snowfarmer

Onward! Sun disappears & reappears a few times. Mild cold but nice. What's a Super Moon? Snow is definitely on it's way. 
Set destination St Ann to see if the ice fishing river village is still operating. Nope!
Drop down further to run 351 powerline highway back west to Shawini Sud. It really is a highway trail and Joseph gets a kick out of riding the same pace as the cars & trucks on Autoroute 40. 
Back to Drakkar at a decent hour. Somewhere between 173mi on the Montana & 296km on the odo.
It's a FINE 1st ride for Joseph! He's got natural talent and just needs seat time. This is gonna be a great tour Mon-Thurs. 
We hose off & Reggie makes us a reservation, and we get our chow & brew on at the Devil's Hole.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Oops's becomes opps, as Joseph and I both figured the other threw his riding jacket & bibs into the truck, so we get to show him Canadian Tire for the first time! You always remember your first!
So a bit of a late start stylin' the new apparel, or is it not late... BECAUSE DAYLIGHT SAVING SNUCK UP ON US LIKE IT DID TO OTHERS?!
Just as well, we have a Sled QC Orientation #101 day of free play to get this fine young MacGyver offroader acclimated. 
So off we go on the interior trails out 351 & 302, up 353 to the St Ray railbed...
 
 

 


 

 

 

 


 
Hmm, which way to go?
 

Tuesday - March 10
Woke up to 8 to 10 inches of new snow and still snowing!  Today is going to be a great day!   Loaded up the sleds and pulled out at 8:30am.  Took 373 to TQ93 north & topped of the gas in La Dore.  Spoke with the store manager and we both couldn’t believe it’s been three years since the explosion and fire of their gas pumps. Time moves quickly indeed!  As Pipeman (Wes) stated yesterday the trail north of La Dore was somewhat choppy.  The saving grace for us was that all the fresh snow made for a very nice cushion!  Mark had a short off trail excursion that was cleared quickly with the tow ropes & Snobunje!  Had to wait for 30 minutes to get gas at the sawmill since we got there when it was lunchtime. Nice line of sleds behind us by the time they started pumping.  After leaving Scierie 54 we pushed right along & finally met the groomer about 25 miles before the cut off for Chibougamau.  Then it was time to depress the fun flipper a little deeper.  I didn’t look down but I was well into the triple digits when I had a large explosion at my left foot on my Sidewinder.   As the two sleds chasing me went by me like I was tied to a tree, scratching my temple, I was able to surmise that I no longer had forward momentum & I needed to get some rubber accessories out of my tool kit!  After quickly installing a new belt we continued on to Chibougamau.  Checked into the Nordic for the night.  A great day indeed!
195 miles

 

Stumbled across the original toy hauler, the boys from jersey out did themselves, the only thing missing is an Ice man sticker 

Left Oliphant on Sunday, 7am. New trailer with some modifications, short 1200km jaunt to the Universal in Rivere de Loup.
Woke up Monday morning to snow and wind. Checked radar said it should starting clearing around 11.  Leisurely breakfast and unload, hit the trails 10 after 11 ( 10 o'clock old time).  
Trails a little choppy to Rimouski, to be expected for a Monday morning after a warm Sunday. Had to follow a bunch of throttle jockeys for a while, you know those guys that have to have a hand full of throttle and a hand full of brake with the track spinning all the time. The guys that haven't figured out it all about the flow.
Stopped for lunch and gas in Rimouski, took a picture of the clubhouse for Snowmaster. Back on trails sun came out, trails were groomed all the way to Matane. 10 out of 10. Into town for gas and arrived at Riôtel around 6:00.
Tried to meet up with Mike the Mayor of RDL but our schedules didn't work out. 
 
Check out the new red tickle trunk!
 

8 March Sunday
on we go through Godbout and to Baie Trinitie for gas. Trail better here. Now it’s been a few seasons since I been this way but surely the next stretch to Port Cartier has been re-routed a bit as it seems a lot less powerline sections to me. Anyway we burn along and into Port Cartier with 315 miles its 6:15 pm. Feels like I rode today for sure. Big first day. Had food delivered to us here at hotel. Eastbound tomorrow we shall see where we end up. 

