Leaderboard

good morning !!! back from local trails !!! great night....for pics !!! jean-guy

Bluebird drama free 455km day. We left Windigo at 9 and arrived at Lac Taureau at 6. Gas at Relais 22, La Tuque, and Mattawin. Everything was freshly groomed and we didn’t see a lot of traffic. We finally got to ride the M20 trail and our timing couldn’t have been any better, 30 seconds from the M20/360 junction we met the groomer coming right at us. I can’t remember the last time I had a 50km magic carpet ride like that! We headed south and visited Barrage Matawin before reaching our final destination. We had a fantastic dinner paired with a beautiful Super Tuscan recommended by our waiter Paul and then hit the outdoor hot tub and sauna. If you have never stayed at Lac Taureau I highly recommend it, you will not be disappointed. Later start tomorrow as we only have a 350km day planned to Meekos. Carm and Roger

Good morning Joe. Eddy O & Liam did not travel with us on this journey. Eddy O did come with us a few weeks back to Caribou. Liam is a freshman attending Binghamton University & during school break he chose to stay behind & visit with the girlfriend despite speaking all year of the anticipated annual trip. Needless to say Liam lost a few favorable points with me....First year of college and he is ruined. Ha ha On Monday we left RDL, Tuesday Matane, Wednesday Maria outside of New Richmond, Thursday Rimouski & back to RDL in 2.5 hours arriving @ 1130. A quick change, load trailer, and stock up on Cadbury chocolate @ the neighboring fuel stop & on the black trail @ 1pm arriving in Pittsburg at 7pm with 2' + - of new snow to shovel to get in the door. Referring to supporting QR where do we stand with the QR referral cards written in French where the card states in sum & substance we are eating / sleeping here because the business was referred too on QR? The entry level receptionists / hostesses we mentioned QR too were unaware of the QR website. The idea of providing the card written in French with contact information for advertising on QR is optimal. For purposes of supporting this site I regret I didn't have any cards to offer. Attached are a handful of photos depicting the fantastic trail conditions & weather we encountered.

Adventure began on Friday as the 6 of us (3 couples) left Vermont with temps in the mid 40s and rain threatening. As we crossed the border in Highgate the rain starts to fall. Destination is the Rouqemont in St Raymond, with 2 nights planned at the Delta with Saguenay Bill, then down to the Fairmont for a night, and one more night at the Signature and then a short trip back to the trucks for a black trail home. After getting above Montreal the temps start to drop and the roads get dicey. Around Shawinigan it's white out conditions as the snow is piling up! We finally arrive at the Rouqemont at 8:30 after a nearly 7hr trip. Good thing this place make beer 🍺 Dinner and drinks, then in bed by 11. Place is packed with sleds and trucks/trailers, but everyone seems to be slow moving in morning. After a quick breakfast, we load our gear and head north on 23. Groomer map showed green, but that was a late post I think? We pushed an easy 15" of fresh all the way to LEtape where we all needed fuel. Petrol and lunch and we're back on trail. Stopped briefly at Mt Apica relais, but kept motoring. Less new snow the further we move north, which is kinda nice. Took the 368 west which was absolutely incredible, we were making great time here. Rolled into the Delta around 5pm with 210 miles on the odo, a great trip up. Met Bill and Pepper in the lobby, as well as Pat and Gary and a few other Quebec riders. Great to see Bill, and he also gave us perfect directions to visit the 'cave' in the morning. To be continued....

4 of us were here from Saturday 2/16 to Friday 2/22. Reggie and Pascal were great hosts. The room have really been upgraded from when I stayed here when it was Teh Safari. Nice breakfast in the morning. SAFE sled and trailer storage. Sleds in heated garage each night was nice. Trails right to the hotel were groomed almost daily. Only day that wasn't 1/10 was on Sunday when we went o La Tuque and back, it looked like TQ 23 hadn't been groom in a long time. But 360 and 351 were awesome. The entire week was blue sky days except for Thursday when we woke up to 10 cms of new snow. W ent to Hotel Chignvy (? spelling) to the east on the St Lawrence flat fats trails with new powder. Just a great day and the whole week was perfect. Also a REAL GEM IS THE MICRBRWEREY PRESBYTERIAN just look for signs at the river crossing. An awesome lace!!

A few of us are booked to leave Shawinigan direction est Sunday am. A 12"-24" drop isn't a deal-breaker, but the wind can make for a bugger of a ride. Maybe we check out the trois riviere dispensary and hunker down for a few days?

