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The good news in all this, if we can find any good news, is this pandemic occurred at close to the end of the season and not at the beginning. We all have a tough road ahead of us in getting through it, but just maybe the thought of next season and the hopes that all this is behind us by then can help in some small way. Stay safe.

My first trip to Quebec was in 1972. Kern's Inn in Eustis, Maine held a safari trip, I believe sponsored by Schlitz Beer. One day sledding up up to Lac Megantic, stay the night, and back the next day. One of the workers for the trip got a list of the 100 or so people making this trip, drove to the border, and handed customs the list of people that would be crossing. We never actually went thru the border crossing, but instead had permission to cross at a remote place in the woods, I remember doing the trip on a '72 Cat Cheetah 440. By 1976 we were riding out of our Eustis camp and doing day rides into Quebec, often going to the Lac Megantic area. By the '80's doing one or two night trips into Quebec quite often.

Once you ride in Quebec you'll never want to ride the states again My trip down memory lane - I remember my first trip to Quebec. It was quite by accident. I had been reading about Quebec in the magazines. I think it may have been Snow Goer that had the section in their magazine about great places to ride across the US and Canada. Back in 1995, my buddy and I were supposed to meet my then nephew and circumnavigate the Michigan UP. Trip was all planned, then a few days before we were to leave, warm up and rain. Trip canceled. My buddy and I both had vacation, so I said let’s try Quebec. I called Alain at Motel Saint Agathe as he advertised a lot in the magazines at that time. He told us to come up, the trails are like white carpets. Man was he right. We had the greatest of times. After years of riding Tug Hill, and around our homes outside of Rochester, WOW WAS HE RIGHT! 25 years of the best riding in the world. Can’t wait to go back again! In 2013 we did circumnavigate/saddlebag the entire UP. We caught it just right, good snow everywhere. It was a good time, and good riding all week, until Friday afternoon for the last 50 miles back into Sault Ste. Marie, it was like Tug Hill on steroids. There is nothing like Quebec!

I just pulled the trigger for a 2021 SIDEWINDER LTX GT. Now it’s going to be a loooong summer till November!!! HANK

Make sure to go on Presidents weekend to get full effect!

Nice pix Steven, thanks for posting.

Merci beaucoup Robert! Doing fine in NY, next door to the now famous New Rochelle, and respecting precautions! Being a rock-solid optimist I'm pretty sure that widespread testing will show widespread infection, which will (hopefully) put the death rate well below the flu. Still gotta be serious about not "sharing" with high-risk folks. Safe protocol is for everyone to act-as-if you're contagious. We're also in a recession-proof and now officially designated "essential" business, distributing cellphones & service thru about 650 small neighborhood retailers around the northeast. Pretty cool gig for almost 40 years, supporting mom & pop shops putting food on their tables. Done all Carriers over the years, currently exclusive to Boost Mobile prepaid, saving low-income folks lots of dough. Got 90% of our crew of 40 logged-in & dialed-in working remotely, spreading much kindness & compassion, and a few hardcore crew working the warehouse (safely & cleanly). We stopped walk-in/pick-ups with locals a while ago, but we're providing free-shipping as long as UPS & FedEx keep rolling. Naturally having a tough time sourcing bulk N95 masks & hand sanitizers to ship out. Personally, I've never been much of a hand-washer, but I have suspended licking public doorknobs to build my immune system (at least temporarily)! And shhhh!... Don't tell anybody, cuz people will think we be crazy, but the Mrs. & I went for a walk around our block TWICE so far this week! Hoping you and yours all fare as well as possible! "This too shall pass"

Good job! I have the cat version but I also installed the GSE power steering kit Love the sled

I want to start by saying my hats off to all the members that post pictures and do write ups every night during their Quebec snowmobile adventures. Some like Snowmaster2112 and others updating us a couple times through their day. I have been very lazy this year, never posted a picture or write up and been on five trips to Quebec this winter. My first trip was December 17 and last trip ended March 22, the last official day due to Covid. Pictures are going to be fewer and further between now except for Groomer who thankfully never stops sharing pictures. So I thought to make up for my laziness all winter I would share a few of my pictures this winter. Hopefully some of these remind you of some p!aces you have traveled or places you have plans to ride.

