snowfarmer

With the new snow fallen during this last week, we went for another last ride with our friend Luc yesterday, April 13, 2019 in Lanaudière



On this exceptionally snowy season the trails of northern Lanaudière were still surprisingly good,  here on #23 trail south of Cabanon




The temperature was very mild since a few days, no freezing during the night so we got very soft trail. Here passing at Cabanon in the morning



We left in dam direction. The whole reservoir loop had been groomed during the week!





The conditions were nice for an April 13th but very good from the dam trail junction(on the # 345) and for all the reservoir loop up to St-Michel des Saints





It's not visible on the pictures but it was so windy there that I had hard time to stay still the time of the pic, I almost went with the wind!



The #360 around the reservoir  was candy to ride, just superb. We did very good tempo on this stretch...






The reservoir is always impressive to see once emptied ...



I read from a buddy that the emptied reservoir shortcut was still ok on Friday, so with the good visibility we had, we tested our luck despite the wet conditions



It was not for the fearful ones,  alot of surface water on the ice. It looks worse than it realy was because even if there was water, we ride on ice already leaning on the bottom of the reservoir on more than 90% of the way but the rivers(yes there are rivers in there) where worrisome. I would suggest every body to go around by the trail, I personally would not do it again this season!



Luc learned the risks associated by following us too closely ... he arrived on the shore a little wet!



We arrived for lunch at the Central in St-Michel around 12:15



After a good lunch and a great talk with Luc we headed south on #63. The strong sunshine combined with good winds at 10C made the trails tender and juicy !



Without surprises, we found some dirt spots near St-Michel village on the larges south-facing hills



But a little further it was still very snowy





Back in the Cabanon courtyard, we could see how much it had melted compared to the morning pic



We  switched into the Mastigouche Reserve on trail #345 to loop back. As I expected beautiful conditions, very snowy ,almost no traffic and not a single bump





Among the best conditions of the day. We also saw some fresh moose tracks on the trail. A nice spring ride for us at its best!





We stopped a few minutes at Koubec (which was closed)



And we came back on #350 trail which was also in very good condition


 
In sum a beautiful spring ride of 170miles for the three of us. With the reservoir loop groomed during the week, it was definitely a record in the area to ride recently groomed trails on a April 13th. A big thank you to the clubs involved!
It could close our season with 4830 miles on the venture dreameter...unless Kristine twist my arm for another last one somewhere !!!

 

Alain

Day five, woke to blowing snow, big breakfast. Martine said today was her last day except for a group of ten next week. Thanked her  for her hospitality and off we went. The flat light and the blowing snow made it hard to see and sometimes hard to find the trail. Pulled into wemo for gas. The boy's Machine is beeping, battery light flashing and the engine light on. Rode on to just past Halterphcape the sled dies!  out with the tow straps and into Parent. Mon Bon Chum luckily had a battery. Off we go again just outside Parent we see our first group of sleds. Turned down 13 to trail 53 limped the sled into 100 lakes. Borrowed batterie charger and off to cabin.  New owners have renovated the cabins, two single beds in each room as well as 3 piece renovated bathrooms. A couple of stiff shots and off to dinner. No disrespect to any other place we stayed at but this, by far, was the best meal. Lots of shooters with the locals. Back to the cabin and off to bed.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Any guesses as to what burnt.
Maybe another team gutz project??? Sorry Don, I just had too. LoL

hi steven !!!
great weekend for pics....great light most the time......but yesterday morning ,coming back from dealership ....woooWWW...priceless !!!
went to meet snowdog and stupe +2 more at the clubhouse ,late afternoon !!!
happy to meet you guys !!!
 
then ,when i left ,at the stop sign in front of gas station ....someone waving at me......sheriff was back in town ....linda + friends from ontario + nova scotia !!!
while snowdog and stupe were leaving clubhouse...she caused a traffic in albertville !!! ahaha...first one in years !!!
then , went grooming tq 5 .....warm ....snow no sticky ...but close....snow was like a thick mushroom cream soup !!! back around 4 20 am !!!
grey sky today and still warm !!!
 
