Sled Dog

Saw the ghost tree today. In my opinion, if you ride the Gaspe, this is a must do! (along with riding Groomers trails!) Great directions. Truly an amazing sight. I'd post pics but I'm in RDL now on my phone. Trip is over :(. 1249 miles.

RIP.

Agreed. Nice place and great people. Last time we stayed there (couple years ago) it was very cold. Our 4 strokes had a really hard time starting the night before. We were just telling them in conversation and "throw them in our heated garage, no problem". Very nice of them and something they didn't have to do.

It's definitely a trail to hit if your in that area!

I'm in Perce right now and we are planning on staying in Amqui one night. Where do you see the 'ghost trees'? Can you give me some directions? We rode from Matane to Perce. 5 to 597 to 5. 310 miles. My 4th trip here so I've seen a lot of it and it's still amazing. If you want to see the sights, DO NOT plan long days!!! Massive snow in Murdochville area. We talked to a groomer operator and he said last Saturday they got 3 feet of snow. He took the groomer down 597 with no drag just to open up the trail! Also in that area first time I've seen as groomer in front with no drag while another followed with drag. Lot of snow!!

Ill respond to my own post. We left from RDL this morning and the trails were great!

Hey guys! We are supposed to drive up to RDL and ride the Gaspe from there this Sunday. I just saw a post on Dootalk talk that conditions at RDL are horrible and icy! True? RDL is a 10-11 hour drive for us!! All the trail conditions sites list it as "good". In fact, the dootalk poster said, "avoid it like the plague!" Thanks!

Nice report Jack! I hear ya on the warm weather. If I'm snowmobiling, I want it cold, not warm!!!! Where is Le gite in Parent? We have another trip planned next week, probably heading to the Gaspe.

Holy crap that's a lot of miles!!! Good job!

Have fun Jack! Keep us updated...

Sounds like a solid trip!!!

Great info! Thanks for the phone #! Those trails are incredibly fast aren't they!! Antifreeze was the correct mixture. The exhaust was not the donuts. They are fine, replaced before trip. The rear muffler pipe was snapped in 2!!! Sled has 12,000 miles. Its doing everything my 06 Attak did at those miles. Mine also broke at the weld but only took out a 2 by 1 inch square. We replaced 2 delamed wheels in LSQ. The next day one was delamed again. These were Kimpex wheels, he has since ordered Yamaha ones. (spoked) We have 2 weeks to get her back together for the next trip. NO problem!!!

The side heat exchanger was changed out last year, but the sled was ridden after that about 2000 miles and never had an issue.

I'm up too Groomer!! Making beer is a 24 hour operation!!

Nope. We ordered a new thermostat and temp sensor. I'll change that out and add water wetter. And make sure its properly bled. All I really know to do. The radiator fan was working. The Attak had a rough trip. Overheating, gotta be a crack in the muffler cause its loud now, tunnel protector hanging, inner idler wheels delamed, ripped seat. But it made it and that's what matters on a long trip!!!

Barrier Nord is open.

Exactly right. If you cross a bridge going over an open river, your on the right track.

Impressive! I'm sure you've taken good care of her!!!

Only time I turned the data roaming on. Cost too much otherwise! I kept the phone in my inner jacket pocket and it was fine. Thanks for info on the FCMQ app, I just downloaded it. I think the tank is 10.6 gallons.

Thanks for breaking the trail! There's a lotta snow there! Had you ever been there before? Even the trail leading to the "road" had a lot of offshoots. We just followed the most heavily traveled. His directions are right on. And if you cross a bridge, your on the right track. Another thing people could do if you have a smart phone is call up that area on your phone where you have WIFI. Then if your questioning where your going, check on your phone. Even if you don't have reception the GPS function still works and the maps are already called up. I can't take credit for this, read it somewhere!

We came from the opposite direction but we fueled at Chibigamau, Barriere Nord and 54(?) Maybe the 54 is this sawmill your referring to? In fact I didn't see any 54 signs but that's what it was referred as. It looked like a logging camp of some kind.

Well, I didn't "burp" it. That probably would have put another 1/2 gallon in. I didn't learn that trick till after when a gas station attendant showed me. (burping is when you push the rear of the sled down and the air bubble in tank comes out and allows more gas in.) And I thought it was pretty poor also. There wasn't that much new snow. I knew I'd be pushing it to get to Wasinipi but didn't think I'd run out. I don't I'd have made it even if we knew exactly where to go. When we made it back to Maniwaki the Attak that ran out was on E and I still had plenty so maybe its getting better.

