Signfan

Ah what's a 300 km detour. Lol. Add a day to the trip and have fun. You'll see some great scenery. Rt360 along the manawan river is gorgeous. Have fun!!!

Just head south down 345 and circle through la tuque. Better yet skip parent and head south on tq13 and use tq33 to head east. Will add some miles, but sometimes that's a good thing. I'm rooting for you to get your trip in this year. Get some miles on that cat.

How was TQ43? Enough snow?

https://m.facebook.com/clubmotoneigepingouin/

Please report back. It's roads. I tend to think you'll be good. But would love to hear more.

I think its a safe bet. These guys were around rouyn noranda recently and reported good conditions. https://m.facebook.com/sledaddicz/ Have a great trip!!!

How so? Last time I was up 386 (2 years ago I think) it was all roads. Not super wide like some, but definitely not bush trails. Most of it was groomed drag and a half wide or more and was smooth. Ran along at 70 - 80 km/h for the vast majority of it. Did you catch it on a rough day? I've heard of ppl running into it on a moguled out day and it being hell. If it starts out rough it will be end to end.

With these remote trails they get groomed once a week. It takes the groomer 3 days to run south from Temiscaming and back. Similar situation of 3 days of grooming to cover 386 north and back. Most of the time this is sufficient. The area sees minimal traffic. I wouldn't hesitate to go, but travel as a group and maybe pack some gas.

43 from Swisha (rapidly de joachimes) to Temiscaming is all remote bush road. Good running, but very remote. I believe its close to 200 km from civilization to civilization. TQ43 from Temiscaming north is railbed. 386 from Swisha north is the same remote bush roads. I believe its about 160 km to the outfitter on 386. South from Swisha on TQ43 I haven't done yet, but I'm told it's tighter and isn't signed all that well. RT308 seems to be hit and miss with when it opens to get back up to Maniwaki. Where are you driving in from? If you bring highway 17 north from Ottawa you can cross into Quebec at Rolphton (Swisha). There is gas and a cpl motels / outfitters right there. 386 runs you to Val D'or and then you can return back to the truck on TQ43. Right now I'm not thinking you will find enough snow at Swisha. Ville Marie or Temiscaming are probably the furthest south you can start until we see another dump of snow.

Back home now. Hope you have a great trip.

Nice!!! Was TQ 83 in good shape?

Thank you. Definitely on the bucket list.

Hit 233 again today. It was great. TQ 13 was re-surfaced last night as well. Parking lots around town starting to fill up. Have seen them busier on the free weekend, but definitely well used (75% full). Considering that its Wednesday, next weekend will be a zoo.

Anyone have a map showing where this connects in at each end? Might make a good loop. Swisha to val d'or, over to Clova, south to Maniwaki and then loop down 308 and tq43 back to swisha if it all opens up.

Yeah that would be a good plan. Towards club Gatineau was great. The trails that are good are really good. Just a matter of finding them.

Other note looking at trail crossings from Ottawa on the drive up. Lots of groomer activity. I'd say one good storm of 8" or more and the entire Laurentians area opens up. The cold we've been having should be helping to freeze the soft spots up.

Well we're riding. Left Sainte Anne du Lac yesterday. Ran up the centre club trail (233 I think). It started out really good. Caught up to the groomer 40 kms in. Got rough once we passed him. Stayed that way till we got to TQ33 which was better. From 100 lac du suds to fer a cheval was immaculate. 9.5 out of 10. We ate like kings last night at Fer a cheval. This morning we headed south on TQ13. Was disappointed to see the groomer hadn't moved last night and the 40 kms south from fer a cheval was rough. It got better at the Piteman club boundary. Not perfect but better. Fueled up at Notawassi and headed out to club Gatineau for lunch. What a fun trail. It was in good shape and we made good time. After lunch rode back to Notawassi and then headed back into town. This was where the terrible part started. Rough, rough and rougher on this section of TQ13. Corners and hilltops spun bare. Back in town now and it looks like the groomer has been out locally. So maybe tomorrow will be better. From what we've seen the area got hit hard on the weekend traffic wise and a lot of it hasn't been fixed yet. Maybe tonights the night. A couple inches of new snow so far this week. I'd say there's 2 feet on the ground in the north. Closer to a foot at Sainte Anne du lac and less at Mont Laurier (based on what we saw driving in). Trails are busy, but not stupid. Maybe saw 30 sleds all day. I'm sure the weekend was worse. Seen some rocks and branches, but not bad. Haven't ran across a single washout that i would have to get my skis wet in. If you're looking to ride it's definitely winter here. Mixed bag based purely on traffic and grooming schedules. They have the snow and it's getting colder. My apologies, but didn't stop for any pics. Maybe tomorrow.

100% correct

Been a groomer operator as well. If you're grooming at the right time this typically isn't an issue. Not many ride at 2 am when you should be grooming. As a customer it's really nice info to have. Get up at 7 am. Get your report on what was groomed and when and away you go for the day with that knowledge to help you make your decisions. Ski resorts provide daily grooming reports. It's the same thing. It's customer service which is why we run the groomer in the first place. OFSC needs to put a push on providing good customer service and value to its permit holders. There is a reason ontario sledders travel to Quebec. It's not because it's cheaper. We get great value. I agree the old app was better. This one still does the basics and is still better than anything from any other jurisdiction. But the fcmq clubs could definitely work on improving the info on it. It's like any tech product. Only as good as the data feeding it.

Does Gatineau have a restaurant open for lunch? Thank you for the report. Headed that way next week.

Rumor is CF moto is looking at CAT. They announced they are sponsoring snowcross racing next season. So maybe we still have 3 manufacturers.

If you're in town how are things? Anything worth riding yet trails wise? Sorry I'm not much help on parking. Last time we were in town we stayed at the super 8. They had us park across the road in an empty lot next to the quality inn. I didn’t see anything for security. We didn't have any issues. But my rig isn't a brand new diesel either.

Lots to that discussion. It's unresolved. They got sent back under the terms of their old contract and it has been sent to arbitration. Dispute is over wages, weekend overtime, part time help and the overall direction of the postal service itself. Canada Post is consistently loosing money. Mgmt wanted major changes so they can compete with Amazon carriers (part time weekend coverage). Union wanted more money and had their own vision for the postal service. https://www.cupw.ca/ No one won anything yet. Just screwed the postal service over more with a strike during the 6 weeks before Christmas. There will be major layoffs coming as a result of the lost revenue. Everyone involved looses. Workers, management, small businesses and consumers.

If the temp pass you were issued when you bought has expired I'd e-mail the fcmq and ask for another one. This has to be a common issue they are dealing with. The postal service was sent back to work by the govt just before Christmas. Website says delays will be cleared in early 2025 which has to be coming real soon. https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/our-company/news-and-media/corporate-news/negotiations/2024-12-16-resuming-operations-important-information-for-customers

This has been studied to death. 6 risk factors. Eliminate them all and your odds of a fatality in this sport drop substantially. - riding alone - intoxicated - off trail (especially roads) - on water / ice - at night - speeding Repeating this now does nothing for this family or the poor widow who must be devastated. Condolences to the family.