, took a little getting used to the throttle but now not an issue. Woke up in La Tuque to -22f and the sound of what I thought was an m80 going off in the lot. A Viper across from us backfired and blew the can wide open along with the side panel into pieces which landed in the middle of the lot. Didn’t look good, surprised no fire. Tq73 to 353 and a bunch of orange and greens and back to shawinigan. Snowed all day, low traffic and smooth trails, great last day. Looking forward to the next one in Feb. Picture of the snowball is funny, I get one in the new linq bag at the end of each day. Great for the cocktail in the room at the end of each day before heading down to fill the ice bucket! Till next time!
    4 points
  4. This morning it is cold. We are taking our time before we head out. A lot of grooming last night. Sandi and I are heading towards the north side via the two bridges. We cross the bridges and get on 367 toward St Ambroise. Boy this is nice. During our December trips this trail is always rough and today it is so smooth. Thru the area where the short scrubby pine trees are and we are at Le Geant Trailer. We turn left onto 93. Still so smooth. It is mid season and the snow is good. No more snirt in the corners. Sandi decides to stop at Relais Montangarde. She doesn't feel 100% today and it is nasty out. We relax for fifteen minutes with a chocolat chaud. We get out on the sleds and a couple of red 900 Doos pull up. Its Danielle and Collette and there is Bill too. They are off to Relais Jos Bonka. We chat for a few minutes and they take off. We are heading to Relais des Lacs. 93 here we go. We turn onto local 544 north and keep on riding. Still so smooth. We pull into Relais des Lacs. A good number of sleds and a few ATVs. We go in for a couple bowls of soup. Soup is good on a cold and windy day. We take off and take a look at 328 that goes back to Begin. No, we will pass on that trail. 328 west looks much better. Sandi is off and running. Some nice long runs in thru here. All was groomed last night. The wind is picking up a little and some minor drifting. We get to L'Ascension and no we don't need gas so we keep on going. Now we realize how windy it is out in these big fields. It is getting harder to see the next pair of red stakes. It is only a couple of miles to get back on 93 but you can just barely see the next set of stakes. Slow down and take our time. No sense in falling off the trail. We poke along hunting for the next pair of stakes. Every once in awhile and there is only one stake. Oh what side of the stake should we be on. We get to 93 and this is still pretty open. The next 5 miles are tough. A few sleds coming at us and they are just poking along hunting for red stakes too. We finally get to Alma. Neither one of us fell off the trail. Good! From here back to St Ambroise is good. The only rough section, and it wasn't bad, was around St Charles. We turn right onto 367 and run back thru the scrubby pine trees. Looking up at the tops of the trees and you can see them blowing back and forth in the wind. Back across the two bridges and in a few minutes we are back at the Delta. We are in early today but that is OK. Good trails but tough for visibility in the open fields. Jack & Sandi
    3 points
  5. It is cold again this morning. The groomer map is good. Sandi, lets try Mt Apica or L'Etape today. We finish up breakfast. No buffet as you know but the food is good. Brandon and friend are saddle bagging back towards Maine, the GutZ boys are making a short day and loading up to drive home tomorrow and others are heading north of the river. We get on the sleds and head out 83 east. Going thru Chicoutimi there is a train slowly coming down the tracks. Plenty of time and Sandi scoots across. I follow. Around the corner we stop at the road and the gates come down for the train and stops traffic. That is nice and we cross and go. We are running about the same speed as the train and I notice the engineer is looking over at us. I bet he wishes he was on a sled instead of at work. I give a wave and I see him smile and wave back. The trail breaks away from the train tracks and we both go on our way. 83 was groomed last night and Sandi is putting down the first tracks. Here is a good spot to take a pic. Sandi didn't notice that I stopped. This will only take a minute. Oh her phone is on Quebec Rider. How do I get rid of this. The print is too small to read. What does this do? No that is Facebook. No that sends a message. I Wonder who got that? What does this icon do? I hear sleds coming towards me. They are going to cover up the near perfect trail. Finally. The camera icon appears. There, I got a picture. I never said I was the fastest photographer! The snow dust is just hanging in the air. OK, now I have to catch Sandi. Off I go. It isn't windy today. That is good. Oops. I see a headlight coming towards me and its slowing down. Yep. Hi Sandi. Just trying to take a picture. She spins around and we continue on 83. We turn right onto 368 and it is groomed! Hmm. The map didn't show this being groomed. What a nice surprise. 368 is one of Sandi's favorites an she isn't wasting any time. I know its cold because the inside yellow shield has sparkles on it from the frost. 