jean-guy
 

hi mario and steven !!!
 
great weekend ...tons of laughs...rode the last 3 days....
back from amqui about an hr ago...snowing like crazy ...not nice at all ...2'' + in a very short period of time !!!
yesterday , when we left camp ....went east ...toward orange camp...very surprising there !!!lots of snow !!!
went to mommies today !!
 
jean-guy

bonjour !!!
 
great weekend riding ....lindaslegirl was here + friends !!! went to camp yesterday starting from clubhouse !!!
going back riding in a few hrs !!!
-28c this morning and sunny !!!
 
jean-guy

Sorry you broke down Eddie! We missed you at Chalet Hallé 

Sm and Playhard, well we didn’t get cheated on our adventure ride for sure! 
 Thursday and Friday did not disappoint us😁.  Thursday started out so nice but high clouds up in the Long Range mountain highlands in the distance had other plans for us.  As many of you saw earlier in the week, The highlands,  a few days ago had a beautiful blue sky, and felt very inviting. 😉 
As mentioned , We had heard several stories of trouble and tragedy in these highlands all week.  Well we got taste of just how wild it can get.  By mid morning our clear view morning ...had changed into a slow crawl, dirty visibility and several dig outs of drifts as we crawled our way up into the highlands.  Wow we still got a long ways of to go! This is what its like when the weather goes bad😉 , This is going to be slow going! 
Just before noon we decided this is not going to work!  We had just got to a rough shelter about half way in. This looks like our chalet for the night! 😊
As we settled into our very.........rustic accommodations, some gathered fire wood , others water, an inventory of overnight supplies started popping out on the rustic picnic table in the shelter.  A wood stove provided heat, but that was about it.  The wind howled all night, but by 3:30 am it seemed like we had a window of opportunity and visibility was better, but we had 10 sleds buried in snow and we needed to get rolling. With winds forecasted to pick back up to levels we experienced yesterday, we knew we had a a narrow window. 
Robert Gardner and Dixon Clements, both Cain’s Quest Champ’s and old pros at these types of riding conditions 
, gathered the troops and said well...it’s now ...or ....we most likely will be here another day. So at 4:40am, sleds are all running and we are heading down out of the range, at a crawl.  3 hours later, and 35 miles under our belt, we dropped down into the tree line.  Lots of stories and laughs to share, but also a reality of just how quick things can change in the high country! It’s always an adventure.
With 10 experienced riders it was awesome to see all the safety and overnight equipment pop out of everyone’s bags. Multiple Garmin in reaches, Spot tracker devices, food, food lines for hanging gear to dry, fire starting equipment, jet boils, tarps, ect. You guys get it because we all tend to carry those items whether adventure riding or groomed trail riding, and at times thinking, wow, do I really need this stuff?  Well yes, on occasion you do!
The other neat observation was to observe your riding partners under challenging conditions. This group all remained calm and focused. Good attributes for any type of ride, especially when conditions change.
As mentioned a few days ago, we had planned to get into the Gross Morne Park, but do “unforeseen circumstances” we ran out of time!!  We did get to see territory and ride a regions that  even many locals have never done. 
We catch the evening ferry back to NS tonight.  We will be back to the Rock again!  This has been another great adventure ride. And many more things to see and experience here! 
 
Happy Trails!
 
