doo4adoo

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
 

Glad to see its snow up there, heading north Thursday. Like many my back is sore just looking at the pictures. Thanks for posting and the stories.
So what is this short cut you say of crossing the lake and onto the 73. I'm assuming this is just GPS that you have or is it an unofficial trail? I wouldn't mind trying this in the future.
 
Thanks
Mike

Glad to see its snow up there, heading north Thursday. Like many my back is sore just looking at the pictures. Thanks for posting and the stories.
So what is this short cut you say of crossing the lake and onto the 73. I'm assuming this is just GPS that you have or is it an unofficial trail? I wouldn't mind trying this in the future.
 
Thanks
Mike

Glad to see its snow up there, heading north Thursday. Like many my back is sore just looking at the pictures. Thanks for posting and the stories.
So what is this short cut you say of crossing the lake and onto the 73. I'm assuming this is just GPS that you have or is it an unofficial trail? I wouldn't mind trying this in the future.
 
Thanks
Mike

Glad to see its snow up there, heading north Thursday. Like many my back is sore just looking at the pictures. Thanks for posting and the stories.
So what is this short cut you say of crossing the lake and onto the 73. I'm assuming this is just GPS that you have or is it an unofficial trail? I wouldn't mind trying this in the future.
 
Thanks
Mike

Glad to see its snow up there, heading north Thursday. Like many my back is sore just looking at the pictures. Thanks for posting and the stories.
So what is this short cut you say of crossing the lake and onto the 73. I'm assuming this is just GPS that you have or is it an unofficial trail? I wouldn't mind trying this in the future.
 
Thanks
Mike

Glad to see its snow up there, heading north Thursday. Like many my back is sore just looking at the pictures. Thanks for posting and the stories.
So what is this short cut you say of crossing the lake and onto the 73. I'm assuming this is just GPS that you have or is it an unofficial trail? I wouldn't mind trying this in the future.
 
Thanks
Mike

Late departure, as usual, in search of poutines and club houses today. Stop and had poutines and club sandwiches at Relais Saint-Adelme.
Shortly after leaving and after putting on 50,000 KM with the MRS, she’s finally put her in the rhubarb. Into the trickle trunk, pulled out the bungee-sling shot. It worked a little better than we expected, pulled the machine out and processed to flip it over. It works really well, highly recommended finding a spot in your sled for one of these.
 
Continued on to Sélectôtel for the night. Drinks, dinner & bed…the Moores woke up to the news that they became grandparents for the 4th time. 

Decide to spend a second night at Sélectôtel. Woke up planning to do the 587 loop down to the bottom and back up to the top. Make a wrong turn which turned out to be a good thing, ending up meeting The Groomer Guy and Lindy Sled Girl. Shoot the breeze and then turn around and head down the 587, gassed up at St Francois then back to the new shelter for a picnic lunch. Nice ride Back to the hotel.
The 587 did not disappoint.

Riddle us this: Why would Relive and Garmin say 222 miles, but the Yammi odos say 232?...
Ten delightful bonus miles of full-frolick sideways-sliding cream-cheesy TRACK-SPIN baby!
A full day full of AWESOMENESS!
 
 

Having rode it I would still take it. Overall small section of roads to deal with which I assume is the reason for closed. Just take it easy and stay to the side.

