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And finally.....the ride to Sept isle. Perfect day today.

Saturday 7 March after a short week with the ride with the Mrs. Snohorse arrived at Chez Ice at 11:30am, I was ready and waiting. Gear packed, saddle bags ready and sleds in driveway. Trailer was here already but, needed to pin it to the truck before loading them up. Done finished by noon. On the road 12:15. Quick stop at ATM in Cap de Madeline and eastbound Autoroute 40. Lots of police out on this fine Saturday for running the black trail. Hammer down with caution. Great ride to Quebec City. Traffic at the junction for Saguenay and then smooth sail all the way to Baie St Catherine and the Ferry to Tadoussac. Perfect timing right onto ferry no lines no waiting. Quick cruise across and up the 138 to L’Escoumins. Touchdown 5pm. Stop at grocery for supplies and to hotel and all unloaded ready to ride. Calm before the storm literally as it seems we cannot catch a break. Second run in a row with a storm in the middle of it. Not many options as snow will be here and Gaspe and Saguenay so no matter what it’s gonna be snowing somewhere. We are sticking to our plan and it will be what will be. Up TQ3 direction east. We shall see.

The past couple days have been mid winter conditions and mostly great trails, with lots of sunshine thrown in. It is so nice to contact friends and tell them how good the riding is and have them drive up and join me. Surprised they believed me as they watched their grass growing in southern New England. Friday Jak and I did the Moose Valley run. Great fast trails until Moose Valley, then about 15 - 20 miles of groomed but very loose snow conditions. Tons of recent new snow in the mountains. We saw two moose. 250 miles. Today Jack & Sandy, Jak, and new to the group Gary and I did a southern loop then the Isle Verte loop at days end. 205 miles. First half of the day mostly hard fresh groomed trails and same with Isle Verte loops. 205 miles. Sunny both days. Day room in the new section of the Hotel makes for a great days end BYOB happy hour.

To bonoventure

To matane through la cache

It’s been a great trip. Sadly were heading back home today and I am being told to get ready.

Amazing weather today indeed! Not a cloud in the sky all day! These are the days we all live for! Got 6 more days ahead of riding in La Belle Province! Might just see you up in the north country in a few days to help with the beaver hunting!

Got a ton of pics but can't load. Sometimes one at a time or not at all. Anyway, not very interesting with no pics, but since I started..... we came in from new brunswick after spending 5 days riding down there. Took the 587 and then some locals into amqui. Pretty ride. Then dinner with groomer, the 1st pic I cou look d post. Next day to the ghost trees, lunch at mont joli then to matane. Next day, stayed in for storm as nd then day rode the next day. Then to st anne des monts to a place we like for the night. Then to grande vallee for the night. Then to murdockville for lunch and the night at gaspe. Next day day rode to and from perce to see the rock on a sunny day. Stayed in the next day for wind and snow. Then next day rode to bonoventure for the night. Yesterday rode through la cache to matane. Today took ferry to godbout. Sorry no pics. If I can get it to work later, I'll add. FYI, using same phone and internet provider that I've always used. Have tried hotels wifi. I am paid up through QR. I have contacted the administrator and was told they were working on it and should be ok now. That's why I started this post. Sorry Jeff and Sandy

We take 563 to 85 and head back. One last pick north of Cabano.

Last pictures of 550

107 maybe next time around. The hour is getting late we are heading back. On the way we run into a section of plowed road where there’s logging. I did not check how long but I was happy getting back on the trail.

We stopped in Degelis for gas. Then went to trail 550. We spot the NB 107 to Lac Baker.

We see a lot of maple trees and sugar shacks along the way. The moon is showing this afternoon.

We stay on 571 passed Squatec and head toward Degelis. The trail hasn’t been groomed since the last snow. It’s powdered in some sections.

Reverse order again. As we head toward Squatec the trail is fresh groomed.

There’s lots of powder on the trail. We make our way toward Lac Saint-Jean and the trails get better.

When we pass the intersection with 565 the trails have power on them from the recent snow. There is some logging on 5. repost of pics.

Oops pictures are out of order again. we make our way back to 85 then 5 east. The trails are in top shape.

No muss no fuss with staging. It's a good sign for a great ride. Giddyup Gents! Speaking of staging, thanks for babysitting Monkers, he loves his Uncle Iceman! And he was humming this song when I got to Drakkar this evening... https://youtu.be/3D0b5KLpx5k

Thought I'd try to post some pics of conditions we found. I know some of you are planning trips.

This morning ferry from matane to godbout

To gaspe

you do something well for 2 or 3 decades, it all becomes common sense to you and you make it look real easy, so those watching you also think it is easy, sometimes they begin to under value your skill, then one day you quit or retire...and shit hits the fan and the whole production is in limbo...nothing is like it was and the product is terrible... maybe they come back with a great offer...to find out that ship has already sailed...Zuesand said it well...sometimes you do not know what you have, until you don't have it anymore!!