Saturday 7 March 
after a short week with the ride with the Mrs. 
Snohorse arrived at Chez Ice at 11:30am, I was ready and waiting. Gear packed, saddle bags ready and sleds in driveway. Trailer was here already but, needed to pin it to the truck before loading them up. Done finished by noon. On the road 12:15. Quick stop at ATM in Cap de Madeline and eastbound Autoroute 40. Lots of police out on this fine Saturday for running the black trail. Hammer down with caution. Great ride to Quebec City. Traffic at the junction for Saguenay and then smooth sail all the way to Baie St Catherine and the Ferry to Tadoussac. Perfect timing right onto ferry no lines no waiting. Quick cruise across and up the 138 to L’Escoumins. Touchdown 5pm. Stop at grocery for supplies and to hotel and all unloaded ready to ride. 
Calm before the storm literally as it seems we cannot catch a break. Second run in a row with a storm in the middle of it. Not many options as snow will be here and Gaspe and Saguenay so no matter what it’s gonna be snowing somewhere. We are sticking to our plan and it will be what will be. Up TQ3 direction east. We shall see. 

 

Monday - March 9
Skidoo 420, blackjack1 & I pulled out on sleds from Trois-Rives - Riviere Mattawin this morning at 8:15am.  Cloudy & snow flurries with a weather forecast of wind, snow & possible freezing rain.  Luckily all it did was snow all day!  Took 360 to 355 (Scorpionbowl’s favorite trail).  Gas in Lac Edouard & Lac Bouchette.  Continued 355 to 83 to LT to Saint Felicien for the night.  Arrived at du Jardin at 4:00pm. Snowed on and off most of the day and is expected to continue all night and all day tomorrow! Probably have 5 to 6 inches of fresh PowPow so far.  Interesting to see what tomorrow brings!  Stay tuned....
215 miles.
 

Day2
Woke up this morning to a fresh 5” of light fluff and still snowing. Early start today with the huge crowd here, want to beat the mass exodus of sleds. I’ve only been to the universal end of March. Good god this place was packed. Still a half hour wait for dinner at 8:30. Ordered a pizza and ate it in the room, no patience for that mess! Destination today was cap chat. Took the  greens to tq35 which was absolutely stellar with the fresh powder on top. Lunch at relais st damas. On into motel nanook for the night. Other then losing Eric for an hour after fueling up and heading to the motel.  Went back twice to the last place we where together to look for him. No sign. He went down a different feeder trail and got stuck. Good thing he was able to dig himself out as we never would have found him there as the sun was setting.  Alls good now! Where to tomorrow? We shall see. 262 miles for the day

Arrived at the Le Victorian in Victoriaville Friday afternoon. Same crew as a few weeks ago minus Momo. Figured we would try South of the Fluve for a change. Haven’t started this far west before and with the new snow we’d give it a whirl. Nice hotel, had the place to ourselves.  Plan today was RDL. Fresh groomed tq 35 to Tourville for lunch. Ridiculous amount of sleds on the trails. Passed more sleds by lunch then the entire 1700 mile loop we did a few weeks ago.  Relais in Tourville packed even at 1:30 took an hour and half to get outa there. From there to RDL  combination of blues, greens and orange trails all showing wear from the heavy traffic. At the universal in RDL for the night and this place is packed! I do believe I’m parked next to mike riders sled out back. 254 miles for the day. Eastbound in the morning.

We are at the Normindan in Levi, landed here around 2:30. The shuttle across the river is shut down.  Looks like close to a foot of snow.  Some wild riding coming in, white outs in the fields.  I really love those little red posts across the fields!!  Shuttle is supposed to pick us up first thing in the morning.

Here in Val D’or I am looking at it in parking lot.
thats another reason we trailer out. If any issues truck is close by. 

