Je me souviens

Indeed. Lodging has become a pain. Hopefully you can get around the south side before the warm up. Unless you plan to go back North via Murdochville. Good luck.

Day 2: Left Riotel FYI don’t have to go up the big hill. Go closer to the road around the back of the little brown building and it will take you right up to the road. Everything dry pavement in town, got up to the trail and took 5 East. Mix of good to fair with a few great sections mixed in. The most snow is in the elevations, all the towns are scratchy like late March. First 30 miles from Matane is pretty thin. Staying in Grand Vallee tonight. The deepest snow of the trip is out here, probably from Mont Louis to here. Calling for a warm up Thursday-Friday, we will see

Day 1, word of the day….Thin!  Got 2” overnight made it nice leaving RDL. Never seen it so thin here in February. Trails pretty smooth, not enough snow to be rough. Snirt is gone with the fresh snow. Get out of town and take 5 East. Rimouski Club says stay on 5 for best conditions. Hasn’t been our experience but let’s try it. Away from town coverage not bad. Once we get to Trois Pistoles it’s actually pretty nice. Continue on 5 to the 35 outside of Rimouski. Traffic is light all day groomers are doing their thing. Meet back up with 5 East to 587 short cut to 5 at Padoue. Took the 5 all the way to Matane to the Riotel. Very scratchy in town, basically blacktop and dirt.

Exactly.  Happened to us last week.  Coming down from Saint Felicien to Mattawin.  Got to LaTuque.  Just got gas and was sitting on sled talking with one of the guys while the rest of the group was in the convenience store getting something to drink.  Just happened to look at the app on the phone.  Crap, we have a problem!  What?  355 is closed for about 20 miles leaving LaTuque.  Wait, 345 is also closed from the dam to LeCabanon.  Got rooms at Marineau LaTuque and a rental pickup truck from the Dodge dealer.  Drove to LeCabanon to retrieve the trucks and trailers the next morning.  Some debate on whether or not we would have made it.  Overall group decision was to pull the plug.
North was very nice.

14 hrs one way…that’s no joke.
I am sure you will be rewarded accordingly by the groomers and trail conditions  in that neck of the woods.  Post some pics of the run to Matagami.  It’s been too long since I laid eyes on that west side of 396.  Pretty sweet through there as I recall  
 

Day 4. today we traveled 180 miles from Baie Comeau to Sept-tiles. Last 125 miles was slot, car fast and smooth. Had about 15 miles of rough stuff 25 miles east of Baie Comeau. Woke up to bright sunshine again this morning. Tomorrow we start heading back on similar route that got us here.

14 hrs one way…that’s no joke.
I am sure you will be rewarded accordingly by the groomers and trail conditions  in that neck of the woods.  Post some pics of the run to Matagami.  It’s been too long since I laid eyes on that west side of 396.  Pretty sweet through there as I recall  
 

Day 3. Escoumins to Baie Comeau. 175 miles. Another sunshine day made for mild temperatures in the high teens. Trails were very good, except for about 30 miles, which were OK, but had chop in all the turns.The building by the water in the last picture is our hotel for the night. Le Manior
 

At the last minute I decided to drive to RDL two days ago, on Sunday. Didn't have much hope for great riding, but was going stir crazy sitting around the house.  I also heard SkiDoo invited the sled magazine press to Quebec starting Sunday to ride the 2025 sleds. Several years ago they did this same thing and stayed at the Universel in RDL. It was great getting to talk to the factory guys. Turns out (found out today) this time around they went northeast of Montreal. 
Driving up thru Maine, Jackman actually looked pretty decent. The Chaudierre region of Quebec looked like toast, no riding there. In fact I didn't really see good snow until about 30 miles before RDL. Pulled into RDL seeing bare tar everywhere. Yuck!!!   Less than an inch of new snow fell Sunday night.
Today I finally decided to unload the sled and take a look around the area. Anyone who has been here knows how big the hotel parking lot seems when it is bare tar. Onto the trail heading for the clubhouse.  Snirt, dirt, some ice, and more snirt. This may be a short ride. I remember my January trip here, 1,800 miles of low snow but perfect conditions, except on the last day when the warm up came.
Drive by the club house, closed today.  Thinking head South and SW.   In the blink of an eye, or maybe someone spiked my morning coffee with magic mushrooms, I was in the middle of all out winter, a true winter wonderland. Beautiful packed powder, groomed to perfection, trees coated in white,and what appeared to be a better snow depth than my January trip. Giddy up MXZ baby.
Further I got, it appeared this area got half a foot of fluff Sunday night.  I did a 100 mile loop that was 5 star riding,  every bit as good as the 5 star meal I had last night at Hotel Levesque.  Quick meal at Exploreteur Clubhouse. Eventually made my way north to trail 5.  The last few miles of trail 5 was much lower snow pack but still really nice except for a couple snirts here and there.
Since arriving here, weather forecast changed from a cold week to a gradual warm up starting tomorrow and rain later in the week. Hopefully I can remember to bring my camera on tomorrow's ride.
Several groups left for Gaspe in the past few days. Just saw one sled return via flat bed a few minutes ago.
mike
 
 
 
 

Day 2 Tuesday 
cold, but mint trails loving it. 
 

