Leaderboard

We took the risk of leaving directly from the home in St-Thomas and passing through Berthier to go up to St-Zénon and have dinner at Réal Massé If I had to quickly summarize the report: don't do like us and stay no further south than St-Gabriel de Brandon and go north. We wanted to take advantage one last time of the privilege we have of leaving directly from the home without touching the trailer and we managed to do so but the southern part of St-Gabriel is too lacking in snow... I gave a good beat to my snowtrackers! From St-Thomas we joined trail #3 to go towards Berthier. Surprisingly, apart from the surroundings of the gas station in the village, the fields were still very beautiful. Here along the railway line. Scratchers mandatory very hard/icy base There was a lack of snow in a few inside curves but overall very good Things got bad when we arrived at the airfield in St-Cuthbert, there was quite a long way to go on a plowed path now on dirt/gravel and it wasn't nice in the wooded area that followed or near the Valrémi sugar shack We gave a try on the #3 towards St-Barthelemy...It was worse too much south and we had to turn around we lost the trail at some points We headed towards St-Gabriel de Brandon, the wooded sections are good But in the fields the trail path is hard to miss 🙄, it has melted too much. There is quite a long stretch like that Past St-Gabriel de Brandon going north was the way to go, the conditions there are fine and keep going better toward north We had a checkpoint just north of the village of St-Gabriel, the guys were nice no problem. And we went up the #23 north which still has good snow cover I was unsure about a short plowed section but it's still very good and was ok We got a few bumps from traffic but the snow is still very good in that area We had a late start around 9:30 and time was passing quickly so we took the #350 south And we had dinner at Réal Massé. It's been a long time since we've been there and their meals are still delicious and the atmosphere really nice. They are open from Thursday noon to Sunday afternoon. From there we decided to continue #350 and loop around via #63 towards Ste-Émélie de l'Énergie. Here direction the Glacière Past La Glacière on #63 heading south it was still very beautiful with good snow cover Here passing by the La Barrière outfitter We passed through Domaine Bazinet and continued south The big hills near Ste-Émélie de l’Énergie are still in good condition Past Ste-Émilie village we headed towards St-Damien where we stopped to refuel while passing through their courtyard. Leaving the gas station we climb the mountain and at the very top facing south there is the only mud spot we saw to the north of St-Gabriel on this route very close to the small shack at the #23 junction which joins our morning route. We took a little break there. We resumed on the morning path in the opposite direction which was still in the same state, beautiful up to St-Gabriel but then with bare spots going south We returned home around 5:00 p.m. with a little over 250km on the cluster, overall happy with the ride that succeed our wish to start from home. In summary, there is still some great snowmobiling to be done north of St-Gabriel de Brandon when it is cold like today. This year it's like that, don't be too critical and take what can be done... The upcoming weather forecasts are a bit scary but I still hope they're wrong! we'll see...hoping for the best Alain

Day 7 Sunday Great night at Windigo, drinks, conversations, stories throw in the nosh on the wings and smoked meat sandwiches. Oh yes. To Team Vermont….looking forward to next seasons rendezvous. After saying our goodbyes and loading up. Everyone ready to go. My sled loves it here so much it doesn’t fire off on the first go. Never good. This will take extra effort. Get coolant heater plugged in. Decided to hook up Daniel’s big jumpbox. Spins over real nice this go round and finally fires. Maybe 15 minutes of giving it attention, For what its worth by far not the coldest night out this week, but is the one night i did not cover my sled. Maybe nothing maybe something, Up driveway out of Windigo. TQ83 magic carpet ride back all the wsy to Relais 22 . Bridge still unsafe for groomer straight out back of Relais 22 on TQ83. 83 west this year is just north of Relais 22 its 30 km longer then going out the old trail and over the bridge. Gas n go and quick conversation with Christine at 22, knowing full well that many sleds are bearing down on this place from up the TQ83 coming for lunch on Sunday. Up we go and as expected busy trail. But all well behaved. Love the new Sena 50 really top shelf. Nice ride back up TQ83 then secret trail to 355 from TQ83 was a stunner. Said goodbye to our trail mates as they were headed to load uo and haul south today. Great guys NH Moose aka “bullwinkle” anytime anywhere goes without saying. Mark ditto do not get to see him enough. Great guy. Phil sr newest member of Team Iceman. Another rider. Gets it done solid. Loved spending time on and off trail with you all.. Until next time boys. Snohorse and I continue on TQ83 junk. And junk. Seriously not good. Big difference in conditions here. We suffer on to local orange to Saint Andre. Ok but best up. Went in another local trail tour then a retrace of our route back to 355 and Auberge Eva. Only people here tonight. Private hotel and restaurant. No one else. We stitched it together as my partner in trails Snohorse says. Successful week stellar trails with excellent company. Some new discoveries and some new memories on long cherished sections of trails. Some of our favorites, Is it the last ride? Stay tuned

