snowfarmer

Going to have to start trolling the for sale sled sections and find that " only driven to the La Chappelle on Sundays by a little old lady " Type sled

There's always fat tire bikes & ski de fond....

Going to have to start trolling the for sale sled sections and find that " only driven to the La Chappelle on Sundays by a little old lady " Type sled

Sunday's route 233 miles. We had surprisingly good trails. It was very wet when we left the hotel in Matane. We could see that the snow was compacted from the rain but the trails were flat and smooth. 587 was best of the day. I think it is less traveled. When we got to the bridge at Matapedia it was bare. I was happy to have wheels. After crossing the bridge there was little snow till crossing the Rail road tracks. The wheels were in use. Once out of the small town all was good again. 587 to 5 Last 40 miles. 5 had seen some heavy traffic. 5 needs some tlc.

It depends on many things like hockey tournaments, how large is the place you are staying at, how good the trails are, what time you are getting in at night, etc.  With 8-10 riders, I would definitely call ahead.  I wouldn't want to be looking for rooms for 10 people at 8:00 PM in a small town. 
Jack & Sandi

The only time I ever changed a trailer tire on a trip was on 175 north of L'Etape before 169.  That was very hairy.  I think they widened the road since then.  Funny a SDQ (some kind of police officer) passes by then comes back to put up a warning sign behind us for safety.  The police car pulls up, puts the sign up and out hops an extremely attractive woman who offers to help.  Oui SVP!

Hoping Krikri is feeling better soon. Make sure she is getting lots of rest. The pneumonia can be tough if you don't take the time to rest and not try to do too much. 
Sorry to hear. 
Hang in there Alain and take good care of Krikri. 

Club Mauricie posted these photos of a few trouble spots, certainly there are more.....
TQ23 near St Alexis

Between Lac A Tortue and St Tite

 

Ha funny, just got done washing them. Not as bad as I thought. Just a light haze of salt spray on the front. They cleaned up easily. The truck and trailer where cleaner than usual when we got home too. Her windshield on the Cat didn't much like the highway speeds. Only 2 screws left holding it on. The others pulled the rubber grommets off. Much further and it woulda flew off. 
I also gotta say good job to Klim, FXR, and the Skidoo Absolute Zero gear ( or who ever makes their stuff ). After riding through that monsoon in the mountains for the better part of 100 miles, everything stayed dry, all the electronics survived. Pockets where dry.  And everything was dry by morning, even the saddle bags. Packing everything in zip lock bags and water proof bags worked and only my tshirt was a little damp. So we where able to put on nice dry clothes for dinner. Everybody was mostly dry on the trail, only a few minor issues with water getting in. And we weren't wasting any time either. We where running 60 plus mph up 595 in a down pour. It sucked, not gonna lie. But wouldn't trade the experience for anything. It was a hell of a ride albeit a shortened one. I'll never forget this one. 

I agree it was great when Bernard owned it and  I heard the new owners are just the same going up this Thursday and staying there.

Sunday March 5 th at Selecthotel in Amqui we are getting together with Jean-Guy for supper. If you are in town and would like to join us we would love to see you. 
If you know you'll be there please let us know and we will try to get an area but if you just land their next Sunday that's great too!
thanks!
lindasledgirl and Groomer ⛄
 
 

Harrington Harbor Quebec this morning, it is actually an island we had to ride across the sea ice from the mainland to and from.

Some of the trail and views from Johan beetz over to aguanish and onto Chevery yesterday afternoon. Note the stakes or tripods every 50 feet👍 The single track sections are between johan and aguanish. The staked trail and very new warming huts are on the ministry maintained trail between Kegaska and Chevery

No, we where going to finish but my sled (2016 Rene X 600 etec)started overheating Friday morning for as of yet unknown reasons. Nothing I did seemed to help.  The temp just went slowly up and up until the light came on. I tried to push on but we weren't making good time. The coolant was full, getting the sled in loose snow didn't help either. Acts like the Tstat is stuck. Then as we where towing my sled back to the copper with the ol ladies Artic cat the other guy in the group hit the bridge just north of the copper on 5 and bent his control arm pretty bad. (Yamacat) plus it's making a noise like the cooling fan is hitting something. Apparently he was nearly ejected over the side of the bridge. The rear of the sled was sitting up on the cable at a 90 degree angle to the bridge. That was the story being told by the 2 female observers that where behind him. Hopefully he learned the value of self preservation while riding when 2 days away from the truck. He was going too fast. We had two ladies with us on this trip, and even after the deluge and mostly miserable weather and trail conditions we had rode in for the better part of 100 miles they still where having a ball. My  woman worked with the brother of the owner of the copper and came up with the rental car on the back of the flatbed idea. Somehow. Not sure how they pulled that off with  the language barrier bet they did. I was outside with my sled ripped in pieces trying to find a problem. DNF's are unacceptable. In my mind at this point We where going to finish somehow.  They first said there was a bus back to RDL that runs every day but we had missed that. Then they offered a helicopter ride that started out as 800 bucks back to RDL to get trucks. That turned into about 3500 when they wanted to charge to bring it in from Gaspe to Murdochville, then to RDL and back to its home port which I understood to be in Murdochville.  The helicopter ride would have been fun and a good story but not for 3500. The flatbed and rental was 1350 split 2 ways minus the rooms we no longer needed plus gas food and beers, subtract US to Can dollar conversion and it was nearly a break even expense. And now I can cross off driving a car out in the Gaspe. 132 is a nice ride. The trip ended well with no regrets, lessons learned and a good time had by all. I'll be back next year with a rain suit and a shiny new Renegade X 1200. This was my first time in 11 years of riding in Quebec that I got a DNF, and first trip to the Gaspe

