vt_bluyamaha54

The  part of your report I find concerning is:  St Paulin was closed and looked like it was all winter.  I hope they will be open for business next year.  I am worried some of these small places may not survive Covid.

Not happening .when i start worrying about mileage and $$ for gas I will quit riding  
not sure what you mean deal up? 
I bleed yamaha blue 
 
 

Sure miss Bill on here. I had heard he found a temporary home in Maine until he can return to the Delta. 

Sure miss Bill on here. I had heard he found a temporary home in Maine until he can return to the Delta. 

Took two trips west to ride the mountains in Gallatin forest and finishing the season with a trip to Maine. Greenville to NEOC for lunch yesterday.    More moguls than not. 

This morning we were out the gate at 0630 and at Shin Pond at 0745. Coffee and jumped on the rental Polaris's.  The fun factor of these sleds and their amazing handling made for an enjoyable day. Went up around Libby's Camps, across to Unclocus  Camps and back to Shin Pond at noon for lunch with 110 miles on the rentals. Trails were fantastic. Riding back to the hotel hit a few small stretches of chop over by Abol Dam. Great sunny day with below zero start and mid thirties finish.  One hundred and ten years of snowmobiling between gkw and myself. Then happy hour talking about all the great sleds of the 60's and 70's, for those that know back then what a Red Baron or Honker meant.
 

Maine doesnt suck. :-) You just have to know where and when not to ride...and then there is a pretty good chance it will be great. The scenery is spectacular.
 
That said, I miss Quebec trails being in the mix ! I just pray the pit stops and hotels we know and love in Quebec survive the level of lock downs they have applied. It has been intense from a business standpoint for sure. I can forsee a 2021 Quebec thread named “Its closed now post it here” unfortunately. 

Thanks mike for re- Introducing the area to me as  al Quebec rider I might not have ever came back to this area the trails and grooming are top notch and I have a lot more to explore also my first 300 mile day in Maine 
 

It was moving to see it. Had another great day today. Left Milly about 9 and headed to the B52 Crash Site. Always wanted to see it but dont care to ride Greenville area so it was a chance to drop down to the site from here and then to Kokajo and back. Another 160 miles. Some great views up here on the trails. Dowtown Connector was trash. Out of town was good to perfect.Yes, Weekends are so different..agreed! Real fun day though. Head home in the AM. Great trip. 

one of the woman accusing Kavanaugh later admitted she actually never met him and was ushered forward by pelosi....nothing surprises  me anymore , we have an 11 mile razor wire fence around the capital with military equipment and 1500 soldiers guarding the representatives of the worlds freest country....Would you not think you were doing something against the will of the country if you need this kind of protection...from your own countrymen ???  ....WHAT???? But we do not need security on our borders...this will not end well, and it is embarrassing.

I am so much more infuriated with the double standard blatantly being shown but no one says a thing. What happened to believe all women and how Justice to be Kavanaugh was basically crucified by the media and yet not a peep for this business with Cuomo. 
If you still believe the media is not in on this entire show keep living under that rock.

bonsoir !!!
is supper and rouge ready ????...aahhaha
 
jean-guy
 

The man has a passion for the sport like few others. For years he put +10,000 miles on per season!  I hope I can still be enjoying snowmobiling when i am his age. 

My audio/visual expert was on trail today.

8B9AD5FF-873C-4E12-8C05-A94FA43672F6.MP4

Blue skies and near 0c today. Everything showing a fresh pass of the drag, so after 2 hours of online teaching this morning I told the Mrs to suit up its her turn today to take a spin around. Requested permission for takeoff and was cleared by the tower. All systems go. I asked her like always long or short ride. Being her first day out I already knew the response but I asked anyway. Out the driveway and TQ3 to Shawinigan is nice, still brown but nice. The new snow helped alot but I have discovered the problem that exists all around here on every trail I have been on. You know what it is? There is no base. Zero frozen base. The meltdown Christmas cost us the base we had and we never really had time to set up another. As soon as it snowed the sleds and quads were out tearing it down to nothing, sure they groom it but there is nothing solid frozen under the snow except frozen earth. Understand? Once it warms up it will be gone fast near here. 


 
Well anyway back to the ride.
Few more sleds out today on this beautiful day. She is a nervous one with her gas situation and near half of a tank is making her twitch a bit so I head for Lac a Tortue and petro canada to get her filled up. Trails much more decent than yesterday. After the gas we backtrack to TQ3 then head toward St Severin on 353 i think to Relais de Station. I got to tell you I honestly have only been inside once many years ago. It’s a great pitstop and the Mrs has used those facilities many times. They got a pretty good crowd for a Covid Thursday. 2 big trailers to go in to warm up in parking lot.(i did not go in these) Its open for food. You order on one side then pay then go to the dining room where you are sitting in litte isolated cubicles. 2 per table supposed to be from same address. They take your name and address and phone number when you order. Nice stop but time to ride some. St Severin to St Stanislas all nice great ride. In Stanislas trail no longer passes through old Rogers Cabin which is now demolished and One new private house sitting on the side of the property.