A great trip with lots of good memories! This one was about both the miles and smiles!!! A quote from the week, 'This can either be a great story or end badly' Lots of snow everywhere we rode. Don't go off trail without momentum!!!! 4 of us. Me on my new 2012 Renegade 1200 X. First trip with it. 1 Attak and 2 Apex's. Day 1: Maniwaki. Arrived Sunday night, leaving on sleds Monday. Tried to meet up with Midrange and buy him a beer but we couldn't meet up. Our destination was Clova, Hotel Tamerac. Took the Lepine trail. I would say 75% of the trails had not been groomed in a while but with the fresh snow they were soft and fun. Some bumps can be ok! 233 miles. Day 2: Clova to Label sur Quevillion. 235 miles. From Seneterre to Quevillion was unbelievable. Very, very fast. Stayed at Hotel du lac. Nice place. Day 3: Long and most adventurous day! Our destination was Roberval. Lots of miles but we had heard that Quevillion to Chib is very fast. And we figured we could stay in Chib if we had too. Well, when we woke up there was about 3 inches of fresh snow on the sleds. Ok, this may slow us down a little but no worries. We were on the sleds and riding out of Quevillion by 7:00. Wow is that trail fast!!! As fast as you wanted to go. I lead and basically kept it at 85-90 the whole way. With the fresh snow I probably wouldn't get much more out of her!!! Problems occurred when the Attak continually overheated. Every 5-6 miles. We arrived at the intersection for Wasinipi which says 24 km. We all need gas at this point but figured its not too much further. Well, the trail is single track, very moguled. I read a post where someone on QR broke trail and big thank you!!! By now, all our low fuel lights are on. I don't know how far my Doo will go after that light is on as the sled is new. The Attak light had gone on miles before the Wasinipi intersection. We follow the trail to a "plowed" road. Looks more like a driveway. We follow the tracks to the right but that's where we lose the tracks due to the fresh snow. We follow the road for a few miles and the Attak runs out of fuel. We decide to leave 2 guys and 2 sleds, one with fuel and one empty and I and another keep looking for fuel. 4 miles down the road, mine runs out of fuel. At 100 miles exactly. Thought it would get better than that but it only had about 800 miles on it at this point so hopefully the motor still needs to loosen up. Sled with fuel decides to keep following the road. Well, the road ends at a camp with no people. He comes back after searching the camp for fuel and taking a gas can he found. He left money for the can. Then we decide to use my iphone for GPS coordinates. I barely have reception but after a while the map comes up with where we are and the roads. Turns out by blind luck we were heading in the right direction to begin with. We head there doubled up and leave my sled. We meet up with the other guys and check the phone again. Wasinipi is 7 miles away. We head there and find it!!!! Thank goodness for the iphone!!! Not 1 sign since the sign for Wasinipi on 93. We get the 2 sleds fueled up and head back to the other guys and they and the sled are gone. Huh? Turns out someone with a camp not far away went by them on a 4-wheeler and gave them gas. Guy was very nice. They had gone back to my sled and added fuel but I had taken the DESS key so they had to leave it. So we give the guy $50.00 for the fuel he put in our sleds to get them to the station and give him the full gas can we stole. Turns out its his Uncles camp we found. He also said they are going to sign that trail but are waiting for money. Not sure what that meant. We then head back to 93 with over 2 hours lost. We decide to press on to Roberval and make it there by 9:00. It must have been snowing there most of the day as there was 8-10 inches of fresh snow on the trails...Fun! 384 miles for the day. Day 4: Roberval to Parent. Stayed at Hotel Parent. 228 miles. Have you ever seen the bar scene on Star Wars? That reminded me of the bar at that hotel. I loved it! Day 5: Parent back to Maniwaki. 206 miles. Some rally going on in Maniwaki so there were care and car carries everywhere. We loaded up and headed for home. Got home to green grass. Depressing. But heading back up to either Maniwaki or Gaspe at the end of the month!!!

Wow!! Good point about the smiles and not the miles! hopefully you got your bad luck out of the way for a while!!!

iPhone is off! Too expensive to roam! Wifi is free though!!