revct1

Hi Peter, Welcome to Quebec Rider. It is a great site. Le Manoir Richelieu is a very nice place to stay, $$$. In the upper end of the price range, but nice. Saguenay is a day trip from Le Manoir Richelieu. From what I have seen posted so far this season is trail 3 west from Le Manoir may have issues as you get closer to Quebec City. Trail 3 gets a lot of traffic from people coming out of Quebec City especially on weekends heading to the Casino. One post mentioned that part of trail 3 near Quebec City may not be open yet. Heading north toward Saguenay is usually a very good ride. Also heading east on trail 3 to Tadoussac / Sacre Coeur is nice. You could make a nice three or four day loop depending on how many days and how your group rides. Day 1 up to Saguenay. Day 2 spend some time on Mont Valin. Day 3 ride trail 93 down to Sacre Coeur. Day 4 back to Le Manior Richelieu. There are a lot of variations that could be done, but the above is just a quick basic loop. Happy Riding! Jack & Sandi

Hi Sno Strm, Welcome to QR. I know your post is old but, have you got the info your looking for? All the trails that you will hit from NH are usually in good shape. The main trails are good to start with. They are normally groomed more often but get more traffic. Grab a trail map and there are plenty of hotels listed. Happy riding. Jack :D

I have been praying to the snow gods like everybody else. I told them that we need some help because we haven't had much snow this year and could really use a good foot or so. Well. They finally answered my prayers. :D CT and MA have 1 - 2 feet of snow!!! I forgot to tell the snow gods I wanted it dropped in Quebec! Jack

Amazing what sleds can go thru...........sometimes! Jack

I love temperature jokes! Non-snowmobilers don't understand. The beer jokes are great too. Thanks for all the funnies Bob & Groomer. Jack

Devil's Mointain (Mount Diablo) near Mont Laurier is one of the snowmobiling sights to ride to I am told. I hate to admit it but I have not yet been there myself. It is on my bucket list. Jack

Thanks for the info Groomer. Jack

I heard the NJ Turnpike was pretty good just after Christmas. Jack

Hi Bob, There are lakes that are near 73 but I have always stayed on the trail. Looking at the map, it doesn't look like any of them would save a lot of time. The only other short cut that they may have been refering to out of La Tuque is heading south on 347. This is the trail that goes north up to Odanak and then makes a u-turn heading back south to Matawin. Not far out of La Tuque you can get on a lake and cut off the big loop up to Odanak. It is the old trail from before Odanak. I know it doesn't help you on your route this time but that is the only thing that comes to mind. Roberval to La Tuque via 83 and 73 isn't a bad day. Jack

Hi Mark, Great video!!! Looks like the lower end of Bras Louis and then off to Onatchiway. I think we saw you at La Chapelle. I remember seeing a helmet cam. Jack & Sandi

Sorry to hear you had to come home GutZ. We cut our trip early too. Jack & Sandi

Welcome to QR to Reg800X and wulsock1. It is a great site for true riders. Good info without the bashing. Jack & Sandi

The 1200 is a 3 cylinder and Doo does have a supercharger that is driven by the secondary clutch if I remember correctly. Jack

Hi GutZ, We rode from Chicoutimi to Mont Apica yesterday. 23 was very good, Lac Kenogami was great and 83 was fair to poor. Yesterday you could ride and it was for the most part good. It was around freezing this morning and rain was in the forecast. This will beat up the trails near the HI because that had the least amount of white gold. 383 we couldn't take down to the barrage because it was closed and posted as a cul de sac. This may be due to the farmer's issues in Laterriere. 368 was open at the trail 23 end but I don't know if it is open all the way thru. That is why we stayed on 83. We're back in CT now because of the weather. I posted in the regional forum, Lac St Jean, Pics from the Peaks earlier about the conditions. Jack

Mother Nature should spread the wealth (snow) a little more evenly. Jack

Hi Huey2, I just posted on Pics from the Peaks. Not bad riding up until this morning. It sounds like this weekend is going to beat up the trails some. :( Jack

Well, a change of plans. Listening to the weather predictions for the next few days was depressing this morning :( . +5°C and rain for the Saguenay region. I checked the forecast for Mont Valin and even there above freezing temperatures and rain was predicted for Friday (today) and Saturday. 1 mm of rain on Friday and 5 - 10 mm of rain on Saturday. Sunday morning’s prediction was for drizzle in the morning and then clearing and finally cooler in the afternoon. Since we’re planning to make Sunday the last ride day, we decided to pack it in and head back to the States. I couldn't sit in a hotel room for 2 or 3 days watching it rain . When we left in the truck this morning at 9 AM, it was -4°C and drizzle. All the way to Quebec City it was between -4°C and +2°C with rain or drizzle or freezing rain. The rest of the ride was dry but still above freezing. We are now back in CT. Next trip scheduled for Martin Luther King weekend. Hopefully there will be some snow and the trails will recover. See you then . Oh, one last note. The road, route 175, from Quebec City to Chicoutimi is almost complete. At the Quebec City end, there is a section thru Stoneham that is still the old road. Once you get past Stoneham, the road is a four lane diveided highway all the way to Chicoutimi except for 1 mile at the Alma route 169 turn off. Jack & Sandi :)

