snowfarmer

Tuesday Continues 
 
We arrive in Mont St Pierre and bee line it to visit with Pierre. This guy is a true ambassador for Mont St Pierre and the entire region here. Very proud of their trail and like it to be enjoyed. Our joy brings them joy. Ya feel me? We talk and talk finally its time to go to Motel Le Delice we tell him to join us there for a beer. We arrive and meet Julie the owner since 2020 her Grandfather built this place and now she and her husband Patrick have taken over. Super friendly welcome and the restaurant has a big new bar it’s nicely done they have been working hard. Great english and did I mention friendly and welcoming. The restaurant is called Les Boucaneres Smokehouse. God damn home run here. Sign says Welcome Carnivores, like they knew we were coming i tell you. We convene the meeting in restaurant just the three of us here tonight with our guest Pierre and Julie herself spoiling us. We order up some smoked chicken wings and while we wait for those and our smoked beef brisket burgers. She brings out a plate of smoked duck breast. Wow just delicious goodness. 
 
To be continued 

our last day had us eating room service delivered breakfast at Hotel-N-Cie...delivered at 7:30 am.....coffee and juice and....some kind of a breakfast rap.....kind of like sea rations....barely edible...did not go over so well after not getting dinner....people have to go back to work....this has to be embarrassing for these places....we are on the trail by 8:30 and they are groomed...starting to feel like the Quebec we know and love....but there is nothing you can do about the weather. We take turns leading and carving corners like Emerson  Fitipaldi 's formula 1 car, putting the miles down this morning.....kind of mundane though as all the unforeseen excitement is now behind us in the mountains.We arrive in Matane early afternoon and go to the Polaris dealer to get Terry some oil, then things really look up...we go to St Hubert for an indoor sit down meal!! 200 miles left to coast into RDL....of course we ride into the dark and arrive at 7:45 pm. The last 20 miles the snow is soft and brown at street crossings, the parking lot is bare at Universal....and it is down to the last 2 weeks here for sure....but another month in the mountains. We had a great trip and the sport is well in tact after nearly 2 seasons, Terry turned 70 on our trip.....you would never know it, rides like 50, and he brought a lot of common sense and talent to our ride, Stan sports 30 years in Quebec and we definitely relied on all that to get us thru where most everyone else stopped. Terry was on his first ride with a 2023 XCR 650 Indy...I got to ride it for quite some time....Polaris has raised the bar with this Matrix chassis and 650 engine, best handling sled I've ever ridden straight out of the factory...and it is incredibly easy on oil, less than half what my 850 uses and hold 1 more gallon of fuel.Only trouble on the whole trip was the reverse on the 1200 ski doo not wanting to work...big Suprise there....It was great to get back to what we all love and see old friends, lets hope it continues to reopen and we can all look forward to a great season next year, and for all those folks who let all this stuff prevent them from crossing the border....don't let it stop you....get yourself over the border and ride the best trails in the world, happy trails, Bob.

