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And we’re back! M&M Tours are on the move again, trailered to La Bannik at Ville Marie. Restaurant was closed due renovations, local restaurants will deliver most days but Mondays…..good thing we always have trails snacks; snacks took a beating. Woke to -10 and sunny, headed south on 63 to 43 and spent the night at Dumoine des Valley Guides. Lunch stop at Temiscaming, food great especially the poutine! Back out to Kipawa for gas ( there’s a restaurant that we did know about) hopped on the lake and ran it down to meet trail 43 and then onto Valley Guides…we were 1st tracks for over 100km. Good scenery on the trail, amazing waterfalls/rapids. Etienne at Valley Guide, is fluently bilingual and “provides warm meals and comfortable beds to weary travellers”. Individual cabins and homemade (really good) food delivered hot to the cabin, dinner and breakfast! Late start, to the town of Swisha for gas where we were the true definition of being a Canadians was defined: we love winter but others are anxious for summer to start. Up to Pourvoire Pavillon La Vérendry for the night. Trails have been perfect, 11 out of 10, hard to find a bump; actually meet 2 groomers today. Spoke to Gilbert, 1 of the groomer drivers, he groomes 180 km stretch of trail 43. He did tell us that they are only allow to groom during the day; the reason for this is because there is no longer support for groomers during the night if something happens. He actually has a nice construction trailer, with satellite tv, mid way up the trail where he spends the nights. Getting ready for a big ride to Rouyn-Noranda tomorrow, we have an appointment at BRP for 9 a.m. For Jazz’s sled as it has been having fuel problems. IMG_0330.MOV

Well we're finding a mixed bag. Elevation counts. Rode St Raymond to Tadoussac yesterday. Then Tadoussac to Chicoutimi today. 85% of what we've rode has been awesome. Up at elevation things are still mid-season. As you get lower they get hard (or soft depending on time of day). Borderline needing scratchers. We rode into Baie St Paul yesterday for lunch. It was down to mud. Same thing coming up out of Tadoussac. Last spot that was terrible was crossing the river and working to get away from Saguenay. If you can avoid the towns and low elevation there is weeks of riding left. Trails should be listed as limited at best (arguably closed) in these three areas though. Ate up a set of carbides for sure. But hey were riding. No complaints. Better than a good day at work by a long shot. Looking forward to TQ23 again tomorrow.

Thanks for the route suggestions. We ended up at the Delta for 5 nights (3/11-3/15) and had 4 great rides. 1st day was to the Chapelle and out to a lookout for a spectacular view and back to the Delta. Hardly anyone on the trails and conditions were quite good. Lots of pavement at the delta but still not too bad. 2nd ride we went down to Mt Apica for another great view. Took the green 368 back to the south side of Saguenay and it was PERFECT. What a great ride. 3rd day we went up to Onatchiway and over to the new bridge on 373. Also checked out the Lac Lamothe cave along the way. Lots of groomed trails all day. Getting much thinner from the dam to the delta now.. 4th day we went back up to Valin and went up the 251 Bras louis I think, I was chatting to my son on the communicator how this is the best trail EVER and we came across a plowed section maybe 2 miles long and it was just chunky rocks. After that is was awesome again. The last 10 miles back to the Delta was a lot of snirt so we called it a trip. I took the same picture of that same tilted Bras Louis sign 15+ years ago with that same sled next to it. Time flies. I will say the Delta has lost a little snowmobiling magic since Saguenay Bill was not there....

Playhard, rest and stay home, have a good recovery. Is the Aruba house key still under the front door mat?

Yeah, armchair-rider this season! All good over here though thanks! Since we got retired I’ve been keeping the sawbones-docs & physical-terrorists busy! And Mrs. PLAYHARD is THE BEST cheerleader! Kinda funny too, when people who don’t know my ortho history hear that I’ve gotten into “body work” since retirement, they think I’m talking about cars! For this winter's chapter, I've got a fantastic new knee in a horrible old leg, and they're slow to play nice together! But TABERNAK, I put this poor limb through so much over the years, been busted and repaired a couple/few times, so it’s only fair that it pushed back! Looking forward! Thanks again! Woo hoo! (Oh, about Aruba, I need to close this chapter first, then DEFINITELY some One Happy Island rehab!)

Keep sluggin Playhard, you will get better. Believe it or not I have as much, maybe more metal than you. Did about 4800 miles this season. Some reason don't feel any pain when bustin down the trail. Be well, see ya next season.

