MrsGTRider

We decided to check out some trails south of the river last weekend.  We left Villeroy and stayed 2 nights in Montmagny.  Day 1 was 200 miles via…too many trails to remember…25, 35, 535, 55, 547, 5.  General directions were south to St-Georges in the Beauce region, then back up to Montmagny.  Day 2 was 5, 35, 55, 549, 35 and 551 total of 180 miles.  Day 3 was 170 miles, 5, 551, 35, 547, local, 75, 35, 540, 535, 35.  Sorry best I can do here on trail numbers.  Luckily I was not the navigator on this one, or else we might still be looking for the truck.  The map looks like someone threw spaghetti on it and said have fun!  
Overall conditions were good despite the weather.  We took a few different trails up and around Le Massif du Sud, which was nice.  The area between Montmagny and Villeroy is basically the highest concentration of tapped sugar maples in the world, cool stuff.  Or should I say sweet?  
Here are some pics
 

I am a Mainer who normally rides Quebec, (almost exclusively quebec last 15 years but have decades of riding Maine);  but past two years have ridden Maine due to the Covid situation.
Go to page 7 of the  QuebecRider general discussion section for last season's rides and pictures,  ***titled  "maine ridn"***mine of the Millinocket area of trails and lunch stops, as well as others who posted their rides of Aroostook County.
My favorite places over the years of riding all the various Maine snowmobile hot spots:
Rangeley:  very busy trails Thurs. -Sun.   Lots and lots of fantastic restaurants. Big entertainment center (Moose Alley) with games, bowling, bar food etc., small downtown but has great shops, big ski area (Saddleback Mountain) and another ski resort Sugarloaf Ski Resort that also has outdoor center and is about a 40 minute drive, and some nice places in Rangeley to stay as well as large amount of camp rentals. Lots more to do for kids and family type trip. Beautiful area!
Millinocket: love the big wide logging roads they use for trails,  lots of trails,  not enough restaurants at night, not much to do at night, lunch stops  on trail can be small and crowded at lunchtime.  Popular starting point for saddle bagging to Aroostook County, and saves few hours in truck driving to Aroostook.
Aroostook County:  considered best area in Maine to ride, good combo of fields, RR beds, trails etc.  I like to stay in Presque Isle or Caribou as they are centrally located for riding in all directions.  Only downside is it is a long drive to get there.
mike
 

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday.  We got back a little late and had to visit with the Gutzs.  So its yesterday morning.
The forecast is for some light snow and wind this afternoon.  How about lunch at Auberge Eva on Lac Bouchette?  Grooming last night was everywhere.
Once again and for the last ride of this trip, Sandi is out leading and going down 83.  Mild right now but the temps are going to drop this afternoon.  83 is fine but I'm sure its going to get traffic today, Saturday.  20 miles and we are at Relais Grenouille.  Staying on 83 along the power lines and up and over the mountain we drop down to the junction with 23.  Turn right.
A few sleds at Presbytere.  Around the building and up the new section of 23 here.  The snow is blowing around out in the fields.  The woods are fine.
We get to the junction with the local trail that runs to St Andre.  Sandi takes this.  No one has been on this since it was groomed last night.
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We go thru St Andre and are off to St Francois.  Trail 603 runs the road along in here and it is a nice cruising trail.
Left on 83.  A little ways along and there is the former green roof relais.  Looks like a residence now.  Many years ago that was a nice stop with Bill.   Left on 355 and we are on the last stretch.  This starts off wide and fast and slowly narrows down thru the woods until we pop out behind Eva.
A fancy place is Auberge Eva.  We go inside and put on our masks.  I hope these will be a thing of the past soon.  A few tables taken but this is a good size restaurant.  After lunch we suit back up for the ride home.
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Its a quick drop down onto Lac Bouchette in front of Auberge Eva.  We cross the corner of the lac and run up the road, trail 355, to the gas station to fill up the tanks.  U-turn.
Up 355 and there is the sign for St Francois.  Stay on 83 Sandi.  We will take a different route back.  I figure we will go east on 83 thru Chambord and back that way.  It has been awhile since I've been out here.  Thru the woods and we get to a signed intersection.
Hmm?  That's not right.  Chambord is behind us 42 km and Roberval is only a few clicks ahead of us?  We are on 83 west at the junction with 373.  My mistake for not taking a good look at that last sign.  OK we can turn around or we can drop down on Lac St Jean and cut back to the spa in Chambord.  We opt for the Lac run.  None of us have been out here and the access trail to the Lac has changed.  We hunt around at St Hubert's.  No access here.  We continue on 373 and work our way down to the Park and there's my sign "Village sur Glace de Roberval".  Yea!  ☺️
We drop down on the Lac.  The wind is blowing the snow dust around pretty good but fortunately, the Lac is well staked.  Keep aiming for between the two red stakes.  The trail skirts not too far off of the shore.  14 clicks later and we are at the Spa.
Up on the local trail and we hook back up with 83 "east".  We could have been here an hour ago if I didn't point Sandi in the wrong direction.  Oh well.  Its still snowmobiling.
We stay on 83.  The wind is whipping up in the fields.  I was thinking about 383 but too many fields.  Stay on 83 Sandi and we will get back in the woods.  We go past Hebertville.  No need to gas up.  There is plenty in the tanks to get us back.
83 is a lot rougher tonight.  It is getting colder so the trail will set up but the weekend traffic has already bumped it up.  We catch up to a couple of two uppers.  We aren't too far from the Delta so we all run together.
We park the sleds outside of the pen.  It is already full.  A few more trailers in the parking lot tonight.  Time to go in and relax for the night.
Sandi and I are heading back to Connecticut tomorrow morning.  The others are staying here.  Hopefully we will be able to get one more trip in.  The season is already disappearing.  Winters are way too short.
Be safe.
Jack & Sandi