so on to day 3...we are feeling pretty good about our position so far...getting thru New Brunswick and the 595 to LaCache...we got a great nights sleep and breakfast, sleds are fueled and oiled and we decide to take the interior trail east of LaCache to Murdochville. Off we go . things are still not groomed but it's day 3.....and we are still breaking trail...this trail has a lot of snow and drifting but we have become use to it after 550 miles...no big deal and we are soon at the half way point...where things are getting interesting and the snow pack is considerably more than we have yet encountered...drifts are now 10 to 15 feet high and the wind is ferocious, getting hard to pick the trail and we are climbing to the 3/4 mark....we are feeling reasonably confident we can make it to the top where it will be down hill to Murdochville. The trees are now mostly covered and the snow is approaching 15 feet or so and the closer we get to the top the harder it's blowing and the drifts are on steroids, but we make it...we look behind and you cannot see that anyone has been there...literally a couple minutes to fill in our tracks......we are trying to figure out this last half mile down a little then over the last hill.It's a very imposing half mile, a few 20 foot drifts going slightly down, then maybe a 30 footer that shows a passage on the left and we are not really sure about the last couple so we take pics and blow them up...it doesn't look good the last 2 are maybe 40 to 50 feet and the one on the top is curling back towards us and only showing a little relief on the left side...we need snow shoes now to walk in and see the density of the snow because we don't want to bury the sleds and shovel for the rest of the day...we are 3 hours in....@#$%&!!.....after careful consideration....we agree that it is beyond are ability....back to LaCache for lunch...wen arrive and tell them not to let anyone go that way...we figure the groomer will never be able to do it either...and we were right...they did not get as far as we did...we were so close!! We even got stuck a few times after we turned around...white knuckles for sure it felt good to be safely down from there.After lunch we headed up the 595 figuring we finally make it to Murdochville...3/4 of the way we hit a wall of snow, maybe 5 to 6 feet of pow....the terrain was very doable...the skis were staying on top, but even the 154 by 20 was trenching 4 to 5 feet.....too much snow!!! We took turns with the shovel and....WENT BACK TO LACACHE!! Regrouped, fuel and oil...we are not done.... back down the 595 to Hotel Francis...it's still not groomed and we help out a group that is stuck. We went into town for a 10 pm dinner...we are now specializing in 14 hour days...tomorrow we will go east and north on 597 and get to Hotel Copper for lunch...we will get to Murdochville. We got out on the trail by 8 AM and it is now open...open...maybe the tractor and blade...open not groomed...but much better than we have seen so far...we make better time today and arrive at Murdochville about 130 ish, get fuel and oil and run down to Copper...to find out they are closed for breakfast and lunch...no one will come back to work...only open for dinner limited hours...2 days to get here....@#^&*$!!...back to the gas station for junk food and coffee and juice.The day is starting to wear on us..but we have many more miles to get to Hotel-n-Cie. Off we go and the trail is pretty good maybe a 7...feels like a 10 after the last 3 days.We stop in St Louis about 4 pm for a sandwich...eating inside like normal people...does this feel right?? Now it's heading toward dark and we are use to this, almost full moon, stars are out maybe 5 degrees f....the sleds are running nice in the crisp air...and we are settled in for the ride. About 730 2 moose charge out on the right and Stan just misses hitting them as he drives by, I have to lock down sideways to stop maybe 10 feet from them and Terry pulls up./..Stan is clueless and keeps driving ...he has no idea what has happened.....Terry and I are very lucky and the moose start walking away down the trail....we wait 5 minutes and start going at clutch engagement...catching up to the moose in about a mile...they run off the trail on the left 15 feet and turn to charge us...we are in reverse flashing our lights...not good they are within 5 feet and they turn to go back down the trail...we wait again then start down the trail and find Stan sitting in the trail back to us waiting and we scream, he turns around and the moose are on top of him and he takes off...so close!!! Terry and I are watching and they charge us and at about 5 feet run off the trail to the right of us and we have a split second to get by before they come back on the trail....very scary stuff...these guys were maybe 1500 lbs. They were very aggressive and wanted to get off the trail but the snow was too deep...we coast in to Hotel-N- Cie at 845 pm...330 miles to find the restaurant closed and the store across the street closing at 9.....no dinner....3 beers only...1 each....what a day...to be continued!!

Woke up to 4 inches of greasy wet snow. Headed south on 83 to 303 to 63 into La Bannik, good groomed, flat, trails. As we got closer to our final destination the snow turned to rain—fitting for the last ride of the year. 
 
Surprise of the day: came around a corner to a moose sleeping on the trail, it got up and trotted down the trail for 1/2 km then went into the bush.  

Loaded up the trailer and unhooked it to go shopping in town….the local cheese factory and chocolate factory.
 
Best new finds on Spring trip, both in Nouyn-Rouanda, Hotel ALBERT and just around the corner MOULIN NOIR steak house (best meal)
overall best accommodations in 2022, Auberge la Seigneurie des Monts in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts  
Hope you enjoyed our adventures we enjoy reading everyone else’s.  Heading home to regroup and off to Mexico for some off shore fishing  

 
 