RR

I just got back from Old Forge New York, where we got 40 miles of seat time on the new 2020 sleds. All we rode were models from Ski-Doo. First thing, pictures do not do justice to the Free-Ride Blue, one of the best color schemes on snow...just my opinion that this sled is really beautiful to look at. Next, the new 850 extreme...WITH OUT A DOUBT THE VERY FINEST ALL AROUND SLED ..MAYBE EVER BUILT...PERIOD!! I am not a brand loyalist..just calling it after 2 10 miles rides, and I have been riding since 1966. This is not a cumbersome work sled, you keep looking back at stops and cannot believe 154 inches 20 wide is behind you. Hooks up like nothing short of a studded ice racer, the 850 moves it better than a 600r, although not quite as good as an 850 renegade, but not far behind. It really smooths out the bumps, and handles very flat, less intuitive than a back country, but you can really haul down the trail very aggressively without getting tired or feeling like you are tugging a work sled around. This thing wheelies at will and you actually have to back out of the throttle and learn how far you want to go, get used to it a little bit, fun factor is incredible. This sled will more than put a smile on a 20 year old, a 45 year old and a 65 year old tourer, kind of like a BWW station wagon!! Next was the 850 backcountry XRS, with a 146 track.I just sold a 2018 backcountry with 3100 miles on it, so I know the sled. The XRS model handles way better than the x or standard model, and it felt stronger than the 2018 engine and the 2 inch 154 rumbled a bit down the trail, more of a deep snow sled, ski-doo reps said hard concrete trails are probably not the place for this model, they said cooling and torn lugs are going to be the end result.Polaris looked very nice, quality, fit and finish have come a long way, they have upped their game. Arctic Cat had almost exclusively lime green versions of the new riot, the lines were getting very long and we made a 400 mile trek to be first in line at 8am, so we did not stay around to ride everything we wanted to. The new oxygen helmet was there, this seems to be a very well thought out product, I ordered one. If you get a chance to ride the expedition extreme, just do it, if anything you will at the very least come away with a big smile, Happy trails, Bob.

After getting our pictures we are headed for a visit with JG. 587 to 5 it’s a nice ride. I  had been taking pics with my camera so I have to wait till I get home. We get to the clubhouse and JG is there. There was a table reserved for us. Gemma says wow we are VIP’s today. We had a great time chatting at lunch. Our riding partners had to get going. They’re not sure where they will end up tonight. JG haddock big hours of grooming coming up he has to get some rest. We say our goodbyes.
I wanted to say thanks Mario for meeting us at  Valga we really enjoyed your company. It was a pleasure to meet you, your wife and Frank. 

Thank you Jim and Gemma for letting us ride with you to radar tower and to lunch at Groomers club house. We took 5 back to Rimouski and stopped at L’Empress, at 4:30, was too cold to try making Trio Pistoles. We are going to head to Montmagny today, hope to reach truck in Drummondville on Friday.

This morning we left Phenegamook, took 35 to 563 which was covered with fresh snow which made for a great ride, we did lose the trail at one point as it was not marked well,  a quick look at the app and we back tracked and found the trail and onto 85 to the gas in Deglis,  85 was good as well,  we back track a little and take 571 north which is excellent all the way to Sqatec, have lunch and onto 35 to 5 both good as well all the way to the 579 intersection,  we checked into Domain Valga with 165 miles, looking like a daisy tour with these low miles and look who just pulled in.....Jim and Gemma and they did 270 miles!. Getting ready for dinner, not sure where we are going tomorrow. We only saw 7 sleds all day. Full house here at Valga.

There is a trail system here in the Northern peninsular. It would not be fair to try to compare this system to the one in Quebec. So far we have been on a recognizable trail system about 20% of the time.  Frequent winds and equipment breakdowns create large challenges for some communities here. Still a refreshing style of riding that we tend to enjoy.
 
We have enjoyed the communities and people. Very warm and friendly which is the Newfoundland way for sure!
 