Wasn’t familiar with New England Bob so googled him and came up with this QR post from 2012. Some interesting reading and history for Bob and a few other characters.

We did a few trips with Bob probably 15-18 years ago. learned alot and met some great people with Bob. Good to here He's doing OK This site, and quadding the Mass state forests (or any motor toys anywhere) are the methadone/binky.

Yes, I heard that, you are right, and it was a joke, but she really deserves some karma here, from square one I am sure she had a plan, turns out she is a serious problem. I would love to see her get the money, build a place and see it get boycotted, now that would be great karma, I will personally pay for the trail signs!!

Small sacrifice to stay alive.

That is not funny!!

I started riding Quebec in 1988, never ridden anywhere since, wouldn't mind trying backcountry in BC, but for trail riding, Quebec is no1 on earth, hands down!! With the US exchange rate right now is the time to buy Haltaparche, not sure what penalties an American would have to pay to bring that much cash over the border, then you need 250 to 300 more to get it where it needs to be. He has a really great following, about 200 fisherman annually and he only charges them 75 Canadian a day for fishing brook trout. With the limited business he does he pulls 75k a year, with no overhead and a lot of cash. I know this traveling fishing business very well, been doing it for 40 years. You could do really well there year round with fishing, snowmobiling and 4 wheelers. But it is a lot of work, you have to love it, turning your play time passion into work, that's another thing all together.With all that said I would really love to own that place, it would be a nice change for me, nobody likes paying a repair shop for brakes and tires, but vacationers are thrilled to show up on your door step, spending like drunken sailors and making memories, I certainly enjoy every minute I spend in Northern Quebec!!

bonjour !! just for fun.... i was deleting pics again yesterday ....landed on that one....when i took that pic ,back in last mid december...i never noticed there was deer up the field... ahahaha still sunshine day !!! jean-guy

Hi George We left out of the Royal in Cabano and were faced with fresh snow, from a couple inches to a foot over freshly groomed trails, tough job but someone had to Doo it. 😁

2020 12 Days ( 2 of them were half days) 2342 miles. The track side stayed down. No winch or shovel needed . It was a good year for us.

Great pictures, I never wanted to stop to take any-lol. Did realize later had lots of nice flat trails but nothing with great back ground like first post. One picture below is out of my truck window in Quebec and other was showing a new experience riding with the wife on same sled, neither thought we would like it but it is good. Lots of my photo's look grey blueish because it always snows! I generally ride with friends and now my wife wants to go more to Quebec which is great. Picked up a Mission helmet for the cold days, just not sure what higher windshield to get for my XRS.

Mike, the dealer I use in New Hampshire finished this year with almost no inventory left over and they are a big dealer, best position they have had in years. Now they are open, but have basically no customers. I am willing to bet that this covid 19 situation has put most , if not all plans way on the back burner. Today I would like to reach out to our good friends like play hard, gt rider and Mrs. and all our other members who are living in NYC and surrounding areas to wish them the very best through this nightmare. I cannot imagine living in NYC thru this. This morning on the news they said they were expecting 50% of New Yorker's to contract the disease, Prayers to our friends, Be Well, Bob.

met '' yellow boots '' one early morning on my way down to st fidele cb...i was fixing a curve and he was taking pics!! saw him a few times at the dealership...my oldest brother know him well. not 100% sure..i think he was doing a bit of ''business '' with b r p in cabano !! remember seeing him with a grand touring ,i think ,with tons of stuff on it !! on the pic ,he was riding a 4strokes artic cat !! i was talking with those guys and after a few mins ,noticed the boots..i said to myself ....geez i know that guy!! pic....feb 7th 06 !!! jean-guy

