MrsGTRider

93 from Chibougamau to Matagami was damn near mint the whole way. We passed at least three groomers. As always, Chapais had the best trails. Staying at a Gite in Matagami tonight $$$ and no supper just breakfast.          

This might be considered Fake News without pictures. 😜

Dam fine day so far
have seen no one since we left camp
except this guy on the 345
got within 6 ft of him

Waking up at Lac Chapeau de Paille this a.m. to still warm temps and a dusting of snow overnight 
We are pleasantly surprised for some reason the internet is working here. Mon ami Andre bought this antenna booster thing 4-5 years ago and we could get texts (no pics) and even a voice conversation out sometimes. That is when it worked. Sometimes it would stop for a day or two at a time. Now all of a sudden we are getting full blown data through. Still a little spotty but as you can see I’m getting stuff out. My theory is with all the logging going on up here the last couple years the logging company brought in a portable site and did what they needed to do so their workers have communication in the bush. Andre thinks that’s not it. I guess we’ll know whenever they pull out of this area it suddenly stops one day. In any event…..it’s the best thing since sliced bread.
We are heading over to the Giraldo dam from here at 10:00 to meet an old friend and his dad. From there we are thinking about heading up to Kanawata for lunch and back down to Lac Chapeau for another night before heading on our trip north and east for the week.

Today's mission was to head out to Parent to be supervisors  on the this bridge project.. 😆    We did what we could folks !! Figured we're this far well go see Jonny and Carol for lunch at Barrage Gouin. Super great conditions and chilly 0°f most of the day . Snow is pretty deep out on the reservoir made things fun . The store in Parent is better than ever in my opinion and super gaz was only 1.90 a liter .  Back to Far a Cheval again tonight.  .. lots to like here . 

Great reporting Mark!   Remind me, where is Jasmin?
I forgot to mention we stopped at the club house on the power line just before Rimouski. They were closed. But they turned part of the club house into a Refuge for when they are not open. The big room is partly partitoned off with metal locking curtains and has a separate entrance. It stays unlocked, is toasty warm, tables and chairs for about 30 people and vending machines for coffee etc.   Really well done.
 

here is some music footage from this last weekend ride...

Today we rolled from from Mattawin to Far a Cheval (Horseshoe) 360. 345 33. 13 . A little logging/reroute on the 345 before Repo and 33 west of Ropo. Nice day on the snow ❄️  ! 

http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_01/IMG_0756.thumb.jpeg.1c2c4ebe575d8be0e9845ad11d5be9e5.jpeghttp://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_01/IMG_0757.thumb.jpeg.eea9af0b792cedf09641207d882c5299.jpeghttp://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_01/IMG_0758.thumb.jpeg.0f36943dbfc85c6249b8314d843dcbbb.jpeg

Another pic:

Trails again just awesome  Very, very low traffic for a Sunday.  Only complaint is some dirt plowed roads have some gravel mixed in that the plow pulled up. I was wrong about Explorateur Club (one arch), it is open this winter. 
Haven't yet been out to the farther reaches from RDL like Rimuski, Squatec, and St. PaImphile.  3 days and 450 miles, friends start arriving tonight, much bigger miles ahead.
Eastmark,     It is always a delight to have you up here.  If I am still the mayor, you and Lisa are Mr. and Mrs. Universel.
Hope to see Big Lake and crew over the next few days.
mike
 
http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_01/DSCF0019.thumb.JPG.d660599d88f80e9fa6aa3c40750ab08d.JPG

Finally, here's the report of our first ride of the season did yesterday January 20, 2024

We could have ridden last Sunday but it was an after a foot snow storm day with mild weather and we knew well that the trail conditions would not hold and be hard for us 2up so we waited until yesterday and were not disappointed . The cold of the last few days has been very good for the trails and the ice... it's about time!
We were able to start directly from home in St-Thomas near Joliette, the trails are open and there is more than 2 feets of snow and it increases over 3 feets in some spots on the route that we did. Here in the fields near St-Norbert. The sky was very gray with a little snow at times which makes the pics less attractive but it still allows you to see what it looked like.

We strategically chose to do the wooded northern section to start the ride and to return via the fields to the south which remain nice for longer under the effect of traffic. Here north of St-Gabriel de Brandon.