It's Friday and this is the day to go to Milot for lunch.  The groomer has usually taking care of 373 Thursday night.  The map shows part of it groomed but not the section from the Peribonka River to about the halfway mark to Milot.
Sandi is leading as usual.  Cross the two dams and right on 134.  This is showing its wear.  There are the new power line towers going up.  I see a piece equipment coming towards us.  Be careful Sandi.  Could that be ... a groomer?  Yes it is.  We pull over to the side.  The groomer comes up to us and stops to let us pass him.  Sandi carefully goes around and the rest of us follow.  That will make 134 nice for the weekend.
We turn left on 93.  This part of 93 has been changed so many times.  It is in fine shape today.  We get to the junction with 328.  Keep going straight.  That is the way the groomer went.  Further up the groomer went right to Onatchiway.  We stay left on 367.  This must have been groomed the day before because there is a few inches of fluff on the trail.  It is super smooth underneath.  We blaze along and get to Otis Nature.  Time for a coffee break.  Just a long enough stop to stretch our legs and rest a bit.
Back on 367 up into the woods then we drop down on the river and cross over to the beginning of 373.  It wasn't groomed last night but is in good shape with some fluff.  About 10 miles in and there is a parked groomer.  Hmm?  Maybe that is why this hasn't been groomed.
There is also logging going on here.  373 is rerouted up and north of Lac Bernabe.  Its a seven mile reroute to avoid one mile of trail.  The last two or three miles runs the snow covered road.
Back on the old trail now.  Five or six  miles in and we pick up the groomed trail.  Super!  Sandi is picking up speed now.  We get to Milot.  A few years ago, new gas pumps were installed.  I feel more comfortable getting gas here now.  Fill up the sleds and fill us up.  $14.95 for a full lunch, soup, meal and dessert.  Good deal.
Back on the sleds and stay on 373 west.  I like the trails in this area.  Not too much elevation change.  A lot of flat running with gentle turns.  Lean back and enjoy.  373 splits off to the right as the new trail to Girardville.  Its a few years old now but new to me.  We stay left on the local trail 900 down to 93.
Saint Augustin and the power lines into St Monique.  Instead of staying on 93, today we are taking 367 to Evasion Peribonka.  This was good yesterday and still good today.  Then right on local 553 to 328 to Relais des Lacs.  These trails are a lot of fun and it is a nice change from 93 thru St Henri and Alma.
We then get on 554 down to 93 and left to St Charles.  Here is the reroute for 93.  After St Charles, a few miles along the edge of the road and then three miles of twisty, snarly new trail.  This is not good compared to what we have had all day.  Before long we are back on the original 93 to St Ambroise.  Much better.
Then our normal route of 367, cross the two dams and we are at the Delta.
Another wonderful day in Quebec.  It was cooler today and the trails set up a lot better.
One more day to ride and then we have to head back to Connecticut.
Jack & Sandi