http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_02/Screenshot_20240225_202316_Gallery.thumb.jpg.c1640bd0e6ba21fc4007b41438a32892.jpg http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_02/Screenshot_20240225_202252_Gallery.thumb.jpg.e597a7d3c37ee92647749c9b5b497a93.jpg http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_02/Screenshot_20240225_202412_Gallery.thumb.jpg.f2442380f3c445a239b833270dbd88c4.jpg http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_02/Screenshot_20240225_202357_Gallery.thumb.jpg.a9a05fa540a283044ac6555a31d52211.jpg http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_02/Screenshot_20240225_222634_Gallery.thumb.jpg.10529b5d3f25dd303dbb872dff32c9cd.jpg http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_02/Screenshot_20240225_202429_Gallery.thumb.jpg.17bfb71d936bdf25d2a489df4efccd4b.jpg

Wake up to -20°f here at Windigo with a full moon hanging in the west sky . Say Salute to our good friends Iceman , Snohorse, HH-Moose, Mar"K" and Phil-2 .. memorable times with like minded friends 🙂. Rolled out west to Waymo for fuel, off to Camp de Casey for lunch and WiFi. Repo for a splash of Dino-Bones then Mattawin to the trucks n back to Vermont. Trails were pretty much the typical this season ... good , bad, ugly .. but I'd do it all over again 😄. Let's all hope the 10 day forecast isn't as bad as it looks ... Grab it while ya can Mes amis !

Day 5 215 total miles. A bit of a snowy day today so not as many pictures they don’t look as pretty haha. Tons of sleds today guess everybody is out anticipating, perhaps the end of the riding season unfortunately. Since all the traffic trails were a bit more bumpier than normal, but still not bad at all. Decided to head down to Rapide 7 so left amos south to Rivière-Héva then to Malartic then continued down the 309 to Rapide 7. Back up 309 then into Val’dor and then snaked our way back to Amos the long way!

Day 6, last day left Valga and doubled back south to 5. When we get to 35 we take that, some of the trails around Rimouski are showing red again and since we took 5 on the way out we will try and stay more inland. Stay on 35 to the 546 cutoff and take that, it’s in really nice shape. Local traffic is starting to pick up now but everyone is acting nicely. We take the 571 when we hit it then the 544 into St. Cyprien and have a good lunch at the St. Cyp. Continue on the 544 to the Orange local, think it is 44 but not positive and take that to 85. 85 still in good shape and covered well but icy. After the Adventiers clubhouse things get pretty bad. Mostly dirt and gravel with a little snow here and there to the 526. The 526 is no better and pretty much no snow the last 2 or 3 miles into the Universal. We had a great trip, the clubs are all out doing their best and trails are mostly good. All towns are bone dry getting in and out, even Murdochville is dry blacktop at the gas station. Many areas WILL NOT survive the warm up and rain this week. It will take a good dump of snow after Wednesday to open it all back up. 142 miles for the day 1050 for the week

Always fun hooking up with fellow Quebecriders out in the bush. Iceman runs with an amazing crew. Windigo never disappoints. Plenty of snow up there. It’s just the access points are dissolving fast. A little creativity and there’s a lot of riding to be had still.

Nice! I am glad it went well for you.

Day 5: gonna end the trip with 2 short days instead of 1 big one. Today we rode from PALC to Valga. Took 5 all the way to Albertville. Trails pretty thin near the towns. Should have took the orange trail to avoid Causapscal. Also really thin around St. Marguerite and Albertville. Continued on 5 to 587 to St. Irene, much better here. Had lunch at the Ski Hill then went up and checked out the lookout tower up near the Radar. Looks like winter up there but not like a normal one. Continued through the mountains on 587 to 579 and into Valga for the night. Early day, a little too early really 😂😂 150 miles for the day.

