SRSchang

I always use the ATM, most recently at the ATM in Chateau Roberval. Took out $400 CAD, it deducted $331.81 USD from my checking account. That said, I have to call my credit union ahead of each trip so they don't shut off my ATM card assuming it was stolen.

Thanks Snowman! I assume Scierie 54 between Chib & Roberval is still open as well?

Backcountry, did you stop for fuel in Desmaraisville on the way to Chib? Curious what the fuel situation is in Desmaraisville. I've made it all the way before, but I start sweating when it gets over 130 miles.

Nice ride Backcountry. My wife & I rode to Matagami a couple weeks ago. 34F & rain all the way up from Val d'Or, dropped to -10F overnight. Her Doo 900 wouldn't start that morning, totally dead. I tried my jumper cables, nothing worked. Kept going inside to get warmed up, coming out & hitting the start button. After 20 minutes or so, I hit the button for the 1000th time, lights came on & it fired right up. Was fine for the rest of the trip. We rode close to another group from Matagami down to Amos, we made it to Amos easily, their sleds were pretty thirsty. They were desperate for fuel by St Felix. The map shows fuel & food there, a local said they're both closed now. The other group started knocking on doors, looking to buy fuel from someones gas can.

I will be in Val d'Or Sunday and returning Friday after a loop to Roberval. A nice loop that's in your mileage window would be to Amos. I'd suggest having lunch at Hotel Eskers restaurant Chat O. You have to travel the last mile to Eskers on the river, but it's very well marked. While in Amos, you may want to visit Refuge Pageau, a refuge for injured animals being nursed back to health. On another day you could ride to Rouyn Noranda, it's a very snowmobile friendly small city with lots of restaurants. Another day trip could be to Lebel-sur-Quevillon which is northeast of Val d'Or. There is easy access to gas, and a nice restaurant near the gas station. On the way there you pass through Senneterre, which is very interesting as the trail follows the main roads through the town, you ride with the regular traffic. Make sure you have a map blowup for Senneterre, the trail through town isn't well marked, I took the wrong road even with my gps. Amos and Rouyn Noranda also have easy access to gas. Have fun, where are you staying in Val d'Or? We will be at Forestel Sunday night.

Great write up, and lots of good info. I'll be in Chib Monday & Barrage Gouin Wednesday. Sad to hear about the Bar le Cabaret, my brother wanted to take his 18 year old son there. Oh well, I guess we won't cancel the trip because of it. Scott

Good idea. I just updated my Quebec Trakmaps before a trip to western Quebec last week. I was surprised that I had to order a chip vs download. I took a few days to get the chip, but it was only $50 because it was a recent upgrade. The maps were very accurate, only a couple spots they were off for a bit, probably due to a short reroute. I see you're a member of the Cherry Creek club. Do you live in Cherry Creek? I live in Lakewood, member of Chautauqua Lake.

There have been many pictures of flooded / dangerous trails throughout Quebec, NH, Maine, Vermont, New York. A very bad time to ride in many areas. Even bridges being washed away per Groomer's post.

The internet is funny! Just saw that same picture but it's on a trail in Pittsburgh, NH.

What do you consider high mileage? My 2009 1200 and 2012 1200 each have 10,000 miles. I haven't even thought about injector problems. Fuel & go! Probably not an exact comparison, but my wife's 2008 BMW has 180,000 miles, haven't used any additives or had anything done to the injectors on that either.

The dam crossing is closed. You cross the river about 10km downstream from the dam on trail 345.

We don't do the sledders packages. Generally the dinner menu is limited when you get the package, and I always drool over something I'd rather have on the full menu.

Yep, December 26th, I was born in Taylor Michigan, a suburb of Detroit.

