vt_bluyamaha54

A great loop and report guys. Safe travels home. It's snowing in Vermont as i write this so I fear Terry's trip home won't be easy. First storm to produce >6" in over 2yrs. Woohoo

Great report David. Good luck with the problem resolution on the 850 cooling issue. Add this stop to your next itinerary with the wives: http://www.appalachesspa.com/ I have spent allot of time in the last 20 yrs roaming around on the trails between the Eastern Townships and the Gaspe. There are many wonderful places in this part of Quebec. Road crossings can be tiresome in certain areas but it comes with the territory.

Did they ever do anything about a lockup there? A few years ago there were some issues.

Looks like good conditions and great weather. I think your best riding is ahead of you!! Be Safe, have fun guys.

So sorry for your loss Mark. Andyman said it quite well; everyone here is compassionate, level-headed, and welcoming. The outdoors has great capacity to restore and soothe us in difficult times. Ride safe.

I see what you mean by staying to the left and the approaching sled does the same so passes on your right. That's not normal. What you say makes sense. Signing standards (International Association of Snowmobile Administrators/Snowmobilers.org) says signs should always appear on the right side of the trail - like highway signs do for cars for familiarity. That is what you see for all other signs and I would think it would apply to staking also but maybe Quebec does it differently. That being said I remember riding divided snowmobile/ATV trails there being staked with red and blue posts that follow being to the right side of the trail (?)

I thought the stake should be to be to your right - so ride left of the stake (?) Thanks for bringing this forward Don. I'd like to know if there is a correct answer as I have never seen it written anywhere.

I always hoped he would write about his trips. I just hope his extensive photo collection is preserved and maybe one day can be shared. Thanks RoadRunner for sharing your pics and Mikerider for letting us know. Funny how we lose track of time. I didn't realize he was over 90. RIP Ken. May your adventures continue.

For whatever reason, people like to have "souvenirs" to put on their walls. This is an illegal act and there is a fine for taking them. I am not sure if the plastic replicas would satisfy the demand but it might be worth trying. I DO think it is about theft when you see the post/stake still there but a sign is missing. Groomer operators usually get tasked with putting signage out and taking it in but signs in some areas remain out all year - either for shared use trails (ATV) or because the local club and/or landowner decides its OK. Obviously, open fields are always picked up but woods trails may be left depending on the local decision. Left out, signs become targets for bored hunters and anyone else who doesn't understand that the sign they deface or steal may mean the difference between someone spending a night in the woods and getting to their destination. I for one, would hate to see a decision to have less signage because someone believed it wasn't necessary due to "everyone using GPS". Things happen and sometimes having a sign with a town's name is a great navigation aid in an unfamiliar area. Also, directional signage is decided by the local association but safety/caution signage (and its placement) is dictated by the International Association of Snowmobile Administrators.

Unsure how involved US (or foreign) militaries are with sleds Don but from A/C's investor presentation last Spring, they anticipated their sled revenues shrinking from 41% (FY16) to 28% (FY21) of the biz. ATVs percentage was to increase from 44% to 55% for the same FYs.

Can't really see an upside for Arctic's snowmobile business from this. Pretty sure Textron's interest is purely ATVs/SXSs for the military - which is a big piece of Arctic's sales.

I can see valve damage from things getting sucked in but not spring failure? - unless by having the valve remain partly open and allowing heat damage to the valve stem, and failure due to heat transfer to the spring?? Spring failure is generally a metallurgy issue; bad heat treat, bad steel formulation, or asking it to perform outside specs. If he ever lost a belt and over-revved, that might have fractured the spring and set the failure timer.

Another memorable trip Tom. Glad you + Jim made it back without injuries or other misadventures. Great pics and you had good weather and conditions overall. Hope to cross tracks again sometime soon.

So the Fleur de Lis in Perce is still closed in winter?

Glad operator is OK. Hope the Club can get a replacement or loaner quickly since this section of trail gets allot of traffic and has not always been maintained well in the past.

Glad it ended well. Jezus Tom, that's when it isn't fun any more. The water hole combined with the deteriorating weather should have been your 'sign' to turn back; I think it would have been mine.

No, b/c I don't want to mark everything (Mark site read). What I want to do is mark one of the topics read while I have the Unread Content screen displayed. Now you have to fully open an unread topic before you can make it read. Before, you could hover an unread topic in the content list and "Mark Topic Read" ( it would also show the 1st and last posts too - if I'm remembering correctly)

If you read further down that link, it spells out no SXS, etc. Maybe I am one of the few happy to see this b/c these 'snobikes' don't belong on groomed trails because they are only using them to get to a place where they can go off-trail. In many cases, they also do not have the same safety equipment as a snowmobile (working head/tail light, compliant exhaust system, etc). Fine for western US / Canada where there are more off-trail opportunities but not here IMO.

Yup. It was like a 2 bottom plow had gone down the trail. Admittedly snow conditions were not hard packed but they do leave a distinctive mark.

Is there a way to mark a TOPIC as Read when viewing 'Unread Content' from the forums like we used to be able to do?

You are correct Jack - 36L / 9.5g. SkiDoo says "up to 19mpg" for this engine so you confirmed it. Any of us riding for more than 10y have to find this amazing!

JG: Do you like the "razor"? We have been thinking of getting one for our drag since it would cut our de-brushing workload.

Andyman can confirm but it looks like Nova Scotia (?)

Tom, once again you have hit conditions at their zenith!! Have fun, be safe, and keep teasing the rest of us with the pics!

Iceman, you must have recharged your batteries over the summer because I would have bet you had your fill of breaking trail after "the North Shore Adventure" last year (?) LOL