Day 6 Saturday Cold this.morning. Not sure what was the temperature but a cold start. Cold makes white asphalt. I happen to admire white asphalt quite a bit and we saw lots of it Exception being the local trail from La Dore to TQ83. But the local orange was still ok. Just not perfect. Joined up with the TQ83 and at first was not liking it. Quickly changed at intersection to local trail south. Fast run down as the top of the TQ83 they are grooming the road as the trail for a god part of it and it’s fantastic. Gas and Late lunch after the rush at Relais 22. Out of there we got places to be. More sleds out today, but duh? It’s the weekend. Even so, we only caught uo to 2 sleds we easily got by. Only the second pair we had to deal with in front of us in 6 days. Sweet. Quick burn to Windigo and wrapped up a stellar day with a stellar night reminiscing and breaking bread with our brothers Team Vermont. Always great fo be at Windigo with Martine Stephanie and Daniel….even better on a Saturday night……and even better with the plan coming together to meet up. Lots to catch up on and that we did. Sure wish we could do this so much more often. Great times with Great people.

Day 6 final day 230 miles. Headed out over to LaSarre this morning the first 35-40 miles was pure white carpet the type of thing snowmobilers dream about with the fresh snow from last night the sun coming out, and the snow covered trees made for an unforgettable ride. Did a couple of the loop trials north of LaSarre all of which are totally awesome then headed over to La Reine which is right on the Quebec/ Ontario border you get there by running about 10 miles of rail bed, which again was pure white carpet. At the end of the rail bad we ventured into Ontario for a bit via the same rail bed which is unmaintained into Ontario side but still a fun Boondocking experience. Then made our way back to Amos via TQ 93. Another epic day to finish out an epic riding week. Anyone who wasn’t up here missed out on some amazing conditions. Hard to believe the weather for the next 48 hours which looks downright horrible Hopefully this area makes it though. I hope everyone enjoyed following along, and I just made a few people jealous along the way!

with luck you will see me up there as well thursday

Day 7 Windigo to Lac Bouchette

Peek-a-boo Sunday 5:30...

Riding beats thinking about it. Nice job stitching it together certainly not what we are used to this year. The end is near.

Day 4: 298 total miles epic day! More amazing riding cold nights and days really make excellent trails! 90% of the trails today were 9.5/10 just simply awesome! Today ride took us from Amos over to Seneterre then up to Quévillon the the trail between the two places which is TQ93 might be one of the best stretches of trail I’ve ever ridden in Quebec! After lunch in Quévillon back down 93 to Seneterre then continuing south to Lac Simon for fuel. After that we did a loop north of Val’dor to take us back into Amos!

Well i booked the hotels today in hopes there's still snow left after Wed . Going to trailer right to Lebel Q and run 3 days , 2 up to Chibougameau and back and 1 to Matagami and back. Forecast is showing 5-10cm after rain is over and cooler temps, so fingers are crossed.

It’s hard to say they have a lot of snow here, but warm temps and rain will do a lot of damage. The weather for the next 10 days looks absolutely horrible thinking this season is close to being over in most areas of Quebec.

Drag strips-anyone around?

