arubenstein

I am looking to head up this week into next, but my regular group of folks can't go - anyone willing to let me tag along? experienced quebec rider.

I am curious for opinions on conditions for next week. I see it is pretty warm today, and showing warm and rainy maybe Saturday too. I have been seeing great reports over the last few weeks, so I wonder if we think the base will hold up through these warm snaps and light rain? We are considering either a Gaspe loop, or a Chibougamou loop.

I was a long time user 276, 278, and 476 user and was very sad when it was discontinued and then no mapping was available from garmin starting a couple years ago. I saw this introduced a couple months ago and I just got mine last week. Literally installed it on my new 1200 renegade today, and it is everything the old 276 was, but better. It's a good GPS. very fast, lots of storage. I am happy.

And here is a Garmin Adventure. http://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/arubenstein/2015-01-11-gaspe/#.VLp3NHuhGQw

OK, I am home. Yesterday, we rode from Valga to RDL, the conditions were great. We did deal with an almost-white-out snow storm for an hour, but it is snowmobiling after all. The Spot thing will not work online after 7 days, so please find attached my KML file of my tracks broken down by day. We did 996 miles in 4.5 easy days of riding, and this is some of the best conditions I have had in a long time. More pictures uploaded. Some notes to posters along the way that I couldn't comment on (because I was posting from my phone and my fingers would have fallen off): dinobball23: Don't plan so much. Conditions, trails, re-routes, weather, sled problems, unexpected busy season (ever been to Jonquiere during the junior hockey playoffs??) - all reasons to 'fly by the seat of your pants'. My opinion, you will wind up with a much better trip. For instance, in this case on this trip I just took, we still hadn't decided gaspe vs. saguenay until we hit plattsburgh, new york. And then when we decided gaspe, we didn't decided montmagny vs. riviere du loup until we passed montreal. It always works out, and it provides you the ability to ride without have to make a deadline. I have found many times that sometimes, at 4pm, I am just done and want to be in for the night; ot, after 7p dinner, we want to ride until 10pm. It just all depends. Further, I would strongly urge you to consider small lodges and auberges run by locals that are not chains (support them, because they support the sport) whenever you can (see below and Varga). And the same for food a fuel - buy it from a club house when you can, even if it is more expensive. That extra money goes right to the club, and they need it. And buy your trail passes where you sled! im4snow: I live in Byram, NJ, 07874. I almost ONLY go to Quebec, but have been known to go to Jackman, Maine, also. A gaspe loop in February might be OK, bought March starts racing season (I road race) so probably not after 3/1. GTRider: Domaine Varga is one of those quintessential 'auberges' that you have to go to. In the woods, very nice people, awesome dog (say hi to Adele!), and a beautiful comfortable log cabin and great food. Like a cross between Pourvoirie du Lac Beauregard and Lac Faillon. This was a great find that we didn't find until 6pm that night when sitting at Jojo's in Amqui, and I am glad we went there. To everyone else: if you haven't done the Gaspe loop, DO IT. It is worth it, the scenery is out of this world and the trails are unreal. This is my third time around and it won't be my last. Next time I will spend more time on the interior trails and try to get into NB as well. 2015-01-11 Canada, Gaspe, AR-MK-BW-BW.zip

Sorry for the double post. I write this from bed at Domain Varga. What an amazing place. We left Bonaventure yesterday and took a variety of local trails and TQ5, we had dinner at Jojo's in Amqui. The rode 587 and 579 to Varga. Trails were out of this world. Some of the best I've experienced in Quebec and I've put down 30,000 miles here. We lost one rider last night, his sled broke and he is getting a pickup truck ride to Universal where our truck is. This morning we ride to Universal and drive home. Domains Varga is a place worth staying at. Very nice accommodations and very nice people.

More pics uploaded. Trails from Bonaventure to Carleton are pretty decent. Couple thin spots but still good. Having lunch at the Carleton clubhouse. Turned 8300 miles on my renegade 1200 and my reverse broke.

More pics uploaded. Trails from Bonaventure to Carleton are pretty decent. Couple thin spots but still good. Having lunch at the Carleton clubhouse. Turned 8300 miles on my renegade 1200 and my reverse broke.

I wrote this laying in bed at Grand Pre in Bonaventure. Today was overall a good day. There were a very few stretches of just a couple miles of terrible trails but they don't take away from how good everything else was. Chandler was out putting up signs at intersection of 597 and 5. 597 was extremely good, very fast. Great day. More pics posted.

I write this sitting in hotel Adams restaurant. Trails remain good. If you are on the fence, jump off and get in your truck and drive up here. We are heading inland on the local and regional to Chandler now. Don't let gaspe intimidate you. More pics. more pics just uploaded.

We made it to Grand Vallée last night. We dealt with about 20 miles of breaking trail which had 10 inches of powder. Overall a very good ride. Going to try for Chandler tonight. Again overall conditions are very good and having a good time. We stayed at Hotel Motel Grand Vallée and had a really good dinner. I just uploaded a panoramic pic from my room here. I've heard the trail into Perce is closed due to landowner dispute. Not sure this is still the case. But we are heading to gaspe then inland on the local then down the regional to Chandler tonight, if not further. There is no one on the trails. I think we've passed four of five other sleds in 400 miles. More people should be up here, thee is plenty of snow. And buy your trail passes here.