My son and I just got back from doing the loop and couple weeks ago. We stayed in Rimouski next to last night of our ride. Going around clock wise our mileage was from Rimouski to Grande Vallee was 240 miles.  Nice little hotel  motel on the water. From Grande Vallee to Perce was 214 miles.  Lots of sites to see.  We did make a short trip in to Gaspe just to say we were there. The rock in Perce is amazing. We did find about 15 miles of rough trail between Gaspe and Perce.  No big deal. Perce to New Richmond was 142 miles. Lots of deer. New Richmond to Amqui 210 miles. We took rt5 to L ALaverne to a orange trail and went north to 5 and then South to 587. If you look at a map you will understand. On 587 catch the first orange trail that goes through Mann Settlement back to 587. The 587 trail is special in my opinion.  Mountains and valleys but still pretty fast. Then it would be easy day back to Rimouski.  The whole peninsula is special.  We been there three times and each time was better than the other. There was only 2 of us and we did ride from 8 30 or 9 to 5 to 6 o'clock.  March will be a lot more daylight for you. All I can say is it is great. I always remember meeting another rider years ago and he told me that Gaspe is as close to being in heaven as it gets.  Hope all this helps.  Be safe.

need more style and agressiveness !!!!
 
 

We did the tour listed below last week and it turned out great, skirted the storm as planned/hoped. The base was big, and the dump on top should mean lots left after this week's warm-up. Also, we were pleasantly reminded that "white" on the grooming web updates sometimes means it just didn't need it. Don't miss the sled museum in the basement at Hotel Copper in Murdochville! We went over these miles by a bit each day, but all days were pretty easy:
  ...Weather forecasts from different sources varied throughout the week, so i made the move to drive a few more hours east of RDL Saturday and set ourselves up in Amqui, so we'll have more flexibility later in the week if we need it, and we’re looping around back west at the end of the week to catch a night at the original place we were going to launch from. Here’s our story, locked & loaded!...
 
 
HQ, Sat 2/11) 11hr-10min/677mi from Hinsdale, MA
Sélectôtel, 340 Saint-Benoît Boul O, Amqui, QC G5J 2G2 www.selectotelamqui.com  418-629-2241
http://www.viaexplora.com/snowmobile/index.html?unit=mi&lat=49.126876&lng=-66.933766&zoom=7&force=1&ewaypoints=4847549,-6742737,-51108,16413,1552,33206,12206,81353,14652,-961,3114,42380,37645,-45538,30992,66439,-57824,97532,13340,30445,31654,-26930,17144,8789,21304,-141045,-10573,-68219,-27575,-103091,-38188,-97627,-63921,-106507,5827,84754,54424,92285,4919,30487&cst=1.0,1.01,1.05&csts=1.0&cstr=1.01&spd=50000,50000,50000
 
Day 1, Sun 2/12) 180mi, Trails: 5e, 587se, gas in Matapedia, 5e
HOSTELLERIE BAIE BLEUE, 482 boulevard Perron, Carleton-sur-Mer G0C 1J0 http://baiebleue.com/hostellerie/  (800) 463-9099 (418) 364-3355 
http://www.viaexplora.com/snowmobile/index.html?unit=mi&lat=48.304211&lng=-66.770302&zoom=9&force=1&ewaypoints=4847173,-6743784,-48342,14164,-471,35540,11609,82247,963,-1579&cst=1.0,1.01,1.05&csts=1.0&cstr=1.01&spd=50000,50000,50000
 