Day 5 Friday Woke at Pouvoirie La Dore. I like it here. Snowing again. Not super cold as my gatorade aint frozen on porch. It’s cold thought This will hold me over until getting some coffee. Boys are stirring around looking like the warm has lost the battle this go round. Wind picking up still snowing on and off. Enjoyed talking for a long time with Stephane last night. Quite interesting as I learned alot we all did asking hunting and fishing questions trying to get an understanding on how they do it all year. Great place and super hosts. Go and stay they have one big chalet with four bedrooms So 8 singje beds max, only chalet insulated for clients thus winter. Next year probably 1 more. But this will remain an intimate place. More personal to stay here. For lunch they have been doing well. Many clients. They make their living May to November. Like i said before there is just something about this place. Stephane met us after a great breakfast and we took a ride out and up the lake and back. He took us out the back over the bridge and showed us the way to join up with the local orange trail branche ouest. Interesting. But not as fast as the TQ93. He showed us another nine mile loop around the lake by the lodge. This has Team VT written all over it as he said no problem go and explore, their are trails everywhere. We had to say goodbye for now and bailed out the backdoor to La Dore. Still snowing on and off temps already noticeably colder, wind is biting. TQ93 to Gas n go La Dore. Trail mint. Been 95% all week. Very little traffic. This being the “Tour to nowhere” we got nowhere to go to. All day to do it. Now those of you that pay attention know what is next……if you guessed trail bingo = winning. 👍 Stayed in the sweet spot. All around above lake. St Felicien to Dolbeau. To 373 then back across 373 searching for red sticks with wind howling in the fields. One of those days you think about where to stop for a break and finding somewhere tucked in the trees to block that wind. Temperature has plummeted and with wind not great for the hands being out of the gloves too long. Only real rough spot few KM between middle orange trail and TQ93 up near Lac a Jim. Everything else very nice. Likey likey. Bingo card full it’s time for early happy hour. Into Girardville. Happy campers.

Internet really wonky with this many people here

Affirmative

Out over this bridge ?

Day 4, Left Pabos, took 5 West and trails are still pretty nice. Not great snow depth but the clubs have done a great job with what they have. Trails were all in pretty good shape until New Richmond. Really thin there and some bare corners but not terrible. Same for Carleton, mostly smooth but thin. The thinnest sections and most bare spots were around Nouvelle. Definitely spring conditions there. The snow started getting better and less bare spots and snirt as we headed West. In PALC tonight.

I was thinking about Lac Moreau, I had forgotten about Trout lake. They were kinda ball busters too, but it was a sweet place. Funny story. About ten years ago we stopped and ate there not knowing they mostly cater to reservations with full package only, so it wasn’t cheap and the food was pretty bad. As we left I asked about gas. It was waaaaayyyyy over priced, and I mentioned it, but needed it so we paid….So off we go back to the trucks. Long story short we went the wrong way for about an hour before realizing the mistake we had made. So we ended up back at his gas pump for another round a couple hours latter. The guy laughed a little when he said that I liked his gas so much I came back for more…lesson learned, never run your lips to the guy with the gas, no matter how bad he gouges you.

We wondered what would happen if we ran out of gas/broke down & he came along-big/black & nasty 2" fangs!

Day 3, left Grand Vallee and backtracked on 5 to 597 down to Murdochville. Trails in really nice shape! This part of the Gaspe wins for the most snow award. Lunch in Murdochville then continue down 597 and Piston Alley, all groomed up nicely to 5 again.

Today rode West on 83 to Auberge Presbytere for breakfast. 83 West was awesome. Spent the day just riding 83, 23 and especially 383. Stopped at Relais La Genouille, pretty good sled club. All trials awesome. Unfortunately, when we got back to the Dela it was 35 degrees. Snow getting soft and bare spots worse, Calling for rain on Friday. Not sure I'd rec coming up this weekend. Was 4 days riding worth 2000 miles drive from Pittsburgh? YES. Heading home tomorrow.

Day 2: Left Riotel FYI don’t have to go up the big hill. Go closer to the road around the back of the little brown building and it will take you right up to the road. Everything dry pavement in town, got up to the trail and took 5 East. Mix of good to fair with a few great sections mixed in. The most snow is in the elevations, all the towns are scratchy like late March. First 30 miles from Matane is pretty thin. Staying in Grand Vallee tonight. The deepest snow of the trip is out here, probably from Mont Louis to here. Calling for a warm up Thursday-Friday, we will see

Day 1, word of the day….Thin! Got 2” overnight made it nice leaving RDL. Never seen it so thin here in February. Trails pretty smooth, not enough snow to be rough. Snirt is gone with the fresh snow. Get out of town and take 5 East. Rimouski Club says stay on 5 for best conditions. Hasn’t been our experience but let’s try it. Away from town coverage not bad. Once we get to Trois Pistoles it’s actually pretty nice. Continue on 5 to the 35 outside of Rimouski. Traffic is light all day groomers are doing their thing. Meet back up with 5 East to 587 short cut to 5 at Padoue. Took the 5 all the way to Matane to the Riotel. Very scratchy in town, basically blacktop and dirt.