Carleton/La Cache/Murdochville/Mont St Pierre today. Nice trails.Snowmobiling in Maine and Quebec

So, day 3 is another extremely cold morning, and a late breakfast is scheduled. Plans are to head down the Clermont express with final destination Fairmont le Manior Richelieu. So, 83 it is, and everything has been groomed to perfection. Again, well below zero temps, but a beautiful blue sky day and the trail is crisp and fast. We are making incredible time and have no timetable, so we stop at the warming hut at the junction of 83 and 383 to warm up. And warm up we did! Anyone know what the deal is with this place? There is a kerosene heater running in there and it must have been 95 degrees! Does this run 24/7? Could not find a thermostat, so we left with the heat still pumping. The rest of the run down the express was equally fast, and only a handful of sleds were met. We arrived at the Manior at 3pm, and quickly changed to our swimwear for a soak in the outdoor tub, does it get any better than this! And, the staff delivers cocktails tubside with a smile! (Not the same service as we experienced at the Signature the next night, but more on that later) After our soaking, it's off to the casino for a little pre-dinner blackjack. Good move, as most of the trip is now paid for! Dinner is a bit of a let down, but not terrible. All in all, an incredible experience on our first visit. All of the staff were super friendly, and a return trip will not come soon enough!

Cool small Bistro/Auberge right off the east side of the ice by the church: Gite Cafe Bistro de la Tour I'm fine with any plain old grilled cheese, but their brie & apple pannini was fab! We dropped the QR advertiser biz card on them, but someone needs to go back and close the deal.

Yes been there by tour bus with guys from work years ago. Lot of fun, a small village right on the ice. They had the buses parking on the ice, telephone poles and power to many of the ice shanties as well as a case croute style restaurant back then. I caught a few tommy cod and a big hangover.

There are a few outfitters in St Anne de La Parade that each set up dozens of long or short term renters with 30 lines per shack & bait & firewood for the stove & electricity, & some have lazyboys & couches, plus pizza & poutine vendors on the weekends: https://www.google.com/search?q=st+anne+de+la+perade+ice+fishing&oq=st+ann+de+la+parade+&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0.9490j0j7&client=ms-android-alcatel-rev1&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

I have the same sled have about 3200mi. and I get better mileage than Mike (when he actually fills his all the way up!) Seriously it is a good running sled, plenty of power and a fella that I rode with has a 900 ace, (who was close to my weight) and I would take a quart more on fill up. I'm gonna throw a couple bags of cement on Mike"s sled then we'll see who gets better mileage! I like the way my 2015 Renegade handled better than this G4, not worse just different. Made a couple changes and will see how it handles next week in RDL.

I have a GPS tracking device hidden in my truck and sled, you can track the location of your vehicle on line, hard to believe this technology has not led to some arrests or at least a few good beatings, god knows the guys that are doing this deserve it.

hi steven !!! ok...let me know !!! yaaa...not bad....with the sun and cold temps at night ...getting better....-23 c at mid night when i came back !!! lots of trucking and tree harvesting around the lake ... sunny and -15c this morning !!! the road....and ditch...where the truck landed last week !!! jean-guy

Don’t forget to take the sticker off your old sled and bring it with the papers. Friend didn’t do that and had a bit of a hard time.

FYI Big storm coming in Sunday into Monday. Potential for 30-40cm north of Saint Lawrence. Heavy winds included. Could definitely affect Cote Nord plans guys.

Fuse we are likely to be in Forestville Wednesday night to begin the ride north. We’ll keep our location posted here maybe we’ll be on a similar schedule.

Thank you was unaware that restaurant closed. That would put KM 31 as the logical choice.

Hey Jack & Sandi! We had a great ride with 3 couples who all rode well together, lots of fun. I was a little disappointed with my 850's oil consumption, as well as smoking a belt at just over 800 miles. So...when I just went to retrieve at dealer after it's first service, we took care of the oil consumption issue! A new 900T will be coming to Quebec this weekend! Terry

Thanks a bunch JG!

KEEP MONT VILAIN IN MIND. GOOD FOOD, GAS AND GREAT TRAILS TO AND FROM( CAN GIVE YOU POTENTIAL TO BUY A PASS FOR A DAY IN THE ZEC, IF YOU LIKE FLAT TRAILS) GETS YOU OUT OF THE CRAZINESS WITHOUT ACTUALLY BEING TO FAR OUT.

bonjour !!! groomed tq 5 last ...that 4-5'' of fresh snow made the trail bumpy... not much pics...today gorgeous day for riding !!! jean-guy

Returned from RDL yesterday -Thursday the 21st by means of the black trail. Parallel & or intersecting trails on Routes 20, 55 & 410 were all groomed & looking appetizing. In comparison to two weeks ago where the intersecting trails on 410 & 55 were bare or under water. Happy trails....