The guy I'm talking about was Jim Jameson. He told me about you though Bill, and said if I was up in Valin to look for you at the HI/Delta and you could give me any info I needed, and you knew the area well. But I saw you won't be up there until the 10th or so. I will be up there tomorrow night, hopefully, if I can make it. Booked this trip when it was looking like no snow in the states. Pretty good storm rolled through NY last night and today. Looking like the southern part of Quebec is going to get it today and tomorrow. Another foot or so. The ADK's got all of a foot and then some. I don't care much for tug hill/old forge on the weekends, but they should have around 3ft on the ground on the hill now. It will be very busy in NY this weekend. With no frost in the ground and all the rain the trails will be beat right in to the dirt by Saturday evening. So I'm not missing anything by going to Quebec. I'm bringing my girlfriend up, she thinks we are crazy for doing this, but she has never been to Mt Valin either, we will see what she thinks when it is all said and done next week. She liked the St Zenon area. She should really like this area. And hopefully the traffic will be low on Valin with all the snow in the south. We will see. Looking forward to it, that's for sure

I met Ken Casey (aka Yellow Boots) in 1991 at the Motel Richeleau in Jonquiere. He told me he was riding 10,000 miles per year back then. The trails were not what they are today. He also related a story about getting stuck off trail for 8 hours trying to get his sled out. No other sledders came along to help him. I couldn't believe the amount of stuff he carried with him but understood why he did carry it.. The day I met him he had a one piece well worn suit and a open face helmet with no shield. He also related a story about SD asking for one of his sled, tearing it down, replacing any worn item. They wanted to see what items had worn out in 10,000 miles. They did this on condition that he ride it one more year. In 1995 I met 2 couples from ME, that knew Ken and they related a story to me. Ken and 3 other guys flew their sleds and themselves to Vancouver touched the skis in the Pacific and headed back east. About a 1/4 way back Ken decided to go it alone as the other 3 guys wanted to party at night. He came back the rest of the way by himself. so the story was told to me. I heard from daughter several years ago. He gave me his business card that day and I still carry it with me everyday. He was my hero

I may have ridden with you then. I didn't want to name names though. I rode a saddlebag tour with Jim in 06 I believe from Les Escoumins, over trail 93 to Amos and back 83. Jims sled blew up on 83 just after relais 22. Towed it to Roberval. Big snowstorm that night, picked up a couple feet of snow in Alma. The group went on the next day, but I heard they didn't make it over Valin and flat bedded their sleds back to Escoumins. I stayed back with Jim the extra day, they brought his other sled down from Escoumins and we rode back to Escoumins. The pelchat trail had not been broke open yet, but we started down it anyway. I thought he was absolutly out of his mind even attemptinbg that but off we went breaking trail in some 2 to 3 ft of fresh snow on top of the ridiculous amount they already had. We got stuck several times, I had a shorty and he had a renegade, but somehow we made are way through there. We met some French riders who spoke no English, coming the other way on wide track Yamaha's and a GPS breaking the trail open, I'm assuming, for the groomer to follow. When they got to us we were stuck big time. They helped us out, turned around and we followed them back towards Escoumins. I will never forget that 40 or 50 miles though of breaking trail in all that snow. I think back on that now and wonder if we would have even made it through if not for those wide track sleds helping us out. It certainly an experience I will never forget. I tell that story to riders who have never been to Quebec and I'm not sure if they believe me or not. But that whole trip was incredible. Big mile day's, -40 degree temps up in Matagami, that railroad bed trail was cold that day, lol. I believe he is still riding Quebec, not sure though. I talked to him last year for advice, as I was going up to St Zenon to ride, and he told me he would be riding up there too, but I think it was in the St Anne du Lac area, and he was going north towards Clova. That was the only tour I did with him but rode late March rides to, just me and him for a couple of years. But that tour I did was an unforgetable experience.

