Signfan

One trip that was memorable last winter was a 2 day getaway with my wife. We unloaded at the Hill and Gully riders clubhouse in Mulgrave et Derry. Road north to Mont Laurier and then looped back to the truck on day two. Found two really neat covered bridges on a club trail south of Mont Laurier. Grooming was excellent and found some awesome logging roads that were groomed to perfection. Anyways we ended up riding in freezing rain for the last hour of the day. No big deal till we tried to drive home. Coming out of the clubhouse on gravel mountain roads. Me in a hurry made one too many right turns and ended up mistakingly headed north further into the mountains instead of south to the Ottawa River. Came down one hill trailer in tow that dropped a couple hundred feet. It had a nice little s bend in it. ABS never shut off top to bottom. As I'm coming through the valley at the bottom nothing but hill ahead. So on the gas got it up to about 70 and she barely climbed the hill. Finally came to my senses at the top. Time to stop and assess. Got out and walked (skated really) to scout out what laid ahead. Road gets steep going downhill again and has a big bend in it. Nope something isn't right. No cell service to bout. So we unhook, swing the truck and trailer around and very slowly ride back down the hill where we came from with one wheel in the snow bank the whole way down. Just enough snow there to hold things steady, but its rainibg hard and freezing up just as quickly. Now I'm in a valley between two hills. Debate for a minute and decide first I need to sort out where I went wrong. I unload my sled and head back out the road to figure things out. Find my mistake and head back in. The roads had been sanded, but the rain was freezing a layer of ice over the salt and sand. So up and down the hill I run with the sled using the track to chew the ice up and bring the sand up top. It works, load the sled up and out we made it. Highways were arguably just as bad until we got to a lower elevation. All in all one scary drive (never been that nervous driving and I've took off in lots of storms), but still a great trip. I was thoroughly impressed with the trails in the Papineau Labelle Wildlife Reserve. Will definitely return.

Nothing about snowmobiling is cheap these days. Good value provided you can get your days in. With gas and diesel over $2 a litre I get it from the management side. Gonna make for an expensive riding season though. I can see the growth we've seen in the sport starting to fall some next season. Permits have always been the lowest cost items to participate.

Anyone heard anything on construction of the new trail? Is it started yet?

Oh no. Now's the time to do it. Simple argument. Anything that could be harmed in the install is already dead due to the washout. Now's the time to install it while the damage is done. This argument held weight for a new bridge several years ago. Never seen the MNR issue a permit so quickly.

As the title says let's post some pics and stories of your best and worst experiences sledding this past season. Any incredible days on the trails? Days you wish you'd left the sled in the garage and stayed home?

That worked. Anybody up for some white water rafting? That would be quite the ride down through there.

Link doesn't work

They are amazing swimmers. Capable of several 100 kms. Sad to see it end this way.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/polar-bear-gaspe-1.6437187

System error or a courtesy groom for the locals to allow them one last spin over the long weekend?

A north shore trip has me interested. Just found this article though which has me re-thinking it some. I knew Labrador had Polar Bears, but I didn't realise they came this far south on the coast. Figured it was up near Nain. Curious do the racers in Cains quest carry guns? https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6415937 https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/biodiversity/maps-sub-populations-polar-bears-protected.html I was even more surprised to see the vast majority of the island of nfld listed as Polar Bear habitat.

Getting sufficient power capacity to remote locations will be the real issue. Many stage 3 stations need three phase power. Some of these places are already on gen-sets with no grid connection and the places with a grid connection are only single phase. Doubling or tripling generator capacity would be pretty costly and defeats the purpose. Batteries need to come a long ways first. Double the range and then come up with a auxiliary pack similar in size to a linq fuel can and this might get to a point where it's feasible for the average rider. All the power to these guys. I hope they can do that. Performance will be awesome.

Wonder what ignited it?

Looks like the Mattiwan club threw in the towel a week ago. I hope the rest don't.

How far west did u get on 83? Was 83 decent towards Parent?