Day 2, Mon 2/13) 180mi, Trails: Local to tour windmills, 5e, 595n, gas @ Relais De La Cache, local e, 597s
Hôtel Copper, 700 5e Rue, Murdochville, QC G0E 1W0 www.hotel-copper.ca  418-784-2566
http://www.viaexplora.com/snowmobile/index.html?unit=mi&lat=48.661889&lng=-65.956970&zoom=9&force=1&ewaypoints=4810928,-6613388,13192,-230,1846,44673,39826,-46704,30100,66532&cst=1.0,1.01,1.05&csts=1.0&cstr=1.01&spd=50000,50000,50000
 
Day 3, Tues 2/14) 190mi, Trails: 597s, gas in Grande-Rivière, 5e, local to Perce Rock, gas in Gaspe, 5ne
Auberge Le Caribou, 82 Boul Renard O, Gaspé, QC G4X5H1  www.aubergelecaribou.ca  (877) 260-3344
http://www.viaexplora.com/snowmobile/index.html?attraits=&unit=mi&lat=48.791914&lng=-64.811012&zoom=9&force=1&ewaypoints=4897492,-6549609,-58668,97626,13198,30430,48453,-18275&cst=1.0,1.01,1.05&csts=1.0&cstr=1.01&spd=50000,50000,50000
 
Day 4, Wed 2/15) 180mi, Trails: 5w, gas in Mont-Saint-Pierre
Hôtel & Cie, 90 Boulevard Sainte Anne O, Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, QC G4V 1R3  www.hoteletcie.com 418-763-3321
http://www.viaexplora.com/snowmobile/index.html?attraits=&unit=mi&lat=49.407878&lng=-65.533762&zoom=8&force=1&ewaypoints=4900686,-6439622,21916,-138954,-10714,-70473,541,205&cst=1.0,1.01,1.05&csts=1.0&cstr=1.01&spd=50000,50000,50000
 
Day 5, Thurs 2/16) 250mi, Trails: 5w, gas in Matane & Rimouski
Hôtel Universel, 311 Boulevard de l'hôtel de ville O, Rivière-du-Loup, QC G5R 5S4 www.hoteluniverselrdl.com  418-862-9520
http://www.viaexplora.com/snowmobile/index.html?attraits=H&unit=mi&lat=48.702718&lng=-68.003481&zoom=8&force=1&ewaypoints=4911818,-6648816,-27830,-103464,-38151,-97355,-63828,-106324&cst=1.0,1.01,1.05&csts=1.0&cstr=1.01&spd=50000,50000,50000
 
Day 6, Fri 2/17)  190mi, Trails: 576se, 85se, local to 544se, 571se, gas in Squatec, 546, 35ne, 5e, 579se, gas in Saint Gabriel, 579se to 587se Radar/Mummies in La Redemption/Ste Irene
Sélectôtel, 340 Saint-Benoît Boul O, Amqui, QC G5J 2G2www.selectotelamqui.com  418-629-2241
http://www.viaexplora.com/snowmobile/index.html?attraits=&unit=km&lat=48.419208&lng=-68.480255&zoom=8&force=1&ewaypoints=4781976,-6956066,7059,84241,53122,55660,-234,36447,5307,35805&cst=1.0,1.01,1.05&csts=1.0&cstr=1.01&spd=50000,50000,50000
 

This is the route we are planning on doing . I did a lot of research of all the old posts on here.Received some Input from some of the veterans like  Snowfarmer,SMclelan,Iceman and others.
Many people said the Murdochville to LaCache was a "must do Trail"
For lodging go to Quebectrails.com for some ideas.
I had a couple nights was having problems finding rooms. Called Louise at Quebectrails (speaks very good English)and she had us rooms books in minutes. The only way they benefit is if you buy trail permits from them. So 5 from our group ordered permits and she courier to our starting hotel in Mont Joli.
We are started the loop on Monday Feb 27,  
 
 
 

So it's our last day in paradise,  we hand back the sleds to day ( very emotional for pat lol ) ready to fly home tomorrow. 
It's been absolutely awesome,  the trails have been the best in a long time. We have riden with some fantastic people, met old  friends and made some new ones.
It is sad to be going , but I guess all good things come to a end.  So we will get home and book flights for next year.  
Best wishes to everyone and I hope we see you all in the lobby of the Delta feb 2018.
Gary and Pat.

Also a little fresh snow this am for the ride! From the looks of the grooming report, we have a broke and groomed trail for the next 35 miles to Baie Johan beetz
 Beetz

Markus
We got an early start,  on the sleds around 7, we were off on our journey!
We wanted to get ahead start on the weather system coming in, You hit the report perfectly,  the first 25 miles were great to the Mosey River, then the next 45 miles,  would make you ask your self  I am doing this because I want to right? This section had the machine thru without a drag,  a long time ago. But not marked particularly well,  rough,  but rideable,  helps greatly to have a gps.
This section,  would be ugly, after or during a snow storm, we lucked out today with decent visibility and some sleds have been thru. Than after 45 miles, and crossing river Tortue, bang, there was a fairly fresh groomed trail!  Wow, should have checked fcmq and the groomer surfacing report, we would not have been so shocked,  from there on in we rolled it out fast, checking into to Hotel du Havre around 2 PM and 170 miles on.  A great first day on out journey,  prepared to rough ride it in, but very happy, the last 100 miles were great! 
On to Chevery tomorrow! 