Pipeman asked about Yellowboots. He is Ken Casey and retired from sledding a few years ago. He is in his '80's, and upon hanging it up, said it was a 'great run'. His wife was pressuring him to no longer go out and she wanted him home more to keep her company and did not want him to take the chances of riding anymore due to his age. He had been riding since the 1960's and started out on Boa Skis. He has thousands of pics he took over the years. He rode around the Saguenay area for years then moved on to the Gaspe area after thinking Saguenay was too full of hotrod riders. He is still living in Maine. I could never get him to post on the computer, but heard his kids bought him a computer several years ago so he could read everyone's adventures. Mike

Went through my files and found some literature from him and have confirmed the Yamaha Jim to be correct. Site used to be snowtours.com Been on 1 tour with NE Bob as a noob and had no issues with his guidance. He offered a good tour and taught me alot during the ride. Had a great time...up to the point where I blew my engine. Luckily, was able to get back to the hotel after a 90 mile tow through the pipeline trail. Good times. Guess I could learn something from his 4x4 riding school...

Sorry to hear that about NE Bob. I never knew why he stopped touring in QC. I can see him standing their in his furry boots and talking in his "hey dude" type voice. In fact he told a member I was with that " your cheating it to much in the corners dude...be careful out there". Always good advice. I got a kick out of him, but never rode with him. Anyone who put on the miles he did is okay by me... What ever became of Old Yellow boots? That guy toured all over the place by himself and of course always had on, yep.....Yellow Boots.

I think thats the guy that used to go all over Quebec posting signs up on the trail for the Governeur hotel in Shawinigan. Pretty crazy leaving Chibougamau and seeing that sign.

New England Bob....now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time, I used to work for him as a guide in the early 2000's and I can personally tell you all here's a guy I can tip my hat off to. While most of the groups going back home with a thousand or so miles under their belt and boosting of how terrific the trail network is in Quebec to all their buddies back home, they didn't talk about their belly acheing of aches and pains that came along with the trips after riding a sled for days. Bob on the other hand would have to do it all over again the next morning week after week all winter long living out of hotel/motels, now there's something to say about a guy when it come to snowmobiling. You see Bob would schedule his trips out of the Gouverneur in Shawinagan, he would arrange the returning group coming back to the hotel early enough to have supper with the next group leaving the following morning to exchange stories and adventures. This was a terrific idea as the new group would have an idea of what's ahead of them for the next few days but on the other hand this would leave Bob with no rest for the next ride other than the nights sleep and this would go on all winter long group after group week after week, he was a real die hard for the sport. Before meeting bob I used to treat the trail network as a formula one track and I can speak for most my fellow Quebecers most of us ride this way too, Bob showed me that the challengeing part of riding on a formula one track is staying on the right hand side all the time, this is something I took away from riding with him and am very grateful for it. As for paying the guides I personally never had a problem and never heard of the other guides having one either. One year his wife(a Quebecer) gave him a digital video camera, state of the art at the time, looked like a VHS recorder but digital technology and he would use this camera on trips to record rides and give the CDs to the groups later. His last trip took place in the Gaspe, I was not with him but from what he told me on the phone of what happened, he was riding with the camera strapped to his helmet(early GoPro technology Lol) and as he was arriving to a bridge crossing(such a ditch) the camera shifted so as he was trying to adjust it, taking his attention off the trail for just a moment the bridge came up and only one of his skis was on it, the inevadable happened, the sled was beyond repair and Bob was in bad shape. Another lesson to be learned here, with all the technology available for sledding GoPro cameras, GPS's,Spots etc, etc....our attention to the trail is being taking away more so every year. Keeping right requires our attention as well. It,s too bad we don't see Bob on the trails anymore, he will be missed. JG

NE Bob stopped doing tours years ago, i would guess 5+. He became a horse whisperer for a while on his ranch in MA if I recall correctly, not sure what he's up to these days. My first trip to the PQ, and a couple subsequent were with Bob. Learned a lot, and you're right, he got a lot of people riding up there, and its how I hooked up with all my PQ riding buddies too!

Gonna suck for you guys down there next year, when border is still closed. Get those Tug Hill maps out. LOL. Go get it.

I loved it but decided to sell everything .SLED and TRAILER gone now just the little stuff to sell.