Tuesday 25 February 
Splendid stay as always at Hotel Matagami. Busy place the restaurant/bar gets alot of business from the people there in town. Out and heading down the 396 to 93 to La Sarre. Left at 9:30. Trail is nice. Has held up well just like the Lebel side. Grooming map shows 93 groomed to La Sarre. Seeing more activity with the colder temps. Gotta luv it. We are off. Nice temperature this AM cold is good. Have not run this trail down this direction in a long time. Same with the Lebel side yesterday’s ride seems we have done it the opposite way the last few times. Nice to shake things up. Trail has some spots where it’s open and the drifts have taken over but just a little bit. We run to first warming hut. Here we chat with two couples from North Bay, real nice folks we chatted at breakfast with the one gentleman. Met the rest of gang at first hut. They were leaving breakfast as we went in. We say goodbye and they follow us from the warming hut. The one gentleman says you guys can go first we don’t ride that fast. Okie dokie. We hammer down to second warming hut. We are there maybe 10 minutes they pull up. They ride pretty fast. We are leaving they are taking a break. Beautiful finish to St Felix for gas. It’s noon. Another gang we met at Forestel from Ontario. Parry Sound i think. They are headed up to Matagami. Eating lunch at the gas station. Nice store there got everything. Including Pizza and hot food. We have the usual full tank of super, Today is Reese’s peanut butter cups and a Pepsi. 
Finished we head off out 93 for La Sarre. Groomed and nice. Much more traffic headed east judging by ski tracks, well used since this morning  Its fast and fun. Quick run to Local orange trail I head south then back to 93 and on up to La Sarre. It’s been nothing but good trail today. Headed into gas we pass one groomer, nice. We fill up and get supplies for the hotel. On the way to Villa mon Repos here are 2 more groomers one following the other, I am thinking they must have just left the barn and will each take a different route a bit further out. Or if its a new technique I like it. Double grooming good just like double cheeseburger it’s twice as good. Good sign for the morning. Into hotel and what do we find? Villa Repos now has a Boston Pizza Restaurant in it. I like it. 
220 miles. 
Tomorrow we will recalculate and decide some things. We got a pretty good storm coming. I need to decide where to be. 
 

In summary. We rode 3 days free, bought 2 one day passes for today. Even though it was a warm, sunny, free weekend, there was surprisingly little traffic. Today, monday, almost none. 95% of the trails were groomed and in great shape. We found signage to be very consistent and good. Access to Hotels, food and gas was very good. We planned short mileage days in anticipation of tight, bumpy trails, we were wrong. If you're into miles, you could get them here. We had a great time and will add it to our Gaspe loop in the future.
     Hope this is a help to someone, Jeff and Sandy

Day 2 to Radison hotel, Fredrickton. 225k. Mostly rail trail again but very pretty following the st John river going through interesting towns

I know this is a Quebec forum, so I wish not to offend, but thought I would post this as some Quebec riders may be interested. This could be a nice addition to a Gaspe loop.
    We do the Gaspe about every year, and about 10 or 15 years ago we jumped into NB for a couple of nights, Edmundston to Campbellton. It was pre-GPS, we were in fresh snow and signage was poor. It was a frustrating trip.
   Thought we should give it another try. It unfortunately fell on their free weekend, fri, sat, sun. But that's how our schedule worked. 
    We're staged in Jonquiere, so we rode to Q city. then RDL.
     Day one to Best Western in Grand Falls 217k. Easy ride mostly rail trail.
 
    

We're spending a few days in the mountains tuning up some mountain skills ! 😁  Crazy amount of snow.  