I have to smile at this ! I see Don at the  local library telling skidoo stories during story telling hour to the little kids  and adults alike ! I'm hooked!!

The rear axle bolt on one of the 154 free rides broke and disappeared, just north of Godbout. If the rear axle had come out, it wood have been a yard sale of parts flying and possibly a spoiled track.  We noticed it, McIvered a hd wire tie wrap thru the rear axle and  tied it off to both rails to keep the axle in. It worked for 50 miles!  We lucked out for sure!

Day 3 Wednesday 
pulled out of Roquemont at 9am. 73 north direction La Tuque. Trail is flat and was groomed last night. Seeing some tracks ahead so we got some out ahead of us. Not easy to tell cause like most everyone they seem to be riding right down the center. But I am pretty sure they are headed north. We hammer on. Nick is doing just fine all is good. Maybe 10km from Rivere a Pierre I see a little snow dust. Hello dere, i squeeze her just a bit, just around a sweeper right and there is the first two. They are a group of 4 sleds i see two more further up. The first two get with the program right quick. I'm going so it can be your way or mine. We all get by. The next one fairly simple its the last one that loves the middle. He is clueless that I am on him like white on rice. I swear there is almost enough room to take him on the right. He would not be the first I've passed like that. But not today. I don't want Nick following me past him on the right. Finally he realizes i'm not his group. We get on up. Trail is still showing track headed north. We shall see. 
Trail is really super groomed and very fast. We bang it out and just before the rail line crossing I smelled them before I could see them. We come upon a big gang of locals heading to chalet or something with a bunch of two ups and a few singles. They are no problem and easily wave us by. Then another we pass him too. Now I got fresh trail not a mark on it. Hammer down we cruise on this perfect trail and take it smooth right into Gas in La Tuque. I must say the sides of the roads, gas stops, hotels, and road crossings all are more like late March than late February. Very melty. Ugly. We got lots of places taking a big hit from the meltdown. 
We suffer a casualty at the Gas. The Enduro has lost reverse again. Was serviced specifically for no reverse and they changed relay said it should be good. Well that was a lie. It's not. Not the end but frustrating. We can do without it. 
Couple of candy bars and a gatorade and up 73 we go. Melty as hell through town. Trail to Odanak and beyond just awesome.
We would be amazed how quickly this would change 6 hrs later as we are headed back to La Tuque. (More on that after)
traffic has been light not many headed south yet. It's early they are coming. We encounter a few here and there headed south. At Rapid Blanc it's bare road all the way to bridge and over it. Not crazy far but sucks. I hate getting my sled dirty. Just aint right.
we are running here after Rapid Blanc on the super highway there. And around the corner comes a group of yamaha's. Those of you familiar with this section know its easily 2 groomers wide here. These guys are on the left and pushing it. I aint having it. I move right at em fricking jack asses probably fresh off the beer from relais 22. Morons. Nick goes up the snowbank practically this is ridiculous. I almost turned around to ask them what the issue was. Just stupid. I am all for riding fast but if you need the whole trail to do it, then you suck. 
Ok closer to Relais 22 we see two big groups southbound. Wow some big gangs. Up and into Relais 22 at around 2:30pm. 
Plan was to take the gas and go up 83 for 50 miles then burn it back. Leaving 22 it starts Raining/Snowing/Sleeting all of the above. Oh well. We push on and it's starting then stopping. Trail is big and beautiful. Quebec perfection. We click it off like butter. 
We swing around at a big road to head back. We take a quick break. Phil and I shut down our sleds and right off we hear the 600 SDI is not well. Shaking like crazy and just not right. Now we knew it was rolling the dice taking this "old iron" out on tour. We purposely kept most nights withing easy pickings for the rescue vehicle from Chez Iceman. (Always on standby). We knew this was our farthest point out and sure enough we were gonna pay for our gamble. The boy pulls the plugs and sure seems as PTO side is way lean. Not good. We change plugs as it's all we couId do seeing as I left the spare bomb making materials back at home silly me. Tick Tock. Ok the boy rode close to 700 miles so far to this point. Sled was fully serviced and tge compression was 145/150 respectively. Brand new intake boots and all. You just can only do so much. It's rolling the dice 🎲. Simple as that. 
......to be Continued