Playhard aka Terminator he’ll be Baaaaackkkkkk

Hey Gary, we were surprised too! Rode up to the ski hill for lunch today, better luck. Once past the dam, trails were all good. High of -2, sunshine, no wind, saw 5 other sleds in 175km. It's hard to complain. We'll hit Otis tomorrow 🙂 Hey Jack, sorry we missed you guys this season. Hope you and Sandy have a good summer! Jeff & Sandy

I don’t post offen usually for help planning trips. I have been reading Quebec Rider forever and riding Quebec longer, since 1987 to be exact, and it’s hard to think of a trail or area I haven’t rode. This years final trip was to do the complete figure 8 of the Gaspe, which I have done many times. The weather was warm but overall conditions were good, a little snow starve around Carleton. For this trip my grandson, Hunter was able to go over college break with over crew, which at my age this was very special to me. My riding crew, Dennis, Chuck and Tommy all have known Hunter before and we had a great time. Chucks sled 900 turbo ski doo started acting up 30 miles before our stay at the Caribou hotel, but he was able to limp in with. So this is where the other special part of this trip gets me to post. At the Caribou we meet several Quebec rider members I have read over the years. First we met Linda sled girl and her husband Joel and have a visit and she sends a pic to our old friend Saguenay Bill who I haven’t seen now in a few years. Onto the restaurant after settling in and we met Iceman and NH Moose and Snohorse. These guys were very friendly and most helpful with our sled problem. Turns out to be exactly what NH moose though it might be, the sock filter in the fuel pump. Great visit with Ice and crew at dinner and breakfast then off to BRP dealer in Gaspe. Great service here folks, took Chucks sled right in and had the fuel tank off and pump out within 45 minutes replacing a nasty looking fuel sock and very dirty in line fuel filter as well. Probably got some bad fuel somewhere. Price was reasonable and the folks at EM ski doo Gaspe were top shelf. Then onto Murdochville for the night, but not before meeting Iceman and crew again on the trail, another meeting with them the next day on local 150 north of New Richmond. I have always had great responses to questions I have asked on Quebec rider in the past as I plan my next adventure, but I must say it was special finally meeting some of the folks that have helped me on the site in the past. Just when you think you have rode every trail along comes Icemans private trail the 150 which was perfect and that brings me and our crew to the end of another season. To all have a great summer and stay healthy and safe, Fred

Like they used to say on MTV Cribs: "THIS is where the magic happens!"...

Riddle me this Batman: What do old lake-house-folgies do when the AARP junk-mailers start arriving?... We're saying b'bye to the 21' Yammi & ordered a kush Harris Solstice triple-pontooner of course! And life got in the way & squished QR'ing this season, so part of the off-season(s) will be be easier to tolerate by casting these on the big-screen & cranking the soundbar for the vids (thanks again Kri & Alain)!... Looking forward!

I would think Val d'or and north would be best but each year is different. We are hoping to do tis trip March 30. Keep checking the app for current conditions

Riding out of RDL today with Mark from NH. Hotel had no available breakfast reservations, so we were off to Cabano to shop for a new sailboat for Brad, then Degelis for gas and Tim Hortons breakfast. Not a bump in sight. 571 to 35, all amazing flat and fast very few other folks out down this way, just like we like it. 5 to 597, stopped at a couple new windmill overlooks on 597, didn’t bother to ride to the mummies or golfball, been there seen them before. Amqui for the night. Hot tub is more like a luke warm tub, so we passed. Only a couple brief slightly bump sections toward the end of the day, definitely some glass smooth ice hiding under a bit of show that surprise you once in a while, otherwise amazingly good trails, especially for a Sunday. Off to Baie Bleu tomorrow with some orange secondary trails to fill the day.

A breakfast stop at Tim Hortons in Degelis, then a quick 65 mikes to the truck by 9:20. Time to take the black trail and trailer home before tonights 8” snow due in NH tonight. Was a great ride, as always!

Some pics from Mark

Best trail ever near Amqui

Left Matane to head around Amqui. Rode the smoothest fastest fresh groomed trail for several miles NW of Amqui along Lac Matapedia on 5. Just like a paved road, just as wide too, with only a couple small ripples in 1 corner. 900 Skidoo squirrels running the crankshaft as fast as they could under my hood. Through 587 to see the snow Mummies, but was light snow and very foggy so,visibility was only a couple hundred feet, but a smooth trail up and back so it was fun anyway. windmills were neat today since the cloud layer covered the top blades as they were rotating in and out of the clouds. 5 to 35 to 571 was well used, but very passable. Better groomed near Degelis. In Degelis tonight at Hotel 1212. Restaurant here is closed for renovations here. Supermarket across the street or Pizza delivery, or they will give you a car ride to their sister restaurant nearby. Tomorrow is a quick run to RDL to the truck and drive home to NH. Great partial Gaspe trip so far with Mark, will probably end up around 1200 miles for the 5.25 days. Someone told me the Swartz brand of Montreal Smoked Meat in the grocery stores (IGA) is pretty good so we will stop for some to bring home F6EAA477-86F1-4457-8A91-0FE17D87C8F5.MOV

