revct1

Thanks for posting and the pics. What a way to start off retirement! It was good seeing you this year. Hope to see you next season. Take care and be safe. Jack & Sandi

The above restaurant is a nice place. Not accessible by sled but only a few minutes by truck from the Universal. We had a great time with a late season ride this past week. We enjoyed the company, the trails, the food and of course the happy hour. Saw a few more QuebecRiders at the Universal. For all of you still riding, enjoy this wonderful March weather. Back in CT it has been in the 50's and 60's. Jack & Sandi

Nice pics Mike. It is getting late in the season and the conditions still look pretty good. Jack & Sandi

Thanks for the feed back. Glad you had a good ride overall. Around Quebec City there are a lot of road crossings and traffic. Jack & Sandi

Looks nice guys.

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

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

Check the groomer map update Monday morning after 6:00 AM to see what was groomed. 23 (red) gets you up in elevation in about 10-15 miles. It is a lot of park roads so it is quick if smooth but if it is warm over the weekend and not groomed, it will be bumped up. 355 (green) would be my second option as long as it was groomed recently. Not as much traffic here. 73 (yellow) would be my last choice. Longest distance and like Iceman says, part of it has been plowed. Jack & Sandi

It has been a good week but then isn't any day of snowmobiling better than work? Be safe. Jack

Three of us this morning, John joins us. So today it is John, Joe and Jack. Hmm! It is cold, -25 C. The groomers didn't care. They were out last night. The trails should be good since it is cold and there won't be too many people out. The three of us pull out of the Delta and get on 83 west. Only a few sled marks.We take our time for the first ten miles or so. Let the sleds warm up and get the suspension moving. Beautiful ride on 83. The gentle curves and rolling hills. A fun way to start the day. Not too long and we are at Kenogami. Nice, the groomer even made a pass across the end of the lake. A couple of sleds coming toward us. Plenty of room. We turn right on 383. Pick up a little speed here. A nice variety of woods and fields. We turn right onto 563 to St Bruno. 562 around the airport and up to the bridge in Alma. The trails are perfect. The groomers knocked down the drifts. A little reroute here where the road construction is going on. Turn left on 93 and we are off and running. A quick restroom stop in St Henri and back on the trail. Joe says this is the best ride he has had this season. You're right Joe, it doesn't get much better than this. It is cold but that is what makes the trails so nice. 93 thru the fields and we are in St Monique. The power line is ahead. Not groomed last night but still smooth enough to let the horses run. We spread out a little with the snow dust in the air. Not any wind today. A few sleds parked at the end of the power line. I look to the right down 93 and I see the groomer coming out of St Augustin. Make a mental note of that because we are turning left to Peribonka. A little drifted thru here. A lot of open field running. The last stretch before Relais Vauverrt where the trail normally runs the side of the road, the road is closed. The trail is on the road. A nice straight wide stretch. Oh boy! Zoom and we pull into Vauvert. Good, they are open. Only two other guys in here. Another nice relais. Very clean and a good view of the snow covered lake. From here you can see how big the lake is. No hurry now. Time to warm up and have some of that good Canadian food. A few more sleds pull in. We talk about how nice the trails are. The groomers do so much work every night. Thanks again. After lunch we go a little further up 93 and then get on the local trail to St Jeanne-d'Arc. This is a quick little trail thru the scrubby pines. Time to gas up at St Jeanne. A u-turn on 93 to head back. More of the scrubby pines. Flat running up in this area. We come out behind Relais L'Erable. Maybe misspelled? Thru St Augustin and we pick up where I had seen the groomer earlier. Yea! He did 93 down the power line to St Monique. The day keeps getting better. Even though it is around -18 C, it doesn't feel that cold. It must be because we are having so much fun. After St Monique, we turn left on 367. We are heading into the blueberry fields. We make quick time of that and we turn right and take the short connector to 328. More blueberry fields. We keep the pace up. This is one of my favorite areas. Especially after it has been groomed. We zig zag thru the woods and just before Relais des Lacs, we turn left staying on 328. More woods than fields now. Thru Begin. 328 opens back up into some long stretches here. More open areas and no drifts. We get to where 93 was rerouted a couple of years ago above St Ambroise. Hmm! Its 2:30. We could turn right and head back OR we could turn left and make a bigger loop? It is too early to leave trails this good. We turn left. Up a little ways and we turn right still on 328 / 93. We cross the road and 134 / 93 is straight ahead. 328 leaves us to the left towards St David. 134 couldn't be any better. Smooth with some rolling hills. I think of Bill and Cindy every time I run this trail. They had gotten stuck in drifts here a few years ago had a bad experience getting out. It turned out alright in the end, but it was a few hours. No drifts today. Onto 134 pickle park and almost to the first bridge, where the water tower is, there is a groomer coming towards us. Some days when you think it cant get better, it does. These days make up for the bad days that we all have had. We cross the two bridges and we are back at the Delta. Great trails, really good company, good food, blue sky. What else good a snowmobiler ask for. I wish Sandi was here. Jack