Well, Merry & I are back home in Jamestown, NY after a 14 hour drive from Rimouski. I wanted to let folks know what we found on our trip. Day 1 - Rimouski to St Anne Des Monts. 171 miles Started at hotel Rimouski, snow was really slim in Rimouski, got a little better a few miles out, but thin again near Matane. Had lunch at the St Adelme club, it's a very nice clubhouse, only a couple sleds there. This was 2:00 Sunday. Stayed at Hotel & cie in St Anne Des Monts. The highlight lodging of the trip. Gas across the street. The first floor rooms are park in front of your door, very convenient to unload the sleds & move stuff 10 feet into the room. Then there's an interior door that opens into the hotel hallway - cool! The hotel was recently modeled, the room, lobby, and restaurant are very nice. The restaurant was very nice, ate at the bar with a guy who was going backcountry riding with a tour group the next couple days. There was another group of guys there from Maine. Day 2 - St Anne Des Monts to Gaspe. 205 miles Again snow thin in the towns, good once we got out of towns. Views around Mont Pierre beautiful as usual, although it was snowing & couldn't see as well as we would have liked. A local guy took us up to where the hang gliders take off in the summer. Very nice. Stopped in Grande Vallee (I think) for gas & lunch. Snow very thin in town, skidded up the highway for a half mile or so from gas to Dixie Lee for lunch. Stayed at the Auberge sous les arbres in Gaspe. It was a very nice B&B, great local breakfast. Unfortunately, no snow in the town of Gaspe, skidding down roads & sidewalks, sled wont turn, lots of traffic. Had to dodge school kids in the morning. I hate those situations. Day 3 - St Anne Des Monts to New Richmond. 191 miles. I wanted to ride through the Reserve ecologique de la Grand-Riviere, it's one of my favorite spots to ride. We had lunch at the Pasbebiac clubhouse, great pulled pork sandwich. It started to snow pretty hard at this point. Somewhere between Pasbebiac and New Richmond the trail was rerouted. Wow, was this horrible. One sled width wide, solid ice bumps, 5 mph tops. Luckily it only lasted a few miles. This was the only point on the trip that the Trakmaps were wrong. Got to Hotel Francis just before dark. The pub there was really neat & busy there, had a great dinner in the restaurant. Met some guys from Ottawa (I think). Day 4 - New Richmond to Amqui. 166 miles Nice sunny riding day, stopped for lunch & gas in Pointe -a-la-Croix. A little more snow in town, things are looking up. The snow got deeper & the trails much better groomed after we left Point-a-la-Croix, & stayed great until we got to Amqui. Stayed at the Ambassador in Amqui, very well marked although weird riding through multiple hotel parking lots to get there. A couple Skidoos were already there, one had a Quebec Rider sticker on the windshield. Who was it? Didn't see them at dinner & they left while we were having breakfast. Had a great time with the bartender as she tried (unsuccessfully) to teach us some French. I guess we now understand that all nouns are masculine or feminine, & you just have to know which is which so you can apply the appropriate adjective. A little every trip I guess. Day 5 - Amqui to Rimouski. 83 miles. Lots of riding in the mountains, tons of windmills. Got lost at one point, as the trail was on a road & the road had been recently plowed. The plowed snow was so high we missed the turn off & signs. The GPS quickly showed that we'd missed a turn, and as we returned, a groomer busted through the snowpile! Tried to talk to him, but our lack of French & his lack of English didn't work. At one point we rode up to a windmill to see it close up. Very impressive! Just a really neat day riding on lots of very deep snow & perfectly groomed trails. Got back to Hotel Rimouski about noon, checked in & went to St Hubert for lunch - our fav! So that was the trip. The Garmin & Trakmaps more than anything else made navigating around towns & at poorly marked forks in the trails much quicker to figure out, especially when snow is thin & what few sled tracks we could see head in multiple directions. Great time, look forward to coming up again some day. Heading to the upper peninsula of Michigan in a couple weeks with my brother from Tennessee & his son (my nephew). My nephew hasn't been on a sled before, but he passed the online Michigan snowmobile class. We'll see how he holds up for the 900 mile loop! Scott

We're up here right now. Rode Rimouski to St Anne Des Monts today. Snow was really thin downtown Rimouski & the fields west of Matane. In fact, the only snow in several fields was the trail! Almost looks like they trucked in snow for the trails! Staying at Hotel & cie tonight, highly recommended.