Trip Report. I am typing this from St Anne des Monts. We drove to river du loup Sunday. Rode yesterday from Rdl to matane. Today matane to St Anne des Monts and will make Gaspe tonight. So far trails have been ranging from good to very very good. Links: Real time tracking info via FindMeSpot: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0qETee24tOIdc4j47dqvtbxhHpmKqJOCj Picasa Web Album: https://picasaweb.google.com/112509202456692692708/20150111SnowmobilingTrip1 ** EDIT ** EDIT ** The above FindMeSpot link will die shortly. Use the KML/ZIP file attached instead. 2015-01-11 Canada, Gaspe, AR-MK-BW-BW.zip

Is it possible to do the full TQ5 loop yet, from RDL?

Where did you get that setup?

Very late to the answer here, but my response and almost only thing I could complain about is that lack of uniformity of trail grooming. I remember last year riding TQ3 from Shawinigan to Tadoussac, and wondering how there could be such variation in trail conditions. Some clubs are good, and some, frankly, are not. Perhaps some consolidation bringing the weaker clubs into stronger clubs would be useful.

Mr. Bill, we are driving to Delta tomorrow (monday), should be there for dinner or so. Staying for two nights and will see whats what. See you there!

I thought yesterdays/todays downpour was significantly worse.

Any news on how the province, generally, is doing with all the rain? I was supposed to be driving up tomorow (Monday, 1/13) for a 7 day trip. Any thoughts on how the different areas are doing? I called Relay 22, Maniwaki, La Tuque, Shawinigan, St-Raymond, and River-du-Loup yesterday, and all said it was raining. Any news at all?

Tell you what, this garmin adventure thing is nifty. Even tells elevation and shows a profile, and how long it took for us to do it. I like it.

I created a "garmin adventure" - first time. here it is: http://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/arubenstein/la-tuque-to-relay-22/#.UsYLcbRVV_g It shows it to be 98.7 miles. This is from the restaurant in La Tuque to the gas pump at relay 22.

Yeah, scorpionbowl said the same to me. I think the trail would be great, if either they would put a sickle bar on the front of the groomer drag, or send a brush hog down there in the spring. If someone has the hardware, I would absolutely donate the time and even the fuel to drive it to clean the trails. And I am serious. Something else I forgot is that when we crossed the river in Shawinigan Monday night, there was a drag frozen into the edge of the river. The owner at the Escapade who is apparently involved with the club told us that a groomer and drag fell through the ice and the groomer driver was in the hospital. Also, Is hould have mentioned we were going to take the river up to Mekinac, but went about a mile or so and decided against only because it was pretty rough and bumpy. It was staked, however.

Hello, Drove up for a quick three day trip. 12/27/13 - Drive from NJ to Escapade in Shawinigan was smooth, dry, and uneventful. First time at the Escapade, it is a great place. Nice rooms, very easy access (like 50 feet off the Autoroute), good parking, very good trail access. Got in a little late so we hunkered down and got some sleep. 12/28/13 - Shawinigan - La Tuque - Relay 22 - Roberval (Local - 23 - 360 - 355 - 73 - 83 - 373 - Local) - Overall a good day. Shawnigan area trails were great; 355/pipeline was ina really good shape foer this early (no washouts at all). La Tuque did not smell as bad as it normally does. The 'new' 73 is a good trail, except for all the twigs sticking out of the ground. Got to relay 22 around 7p and decided to press on to Roberval after some soup and a sandwich. 83 to Roberval is a great trail like usual, but the amount of twigs sticking out of the ground was ridiculous. They need to send a brush hog down there! 265 miles. 12/29/13 - Roberval - Dolbeau - Jonquiere (Local - 373 - 93 - 367 - 383) - Woke up to a snow storm. Snowed all day. Lots of fun. Trails were great. Decided on a short day to get to Delta and have a filet mignon and La Barillet. We encountered "frozen drizzle" 20 miles from Jonquiere which was the craziest thing. It was 0 degrees outside, and it felt like it was sleeting or icing, but whatever it was doing would stick to the helmet sheild and freeze. Had to scrape it off with the gas cap! 156 miles. 12/30/13 - Jonquiere - Etape - St Raymond - Shawinigan (383 - 369 - 23 - 73 - 353 -23 - Local) - Like usual, the Parc was awesome. l'etape was very busy however, had to wait on line for some chicken. But the trails everywere were great. It was cold enough we had to use the St. Raymond club warming hut to thaw out. It was -17F when we go to the truck around 8p. 270 miles. Overall, 734 miles over mostly good trais. They need to do some trail maintenance on 73 and 83 near Relay 22, but that might fix itself with traffic or more snow. But the twigs were horrendous. For this early in the season, the conditions were out of this world. They had more snow then I've seen in the last couple years. If you haven't been to Canada yet, this may be the year to go, Heading back up to possibly do the Gaspe or Chibougamou loop on 1/13. Will report back! Pictures with a map: https://picasaweb.google.com/112509202456692692708/20131227Snowmobiling?authkey=Gv1sRgCJWR1enTrpjpugE If anyone wants a KMZ file (it won't let me upload it for some crazy reason) let me know and I will send it to you.

I am heading up to St. Raymond on the 27th, ride for a few days and try to make it back to NJ before new years on 12/31. I will report back!

According to google translate and http://www.motoneigesaguenay.com/ December 21, 2013 - 9:23 - Director The Aluminium and Chute bridge Caron are open to snowmobilers and it is important to follow tes signaling, follow speed limits and respect our rights of way which are very fragile on the grounds of Rio Tinto Alcan. If these conditions are not met we will lose our privilege.

Just got back from a few days up there, and saw Bill on the last day. Trip report forthcoming, but things in Jonquiere are bad at best. 23 through the parc was great, crossing the river in St. Raymond was a little scary. Caught Bill packing up as we left.