So back to the ride. We head up the trail to 83 and turn right. Need gas. A few miles up by the little bridge, we turn right on local 27 and go into La Baie to the Ultramar and fill up the sleds. Lets go see the fishing village down on the bay. Joe has been there recently but I haven 't been there since the early 90's. Oh I'm showing my age now. We run along the trail which is the pedestrian way along the edge of the bay during the summer months. I was going to say during the good weather but the winter is the good weather for us. You can see the village from the pedestrian way as you ride along. We drop down onto the ice and follow the red stakes. This is a cool thing to see. If you haven't been here, take a ride thru. Sometimes we are so focused on getting from point A to point B, we miss the neat things in between. The snow is plowed to make little roads thru the village. The huts are all lined up in rows and blocks. Cars, trucks and sleds parked next to the huts. There are probably a few bicycles tucked away in here. We get off the bay and get on the beginning of trail 368. We wind our way around and then 368 opens up into fields. A little wind blown here and some drifting but we can live with that. Cruising along we get to 83 and turn right. Not much further now. Thru Chicoutimi and I can see the Delta. What a nice day of riding in Quebec. Jack

Hi Jim, The oxygen helmet is waiting for me at Performance NC in Sherbrooke. It wasn't there when I came up on Monday. I'll have to test it next time. I've read about the Auberge on QR but never stopped there. It is in La Baie and it is about 40 miles from Jonquiere so it would be too early for lunch unless you make a loop and hit it on the way back. Call first to see if they are going to be open. Like I said, they only open if they have a group coming in and then anyone can stop in. Jack

I'm a day behind here. Yesterday, Joe and I decide for a ride east on 83. We are going to meet some of the other QRs at the Auberge des Battures for lunch so we have to time this right. We are gassed up and off towards Chicoutimi. We be good and go slow thru the 20 kmh zone on 83. There are plenty of places we can run fast without getting the local people upset. The trail is good. We go by Bec-Scie and keep on cruising. Everything is fine. I get to the turn off for the Auberge and look at the time and the odometer. Its 9:30 and we are suppose to be at the Auberge for 11:30 for lunch. The loop we want to do is about 60 miles so this should work out just right. We continue on. This part of 83 was groomed the night before. Just a little chatter in the corners. A little oncoming traffic but 83 is wide and everyone is behaving. We get to the 383 cutoff to L'Anse St Jean and the groomer had come out of there last night. The next stretch should be perfect. Joe asks me if I want to swap machines and try his 900 Turbo? Sure! I've been curious on how it would feel compared to the 850. On we go. I'm a little unsure because it has the ETC, electronic throttle control, that was on Sandi's 1200's that I could never get accustomed to. It is a lighter push on the lever compared to the cable control on the 2 strokes. Not as twitchy as the 1200's were. OK. I'm getting comfortable with this. I'm in regular mode. Joe has a nice seat on this. Later he tells me its Ski-Doo's big soft seat. I could be sitting in my easy chair at home watching a game. This is comfy. The 12 km go by fast. We turn right onto 383 by the relais. I refer to this relais as the one legged bird relais. A few years ago there was a little bird that had lost a leg some how. He would hang around here and wait for sleds to pull in. I remember the first time we met him. We had parked and this bird flies over and lands on my windshield. I had a package of crackers and opened them and when I looked back at the bird, I noticed one of his legs was missing. He would take pieces of crackers right out of your hand. So cute. So that is my story about the one legged bird. Maybe some of you have seen him too. Back to the sleds. Joe tells to stay on the 900. He wants me to get used to it. We run up 383 to the first local trail, trail 22. 383 was groomed last night and there had been sleds on it. Very smooth. 22 was also groomed but no one on it yet. We are first. Yea. A couple of centimeters of fresh snow on the trail. Off we go. A little twisty in here. There is some logging going on but nothing interfering with the trail. Before we know it, we are back at the junction with 83. Here we swap back and get on our respective sleds. I want to ride the 850 again while the 900 is fresh in my mind. Hmm? What happened to my nice soft seat? Oh yea, my sled. The 900 is a little heavier on the front end. It corners pretty close to the 850. I'm used to the 850 so I know exactly how it is going to respond. The 900 I didn't push as hard. Not my sled and again, I'm not used to it. Rear suspension, I didn't even feel it back there. It felt like a shorter track. Probably that big soft seat absorbed what the suspension doesn't. I could ride either sled. Its all snowmobiling. While we were switching sleds, a group of about ten sleds go by heading in the same direction as we are going. We take off and we do catch up to them but they are rolling along at a good clip. No I'm not going to try and pass them. Ten sleds, no. It is only 8 km further to the turn. They go straight and we take the trail to the Auberge. I haven't been there before but Joe has and the others. Its about 5 miles down their trail. It does get groomed so it is in decent condition. We pull in and I see that the other guys are here. I look at my watch, 11:28. Perfect. We go inside and Bill, JD, Daniel, Colette and the Gutz boys are here. Very nice place. It sits right on the bay. They are only open for lunch if someone calls with a group of 6 or more. We did and there are others that are coming that aren't with us. A really good soup. It looks like carrot to me. Warm rolls. I get the trout and Joe gets the pork. This is really good. Then comes dessert. A white cake with a light maple syrup with whipped cream and two raspberries. Oh I could make a meal out of about five of these. Wow that is good. To be continued.