We woke up this morning to heavy snow at Windigo. It looked like 6 inches or so on the sleds and snowing heavy. We decided to take the shortcut across the lake and meet up with the 73. I would say north of La Tuque there was 8-10 inches of new snow from the night, and the temperature was around 15F. 
As we got to La Tuque the snow changed to freezing rain, and then drizzle but there was still a fresh 6+ inches on the trail. Temp up to 25F.
By the time we got to Mattawin it was only just spitting rain and up to 32F.  They still have a lot of snow and the fresh 6 inches is going to help them when it gets cold again. The trails on the way down were really really nice, and the traffic was very light. I think people have already started moving into their summer programs.
Good for us because there still a lot of snow in the north. 57F here at home, the fat lady has sung,
 

We are just back from our sled week therapy in Gaspesia: sled/eat/sleep...&repeat 😄

I don't have the time to put together a big report but this will be a pretty good summary of how it goes:
This 6-day/1000 miles ride in known territory for us (5th time) went well and even if it was a bit cold/windy, we had no snow storms or mechanical breakdowns, which gave us a very nice easy trip

However the current context have changed the planning requirements from the past years: I have never seen so many snowmobilers in Gaspesia and the accommodation offer is probably a little less than usual... anyway all the places where we stayed were already booked full when we arrived. We booked our overnight stays 2 or 3 days in advance and the only shot we delayed at the night before for New Richmond, the 2 hotels there were already full and we had to extend our trip to Carleton sur Mer where we booked the last room. So you really have to book sooner this year

Day#1 Mont-Joli/Cap-Chat passing by St-Pierre mountain total 176 miles.

Here's the St-Pierre mountain belvedere under a very cloudy sky


We had a lunch in Amqui and slept at the Auberge Grande Nature in Cap-Chat, just at the foot of the Chic-Chocs.


Day#2 Cap-Chat/Grande Vallée via trail#5 total 148 miles

It was a cold and very windy day. There has been a lot of logging between Cap-Chat and La Martre since our last visit in 2018, so the wind is even stronger on the trails.


The cold has overcome my gopro (external power wire broken) and unfortunately I could hardly shoot while riding during the trip. I was deceived because I was hoping to capture the very panoramic segment of Rivière à Claude/Mont St-Pierre/Mt-Louis, but that will be for another time...



We tried to have a lunch at the Mont St-Pierre motel restaurant which was the only one open but it was full with people waiting standing for a table so we continued and found a woody spot sheltered from the wind for a side trail snack break instead. A couple of hours later, we were able to take a real break in an heated place at the marvelous relay of the Snowmobile Club rapide blanc. Large and well equipped with even a toilet for the lady who greatly appreciated this luxury!



We stayed at the Marée Haute motel in Grande Vallée. Even the motel looks basic the food was a notch over the bunch at that place



Day#3 Grande Vallée/Percé by #597 trail  Murdochville total 200miles

So we retraced our steps on #5 trail to get the #597 and go down to Murdochville


We had this surprised encounter there! They took the wrong entrance when they left the gas station after filling up and got stuck there solid...hope no one had need an ambulance in the next hour!



It was too early to lunch there so we picked up some food at the convenience store and went to eat at the junction #597/local trail that join #5 trail to the east. Very nice fast ride pleasant to do
We had some visitors for lunch: Several small black-capped chickadees came to beg us for lunch

It was the first time those ones came to eat in our hands. We are well used to the gray jays and there were also some there who did not hesitate to claim their food too


We went down to the #5 trail and then to Barachois to refuel and admire the rear view of the perce rock which is less common to see and I like much


We then took back #5 trail, crossed the small detour near the emerald river (not so bad) and continued to take the local trail for Percé... the trail of the shame as some call it: 12 miles of big bump to do twice is the penalty to be able to admire the rock!




Being already there we reach on the mountain behind, I like well the different views of the rock, including this one



We stayed at Camp de base in Percé. We had to follow a non-federated trail to get there but it was pretty easy with the instruction given and imotoneige and the stay there was nice in this historic and unusual place

Day#4 Percé/Carleton sur Mer via trail #5 total 178 miles

We took #5 trail which we held the whole day. As I mentioned a lot of sledders in the Gaspesia right now so the trails wear out faster and we encounter good and less good trail conditions and this time our morning unfortunately was quite rough. Here the Grande Rivière bridge


Here the Chandler snowmobile tourist information relay



We slept at the Baie-Bleu hotel in Carleton sur Mer


Day#5 Carleton sur Mer/Cap-Chat via trail #595 total 181 miles

We retraced our steps on #5 trail and took trail #595 to the north. This time we got top notch conditions, trail just groomed during the night. The "moment" of the trip followed with a brief round trip exploration on Mount Lyall located on the Chics-Chocs trail, 6 miles from #595.