368 is so nice especially where it is on the old road. Sandi just holds a steady speed and leans in and out of the corners. Whee. This is a fun ride. We haven't seen anyone except that group earlier in the pic. We are only a few clicks from the intersection with 23. I lean right into a corner and oh oh. There is a sled off in the poof! It isn't yellow and black. Good its not Sandi. There are two guys digging it out. Sandi stopped just up the trail. I pull over. Its a big Cat Pantera two up and he is six foot down. Is GutZ Towing Service available? They have the sled turned half way around. Oh, I hear more sleds coming. Two more guys pull over. That is good. This old guy didn't want to be tugging a big two upper around. I get out my tow strap. One of the original guys speaks English and French. The other two guys only speak French. They beat down a path in front of the Pantera and try getting it out. Nope. It only digs a deeper hole. Too steep to get any movement out of it. I show the strap to the first guy. He takes it and wraps it around the front suspension. I back up the 850. The strap is just long enough and the trail is wide here. Sandi is playing traffic cop in case a sled comes around the corner. We have the Pantera hooked to the back of my 850, I put a little tension on the strap and go! One of the other guys throttles the Pantera at the same time and it pops up out of the hole. That was a lot easier than trying to manhandle it. The Cobra track really bites in. Big smiles on everyone's face. We get on our respective sleds and all take off. At trail 23 we turn left. This was just groomed last night and very few tracks on it yet. This is the best I have seen 23 in a long time. The cold temps have kept the trails in great shape. Sandi is buzzing right along. As we near Apica, a group of sleds pass us heading north. We get to Apica and Sandi asks me if its open? Not a sled here other than our two. Do they close on Mondays? I don't know. Lets check. Its 5 of 12. The door is open and the workers are inside. Wow. I don't think I have ever seen no sleds here. We order up lunch and have a seat. A few minutes later, lunch is ready. It is cold out but beautiful. The trails are fantastic, very little traffic, the wind has died down and the sun is out. As Bill would say, we are in paradise! ☺️ A shot of the ridge across the street from Apica. The picture doesn't show it good but the snow on the trees is glistening in the sunlight. So pretty. We have been at Apica for 45 minutes and not one sled stopped in or even went by. We decide to skip L'Etape and u-turn instead. Back up 23 we go. This is lovely. Just sit back and enjoy. Don't get too relaxed Jack, Sandi isn't waiting for you. Just cruising along. Not one sled heading south. We have the trail to ourselves. We make our way up to Hebertville. Time to gas up the sleds. We turn around and go back a few miles to 83 and turn left. This is still fine. We cross Kenogami and stay on 83 but now the trail isn't quite as pristine. A little bump-pity bump. Hmm? This showed groomed on the map. We push on and about five miles in, there is the drag parked on the side of the trail. That is why it isn't groomed but the map showed groomed. The tractor made a pass but left the drag behind. The trail does get better as we get closer to Jonquiere. We pull into the Ultramar and fill the sleds up and get back to the Delta. What a good ride today. We also did our good Samaritan deed. Only a short section of 83 was rough. The rest of the day was near perfection. The forecast is saying 10 cm of snow tomorrow and a warm up but not above freezing. Until tomorrow, be safe. Jack & Sandi
    2 points
  6. Tomorrow be uneventful! With the three GutZ boys here how could that happen. Jack & Sandi
    2 points
  7. Are you calling us weenies? LOL GutZ
    2 points
  8. Great report. Your photographer has done an amazing job!!
    2 points
  9. Nice ride! I feel your pain on the cold. Last week-end we rode 4 days all starting between -15F and -25F, never got warmer than -5F. Took me all week at home to warm up 😉
    2 points
  10. snowmaster2112

    In Parent we are

    Rode from buddies camp on Lac Chapeau de Paille (off the M20 at the end) to Parent today and staying at L’ Ombré du vent. The only place to stay in this town for sure. Trails are a 20 on a 1-10 scale. Saw about 10 sleds total at Repos today at noon. Rode the rode to Kanawata (no tracks) and we were the only people there for late lunch at 2pm. They said a group of 4 stiffed them last night and never showed or called. Hate when people do that. At this point we have actually not passed anyone all day. Onwards to my personal favorite trail section in the world (Kanawata to Casey) and up to the 83. All as good or better than I have EVER seen it. Flatter than “piss on a plate”. Hauling along about 1/2 way or more to Parent and BAM first sled of the day comes around a corner. At first I’m like oh well actually good to see others out braving the cold. Then another sled, and another, and another, and another......goes on for what seemed like 2 full minutes. The three of us collectively agree that there was somewhere between 35-40 of them. UNREAL it was considering we hadn’t seen ANYONE all day to this point. Funny thing is it’s so cold that the already perfectly flat trail was literally unaffected from their passing. Lady that owns the depaneur in Parent said it took her an hour to fill them all up. They were French, on a multi day 1000K trip. 1/2 or more of the group was going to the Gouin and the other half some outfitter whose name I have never heard of????? Or maybe I didn’t understand her. We have no definitive plans and are gonna ride 3 more days up here and head back to my buddies camp on Thursday. Hope everyone made it through the storm alright. We only rode yesterday from the camp to Matawin and back a 100 miles and that was challenging with the cold, wind and snow but really fun too as again, no one out and trails were flat with all kinds of fun loose stuff. Matawin was nearly dead yesterday at 1pm Didnt take many pics today but here is one in Casey. I had to stop and regain my composure from the run from Kanawata.. PEACE
    1 point
  11. We all know that would be a complete waste of money...
    1 point
  12. I got gas yesterday at an Irving in Clermont. It’s just past the IGA. Need to ride the sidewalk for a bit but not bad.