Its another warm one this morning.  A lot of trails were groomed last night.  How about Mt Apica?  We haven't been there yet.
On the sleds and trail 83 it is.  The snow is soft today.  Groomed but soft.  A few tracks ahead of us.  Lac Kenogami has been staked.  Up and over the mountain.  As we get to 23, we see four sleds heading south on 23.  Time for a stretch.
Sandi turns left and we are on our way.  Groomed but a little choppy in the corners.  23 gets a lot of traffic.  There is a new fence right next to the trail to keep the animals off of the highway here.  Further along there is logging going on and there are logging trucks.  Be careful Sandi.
23 is clicking away.  A sled parked on the side of the trail.  Looks like he is adjusting his helmet or something.  Sandi goes by him and then I do.  He then pulls out in front of Joe.  A half a mile down the trail, Sandi catches up to three other sleds.
Ah ha.  The guy behind  me is part of the three in front of us.  We aren't that far from Apica.  If he wants to pass, he has opportunities but he is staying behind me.  Now we are a group of seven.  We pull into Apica and he pulls up and joins the other three.
Six other sleds just pulling out heading south.  We pull in and park.  Time for lunch.  It feels good to be able to sit at lunchtime and relax for thirty minutes.  So much better than having to eat outside!  😋
After lunch we are on the sleds and heading back up 23.  Why is this side so much smoother?  Keep going Sandi this is fine.  A lot of sleds heading south now.  We go by the 368 junction.  We go by the 83 junction that we came out of this morning and we are at Presbytiere.  There is the big John Deere groomer.  A little smile on my face as we go by.
Oh!  The trail doesn't cross the road and drop down on the lake.  It wraps around the building and goes back up into the woods.  This was cut this year by the looks of it.  The trees are pushed out of the way and a bulldozer has been in here earlier making the trail.  Pretty steep as we go back in.  Up and around.  A mile or so in and I think we are on an old trail.  None of this is familiar.  Finally this new trail ends up in the field across from the gas station in Hebertville.  Time to fill up the sleds.
Sandi keeps heading up 23.  We get to the intersection on 383 and turn right.  Easy sailing here.  We get to Relais Grenouille and there are a lot of sleds here.  Looks like a typical day at the Green Frog.
We drop back down on Lac Kenogami and at the other side we get behind two sleds.  They pull up to the intersection with 83 and 383 and wave us on.  Thanks but Sandi turns left on 383.  I think 83 is going to be rougher so we decided on 383.  This is nice.
Sandi is rolling along.  A few sleds coming the other way.  The sun is out and we are cruising.  There is the turn off for St Charles.  We stay on 383.  Not too much longer and we are home.
Another nice day in Quebec.  The trails are so good.  We need to hit the lottery Sandi and stay up here for ten weeks or more.  ☺️
Be safe everyone.
Jack & Sandi

We were due for a crazy day ride...



It's a 300+miles loop ride running on both side of the St-Laurence river via a ferry and bridge that get around the large Montreal city, this doable from the porch of my home. Having done it before we already knew it was an ambitious day ride, way more than doing a 300 miles in norther area. There are many roads and highways and rail road crossings+ the ferry and "the unexpected" that insure a very full day ride.

So we started from home at 8:00 am to catch the 9:00 ferry in St-Ignace de Loyola. Freshly groomed trail to warm up...



Arriving at the first river trail path, it was a bit scary



The St-Laurence river level got a bit higher in the night and cause water to rise on the ice on the sides. It is more scary than dangerous because the trail snow bank already cover the immediate side of the river where it can be dangerous and the small water pool we got is over the full river ice cover. It's been so cold since the beginning of the season that this ice is for sure thick enough to support the weight of a Yamaha so no worries we are on a BRP! 