We have been there several times but never seen the place like this: mommies as far as the eye can see!




Going back down to the #5trail we saw some impressive snowdrift



We then stopped to refuel at La Cache which was pretty crowed. We waited for the gas but no way I would wait for a lunch there. We just continued on #595 and stopped in a not too windy spot for an outdoor snack... we begin to be used to this!

We then went back down to #5 trail. Kristine was anxious to encounter the famous moose that we saw on video beating up a sledder but we had not seen it. We then turned right towards Cap-Chat again but this time to stay at the Motel Nanook


Day #6 Cap-Chat/Mont-Joli via trail #5+locals total 162 miles
We left on trail #5 trail to return to Mont-Joli. Here the footbridge of Cap-Chat that many will recognize...



We did a short round trip on the local trail to Les Méchins to shape up the ride a bit and then came back west on #5 trail. We stopped for lunch and a last fuel-up in Matane and then  continued on #5. It was another very windy day and the wind there is really strong!

 
We arrived early near Mont-Joli and we went around the town a bit via local trails to shape up the ride a little more again. Just before arriving we passed this dozer



We finally got back to our starting point around 3:45 pm with a total of 1046 easy miles for the 6 days.
Also, we slept twice in Mont-Joli. Before our first sledding day and on the last day at mon Joli motel and the Quality Inn hotel. I would like to point out that Mon Joli Motel offers a free parking for the week and breakdown service in the event of a problem on the ride. You leave them your truck keys and in the event of a problem they can come and pick you up with your own vehicle, which can be extremely nice in the event of a problem along the trip and it brings appreciable peace of mind even you don't need it.
This concludes my 2022 Gaspesia trip report

Success. Made it to Hotel Nordic in the daylight, barely! Johnny at Gouin booked us at his place for for 2 nights due to the snow depth and consistency, (he did not thing we would make it and would have to return back), bet we did NOT need it.  He said this was not a ride for children 😜 Funny guy. His side trail yesterday was FLAWLESS😏
Very deep snow for the 50 miles on the Gouin made for a bit of tough going and it only got more challenging from there on. More stucks that we bargained for due to the insane snow. ( The 2 recent mega snow dumps have buried everything!)
We did ride 10 miles of the 93 coming into the Hotel. Unbelievable nice trail! Don’t walk, RUN to Chibougamau, the snow and trails are that good! They will be riding for WEEKS more here no doubt 👍
 

It is that time of the year where I am putting the sleds away even though it pains me to do so.  As always I will try to be as detailed as possible with everything this year... trails, covid, food.  Both trips we did our normal stay around the Saint-Michel-des-Saints/Saint-Zénon location.  We normally stay at Real Masse but with them being closed we had to find another location.  We got an AirBnb since it seemed easiest for us with covid and the quarantine stuff.
This post is gonna be super long so thanks for reading taking the time to read it.  If we passed you while riding or said hello at a stop it was nice to meet you.
Trip 1: Jan 29th - Feb 5th
The first trip of the year started out with a bang as PA/NJ/NY where getting hammered with snow.  So driving through the snow was fun just added some more time on the drive but it was worth it.  Stopped at the border around 12:45PM with barely any line.  Gave all information and it went smoothly except for the the arrival app to freak out and say we had a third passenger.  Thankfully that person was from the previous car and the person realized that.  Was kind of expecting to get selected for testing as my father works in a hospital.  We weren't which shocked the crap out of me and went as quick as possible so they didn't change their minds.  Got to our destination super late which sucked because I wanted to get a quick run of our new sleds.  Thankfully we were one of the lucky ones to get our new 2022 Polaris VR1s in time to ride this year.  Did 1190 miles for the week, went almost everywhere in the region to just see all the sites we missed.  
Jan 30th:
Trip Summary - overtop dam, then towards Koubec Trip Length - 182 miles Trails - 345, 360, 23, 33, 350, local trails Trail Conditions 8.5 out of 10 Jan 31st
Trip Summary - Repos then to Riviere-Mattwain  Trip Length - 243 miles Trails - 33, 345, 360, M20(local trail to Riviere-Mattawin) Trail Conditions 9.5 out of 10 Feb 1st
Trip Summary - South Saint-Cuthbert, Saint-Paulin, La Blanc Trip Length - 197 miles Trails - 63, 23, 3, 350 Trail Conditions 8.5 out of 10 Feb 2nd
Trip Summary - Saint Donat Trip Length - 185 miles Trails - 63, 33, 310 Trail Conditions 8.5 out of 10 Feb 3rd
Trip Summary - Riviere-Rogue Trip Length - 182 miles Trails - 63, 33 Trail Conditions 8.5 out of 10 Feb 4th
Trip Summary - Riviere-Mattwain  Trip Length - 200 miles Trails - 33, 360 Trail Conditions 9.5 out of 10 Trip 1 images:







Trip 2: Feb 19th - Feb 25th
Second trip of the year was just as great as the first trip.  Driving up was a little easier until Montreal as it was almost white out conditions.  The moto of the trip was smiles not miles.  We weren't concerned about putting a ton of miles on this trip but more enjoying the last time until next year.  We were able to meet some locals and ride with them as well meet some friends from down home.  Put on 960 miles for our 6 days and couldn't have asked for a more.
Feb 20th
Trip Summary - Up to Lac Tauruea resort and back down to Saint-Michel.  Coin-lavigne to meet friends and get a bit to eat. Trip Length - 140 miles Trails - 63, 33 Trail Conditions 7 out of 10 (it was the free weekend it was busy) Feb 21st
Trip Summary - Riviere-Mattwain  Trip Length - 220 miles Trails - 33, 360, M20 Trail Conditions 9 out of 10 Feb 22nd
Trip Summary - Riviere-Rogue & Labelle Trip Length - 180 miles Trails - 63, 323, 325 Trail Conditions 8.5 out of 10 Feb 23rd
Trip Summary - Koubec (freezing rain over night Tuesday, waited for trails to get rode over before riding) Trip Length - 110 miles Trails - 63, 33 Trail Conditions 8.5 out of 10 Feb 24th
Trip Summary - Riviere-Mattwain  Trip Length - 200 miles Trails - 33, 360 Trail Conditions 9.5 out of 10 Feb 25th
Trip Summary - Koubec then overtop dam Trip Length - 120 miles Trails - 345, 360, 23, 33, 350 Trail Conditions 8.5 out of 10 Trip 2 images:







 
Will post some videos of riding whenever they get uploaded.
 
 

Yes, those are the Mummy's. That first picture by Chris is the best by far. Hard to get full sun up there. These are mine but not as good.

I picked a few from the many 1000's I have 😉

I probably have well over 1000 snowmobile photos and less than a dozen are true "keepers", almost professional looking. I have had to work hard at it over the years and still nowhere as good as say Towing is. 
I found this today over on HCS Quebec website today. Some guy who lives in "western Quebec" took this (or his friends did) this past week in the Chic-Chocs.
It has my vote for best snowmobile pic EVER SNAPPED. Does it have your vote too?  
Feel free to post what ya got on here (good, bad, ugly) and we will try and keep it going.
If that was me in that pic I would have it made on an 8x10 ft piece of wallpaper to put in my bedroom no matter the cost.

good morning byrd !!!
 
great meeting you and your group yesterday ....!!! great group of sledders !!!
never know what to expect on the trails....
just too bad it was cold and windy ...not much pics !!!
 
 
jean-guy

Late departure, as usual, in search of poutines and club houses today. Stop and had poutines and club sandwiches at Relais Saint-Adelme.
Shortly after leaving and after putting on 50,000 KM with the MRS, she’s finally put her in the rhubarb. Into the trickle trunk, pulled out the bungee-sling shot. It worked a little better than we expected, pulled the machine out and processed to flip it over. It works really well, highly recommended finding a spot in your sled for one of these.
 
Continued on to Sélectôtel for the night. Drinks, dinner & bed…the Moores woke up to the news that they became grandparents for the 4th time. 