Happy trails 
RR

2/27/19
-22F in LeCabanon that morning.  Up 345 to 360 Matawin for gas. then 355 to Relais du Trappeur for lunch. North of lac bouchette is where it drastically changed. it got a lot more bumpier and  once we got on to 83 in to roberval it was even worse. Passed the groomer in roberval.    Stayed at Hôtel Château Roberval.    270 miles
2/28/19  
just a little warmer at -20F.   Freshly groomed out roberval up 373.  Stopped at the club house club de motoneige for some soup.  then got on 93 north to chibougamau.  very smooth.  Sawmill for gas.  it was $2 a liter there.   in to chibougamau and stayed at Motel Nordic.  205 miles.
3/1/19
-19F that morning.  The big day.  left on 93 south to roberval. Stopped at sawmill and different person was there.  it was $1.39 liter,    stopped back at the Club House for lunch.  then took 373 south and took cut off trail to the 83.  83 west to Relais 22 for gas.  Stayed at Pourvoirie Windigo.  320 miles.    Very nice people Martine and Dan are.  The food is great.   
3/2/19
 0F that morning.  left windigo and 83 west was smooth.  turned at 345 south to Casey.  south of Casey was freshly groomed.  Repos for lunch. then back to Lecabanon. 250 miles 
1023 miles for 4 days  not a bad trip.  


 


 



 







 



 
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks Tom!
This morning we left Lac Echemin up 55, WOW, ausome trail 10/10 all the way to St. Pampile, we gas up and have lunch and continue on to next intersection 55/557 and I decide to take 557 north and again it just ausome, a quarter of the way up I,m thinking what a great choice I made, no one on this trail, I am coming up to a turn an here comes a 2 upper, as they get up to me I see a winch on his bumper, I start waiving like a lunatic but the don’t see me, I figured it had to be gtrider, who else has a winch right?  I sent him a message to see if it was them. Pulled into Phenegamook at 2:45, short day with 160 miles, again, enough for the wife!
We are now in Mikerider domain, Bas St Laurent, not sure where tomorrow!

Left  Drummondville, took 532 , 525, 35, 538, 25 in to Thetford Mines for lunch. All were great conditions. Had lunch at Tim Hortons and decided to head to Lac Echemin for the night. We continued on 25 to 55 now the trails are a bit rough, it is Sunday after all to be expected, but ok, some of the trails are shared with atvs, that doesn’t help. Pulled into Manoir lac ecthemin at 4:30. 185 miles, enough for the wife. Today we may head to Pohenegamook. 
 

Many of you have commented on the Western side, and as you can see the eastern region we have run so far had a much more dense snow pack in many places.  We will be working our way down the Western side later this week,  We hope to have good weather for the scenery and strong backs for the powder!
Here are a couple of drone shots , one in Harbor Deep and one in the highlands of the Long Range mountains.
Also Norm from Boughwiffin lodge dropped us off some 2000 year plus iceberg ice last night. That made the Crown Royal taste very special!

 

The scenery rivals the White road, Labrador and what we have seen in Alaska.  Definitely  this is something to put on your to do list!

We have been out for three days now and yes this is Newfoundland. Our run into the Northern peninsular has given us spectacular scenery but been a bit light on the WiFi access LOL. 
This is was our first day back into digital access, which isn’t a totally bad thing!  We have had a sensational ride, three days of blue sky weather, and all the locals are saying they have not seen the sun in two months.  Wow we got lucky!
Our first day was from Deer Lake thru Sops arm into Harbor Deep.  You really should do a wiki search on Harbor deep to understand that this was the last community in NFLD to get resettled.  An interesting story.  Bob and Linda where excellent hosts, we guided ourselves In, but a guide would be recommended for this trip unless your are very comfortable with a gps.
Danny Corcoran lodge does have a guide service available for those interested.
A few pics of our first day are below!

