Triggerhappy

With thaws on Thursday/Friday, it is not easy for snowmobile clubs to shape up the trails for us. It was the second consecutive week with essentially the same scenario: too hot and too wet Friday night to be able to groom. Although it was riding up north, we waited for Sunday to try it out. We left from home in St-Thomas around 8:00 Sunday morning under a temperature of -6C. Very spring conditions with hard as concrete trail. Scratchers were mandatory not an option. Another sign of spring: here on the picture near home, we can see that the trail that crosses a ditch has begun to drop a bit ... 


 
I personnaly really like hard trails, my venture ride on it like a train on rails. You just touch the throttle to ride at very good speeds and the track hangs so nicely...
Here in the fields towards St-Norbert. Joliette had not groomed after the thaw but with the 2 scratchers down, it was a race track!



And here in the maple grove just north of St-Norbert



Farther, the snowmobile club of St-Gabriel Brandon had groomed all its territory in the night giving us perfect trails. The best ones of all the ride in fact



My intention was to go to Mandeville so we went to take a look at Lake Maskinongé shortcut. Pretty much water over the ice that has wear through snow so the club had closed it



So we continued on #63 trail



And then took #345 trail to Mandeville



Mandeville had not groomed after the mild weather but it was riding well, the trails were in good condition. We took the trail # 349. There are some sections on forest road, just enought snow on the edge and it was fine. The snow banks are still impressive!



We stop at 10:00 at the Lac Blanc outfitter to refuel before going in the Mastigouche reserve


 
The lake infront had pretty much water on the ice...



We then came back a bit and took the #350(trail a Gaston) toward the Reserve. Freshly groomed trail with some new snow over gave real nice winter conditions


 
We continued to #23 trail in the Mastigouche Reserve that we took to the west to go to St-Zenon. Not groomed recently but a beautiful layer of new snow on a hard base, ride nicely even with a bit of ripples in the curves



We rode it all the way to the junction with #345 trail (Cabanon/Taureau Dam) that we took south





We then took the #63 to go to St-Michel des Saints.



We arrived for lunch at the Vieux Moulin à Scie around 12:30 with 134miles on the venture dreameter



After a very good meal and a fuelup for the venture we left on #33 trail toward the west



Had a small tear on my cheek when passing infront the Rouge-Mattawin relay closed this winter



Just across the new trail to Mont-Tremblant Park



We continued on the #33. The 2.5 miles of road side was on limit to be good, they should  trace us a sidewalk on the edge because the dirt was very near on some spots





We then took the 1st local trail (orange on the map) to go on the #63.





We pass at La Glacière



We then took the #350 trail in front


 
And catch the #23 trail down south to St-Gabriel and took the same route as in the morning. Here at the Hut at the top of the hill at St-Damien.


It was impressive the difference just 1mile further down the hill. The trail went from winter condition to advanced spring condition, very very soft. It rode well but have to hang on the bars tight!  We followed our morning path and came back home around 6:00 PM with 255 miles on the venture dreameter. Surely the last one starting directly from the home, the trailer will have to take back service to stretch the season a little more.
Riding will still be possible in the weeks coming but not everywhere, some clubs south of Lanaudière have started to close mainly because of rivers but the north is still strong. The weather will play a big part for the next, in anyway the trail condition web site is always a good place to have details on the clubs: https://www.snowmobilecountry.ca/en/conditions/
Good end of season everybody!
Alain
 

From St Anne De Monts, trails were flat and fast. Good snow cover and the groomers were out. The 900 Ace was happily maintaining 7900RPM so the miles clicked fast towards Matane.  Not much traffic out today except near Matane, and luckily it all came at once. We happened to be stopped in a farmers field, and while we were there several groups of sleds passed, probably 25-30 overall, some looked like tour groups of 5-8. We could see them coming from a mile away so we just waited till they passed.
The entrance to the 591 south that had running water a few days earlier, was now frozen solid so we too that to Amqui. Drifty and a little lumpy, but not bad. At a trail junction, I PM’d Groomer from the trail to say we would be heading to the clubhouse one more time.  He replied and said he would join us, so ripped the 5 to Alberville, wow was that a fast stretch, awesome!
Groomer joined us for coffee and conversation, was great to catch up in person and sharing stories. The place filled up, lots of locals riding in for a beer.
JG said the mummies were naked, so we had to go check that out!  Sure enough, the warm temperatures melted most of the snow off the mummies.  We climbed the tower for pictures, what a view.
Some year we need to get back to the golf ball near the ski area.
 
Finished the day with a rip to Gaspesiana in St Flavie.  While unloading sleds who pulls in but Lance and Doug from Oneita who we’ve been leap frogging with for days. Our 2 groups are the only sleds here tonight.
A walk out on the dock for sunset pics was beautiful. Seagulls, icebergs, and rolling waves.
 
Lots of bare black dirt patches in the farmers and road crossings field between here and 5, easily passable today but just days from being impassable with the warm weather coming. Supper was great, definitely a great place to stay and eat.
 