 

Local trail to St Genieveve de Batiscan I have not been on this trail in years its changed alot. But very nice. Less traffic on this section as I can still see the fresh groom trail . Interesting. Once we arrived at the River Batiscan in the village it was obvious why. The river looked great lots of tracks running down the middle but getting out there hmmm. Let’s say I had to think about it. A good five to six feet of broken ice and water (overflow is what I told her) but it was just separated from the shore. I was not sure the approach was small and steep and I knew I could hit the bottom and nail it, and lift my skis and skip it. I had to convince her and talk her through it. Once I explained it was do this or go back to St Stan to make it back home we were going for it. I told her watch what I do (hoping it was not sink my sled in this river) my instincts were correct. No worrys skipping out onto the solid ice. She handled it like a pro and now we are blasting down the Batiscan river. Lots of real slushy bits, pretty sketchy for February. I told her keep up we aint stopping on this river, I had to laugh when as I said that and looked back for her as I was railing it she was right on my bumper telling me go faster. Ok honey. Getting off the river open water there too but here was more really just overflow there was ice under the water. 
 
Now we are on the 351 and as those of you that know it will agree as it follows the Autoroute 40 its got some nice long rips. We had stopped for a break and just got rolling I am cruising at about 120kmh and damn if she don’t pass me like I am standing still, chuckling on the radio as she goes by. I must say I am more and more impressed with her skills everytime we ride. She has very limited seat time but is a great rider. So many times i speed ahead through the twisty stuff and wait to watch her cornering. She is right all the way everytime. She better be. She had a good teacher. 
She leads us back to Cap de Madeline and up through St Louis de France great run back to the house. Great first day for her.

Today's ride in Maine was northeast to Oxbow, following York's recommendation to see the bisans  and  eat the bisons at Homestead Tavern and Farm. Trails were Quebec worthy again today, as were the cold and blustery temps. Oxbow looks like an awesome area to ride judging by the amount of intersections and trails in that area. 
mike
 
 

Blueblood, hope you dont mind us posting in your thread. Anyways today was the best day so far. Left Madawaska on fresh groomed trails, they never ended all the way to Ivey’s Motor Lodge in Houlton. 145 easy miles. Very nice place. Went thru Lavertue, Hamlin, Limestone, Fort Fairfield, late lunch in Mars Hill. Most trails were highway speed

Hey Tom! The ride up to camp was great , low snow conditions up the rte 7 trail, but almost all was groomed, so not bad. Once we turned east everything improved dramatically. Just two of us this run, so we were fast the whole way, pulled into camp with 202 miles at just after 1:30. The new Oxygen helmet was great, appreciate all the feedback. -15 here this morning, so stoked the fires and sitting back in full relaxation mode.

Blueblood other than the week in February that we go to Quebec I ride out of the Millinocket area every weekend the trails in that area are mostly on roads it’s a very nice area to ride several different loop options you can do. The 5 years that we’ve been going to Quebec we’ve stayed either at the Delta or the universal and rode those areas are the trails in the Millinocket area compatible to those I will say some are very close. All the clubs in that area do a great job with the trails but I can almost guarantee you by the end of the day you’re going to encounter some beat up trails and your going to see a lot more sled traffic than you would during the day in Quebec especially on the weekend. Plus it’s a little more busier in that area because of the Canadian border situation. The snow situation in the area is pretty good and getting better each day with a few chances of storms in the next week. It’s pretty hard to compete with the Quebec trail system but I can’t see any reason why you won’t enjoy riding this area enjoy!

Headed north again today, taking York's advice to go to Umcolcus Sporting Camps for lunch.  Back thru Shin Pond and then NE. The last 25 miles to the camps were perhaps Maine's fastest trails. long straightaways for miles, nice and hilly, make a turn and more miles of straight. Fun trail.  Need more horsepower!  Pulled into Umcolcus and another turn of the century sporting camp. Impressive place. Lunch was excellent. Trails today were all 8 to 10's, really a super ride.  Not too many sleds on the trails. Andy was working the lodge and said Umcolcus was named after a duck, and pointed to a stuffed duck on the wall. Later I looked up Umcolcus ducks and found no such thing. Must have been the name of a pet duck, who now sits proudly stuffed and on a shelf. 
 
(Anxious to hear how Snowbeeler is liking Aroostook County riding, hope he reports).
 

After a somewhat dismal day yesterday of a mix of lots of  big and small bumps in the Millinocket area, I left this morning in frigid temps to head north into the big wilderness. Destination at least Shin Pond Camps, better yet Libby's Sporting Camps.
Got to Shin Pond way quick, stayed the north course for Libby's. Almost the entire trip was on freshly groomed trails, and a few that weren't were still smooth and fast. Again, this area has  nice big wide logging roads with plenty of hills. Gas at Shin Pond, lunch at Libby's and back thru Mattagammon Wilderness store,   and Bowling Sporting Camps.
Based on the grooming, and big wide roads,  views of lakes, streams and rivers along with a few mountain views, and very low traffic count,  sunshine good part of day; this would have to be one of the top ten best rides ever. It was Quebec worthy.  
Libby's Canps is nothing short of right out of the early 1900's. It is an Orvis Fly Fishing approved camp. I would have to rate lunch there as the best ever trail stop lunch. I had been told it was amazing food.
On the way back I also poked around the Northeast Outdoor Center, big log cabin restaurant and rental cabins that appeared very large.
Pic of the large building the the Mattagammom Wilderness store. All others pics of buildings inside and out is Libby's.
 
Snowbeeler,  I must have been ahead of you as at times there were no tracks in the fresh groom. I am guessing after shin Pond I went north and you went northeast. So glad you had a good day. Presque Isle Inn should be a nice step up for places to stay, heard it was great.
mike