 

Monday Lac Bouchette to Pouvoire La Dore
noon departure 
 
 

Truck to Lac Bouchette to Auberge Eva. Not viable to leave from Shawinigan. Monkey wrench right out of gate, Got 5 strong this run. With snohorse, nhmoose, Mark and Phil. We had complications with the 850etec backcountry. No fire, turned over no go.  Recalculate. Tough decision. Got spare bullet in my garage 3 hrs by road 3 hours back. Freeride is there ready to run. Or go for DRC Sport in Alma and try to get in on Monday morning for a diagnosis. Snohorse is adamant we go to dealer and try it. Arrive there in Alma at 7:26 am 2 guys already waiting outside. I go over to talk with them and service manager opens door says we can wait inside but don’t open till 8am. We get acquainted and he assures me he will get us in and looked at. We get in and by 10:15 we are good changed 2 fouled plugs. Truck back to Eva to catch up with NHmoose and crew. Left Eva noon. Icy straight out from Eva but very good. 
different kind of year this season will keep you honest. Further north we go the better. 
 
355 to 83 to local orange past St Hedgewich. Then local orange to La dore then 93 up to 373 junction then u turn back down 93 to orange to chef then to 93 and to Pouvoirie La Dore. 
only 5 here tonight private party just for us. Stephane, Cynthia , Alex and Meti. Great gang here. 
Love it here. 
get here and encourage them. First year on I motoneige second winter open. Well worth tge stop. 
Trails very rideable and it’s now or never. Get out or miss out. 
 

cha-cha-chilly!
GutZ

Beautiful sunshine all day yesterday albeit a lil on the cool side
93 was in top shape all the way up.
Great ride
All tucked into our cozy cabin at the Marina for the night.
Sandra and her partner Karl are great hosts
-31 to start today
Gowser

Brisk -31 when we left Chibougamau this am
Didn’t warm up much all day but 93 was carpet all the way to Quevillion
😎

First Nations Expedition is in the house tonight. Impressive fleet.  56 sleds doing the run this year.  3250km 14 nights.  
 

Late start this morning around 9:30 since the ol lady doesn't like -10F snowmobiling. Rode over to the cave, Begin, Nature Otis, up to 373 across to Onatchiway, then back down 373 to the Ski Mountain 170 miles. Heading south to the cave over to Begin that first 60 miles was nothing to write home about, the rest of the way was good to excellent, met 2 groomers on the way home. Tomorrow heading for the frozen waterfall, possibly Sacre Couer loop if they groom and she's motivated enough. Better than sitting home on the couch, but definitely not usual Quebec conditions as we knew it wouldn't be. 

Staying in Alma now trails coming out of town were little rough not horrible but once outside of town it got pretty good. We got a late start(noon) due to my sled breaking(secondary came apart) 20miles in so had to limp back and get my buds backup sled to ride. We rode 93 over to pic du le dos de cheval for some summit pictures and went over and got dinner at yourte bistro by the ski mountain. The only thing I noticed bad was there is a lot of ice under the groomed snow so be careful. My bud slid backwards down the hill going up to the ski resort for gas lol. Trying to get parts this morning so probably another late start. I posted some pics on freedom sledder I can’t get them to work here for some reason.

Just back from the Delta, so a quick update.
The Grooming Teams are doing a great job with what they have to work with,,,,,, but they dont have much to work with around town and in the lower elevations.
With all the traffic from the foreigners ( hahahahaha) the trails are not holding a grooming long, smoother on the way out, than a few hours later, stutters back in.
It was great seeing everyone!
Please set your expectations appropriately.....
Later
GutZ

I feel the same way.  It can’t always be a one way street.  It has to be give and take.  

Negative ghost rider. Top secret intel that cannot be discussed on an unsecured line.  😇 I will pm you and any other CONTRIBUTING member that wants to know.  I apologize for the secrecy but if I say where it is I will have to compete with all the lurkers next time I go there.  Getting sick of that real quick.  They come over here learn some new shit, then head over to facecrack and regurgitate the shit they learned here as if they had the idea.  Sorry but it’s true.  I can’t find parking at the Roquemont anymore, same with SADL.
I did not see much snirt, granted we only put on 300 miles in 2 days.  There were maybe 5 patches of grass near the hotel, once we got up the hill it was good to go for the rest of the day.