Decide to spend a second night at Sélectôtel. Woke up planning to do the 587 loop down to the bottom and back up to the top. Make a wrong turn which turned out to be a good thing, ending up meeting The Groomer Guy and Lindy Sled Girl. Shoot the breeze and then turn around and head down the 587, gassed up at St Francois then back to the new shelter for a picnic lunch. Nice ride Back to the hotel.
The 587 did not disappoint.

Saturday woke up at Auberge Carabou being Saturday, on the Gaspé, we started looking for reservations. After 45 minutes of phone calls and numerous wishes of “good luck”, we did finally find a spot at L’Auberge Seigneurie des Monts.
Left around 11, stop and had a picnic lunch, a little bit of sight seeing, but our main goal today was to find an SAQ. M&M tours runs on high test and we were out of brown liquor and running very low on rum….we didn’t want to develop rod knock. We did make it to SAQ just at closing time!

A little extra effort to get to Auberge Seigneurie des Monts but totally worth it.  Amazing accommodations, great food, and soft fuzzy bath ropes. 

I got THE BEST border old-timer tonight @ Champlain. He asked if I had any leftover cannabis, and I said no it doesn't improve my sledding skills.
He said when you're home and safe it's OK, you can have gummy bears or brownies or jujubees. I just smiled (under my mask).
Then he asked about any weapons, even for self defense. I said no, I depend on my negotiating skills, and he gave me back my paperwork and said to have a nice ride and stay healthy.
 

Rising a sled at high mileage isn't an exploit... rising a sled at high mileage without major breakdown on the trail is what is important and hard to do. Burned stator plate, broken drive or jackshaft or an electrical gremlin can ruined a trip pretty fast, as well as a broken rear shock that decided to get is way through the track... all those problems(and much more others) are pretty hard to predict or avoid with the regular maintenance and are more and more at risk to happen as the sled get older.
By example my 25k miles yammy last season, even with a darn heavy maintenance check had forced me to cancel 2 rides. One time with a broken exhaust that I had verified and welded the fall before and the other time with a failed stator plate that die just as I was leaving home... (good idea to have a voltmeter on the dash, I had been able to come back home before getting in trouble)
Most people will show the odometer but won't tell you the whole story...

Day 9: Friday Feb 11
Woke up to 5°F and light flurries. Today was a change of plans day. Jim was having problems with his sled intermittently yesterday at higher RPMs as it was surging. Jim & Rob thought it might be a defective fuel pump. We decided it was prudent to head down to Chambord this morning to have it checked out by a Yamaha mechanic. Last nights dinner and today’s breakfast was outstanding! They completely renovated the entire dining room and hired two new chefs. I always liked this stop and it is now better than ever. I know Gary (Scorpionbowl) misses the Chinese buffet dinners here! LOL 
After breakfast we saddled up the sleds and pulled out at 8:30 AM. Trails are hard packed, smooth and fast. Just like I like them! Got to the Yamaha dealer  around 10:30 AM and they pulled Jim’s sled into the shop within 10 minutes! The mechanic thought that it might be water in one of the pressure tubes for the turbo system. He said he had seen it before. And that is exactly what the problem was. There was water in the line that would freeze up and affect the pressure between the relays for the turbo. 90 minutes later we were out of there and decided to take the lake trail shortcut back to the Roberval ice village. After spending a while at the village we continued back north and went to Relais Buttes for a nice lunch. Definitely one of the better relais in all of Quebec. After lunch we cruised around and got gas in La Dore. Got back to Hotel Du Jardin at 4 PM. 
146 miles

We were due for a crazy day ride...



It's a 300+miles loop ride running on both side of the St-Laurence river via a ferry and bridge that get around the large Montreal city, this doable from the porch of my home. Having done it before we already knew it was an ambitious day ride, way more than doing a 300 miles in norther area. There are many roads and highways and rail road crossings+ the ferry and "the unexpected" that insure a very full day ride.

So we started from home at 8:00 am to catch the 9:00 ferry in St-Ignace de Loyola. Freshly groomed trail to warm up...



