Je me souviens

The name of the place in SADL is Relais du Touriste. It may not be 5 stars but it checks all the boxes for me. Safe place to park, restaurant on site and access to a multitude of trails. If you have the option, ask for the inside rooms, they are a little fresher on the updates. I believe the new owner is also renting Steve’s old house that they call a condo, but I have not been in it myself. The Facebook page for the local club has advertised chalets for rent this season. Club de motoneige Piteman. One thing I will caution you about is if the rain is not followed by some snow, the lake you use to get out of town is large, so that may raise hell with the slides and/or engine temperature of the sled if there is no lubrication left on top of the ice. I ran into that a few years ago after a mid season warm up. I ended up having to let her cool off mid lake. The Mrs. was not impressed. 😇

The Mrs. said she wanted to get out on the trails one more time. She didn’t have to twist my arm too hard…😎. We hit the road Monday night after work and headed back to Sainte Anne du Lac. We are usually stuck riding weekends, so it was nice to take a mid week ride. Tuesday morning we took 319 over to Mekoos, up 53 to 100 Lacs for brunch then back down to SADL by way of JB Scott. 160 miles. Wednesday morning we did the exact same thing in reverse order. The scenery was just as nice the opposite way. Plenty of snow left. Here are the pics.

Never been to Church in Clova… sounds interesting, doo tell

Here is the best one courtesy of the club Lions de Senneterre Translation: you judge, bitch and run your lips. Go put their shoes on and do better.

We took another trip up to Clova last weekend. Left Sainte Anne du Lac Friday morning, went by Meekoos, Lunic, 100 Lacs, had lunch at Fer a Cheval then took the shortcut up to Clova. 190 miles. The shortcut bypassing Parent makes it 70 miles from the horseshoe to Clova. Just like a few years back, the first 30 miles is straight up highway all the way to Mary Lake, the next 15 miles has some hanging branches to contend with, the last 25 miles is the good old Chemin Lepine. Saturday headed west on 83 and had lunch at Faillon then back to Clova. 200 miles. This is where the snow median is. The club built a new relais at the lookout, the wood stove is large enough to heat a house, comes with a small area to prep and cook, very nice. They built a perch to make sure the picture comes out perfect. Sunday morning we woke up to some fresh fluff, we knew the forecast was not great but decided to head south as planned. Started out with heavy snowfall in Clova, switched to freezing rain further south, and started raining just before the horseshoe. We shook the glaze off our coats and had a break at the horseshoe, checked the forecast and it indicated we had a 2 hour window of reprieve from the rain, so we dashed south. The local trail back to SADL was just as good as I remember, and the rain held off long enough to get back to the truck. 135 miles. Trip highlights included a great time Friday night having supper with a group from Ontario, I spotted another large Lynx, and above all enjoyed the first Quebec trip with my wife since her battle with breast cancer. I love you Zebbie. Here are some pics

It’s too bad they couldn’t make all trails like this, that way you would not have to imagine the yellow line. I have heard some say they don’t like the snow median, I figure it’s because they can’t hog the middle.

That would be the old dam leaving Parent headed west, no longer there.

How about the story to go with the pic? Speaking of Alain, I met him on top of Mount Albert while in the Gaspe. It was funny because I recognized his sled and Krikri so I stopped to say hi and snagged this pic

How the rules are applied and enforced varies largely by location. If you plan on being in the bush you will be fine. If you plan on riding around town you might encounter more resistance. I noticed you are considering the Gaspe, that area seems to have a lot of trail pass checkpoints as compared to the upper mauricie region. If I was in your shoes I would just doo it. Bring the learners permit and the snowmobile safety course card and call it good. It’s not like he’s 14, shit they will probably serve him at the bar.

Hi Steve, It’s still not fixed, drive across the river, it was not the most appealing river crossing I have seen.

We decided to check out some trails south of the river last weekend. We left Villeroy and stayed 2 nights in Montmagny. Day 1 was 200 miles via…too many trails to remember…25, 35, 535, 55, 547, 5. General directions were south to St-Georges in the Beauce region, then back up to Montmagny. Day 2 was 5, 35, 55, 549, 35 and 551 total of 180 miles. Day 3 was 170 miles, 5, 551, 35, 547, local, 75, 35, 540, 535, 35. Sorry best I can do here on trail numbers. Luckily I was not the navigator on this one, or else we might still be looking for the truck. The map looks like someone threw spaghetti on it and said have fun! Overall conditions were good despite the weather. We took a few different trails up and around Le Massif du Sud, which was nice. The area between Montmagny and Villeroy is basically the highest concentration of tapped sugar maples in the world, cool stuff. Or should I say sweet? Here are some pics

I bet. My wife would also be impressed…lol. If her etech runs out before my sled, then I would definitely be to blame as well.

When I spoke to Dominic last month he said that the stretch from Pensive to Clova would most likely be plowed for logging this year. He was still considering getting Clova to the Horseshoe bypass open this season. Granted at this point in the season I am not sure if that will happen.

Funny story… remember back on the XS chassis skidoo’s the “burping” of the gas tank to get the last gallon in? I was in a big yank to get in for dinner at Clova, and did not properly burp the baby… ran out of gas the next morning about 500 yards from the gas pump at Faillon. Conditions were pretty good on that stretch of TQ83 and the position of my throttle thumb combined with the 7/8 of a tank to start was a bad combination that day.

I usually opt for the Nordic, they have a garage for sleds, however others have reported the marina has nice accommodations. We ate at the Royal, I thought it was good.

No such luck. No date in sight as of yesterday’s press conference from Legault. On the brighter side… at least we can cross the border this year.

Very cool ice circle. If the ice fishers manage to get on it, they could be trolling “sans moteur”. 😂

Trail from Clova to Parent had been freshly groomed on the way back Saturday morning, so it was in better shape than the night before. There is logging activity west of Parent so the trail cuts on and off the road and is annoying, but on the other hand the section east of Clova has been improved significantly. We were asked to wear our masks at the depaneur in Parent. I did not notice Norman’s in Casey, granted I did not really try to find it. Yes if I see your helmet again I will tap my head like last time, lol. M21 was fresh on our way back, I was thinking about your camp and how awesome that must be. The rules vary significantly from place to place. In general the farther away from town you get, the less restrictions you will encounter. You can go in to “warm up” in most places. Hand sanitizer and masks were on display at all locations, the placement of tables and chairs would indicate where you could sit or stand. My desire to ride the white gold significantly outweighs the restrictions and various hoops you have to jump through to get across the border. So I think it was well worth the trip. The new sled rips and I had a smile on my face for three days straight. Hope to be back soon.