Forgot this one .. Revelstoke  baby  ! 🙋‍♂️

Few feet of new on top of about 20 on the ground today  ! 😁

Another cold one this morning.  I start my sled and the motor temp reads -15 F (-26 C).
Today it is 2/3 of the Gutz brigade, Joe and myself.  A lot was groomed last night.  We cross the two bridges and take 134, pickle park.  Not too fast, I'm still adjusting.  Turn right on 93 and this is fast and flat.  The machines love this cold air.  We are going to be on the mountain today so we top off the sleds at the Nutrinor station in St Honore.  Back on the trail.  Just how we like it, smooth with a little dust on top.
We get up to the airport and the groomer had just left his house and is heading toward Mont Valin.  The trail is fine.  It doesn't need to be groomed but we will take it.  Unfortunately we go around him but like I said, the trail is just fine.  Winding around on 93 and we start up the mountain.  The trail is getting a little chopped up as we approach Valinuet.  A lot of tracks from the mountain sleds crisscrossing over the trail.  The further up we go, the trail gets better.  A lot more fluff on top of the trail here.  We pull into KM 31 for lunch.
Sometimes we stop here and sometimes we patronage the Chapelle.  Not too busy but more sleds keep arriving.  Beautiful view of Lac Jalobert up here.  Nice and clean at KM 31 and good food.
After lunch, we continue on 93 a little further to the groomer's house and we turn right onto 262.  We are going down the back side of the mountain.  The sleds are pushing some here.  More fluff on the trail.  A lot of tracks from the off trail guys thru this section.  We get to 264 and turn left.
Its a clear day and we decide to take a quick ride up to Pic du Lac du Sundicat lookout.  It has been a few years since I've been up there.  Only about 1 mile up the lookout trail to the top.  Nice view.  I think that is Jonquiere over there in the distance where the smoke stacks are.  Very peaceful up here so far away from everything.  I've got some old pics on a thread from a few years ago.  I'll have to go find it and bring it to the top.  There are 5 major lookouts made for us snowmobilers in this area.  If you haven't been on the top of them, it is worth the ride.
OK.  Back down the trail and left on 264.  This is in good shape as we get away from the top of the mountain.  Not as much traffic on the lower half.  We get to 328 and turn right.  I remember the FCMQ put  a lot of money into 328 a few years ago to make it more rideable.  It is much better than it was but there are a lot of ups and downs and lefts and rights.  No high speed runs on this.  About 20 miles later we get to 93. 
Decision time.  It is early and it is a nice day.  Go back the way we came on 93 or stay on 328?  We vote for 328.  It looks like it is in good shape at the junction and it will add a few miles to the day.
Off we go down 328.  It is good.  Not as much fluff as up on the mountain but the sleds dig into the corners so much better.  This isn't anywhere near as twisty as the eastern part that we were just on.  A good run thru here.  We pass St David and then turn left on 134 /93.  We were on this yesterday and it is still just fine.  No drifts.  A really nice trail.  Not too much for elevation change.  Just nice gentle curves and long straightaways.
We cross the 2 bridges and back at the Delta.  Not gassing up tonight.  Tomorrow we are going home.
This may have been my last trip for this season.  I have to see what is going on back at home and work.  That nasty four letter word.  Overall it has been a good season.  The sleds have been fine.  The truck and trailer were asking for a little attention but that has been taking care of now.
I'll see if I can find the old pics from the lookouts.  Be safe everyone.
Jack & Sandi

These were form 2010.  I think that was the second year the lookouts were made.  The clubs created the lookouts because the trail to the original tower lookout, on the top of Mont Valin, was closed.
Jack & Sandi

Here are some pics that Sandi & I took Jan 23rd & 24th before the rain came.
These are from the new scenic overlooks in the Mont Valin area.
You have to see these in person. The pics do not do them justice.
The first pics are Lac du Syndicat which is the overlook off of Bras de l'Enfer which is a local trail between trail 93 and 328
This is probably the steepest climb




It is steep.

The next pics are from the overlook that is off Bras Louis
A little steep but not as tough as Bras de l'Enfer Lac du Syndicat


Beautiful view of Valinouet

The next ones are from the overlook of Lac Boivin on trail 93 just after La Chapelle
Not too steep




Coming back down the access trail looking at Lac Jalobert

These are from the overlook of Monts Ste Marguerite
An easy climb
The first 4 miles on the access trail is flat and then the last mile is a slight climb
When we reached the overlook, I couldn't figure out how we got so high
AWESOME!



The last group of pics aren't from a summit but from the local trail from Bras Louis to Onatchiway







If you're on the mountain, bring your camera and spend a little time on these overlooks. They are breathtaking.
Jack & Sandi

We rolled in to the Quality Inn in Matane with 780 miles on the black trail.
We are going to try last year’s plan. We got snowed out last year after day 1.
We saw snow from Albany all the way to Matane. There were people riding sleds in Monteregie! We haven’t seen that in a few years.
We are heading to Grande Vallee tomorrow. I’ll post conditions.