At Faillon. Ran out of Parent this a.m. with two cool Ontario dudes (Ron & Bill)) from Kitchener all the way here. Never saw a soul. hammer down time.....JUST INSANE TRAIL and weather today. Doesn’t get ANY better

We head off on 571. It’s a bit windy there is some drifting on the trail. We stop for gas at St-Jean-De-Dieu. I get a fuse for Gemma. We are off.

We pass the for sale Isle Verte clubhouse. We make Our way to Trois Pistoles clubhouse and take a break. Gemma says her hands are cold. I find that a fuse has blown. The cook at the clubhouse looks in the garage but finds only the large size fuses. We need the mini. I left a bag full back at the hotel.

We just made a few tweaks to the server that should help those of you that are having trouble posting pics. Test pic 16mb file

Thank you very much JIm and Gemma for having brought us along with you again on your annual trip.👍 Excellent reporting and outstanding pictures as usual. I was myself on a sled trip in the last week and had hard time just at trying to look at your report with my phone so I don't know how you managed to make all this realtime detailed quality reporting during your trip, you are champion! 🏆 Hope you both enjoy every miles of your long awaited vacations!

bonsoir bluegrass !!! we did amqui ...ste irene....moose valley today .... last 20-25 miles were very bumpy before moose valley ..... im not the greatest hi-miler.....overall ,trail was 6.5 / 7 on a scale of 10 i don t mind bumpy .....trail was still fast !!! jean-guy

Those are really exceptional pictures capturing your journey. Thank you so much for taking the time to post. mike

Jim and Gemma, It was really good to finally meet you two. Great reporting as usual. I know it requires alot of effort. We hope your trip home was a good one. Jeff and Sandy

Nice Run Team GT Rider. Well done and thanks as always for the awesome daily reports! Nice

You two always make my stay even more enjoyable when you are here. Thanks for the good times.

We are in Saint Felicien for the night, ride up from La Tuque was excellent!

Great reporting & pics Jim & Gemma! Glad you had a fantastic trip. Thanks for sharing with QR!

As Iceman said, we have been having server trouble for the past 4-5 days. We *think* we have it resolved. Please let us know if you notice any issues.

Thanks for sharing!! GutZ

good morning iceman !!! i was at the gas station yesterday morning ....and guys there told me they are up to 4 guys to do my job now !!! had lunch in albertville.....with linda + friends... world is small .....2 ex gaspesian from bonaventure....now living in the toronto area since the last 40 years...and using same ski doo dealer than linda.... and after 40 years in ontario ....they remember how to say tbk !!!!😀 jean-guy

We take 85 toward the chute to check out the view. We hop on the local to the lookout. It’s the first time over here. You can see the north shoreside. It’s a nice view. I can see the bridge that goes over the falls. The trees are kind of blocking it.

We get going about 8:30. It’s 28 degrees and sunny. Trail 526 is groomed again this morning. It seems like the club works real hard keeping the trail nice here around town.

We did the Cote Nord couple weeks ago. Started in Sacre Coueur and had a great run out to Sept-iles. Tuesday night in Sept-iles our plan was to continue east to Havre St. Pierre. By Wednesday morning the forecast had changed with snow and high winds by Thursday. Thursday plan was to depart Baie Comeau and ride to KM31 on the Pelchat trail. By the time we got to Forestville really started to snow and blow. Arrived at the gas station west of Forestville right on the highway. Gas station power was out so no gas. Impossible to make the 185 km run to KM31 with no gas. Time for a team meeting. We called the Pelchat hotel and they had rooms available and we should have enough gas to make the 80 km trip. Off we go in poor visibility conditions. With the aid of GPS made it to the hotel about 4:30 pm. Highway was closed by then and hotel was full. Arriving at the Hoteliere Pelchat Hotel Thursday Feb. 27 Next mornig machines drifted in, clutches were packed with snow. Friend says we have to ditch the spare underware and socks next trip to make room for a nylon sled cover. Left hotel Friday around noon heading for Sacre Coueur. Other riders had broke trail out to trail 3. Trail 3 the groomer had already done a pass for the first 20 km then he turned around at the end of his run. From there no one had been further west on #3. We had to break Trail in almost 2 feet of powder. Did that for about 20 km then come over a hill and see the flashing lights coming towards us from the groomer out of Sacre Coueur. Thought we would be golden for the remaining 20 km into Sacre Coueur. The snow was so deep the groomer was having problems climbing the hills and had to often back down the hill and do another attempt. Every place he had to back down the drag left a huge snow pile blocking the trail. Some were low enough we could drive over them . Others were to high and steep and had to go around them. Had a few stuck machines but we finally made it to Sacre Couer. About a 3 hour trip to do the 76 km. The adventures of sledding. The seafood platter at Chez Julie in HSP was our goal. That will have to wait for another trip. Have a great ride.

Awesome Pictures thanks for posting them. Gotta love the Gaspe. Nice Ride👍

Testing.....

We get on 571. The trail is in nice shape.

We take 35 west. The first oncoming snowmobile of the day passes.

We’re back in Quebec on the orange trail. We pass a road and can see puddles. It’s been warm today.