Looking at the app this morning showed the groomer had left Murdochville around 3AM and was already 20 miles west by 5:30, perfect timing! So we were off Eastward on 5, great trail all the way to Murdochville. Gassed up. Then toward La Cache. Trail was very good, not perfect, hard to groom a solid base. Up in the peaks was like another planet, everything covered in white, quite a bit fluffier and no ice. Was overcast and flurries, so not great for pictures up there. Through La Cache, parking lot had a ton of sleds, sleds, so we blew past and up 595 again. Awesome rip. Stopped at a couple slopes that had natural snow wheels (big white snow dough its) that rolled themselves down the hills. Gas at Saint Adelme with 150 miles on the tank, running on the low fuel light for 30 miles. Took 30 liters, so still had a gallon in there. Then off to Matane, when rolling in to Quality Inn met up with Ice and Mrs Ice who just rolled and in too! They were loading their sleds at the end of their trip. Will have supper with them later. Not sure where tomorrows destination will be, will start plotting. Want to stay away from TQ5 as much as possible since its icier near the coast and everyone seems to take 5 :<)

Hardy, thats half the sandwich, halfway through eating the sandwich I remembered I didn’t get the picture yet 🤣 Awesomeness to go too!

And sometimes cool sh*t just happens...

Those guys really are the best!

Skipped breakfast at Baie Bleu to beat the many groups to the trail. Off to 595 LaCache. Great run, beautiful sunny day, smooth and fast. We were the first tracks on fresh groomed trail,for about 50 miles, sweet! Homemade great turkey soup and a grilled cheese at La Cache. Very nice and dedicated people there, and the place is fixed up much nicer than the old days. Workers there from the reservation speak perfect English, one lady there lived in Nashua NH for a while, one was from New Brunswick, was a nice chat. Then up 595, again first tracks on fresh groom. Manyntracks headed south, but not north, was strange. To St Paulin relay, which is closed down. Great scenic rip, love it so much we may do it again tomorrow. Only problem is the groomers drag in that section has a very deep and wide keel, made one heck of a rut that was hard to stay out of. From there, 5 East was not bad, but as everyone says,starting around Cap Chat, it gets bumpy, ungroomed for way too long. Gas at La Martre unattended gas pump with 137 miles on the odo since La Cache gas and still had 2 bars on the 900 Ace gas gauge ;<) The last 20 or so miles into MSP got better, and the hills in this area are not icy like we expected, so easy going. The previous 40 miles beat us up badly, we needed that break! As we rolled into Mr St Pierre around 4:30 the big groomer was just rolling out of town, hopefully heading west since we plan to re-ride that route on our way back westward. We plan to stop at LaCache again tomorrow since we need some bonus miles because Matane is so close, only question is which way is better groomed? 5 West and down+back 595, or maybe we get lucky and Chic Chocs gets groomed tonight. Will know more in the morning when the map is updated. La Delice motel in MSP is the best, owner/operators Patrick and Julie will do anything for you, and their food is amazing! They ended up joking that we got the “central NH” snowmobile package. Rooms, Smoked Chicken Wings, Smoked meat, soup. So good I asked and was granted 2 dozen wings and some smoked meat will be frozen and packaged for my saddlebags by morning to bring back home to NH. If you go there, jokingly ask for the Central NH package, they’ll get a laugh out of that!

Left Amqui on TQ5 down to Albertville clubhouse. What happened to the snowmobile decoration stick out of the building? Its gone. Did Groomer take as a retirement gift? 587 loop was simply amazing, wide, flat and fast. Back onto 5, topped off gas at Matapedia since its right on the way instead of backtracing at PLX or Nouvelle. Took the orange loop trail (entered the loop 6 miles west of Nouvelle) that goes north to the airport, best trail of the trip so far. However on the east side of the loop, ran a plowed icy road for about 8-10 miles before jumping back into a new trail that was not on the map, was ungroomed and beat up, but we survived. That led back on the map to a smooth ride down to Carlton. At gas, crossed the street and went for a ride through the summer campground on the peninsula to get to the frozen beach for,some photos before going to Baie Bleu hotel. Crunchy salmon for dinner, great stop here. Place is extremely busy, full os snowmobilers. Tomorrow plan is through La Cache, Murcochville, then to Mt St Pierre for smoked chicken wings.

Woke to -23, left at 9:30 after another good stay at windigo. Beautiful morning for a run down the reservoir to the local trail then to trail 73. Great run down till we hit the 355, rough trails all the way until the 23. Starting snowing heavy, back to see Reggie by 4:30. Great trips, great friends and met a few new friends along the way.