    1 point
  13. Hey No one hurt, happen just outside Mt Vilain, I Think Muffler Fire, LongHair found a deep snow hole to drive it into, we packed it with snow to put it out, he gave the thumbs up when we thought it was out......we were wrong, needed to pack it 6 more times, it was burning REAL Hot. GutZ towing in action! Until it tore the bumper apart half way across the 1 lane bridge. Later GutZ
    1 point
  14. It is fine. It has plenty of grip. Acceleration is fine but I don't hammer it from zero. Fresh hard pack it hooks up good. I got the 1.6" lug. The only thing I did notice is on early morning hard pack the slides were sticking a little back in RDL and Sandi's 1.3" wasn't. I guess that is just because the track is a 1/4" taller. I think the only time I will notice a difference is on glare ice. I will say that we have joined the ice ripper club. Jack & Sandi
    1 point
  15. 27 January -10c 2” fresh snow. Cold with the wind. Night off tonight, wooo hoooo! going to have dinner with the Mrs and Playhard’s crew.
    1 point
  16. Beautiful and I just missed you In St Jean de Matha by a day. We left there (right near Gero) on Friday afternoon.
    1 point
  17. Great pics Jack !! What’s up with that snowball.....the bag has some kind of wind vortex built in ? that is unreal what happened to that Yamaha. It must have dumped a bunch of raw fuel into the exhaust somehow. WOW!
    1 point
  18. Both really very equal, splitting hairs.
    1 point
  19. As far as i know no one hurt.... and bit that makes me grin dan (pictured) was riding his brothers (no hair) sled.... and my wife got pictures 1st thing this am uk time from Dan's wife.... 😁😁
    1 point
  20. Luvin the thumbs up! Glad (hoping) no harm to pilots!
    1 point
  21. yesss......don t tell my brothers.....hahaha old pic from bonaventure .....back in 76 !!! great day for riding ....-11c jean-guy
    1 point
  22. The lengths guys will go to defrost the new oxygen shield 🤣
    1 point
  23. Exactly I ride my Apex not carry it. I put 58k km on my 2008 Apex and 44k km on my 2014 Apex so I know they go and go no worries.
    1 point
  24. You can be sure if Yamaha is coming back with a 2 stroke, it will be like no other sleds 2 stroke. They made the best 2 strokes in the industry and on the water, hope it comes to a trail sled as well as the mountain. I am surprised though, sleds are the very smallest part of that company and I was beginning to think maybe they were getting ready to say good bye, but 880 sounds like they picked that size to come back and make a statement, but everyone knows that only a very small percentage of people buy the big iron and mostly that segment is not that profitable, time will tell, here's to hoping.
    1 point
  25. Woke up this morning to a brisk-22f Toms apex dead battery. Get the cute hostess to bring her truck over for a jump, cranks over but won’t fire up. Close to an hour later finally fired up. 10am departure on the 360 to Matawin for lunch an say goodbye to Tom as he is headed back to his truck in trois rivieras. The 360 in wonderful shape low traffic for a Saturday. After lunch deceided to head to La Tuque for the night. Up the 355 also in super shape and again very few sleds. Usually headed north on a Saturday afternoon there coming at ya like bullets! Into the Marineau for the night. Back to the truck in the morning. Limited pics, baterry kaput from the cold
    1 point
  26. Days 3 and 4 Out of Chicoutamee up around LSJ to St Felician to Hotel JUdan for the night. Trails all in mint condition. Passed more sleds in the first hour then the previous 2 days combined. Plan was to head to Windigo to hook up with skidoo 420. Toms sled is done and is at DU Ravage. Tom makes the 320 mile solo run to windigo. Finally all together! Great night with skidoo 420 and his buddy Dave. TQ 83 tracked up with about 6-8” of fresh snow. Groomer was headed East out of relais 22. After saying our good byes in the morning me Eric and Tom headed 83 west to wemaci. Ungroomed . Fueled up and bingo groomer right at the beginning of the 83! SWEET!!!! Took that to the 345 and also fresh groomed! Set up like concrete! Kanawsta for lunch and into Canada Adventure for the night. Tq 33 south good and bad. In the morning tom heads to shawinigan, me and Eric 2 more days of riding.
    1 point
  27. Think this is what you're looking for Ray...... bring your own weenies.... lol
    0 points
×
×
  • Create New...