Arriving at the first river trail path, it was a bit scary



The St-Laurence river level got a bit higher in the night and cause water to rise on the ice on the sides. It is more scary than dangerous because the trail snow bank already cover the immediate side of the river where it can be dangerous and the small water pool we got is over the full river ice cover. It's been so cold since the beginning of the season that this ice is for sure thick enough to support the weight of a Yamaha so no worries we are on a BRP! 



We got at the ferry at 8:45



This ferry is one of the cheap option to cross the St-Laurence river: $7,60 for a sled and his driver and $11,35 in our case for an old married couple +sled



There is actually 2 ferries that offer crossings every 30 minutes on each sides during most of the day(see the web site for full schedule)



Our ferry had an hard time to accost because of the ice. It had to move back and forth many times to clear/crush all the ice along the dock and the 10 minutes crossing turn to over an half an hour one. We got back on the south shore trail at 9:45.
The first stretch along the river to get out of Sorel city was rough but we cross the groomer that was about to solve that



We quickly got on the #5 trail that we follow most of the path up the west of Montreal city. Not a lot snow but good conditions. We could feel few earth bumps in the skis on some very windy pass but the trails were overall very good  





You need to not be allergic to road crossing, especially highway crossings. I quickly counted and we cross the #30 highway 5 times, the #20 and #10 then the #15 2 times also the #640 and #25 and this on or under viaduct and even with a tunnel for the #640
We stopped there for a small break around 11:30



Here a first video(of three) that summarize this first part. you can always push the reader 4 arrows icon to pass in full screen
Continuing on the #5 trail we could saw St-Hilaire mountain that we usually view riding by car



Here after #20 highway crossing, good conditions



It began to get worse after the #15 highway crossing. Last Friday fluffy snow had been more generous there and with the very strong winds we had there was a lot snow blades/drifts in the trail. The visibility stayed good but the bumpy drifts slowed down us to keep in the safe and comfortable zone.



We even crossed a groomer that flatten our route for a few miles but the drifts were forming again quickly behind





We also had something I don't encounter often, a long train that gave us a 12 minutes break before clearing the way



We left the #5 trail in St-Michel area (west of Montreal) to cut toward St-Louis de Gonzague(bridge). We had few trail changes to make so I pointed my destination on the Gps to make it easy but a change between my map version and the real world trail glitched my gps that route us on the wrong side. I figured something was wrong by seeing directions for villages that we had already pass before. I got my cell phone out and made a check with Imotoneige that locate us and confirmed we were out of our route. We stepped back but it add some miles over an already busy ride.  


Here the 2nd video that summarize that part of the ride
 
We finally reached our ticket to the north shore at St-Louis de Gonzague around 4:00pm. It's a 3/4 miles long car bridge over Beauharnois canal were snowmobiles are allowed to cross for free. The bridge is also almost snow free so I did as usual and throw some dish wash soap on my track slides before starting the crossing to help our mule to move our 2 ass on the other side of the bridge without overheating too much. It went very well.



After crossing the Beauharnois canal we were needing next to cross the other half of the St-Laurence river that is done directly on ice. Even not groomed it ride nicely



We then continued to catch the #33 trail, The day was already well advanced



We got on the long Deux-Montages lake a bit past 5:30pm. A bit bumpy but it was ok and was riding good. We missed our target to cross it at daylight... here brief turn to admire the sky behind us 



We stopped for a real supper break at Île Bizard snowmobile relay around 6:00pm. We were near alone there but the people who operate the place told us they were crazy busy from the morning up to the end of afternoon and had depleted most of their food stocks. I took a good club sandwich with a cheese slice in place of the tomatoes and it was delicious! Nice authentic people there, I recommend it! 
We got back in saddle a bit before 7:00pm to do the remaining 90miles to get home
The sony flash was in strike



The trails in this area were pretty worn out and I adjusted the beat to go forward but safe given our day fatigue and the conditions. Our way home went well and we also got the chance to hit some freshly groomed trails on some sectors
Here the 3rd and last video that summarize this last stretch 
 
We finally got home at 10:15PM with 340miles in our butts for the day. The small 900 ace did it flawlessly even if my old venture/expert-x miss missed us in the rough sections. We didn't needed to get rocked to sleep that night!
Another nice good big ride for us !
Alain

 