And here at #23/#63 junction in St-Damien

5 km north of the Renard Bleu outfitter, the trail turns 90 and takes a new route to connect to #350 this year due to logging in this area.

there are a couple of kms to go on a plowed road but it ride very well

Then we are on the road path which is snowy for a long section it ride really great, I really appreciated this new path groomed wide

After the #350 west junction there is 1km where the trail passes either next to the plowed road or a new path in the woods that the club is at finishing but it is very short

then we return to the usual #350 path which was really very nice and fast

We quickly passed in front of the Koubec

And we went up #345 towards the north which was as nice and fast

And we continued on #23 towards the east which was just as beautiful, just the last 2km which goes up the mountain before reaching intersection #350 which seemed to still be on the first dozer pass...
This #23/#350 junction(Gaston's trail towards Lac Blanc) was our expected meeting point with our friend Snowcruiser who was leaving from Trois-Rivières airport to meet us with the plan to eat together at Lac Blanc. It's a bit ambitious to arrange meetings in the middle of the woods like that... especially on the first season's ride. We had 140km to go and he had around 70km to get there but we had agree that we would wait a little and at worse we would crossed each other while riding, but we were lucky with our estimates that were spot on. I was stopped for less than a minute when he showed up! After a bit of chatting we got back in the saddle to try to get at Lac Blanc before noon to beat a bit the lunch crowd.
The #350 going back down to Lac Blanc was still very beautiful, just a little worn in its big hills and very panoramic in terms of snow, it's impressive


We arrived at the Lac Blanc Auberge at 11:40 a.m. with 165km done from the morning. We obviously weren't the only ones who had this idea!

Given the size of the crowd we wondered how things would go for the meal inside but I have to take my hat off to their extremely quick and efficient organization which was ready. We didn't wait a second to be seated in the dining room and we had our meals in front of us less than 15 minutes later! I was impressed.
After this good meal break and a refueling we left under the snow a little after 1:00 p.m. towards the southeast on trail #350. The view from the lake when we left!

This trail was starting to get pretty beaten up by traffic but was not that bad on our side of the trail heading south. We tested our suspensions up to the #63 junction where we took a break. I was able to chat a little with Jonathan Doucet from Randonnée Motoneige au Québec on Facebook, whom I had recognized and briefly meet as I left Lac Blanc auberge

The trail condition came back nice on the #63 and we were able to ride good trail all the way back home. Snowcruiser left us to return to his trailer via St-Léon/St-Sévère and we continued on #63 and #3 for the return


The Bayonne River is already solid and the trail passes over it without problem near Berthier

We got back home early around 3:45 p.m. with 272 km for the ride, very happy with this season's opener which had been a long time coming.
The trail network is pretty much open and connected in Lanaudiere and Mauricie minus some rivers that are not ready yet. The cold we just had in the last days helped alot for this and I hope that mother nature will continue to cooperate in the next days to complete the puzzle.
Have a  great riding season!
Alain

Conditions are awful.. maybe 2 more weeks 😄

Shot north today to the Marineau Mattawin 
Had a nice shake down loop east of the hotel . Temperature around 0 f° at noon 
360 , 355, 351, 23, 360 ..for a  112 mile ride.   Some really good  and some not so much  . Just happy to have the track back on snow ! Tomorrow we'll ride west of here . 

SDFS_CFG.BIN

Important things first.  The new bar is pretty nice. It is in the new restaurant, and the bar seats about 25.  Mega big TV  and the restaurant looks pretty impressive. Open style kitchen.  I would say they spent a fortune on the re do. Food is mostly pub food with a few high end meals. My meal tonight was excellent. Whole new menu. I thought the prices were more than reasonable.   Food was slow coming out of the kitchen.
The old bar is still open but the attached restaurant is gone, just a big pool table there now.
It was getting dark when I went out for about a 25 mile ride.  While the snow certainly is not deep, it seems to be plenty and everything was groomed and silky smooth. And it looks wintry out with all the trees snow coated. I will know more hopefully after tomorrows ride. 
New G5 600R 129 goes some sweet. Makes me look and feel 20 years younger. 
mike
 

Only appropriate the Mayor has the first trail report of the year...thank you Mike!!

25 mile ride tonight     trails awesome           see you soon
 
mike

For all you I motoneige addicts.
You will see it light up Tomorrow and Saturday as clubs officially open for the weekend and the grooming info will begin. 

They Make it happen.
For those who just don’t understand why it takes time to ooen trails. Alot more goes into it then just driving a groomer through.
Most of their work you will never see. 
 
Just one example here of filling in waterholes for a smooth trail and one the machine can groom.
Dolbeau area.
 
 

We are opening our trails on 18 January.
Please note that the M1, M4 and St-Maurice River trails to the Grand-Mère dam remain closed (the trails circled in red remain closed for the time being).
Early season conditions.
Be careful, the groomers will be on the trails during the day to finish the work.
Have a great season!
 
Marc-Olivier Groleau
President
Club de motos neige de la Mauricie inc. no. 07-412