Today we rode out of the Hotel Sagueneene. We took 83 west to the HI where we filled up with gas. Not too much activity there but we did see sled tracks. We continued on 83 for a short distance, went under the highway and then took 383 south. After a couple of miles there was a “cul de sac” sign. The trail was recently “rough” groomed so we kept going. We went a few more miles and came to another “cul de sac” sign. This one was on 383 at the junction with local trail 8 that goes west back to join 83. There weren’t many sled tracks so we decided to turn around and head back to 83. We continued on a bumpy 83 and took local trail 4 down to Lac Kenogami. Ten miles of smooth Lac Kenogami and back on 83. A groomer had recently passed. The trail was good. We continued on 83 to the junction with 23 and headed south. 23 was also recently groomed. We arrived at Relais Apica for lunch. A groomer had pulled into Relais Apica that had come from the direction of L’Etape while we were having lunch. It was a tough decision but it was getting late and we decided to head back to the hotel after lunch. Originally we were going to ride to L’Etape, but it would have made it too late. We returned via the same trails. The trails were everything from poor to very good. There was some snirt, some wet spots, sticks in the trails and other areas looked like mid January. It is still early in the season and there isn’t a lot of base yet. Right after the groomer the trails are pretty good but traffic beats the trails quickly. The weather forecast is predicting rain for Friday and into Saturday. We will see what happens. Jack & Sandi

Our first trip here this year. We started riding yesterday, Tuesday Dec 28th. If everything goes well, we will ride for six days which will make our last day on the trails Sunday, Jan 2nd. We are not staying at the HI. We stay with snowmobile friends who happen to stay at the Sagueneene. They rode a little bit on Monday before we arrived. They rode out of the Hotel Sagueneene and said the conditions were fair in town but better on the north side of the river. Tuesday we decided to trailer to Valinouét and then ride Mount Valin. We took trial 93 to La Chapelle. I thought we were in NJ. There was two feet of snow on the trails. It was ten o’clock and not too busy. We had a quick coffee and then continued on 93 to Lac des Six Milles and on to the C900. We then headed north to make a loop back to La Chapelle on local trail 252 and 251 by Lac aux Brumes. Lunch was at La Chapelle. We arrived just after noon. The place was packed. It looked like mid January. We had to wait a few minutes to get four seats. We talked to a couple of other riders later that night that had ate at the Auberge 31 and they said that the Auberge was also packed. We left La Chapelle and headed back on 93 to local trail 267, to Bras Louis and then back to Valinouét. Now the trail report. Considering that it is early in the season, all of the trails had been groomed within the past few days. There were many sleds out but the trails were still good. C900 was very good. Trail 267 to Bras Louis was the best we have seen it in a long time. The other trails were good. Wednesday we again trailered to Valinouét. Our destination was Scoobyraid for lunch. We headed west on 93 until the big intersection with trail 328. We turned right onto 328 still heading west. 93 was good but 328 was poor. It may be bad timing on my part but this section of 328 is always poor when I’m on it. When we reached trail 476 which goes north to Onatchiway, it was groomed. It was time to change the lunch menu to Onatchiway. Scoobyraid will just have to wait. 476 was a mixed bag of very good to this section must be new, it is skinny and look at all those sticks in the trail. Overall, 476 was pretty good. Onatchiway was almost full with the lunch crowd. Another good Quebec lunch and we are back on the trail. We headed east on trail 477 to Bras Louis. The logging operation that was going on last year is now gone. 477 is now last year’s logging road. It runs parallel with the old trail from last year but is wider and nicer. When we reached Bras Louis, we decided to turn left and make a longer loop to get back to Valinouét. Bras Louis would have been a little quicker but we remembered how nice 267 was. When we reached 93, we turned right heading back to Valinouét. We were still a little early so we decided to go up to the top of Pic du Mont Tremblay. This is the overlook that is one mile south of Valinouét. This overlook was open early last year and then was closed because most sleds could not climb the very last section. This year the very top of the trail has been rerouted to the right and circles around to the back side of the peak and then ends on the top. This trail is STEEP. :unsure: The view is fantastic. We didn’t have a camera so I can’t post any pictures but it is worth the ride up. Tomorrow we are going to try to ride out of the hotel and head south to have lunch in L’Etape. More reports will be coming soon. Side note: I exchanged US dollars here today at the Banque Nationale. The exchange rate was .96. That seems bad but what is worse is that it is not 96¢ US equals $1 Canadian it is $1 US equals 96¢ Canadian. Oh well. Nobody ever said it was a cheap hobby. See you soon. Jack & Sandi

Merry Christmas to everyone. Eat well and enjoy the company of family and friends. We hope to see many of the Quebec riders at the HI and on the trail soon. May the snow be with you. Jack & Sandi

Hi Bob, I've never stayed in Hebertville. I have been at the Universal in Alma. Not bad but it has a little skinny trail connecting the Universal to the main trail. We usually stay at either the Holiday Inn Jonquiere or the Sagueneenne Chicotimi. Once in a while we stay at Hotel du Jardin in St Felicien or the Chateau Roberval. All of these are big compared to a country type place but they have good accommodations and security for the sleds. Good luck on your search. Jack

I don't know what happened? :o The trail was here last year! Jack

And the boss doubles your Christmas bonus!!! Jack

Thanks to everybody for keeping us informed. This is great news for us and and all of the businesses involved. YEA!!! YEA!!! Jack

Chains are required on all vehicles going from Quebec City to Lac St Jean due to the 7 day snowstorm. All stand up and cheer. :yahoo: Jack