Day 4:  Sunday Feb 6
Today was a planned turnover day. My son has an 11:00AM flight out of YUL Montreal to EWR in NJ. It’s crazy but we found out just last night that he must have a negative Covid PCR or antigen test within 24 hours of the flight taking off or he won’t be allowed to board! Absolutely nuts given the fact that PCR tests can take up to 72 hours to get results! My good friend Iceman and Mrs. ICE (Don & Caroline) did some immediate hard networking and found out that the quickest & best thing to do given the fact that it’s Saturday night was to take the test at the airport YUL. Thank you so much Don & Caroline!!!  Unfortunately you can’t risk it so you must be at the airport 3 1/2 hours prior to takeoff. My son was able to schedule an appointment online for 8:00AM to be done right at the airport for $150.00!  So many people making money off this pandemic! Oh well such is life.  He got picked up by car service at 6AM and was at the airport at 7:40AM. Got a negative test result & was home in NYC at 2:00PM. 
 
I spent the rest of the day getting all my supplies & gear ready for a saddle bag trip which will be departing tomorrow morning.  We are planning 11 nights on the trail with three men. Jim and Rob will be arriving to my condo late afternoon/early evening from northern VT. I plan to keep the fire place stoked with lots of wood & watch the Winter Olympics lying on the sofa. My body needs to be rested up very nicely for the large task ahead!!
 
to be continued………………..

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What a LONG 23 months of government legislated abstinence from my happy place of Quebec in the winter! My last day of snowmobiling there was March 15th 2020.  The border shut 6 days later.  That is finally behind me now!!
Well they talked about a big nor’easter coming in last Thursday into Friday. Time to change my plans by 24 hours. Changed my flight to 1 day earlier to Wednesday and took a 7AM flight from Florida to New Jersey to get my truck. My son Jason from NYC met me there & we scrambled for all our gear & hit the black trail at high noon.  I always try to avoid snow and ice on my drives up and back in the truck.  Of course I got my every 2-4 years speeding ticket on I 87 northbound in the high peaks for the Court of Chesterfield New York. Oh well. I have a tight schedule to keep!  Crossed border at 5:15PM.  Very very easy.  ArriveCAN is simple & works great.  Got thru in 10 minutes & no Covid test given to either of us to take post entry.  Drove to Trois Rivières to pick up my fully serviced trailer & sleds.  Then drove another 90 minutes to Lac-a-l’eau-Claire for our lodging.  Arrived at 8:30PM in our condo.  Palm Beach Gardens, Florida to NJ to Saint-Alexis-des-Monts in 13.5 hours!! Long day but mission completed. It’s full on peak season conditions here!  Yippee Ky Yea!!!
 
To be continued………………
 

Awesome cinema photography 
I didn’t watch that Viking series but most likely will now.
I looked around for 1200 engines just for giggles. Next to nothing out there and certainly nothing you would chance dropping in a sled that goes where mine does. I even called Al’s in Vermont- NOTHING. And when you go on the net and look for used 1200’s (US & Canada) the prices people are asking is just STUPID crazy.
I have too much invested emotionally and financially in my Enduro to let her go down like the Viking ship. She has a brand new 1.5 Ice Ripper, brand new E-drive 2 clutch (just because I got a steal on a new one for 400 bucks), new DuPont sliders, new 7” carbides, all new chain case parts, new 4th wheel kit, new heavy duty rear bumper, etc. Plus…. I have racks, bags, gps mount, custom LED lights and BRP front LED, Ride Light mount. Hell, I even have a horn on it … LOL
I’m so used to this machine and everything on it (that just works perfect for me 99% of the time) that I don’t want to even consider (or pay) for something “supposedly “ new and better. Let alone the extra time and money it would take to get the sled all set up for touring.
would I like a new 2022 Enduro turboR with all the bags and setup? Absolutely, but shelling out 20K + isn’t in the cards for me at the moment. Wife would go off the deep end and we can’t have that. That woman has given me a pass (mostly) for the last 25+ years and the UN-GODLY amount of money I have spent on this sport.
So, whatever it takes to revive the “old gal” will be done. Hell, I can get a factory rebuild 1200 long block (part # 421000678) for 4300.00 my cost, no tax.
So, no matter what the diagnosis and estimate is she WILL NOT be going down in flames like the Viking ship.