We got at the ferry at 8:45



This ferry is one of the cheap option to cross the St-Laurence river: $7,60 for a sled and his driver and $11,35 in our case for an old married couple +sled



There is actually 2 ferries that offer crossings every 30 minutes on each sides during most of the day(see the web site for full schedule)



Our ferry had an hard time to accost because of the ice. It had to move back and forth many times to clear/crush all the ice along the dock and the 10 minutes crossing turn to over an half an hour one. We got back on the south shore trail at 9:45.
The first stretch along the river to get out of Sorel city was rough but we cross the groomer that was about to solve that



We quickly got on the #5 trail that we follow most of the path up the west of Montreal city. Not a lot snow but good conditions. We could feel few earth bumps in the skis on some very windy pass but the trails were overall very good  





You need to not be allergic to road crossing, especially highway crossings. I quickly counted and we cross the #30 highway 5 times, the #20 and #10 then the #15 2 times also the #640 and #25 and this on or under viaduct and even with a tunnel for the #640
We stopped there for a small break around 11:30



Here a first video(of three) that summarize this first part. you can always push the reader 4 arrows icon to pass in full screen
Continuing on the #5 trail we could saw St-Hilaire mountain that we usually view riding by car



Here after #20 highway crossing, good conditions



It began to get worse after the #15 highway crossing. Last Friday fluffy snow had been more generous there and with the very strong winds we had there was a lot snow blades/drifts in the trail. The visibility stayed good but the bumpy drifts slowed down us to keep in the safe and comfortable zone.



We even crossed a groomer that flatten our route for a few miles but the drifts were forming again quickly behind





We also had something I don't encounter often, a long train that gave us a 12 minutes break before clearing the way



We left the #5 trail in St-Michel area (west of Montreal) to cut toward St-Louis de Gonzague(bridge). We had few trail changes to make so I pointed my destination on the Gps to make it easy but a change between my map version and the real world trail glitched my gps that route us on the wrong side. I figured something was wrong by seeing directions for villages that we had already pass before. I got my cell phone out and made a check with Imotoneige that locate us and confirmed we were out of our route. We stepped back but it add some miles over an already busy ride.  


Here the 2nd video that summarize that part of the ride
 
We finally reached our ticket to the north shore at St-Louis de Gonzague around 4:00pm. It's a 3/4 miles long car bridge over Beauharnois canal were snowmobiles are allowed to cross for free. The bridge is also almost snow free so I did as usual and throw some dish wash soap on my track slides before starting the crossing to help our mule to move our 2 ass on the other side of the bridge without overheating too much. It went very well.



After crossing the Beauharnois canal we were needing next to cross the other half of the St-Laurence river that is done directly on ice. Even not groomed it ride nicely



We then continued to catch the #33 trail, The day was already well advanced



We got on the long Deux-Montages lake a bit past 5:30pm. A bit bumpy but it was ok and was riding good. We missed our target to cross it at daylight... here brief turn to admire the sky behind us 



We stopped for a real supper break at Île Bizard snowmobile relay around 6:00pm. We were near alone there but the people who operate the place told us they were crazy busy from the morning up to the end of afternoon and had depleted most of their food stocks. I took a good club sandwich with a cheese slice in place of the tomatoes and it was delicious! Nice authentic people there, I recommend it! 
We got back in saddle a bit before 7:00pm to do the remaining 90miles to get home
The sony flash was in strike



The trails in this area were pretty worn out and I adjusted the beat to go forward but safe given our day fatigue and the conditions. Our way home went well and we also got the chance to hit some freshly groomed trails on some sectors
Here the 3rd and last video that summarize this last stretch 
 
We finally got home at 10:15PM with 340miles in our butts for the day. The small 900 ace did it flawlessly even if my old venture/expert-x miss missed us in the rough sections. We didn't needed to get rocked to sleep that night!
Another nice good big ride for us !
Alain

 

Vax side effects?
sorry couldn’t resist 
please no jail time I promise to be good.

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bonsoir !!!
 
4 '' of fluffy  snow today......mild temps.....-9c
 
jean-guy

Anti freeze is on back order?

bonjour chris !!!
 
thank you ...very appreciated !!!
snowing lightly this morning !!!
 
jean-guy

bonjour playhard !!!
 
yaaaa...i remember that post ....
i like the word manicured...not because it was for me....but because ain t coming from a saturday afternoon rider......come from a hi-miler !!!
merci monsieur !!!
cold morning to manicure the trails...- 34c  ...-16c right now...
 
ps: keep in mind that a pic can worth a thousand grosses poutines extra fromage !!!
 
enjoy !!!
 
jean-guy