So we spent the last two and a half days riding the Chaudiere Applaches for the first time.
Been hoping to ride this area after Snowfarmer posted couple of his trips here last year.
This opportunity came up after we aborted our Cote Nord trip due to the storm first of the week.
Wow, what a enjoyable area to ride.Arrived in Princeville(just east of Victoriaville) Wednesday night, having left Sacre Couer mid afternoon.
Thursday rode from the hotel DuPre heading for LacEtchemin via Thetford Mines and St. George's. 320 km by the time we arrived at the Manor du Lac Etchemin RoadRunner mentioned above. 
Of rhe 320 km we rode there was only about 20 that wasn't groomed in the previous 36 hours. Pristine would describe the trails.
Friday another 300 km back to Princville making a loop further to the south. Great variety of trails throughout the region. Rolling farm fields then through the sugar bushes. They take their Maple Syrup business serious here. Very impressive pipeline systems and Suger Shacks .Amazed how much fun riding the rolling farm land was. Traffic really picked up mid afternoon Friday. By Friday evening trails were just starting to get bit choppy in spots. 
Team meeting Friday night to decide if we departed for home Saturday morning or ride one more day. 3 guys decided to head home first thing Saturday morning and 4 of us decided to ride a part day before heading for home.
Hit the trails at 7:30 and rode 200 km. Every trail we rode was groomed last night  They must have an incredible fleet of groomers in this area to cover the miles they have to maintain. Beautiful sunny weather all 3 days we rode.
Two other friends got stranded in Murdochville on Sunday. Took a $350.00 cab ride back to Matane to retrieve their trucks. Was Wednesday morning before they were able to depart by truck. They were heading back to Ontario until we suggested they join us for our CA ride. Worked out well for them to salvage some of their week.
I had spent hours researching the Cote Nord, read every post related here on QR posted in the last 5 years.Had hotels booked for the first three nights.
This ended up being one of our best Quebec trips after changing all plans 8 hours before departing home after studying the weather forecast. Rest of the week was on the fly. Think we will operate this way more in the future. 
Picture below is some poor sole truck drifted in at Hotel Coronet Wednesday morning . Just by luck ours were parks on the opposite side of the lot and the wind blew around them. Had to climb in from passenger side, some minor shovelling and had them out. The hotel staff yard man was very helpful to assist us. 
 
 
 

Thats my motto also, Photo first help second.

You may not have snowman pics, but I have plenty, lol
 

2/24
Plans were made for a Westward run with QR's infamous Florida Snowman, so a 3:45am departure from Vermont took place, destination Auberge-Motel Drakkar in Shawinigan. The new 900T Enduro with zero miles on it was in the back of the truck for the ride. Roads right out of the gate were slick as my intentions of getting ahead of the pending storm had failed. All the way up and until I was through the tunnel and onto Rte 40 headed east the roads were a nightmare. After reaching Rte 40 the pavement dried up and good time was made. Arrived at the Drakkar with the Snowman prepping his ride ready to go. After a quick trail pass switch to match my new sled we were ready to go. Hit the trail right around 9am and everything is groomed flat and fast a few local trails out of town onto the 23 and jump on the river for a quick run up to the 360. Continue on to Matawin for a quick top of fuel and keep on moving all the way to Repos for more fuel and some soup. Had to wait a little bit for fuel as they were transferring from one tank to another. We also got behind a tour group that was thirsty for fuel. After we fueled the Kanawata Express was a super quick run and we splashed a little more fuel, said hi to Mario, visited with a few Vermonters, and then off we go towards Barrage Goin. It is now snowing very hard and we are pushing 10-12" of fresh snow. Lots of fun and no other sleds on the trails, so good time is made. Pull into Gouin and fill gas again and the horses are shut down for the day at 5pm. We are the only two here. Great walleye dinner and we call it a night.     265 miles
 