Next Lance and Don are off to Montmagny, and we are off to RDL to drive out before the rain. Supposed to be 41F

Either that or someone dropped an Arctic cat motor in it without you knowing and the horsepower increase was to much for the clutching....  ;)

It's a few weeks old at the end of february, Snowcruiser and us lately improvise a 2 days ride from Champlain(east from Trois-Rivières) to Lac-Bouchette round trip. I had taken few video shots but had miss time to do something with them, which I finally did this week.
As usual, better viewed on large screen at 1080p with the sound cranked up a bit... beer and popcorn optionnal!
Alain

Groomer, we have all lived life in the Gaspe thru your pics so being able to share a few from our trip was fun. On this trip we had a great photographer with us, Josh Bingle, from Lab City.  He had done a few of the drone shots that I had posted earlier. He is going thru his camera files now, what a difference a nice camera makes!
 
We have talked about how open and barren the Long Range Mountain highlands is. These pics.from Josh... on a blue sky day!😁.... depict how wide open it is.
Also, we saw lots of Moose and many more fresh signs. Those of us from Maine found it interesting that the Moose In Labrador came from Maine.   They were introduced in 1906 to Labrador. They have flourished since!

The communicator would have to mysteriously malfunction for the rest of the trip.

I don't know how they will be on the Ski Doo, but if those Bergstrom triple points work as good as they did on my girlfriends Arctic Cat you will love them.  They improved the handling and they were extremely durable.  I would definitely recommend them.

hi steven !!!
great weekend for pics....great light most the time......but yesterday morning ,coming back from dealership ....woooWWW...priceless !!!
went to meet snowdog and stupe +2 more at the clubhouse ,late afternoon !!!
happy to meet you guys !!!
 
then ,when i left ,at the stop sign in front of gas station ....someone waving at me......sheriff was back in town ....linda + friends from ontario + nova scotia !!!
while snowdog and stupe were leaving clubhouse...she caused a traffic in albertville !!! ahaha...first one in years !!!
then , went grooming tq 5 .....warm ....snow no sticky ...but close....snow was like a thick mushroom cream soup !!! back around 4 20 am !!!
grey sky today and still warm !!!
 
jean-guy
 

Last day and it was a 10+.   Amazing what grooming will do.   Ran the 595 north on our way back to Matane.   Two days ago it was bumped up from La Cache and the last 30 miles were bad.   Today perfect.   There are areas with drifting but it is due to the wind and soft snow.   Cold and barren up top. Had a close encounter with a moose by the river.   Waited for a while on the trail and when it turned back we moved to the woods to let it pass!   And, to top off the day saw a car that drive down the trail for a mile or so by the Grand Nature du Chic Chocs.   Not sure what they were thinking...  Fantastic trip.   1119 miles in 6 days.   

Many of you have commented on the Western side, and as you can see the eastern region we have run so far had a much more dense snow pack in many places.  We will be working our way down the Western side later this week,  We hope to have good weather for the scenery and strong backs for the powder!
Here are a couple of drone shots , one in Harbor Deep and one in the highlands of the Long Range mountains.
Also Norm from Boughwiffin lodge dropped us off some 2000 year plus iceberg ice last night. That made the Crown Royal taste very special!

 

The scenery rivals the White road, Labrador and what we have seen in Alaska.  Definitely  this is something to put on your to do list!

After our break we head back to 35. We take it to Pohenegamook. We stop to fuel up. The trails are nice we are having great luck today. After fueling up we take 35 to the 85 intersection and head back to RDL. We hit about 10 miles of beat trail on 35 before getting to 85. Once we hit 85 it’s it’s fresh groomed. We pass a groomer going the opposite direction without a drag. He is just traveling on the trail. About 10 miles later we catch the groomer that is making our white carpet. When we pass him the trail is really good. He is making good perfect. We get to the hotel at 7. We had a great day.

From 182Ray Today:

Great seeing you guys at Drakkar!  
Keep the rubber side down!
 

Yes we left Reggies yesterday and there is a huge amount of snow in that area.  On our rides we saw some collapsed buildings and many people on the roofs clearing big buildings.

The Association des Motoneigistes de l'Outaouais maintain the southern section of the TQ 53 and they have parking available at Notre-Dame-de-La-Salette about 30 minutes north of Buckingham along the Highway 309:
https://fcmq.qc.ca/fr/clubs/liste-des-clubs/association-des-motoneigistes-de-loutaouais/
Our snowmobile club, the Hill & Gully Riders, also has parking available at our Clubhouse at 149 Chemin Inlet in the Municipality of Mulgrave et Derry.  From there you would take the Regional Trail 323 north to the Trans-Québec 53.  To get there by truck or trailer, you take Provincial Highway 315 north, and loop around Lac La Blanche.  Chemin Inlet is the first turn off after the second white church, directly north of the big lake.  The clubhouse is about 30 minutes north of Buckingham, and a kilometre north of the intersection of Chemin Inlet and the Route 315.  It's open weekends if you want to suit up inside, and is available to the public at large. There's a large parking lot, and a ramp for off-loading from pickups.