Thanks for the update.

This morning the forecast is for 3-5 cm of snow and 70 kmh winds this afternoon. You could fool me. It is a beautiful blue sky and no wind this morning. We are going riding. Daniel, Collette, Bill, Joe Jak and myself head out. We cross the river via the two bridges to the north side. Not everything was groomed last night but the trails are fine. 367 to St Ambroise and left on 93. Destination - the truck stop in Milot. We take 554 up to Relais des Lacs. No stopping here, Daniel is on a mission. 328 is fine and we turn right on local 553. This is one of those fun trails that doesn't get a lot of traffic. It is always a nice ride. We get on 367 and up thru the blueberry fields and along the side of the river. At the top of 367, we jump on the Peribonka River take 373. This was groomed last night and only a few tracks ahead of us. About 10 miles in, the trail has been plowed for the logging operations. A few sleds coming towards us and they stop and speak with Daniel. A minute later we are going again but Daniel is going slow and stops at the top of a hill. I'm towards the back of our group so I can't see what he's looking at. A minute or two later, I see a big front end loader backing up towards us. Ah ha. He is pushing the banks back on the trail for the logging trucks. We carefully go around him and we are back on good trail. Heads up to other riders. He didn't clean off all of the snow but it isn't the nice trail it was. We pick up speed and run the last stretch into the truck stop. So nice with the new gas pumps here. Good lunch. Menu du jour for $12.95. You get soup, the meal which there are 6 or 7 choices, coffee and a dessert. Yum, triple chocolate cake today. After lunch with full tanks of gas, we continue on 373. We break off onto trail 900 and run down thru St Augustin. The long power line run into St Monique has a little chatter on it. Thru the fields and we are in St Henri. The short jump on the edge of the Lac and I think about the Frenchmen that went in the water a few weeks ago. A sad feeling goes thru my body thinking that it could have been avoided. On we go down 93 thru St Nazaire and St Ambroise. So good. The sky has gotten overcast and a few flurries in the air. As we go thru the scrubby pines on 367, the wind picks up. Not a whiteout but the weather is deteriorating. We aren't far from the Delta and we push on. A little more snow and more wind. Across the two bridges and a few more miles and we are at the Delta. It is getting nasty out but we are back. Up in the hotel room, I'm on the eighth floor, and I can't see the highway behind the Delta. Now it is getting to be a whiteout. I'm glad we are back. Jack & (Sandi is home not feeling good but getting better)