2/25
Up for a quick breakfast and on the trail a little before 8. Still snowing and we run out on jump on the road headed towards Parent. An easy foot of new snow on the road, but the plow has been through and cleared 1/2 the road just for us, so sizzling time is made for the 60 mile run into Parent. It has been snowing hard the whole way and vision is very tricky at times. Take fuel and jump on the 83 headed to Clova. Visibility is getting really bad and the guy on the Yamaha misses a turn ever so slightly, and it was here that we found out exactly how deep the snow is! About 1/2 hr later we have the 1/2 ton Yammie re-directed and back on the trail. The 80 miles from Parent to Clova were done with a lot of caution as digging the sleds out was not how we wanted to spend the day. We roll into Clova and tell Dominic of our plans to reach Val Dor this afternoon. The rolling of his eyes and wagging of his finger saying 'NO' was all we needed to know! He informed us the drifting was very bad and that some sledders were stuck 1/2 in between and supposedly holed up in a camp for the evening. He informed us that the wind had been gusting at 80-100km and the passing would be ill-advised. Why we were not ready to park the sleds for the day, we took his advise when he informed us that the wind was going to be setting down and that groomers were headed out from Senneterre and Clova tonight making for a perfect day in the morning. We checked into the schoolhouse, checked e-mails and messages, and headed back to restaurant for a great steak dinner around 6pm. Not a bad day to shut it down early.        140 miles
 
2/26
Super cold in the morning, -16 degrees as we loaded up the sleds to continue west. A quick breakfast and we're on the freshly groomed 83 before 8am. We wet the groomer making his return trip about 20 clicks out of town. We now have double wide groomed all to ourselves. The groomer had turned around at Balbuzard, but another groomer from the west had been there and done the same. We finally met our first sleds at our 75th mile of the morning. We pull into Auberge du Lac Faillon at 100 miles for fuel and to thaw our frozen bodies! An hour plus of hot chocolate and warm wood stove is just what we needed. Back on the sleds we go headed towards Senneterre. We catch the groomer, wave our thanks and continue on. A couple of young guys on Cats caught up to us at some point and went by us like fighter jets. We soon caught back up to them as they were helping a couple get unstuck in some of the wicked drifts in part of the big burn. As luck would have it, they were still there to assist 'the guy on the Yamaha' again as that tank just will not tread drifted snow. Sorry Tom, at least I didn't take pics! The rest of the trip into Senneterre was uneventful and we take fuel and make a run up to Amos just because. This section was the only part of our trip that had any real bumps, but the run on the way back to Motel Senabi seemed much quicker as it is certainly easier leading the horses back to the barn. We passed one groomer on the way back and saw signs of lots of groomer activity for the following day. Checked into Senabi at 5:30 and ordered out for dinner.     308 miles
 
2/27
Plans were made to be on the trail at 6:30am for a long run up and over the 93 to Chibougamo and beyond. All the trails maps showed green, so we wanted to get on them early. This plan was curtailed slightly as the Yamaha did not want to fire in the -18 temps. After locking ourselves out of the room at 6:20am (a quick knock on the owners door fixed that), the Ski Doo got the Yammie singing and we were on our way.Trails were nothing short of incredible on this perfect blue sky cold morning. Gas stops in Lebel-sur-Quevillon, Demaraisville, Chapais, Chibougamau and the Saw Mill were needed as we pushed all the way to Chateau Roberval where we pulled in at 5pm. Just an incredible day with very light traffic.       412 miles
 
2/28
Another very cold -18 morning to start our run to the trucks. A little later start and then take the 83 to 355, a quick splash of fuel at Lac Bouchette, sail down flat fresh groomed trails to LaTuque for fuel, and then make the final push to the truck. All trails were an easy 9 and the trip was a great success. Arrived at truck at 3pm and headed for home. Great to meet Tom and ride some incredible trails. Tons of snow up here and looking like a great spring riding season. Somewhere along the way I apparently lost my Drivers License in a Canadian snow bank which made for an eventful border crossing with no ID....     234 miles
 
(not many pics as my phone would shut down because of the cold)

We made it back to the truck today we rode from Matane to RDL,the trails where in pretty good shape ,lots of groomers k locking down snow drifts a couple days they should be in great shape.
This trip was a learning experience for us even though I  did not get to see the whole Gaspe next year I  will have a better Idea where to go.
We still managed to get 1400 miles on this trip , some great experience  also.
Back to Ohio in the morning
Ride safe 
Zrtkat & Crew