good morning !!!
back from tq  5 !!!...started not too bad...windy but no snow to blow....but once in ste marguerite.....hmmm...light snow + stronger winds
no mosquitoes !!!
btw....'' razor week''   !!!
 
jean-guy

It is still windy and cold.  We dress up and head out.  In the pen it feels like the windy city of Chicago.
We are off and cross the two bridges.  Then we turn right on 134 (Pickle Park).  Fresh groomed and no tracks.  Go Sandi.  Perfection all the way to 93 and we turn right.  The big long straightaways here are fun but cold.  Brrr!  A stop in St Honore and top off the tanks.  Back on 93 and it has been a few days since this was groomed.  We get to the groomer's house and the groomer had headed up the mountain last night.  Back to zoom zoom.  A left onto Bras Louis.  This wasn't groomed last night but it doesn't get the abuse 93 does.  Sandi is trucking right along.
Oh oh!  My sled doesn't sound right.  The exhaust has a funny sound to it.  Not its normal Singer sewing machine sound.  Not misfiring.  Still plenty of power.  Oh, the temp gauge is almost full bars.  I don't want to be stuck on the mountain in this wind.  I change the display to engine temp.  It is at 158 ̊ F.  I back off and the temp starts dropping.  Sandi is gone.  I take it easy and she is waiting at the junction with 477 to Onatchiway.  Hold on Sandi.  the sled is getting hot.  I look under the tunnel and yep there is a bridge of ice blocking the heat exchanger.  Sandi smiles and says "I got a hammer."  Really?  Where has she hid this.
I take the hammer and whack the side of the tunnel a dozen times.  I hear and see the chunks of ice fall.  OK.  This might work.
We are on the trail again and the engine temp is dropping.  Much better.  Only one set of tracks ahead of Sandi on the fresh groomed 477.  Fifteen more miles and we pull into Onatchiway.  Only a few sleds here but a half a dozen truck trailer rigs.
Time for lunch and a well needed warm up.  We take our time.  No hurry today.  We are making it a short day.
After lunch we take off and head down 476 along Lac La Mothe.  The groomer map showed a groomed second trail cutting off of 476 to the west before St David.  We get to the intersection and lets try it and see where it goes.  We bear to the right and no one has been on this yet.  A mile in and the trail crosses a road.  Another mile and it "Ts" with another road.  Looks like the groomer came from the left Sandi.  We run the road for a short distance and the trail goes across a dam.  There is an arrow pointing to the left.  Ah a sign that says trail 134.  A few red stakes.  We are golden.  Lets go.  About 8 miles later we come to an intersection with 328.  Perfect.
If you look on the trail map it doesn't show this trail.  This new section of 134 hits 328 a few miles east of the intersection of 328 and 367.  The trail was here years ago and then closed.  Now its back.
We take 367 toward St Ambroise.  Boy is it windy in the big potato fields.  We get across the two bridges and head back to the hotel.  We are in early but we don't mind with the cold and the wind.
The trails were fine except for a short section of 93.  The new trail was fun.  Its pretty easy to follow. 
Getting near the end of this trip.  One more day to ride and then it is back home.
Jack & Sandi

After reading everyone's list I have come to the conclusion...... I am going to die 

Very good explanation.  Completely agree.  I don't ride there anymore, but I don't ride Old Forge really either (once in a blue moon) as I have seen bad accidents happen right in front of me and waited for people to be airlifted out (not from my group).  Weekday riding is better, but I found much better places to ride local (Perkins to Indian lake to Newcomb, Clear lake north, etc)  Great trails with a lot less traffic.  I'm fortunate I can also ride from my garage as I live on a lake that also branches off onto trails like Mulleyville etc..  I put most of my miles on in Quebec, but will ride the nice and less traveled northern NY trails.  As many clubs are finding it harder to find active volunteers, the work is being done by fewer and fewer members and some just can't do it any longer.  Trails are then affected and thus either closing or are becoming even more dangerous as signage is poor or trails are narrower from lack of maintenance, etc..   It would improve greatly in NY if they went to a state run trail system like Vermont.  Paid trail maintenance and groomers with permit fees.  Would improve trails and take the burden off over worked volunteers each year.  Might also help eliminate some of the "problem riders" that we have allowed.  New York is one of the top states with snowmobile registrations and yet has no real control of the trail systems.  The funds (that the registrations pay for) do not get to the clubs in a timely manner and too much red tape to change, add or alter a trail.  It is just to hard on all the individual clubs.  Just my opinion.

Well I guess that's better than going through 4 wives in one summer..... lol

Well I guess that's better than going through 4 wives in one summer..... lol

Well I guess that's better than going through 4 wives in one summer..... lol

Well I guess that's better than going through 4 wives in one summer..... lol

Well I guess that's better than going through 4 wives in one summer..... lol