Recommend launching out of Blanchet Motel. Connecting Trail to TQ45 at rear of their parking lot. I have done this multiple times without problem. Ken P

If leaving from St Raymond, 3 thru Quebec city area is slow going. Up to St Simeon is pretty nice. From there to the ferry and the 93 intersection is kind of narrow and curvy. 93 up to the Mts is a rocket ride if it has been groomed in the last day or so. We usually Go north from St Ray to L Etape and back down the 369 to the 3 trail then north to avoid Quebec city. Straight thru from St Ray to La Malbaie is a pretty short day. Hope this helps.

Day 4.... Again we wake to subzero temps and blue skies above. We really are in no hurry to leave the Manior! An incredible buffet breakfast is had, and then it's time to start packing for a run to the Signature near Quebec City. It will be another fairly short run, but nearly all trails in our path show green on the grooming map. We take 378, then 377 out to the 3 which will be our route for the rest of the way. Part of 378 and 377 were very chopped up, but it wasn't long before we were back on flat and smooth cruiser trails. Surprisingly, there are quite a few sleds on the trails today. However, everyone seems to be behaving, and the miles are ticking off rapidly. We stop at the relais at the 3/378 junction for a little break, and off we go through the rollers and the hills. We have been spoiled on this trip as the trails have been incredible, and with the cold temps are holding up well even with the heavier traffic today. Our next stop is relais St Anne where we have a light lunch. Quite a few riders stop by while we're there. Only 55kms left from here. Once we get closer to the city the trail is deteriorating some, but nothing terrible. Many more sleds and a fair amount of quads in this area. Reach the turnoff to the Signature and the 1.2 miles in are wickedly bumped up! Glad we didn't have this all day. So....most reports on this place seem to have been good, but we were not so enthused, probably because of where we just left! The sled Coral is on the far side of the parking lot, which is as far as you can get away from check in. The rooms were very nice, but no cocktails are allowed in the sauna or anywhere near the outside tub or pool. Again, after our previous nights experience, this was a big let down. Oh well, we regrouped and took the shuttle into old Quebec for a little sightseeing, cocktails, and dinner. The ice castle was being deconstructed, so that was a let down, but bad timing on our part. Overall, another great day for all of us, the entire trip has been a great success.

How would you know that?

Welcome QR's newest advertiser, Motos Thibault. Those who ride Yamaha may already be familiar with them. They are located in Trois-Riviere ( and not associated with the one in Sherbrooke). I'm fairly sure every member here on QR has at least one story of a dealer going beyond your wildest expectations to keep you up and running and on the trail...this is a perfect example of one of those dealers. Pierre and his staff will do everything possible, to do just that, keep you riding. Many members here are long time customers of Motos Thibault, and no doubt will chime in with their own experiences. Thanks go to Playhard for getting them on board...

Yes, the wages are much higher in Quebec for similar jobs in the US. I always have a problem tipping on a bill for a stay that is inclusive because I really never know how or if it is distributed to the workers fairly. I much rather tip people in person when the service is delivered, good personal service by a waitress is how and why we tip in the US and we can tip them based on their effort, those who work hard make the most, promotes good service too. And yes, I generally tip the guy pumping my gas out in the cold at 20 below, I doubt he is getting rich pumping gas at Repo, not a great job, and 2 dollars and a smile and thank you goes a long way, just my 2 cents worth.

Day 2 of couples tour.....After a late breakfast and really no hurry to be anywhere, we leave the Delta around 10am, destination, the cave! Bill has given us a hand drawn map (not to scale) to locate the cave, then slip out the back trail for lunch at onatichiway. On the way up, during a routine exercise for the 850 across some very long, super hard packed sections of 267, a belt decided to give up it's life. After a mere 850 miles of lifespan, a replacement was needed. The worst part was having to pick out 3,283 pieces of former belt from the clutches in 2 degree temps with howling winds beating you up. After that project is complete, we continue on to the cave. First visit here, and it did not disappoint. As we are deep in the cave trying to locate the bear that Bill said resides there, a local drives down the very narrow trail and into the cave with his Jeep! Very cool place, glad we visited. On to Onatichiway for lunch, then a super fast run to Mt Valins and down the 93 and back to the Delta by 4:30 with about 140 miles. Thanks again to Bill for the map! A few pitchers and dinner, then off to bed. Tomorrow we head to the castle...

Thats funny stuff right there LMFAO your junk shrivles up like a stack of dimes at that temp