(Continuation)
I'll work on the pics later.
You're right Joe.  Just before the turn off to Lamarche, there is a long downhill.  There must be eight sleds coming up the hill towards us and they are taking up more than their share of the trail.  Sandi pulls over to the edge of the trail and oh oh!  I'm too close to stop in time.  I can't go to her left so I dive right off the side of the trail.  Just as I stop, I see Joe's ski tips come up along the left side of me behind Sandi.  Just enough room.
After the sleds go by, Sandi continues down the hill.  I start moving and the sled slides off into the puff.  A little throttle.  Come on Renegade.  You can do it.  Don't dig a hole.  The sled just barely climbs back up over the berm and onto the trail.  Good sled.
Then lunch.
After lunch, we are on the sleds and continuing on 367 towards L'Ascension.  This trail is one of my favorites.  Pretty straight, wide, a few rollers and lots of snow dust.  Keep going Sandi.  We are having fun.  Past the dump and across a couple of roads we are at Relais Jos Bonka.  Another name change here.  It is now called Evasion Peribonka.  We pull out of the parking lot and just as we enter the woods, there is a four way intersection.  Hmm?  To our left are a few tracks and that is not groomed.  Straight ahead was groomed a few days ago but no signs.  To our right it is signed for St Monique.  Lets take the trail towards St Monique the sure thing.
This is new. The trail runs right along the side of the road for a few miles.  We come to where the trail crosses the road to the right and there is the long straightaway.  Now I remember this.  It is the trail that goes to St Monique.  Maybe the trail back at Evasion Peribonka that went straight was the one to L'Acension?
We get to 93 and have plenty of fuel still.  Turn left Sandi and head towards St Henri.  A little frozen mist on the shield.  Oh this isn't fun.  No one likes freezing rain.  Scrape scrape.  Oh I can't see to good.  Sandi has slowed down and is more middle of the trail.  I'm staying near the right curb like always but can only see the red stakes ahead.  Oops!  I'm off in the soft stuff.  I guess I got a little too far right.  Come on Renegade.  Keep going.  I'm still iced over on the shield but there shouldn't be any obstacles out here.  We are in a big field.  There back on the trail.  For the next hour we are in freezing rain.  Slow going and a lot of stops to clean our shields.
We get to St Charles and do we take the new 93 back to St Ambroise or?  Sandi, go ahead down to St Charles and see what the old river crossing looks like.  The warning ferme signs are always up at the river crossing but it has been cold and there are tracks on the river.  I go first and aim for the other side where I think the trail continues.  No stakes to follow.  Just tracks scattered all over.  We get to the other side and we hit the right spot.  Up the bank and a sharp right turn.  Follow the goat path for a short ways and yes, groomer marks.
I run along in the lead until we get on 383 and then Sandi takes over.  383 is very nice and better than that, the freezing rain has turned to snow.  Yea!  Sandi picks up speed and we are back at the Delta in no time.
A good ride today other than the freezing rain.  It was mild and is forecast to be mild for the next few days.  The trails were a little soft from the warmth.  Until later -
Jack & Sandi

We were due for a crazy day ride...



It's a 300+miles loop ride running on both side of the St-Laurence river via a ferry and bridge that get around the large Montreal city, this doable from the porch of my home. Having done it before we already knew it was an ambitious day ride, way more than doing a 300 miles in norther area. There are many roads and highways and rail road crossings+ the ferry and "the unexpected" that insure a very full day ride.

So we started from home at 8:00 am to catch the 9:00 ferry in St-Ignace de Loyola. Freshly groomed trail to warm up...



Arriving at the first river trail path, it was a bit scary



The St-Laurence river level got a bit higher in the night and cause water to rise on the ice on the sides. It is more scary than dangerous because the trail snow bank already cover the immediate side of the river where it can be dangerous and the small water pool we got is over the full river ice cover. It's been so cold since the beginning of the season that this ice is for sure thick enough to support the weight of a Yamaha so no worries we are on a BRP! 



We got at the ferry at 8:45



This ferry is one of the cheap option to cross the St-Laurence river: $7,60 for a sled and his driver and $11,35 in our case for an old married couple +sled



There is actually 2 ferries that offer crossings every 30 minutes on each sides during most of the day(see the web site for full schedule)



Our ferry had an hard time to accost because of the ice. It had to move back and forth many times to clear/crush all the ice along the dock and the 10 minutes crossing turn to over an half an hour one. We got back on the south shore trail at 9:45.
The first stretch along the river to get out of Sorel city was rough but we cross the groomer that was about to solve that



We quickly got on the #5 trail that we follow most of the path up the west of Montreal city. Not a lot snow but good conditions. We could feel few earth bumps in the skis on some very windy pass but the trails were overall very good  





You need to not be allergic to road crossing, especially highway crossings. I quickly counted and we cross the #30 highway 5 times, the #20 and #10 then the #15 2 times also the #640 and #25 and this on or under viaduct and even with a tunnel for the #640
We stopped there for a small break around 11:30



Here a first video(of three) that summarize this first part. you can always push the reader 4 arrows icon to pass in full screen
Continuing on the #5 trail we could saw St-Hilaire mountain that we usually view riding by car



Here after #20 highway crossing, good conditions



It began to get worse after the #15 highway crossing. Last Friday fluffy snow had been more generous there and with the very strong winds we had there was a lot snow blades/drifts in the trail. The visibility stayed good but the bumpy drifts slowed down us to keep in the safe and comfortable zone.



We even crossed a groomer that flatten our route for a few miles but the drifts were forming again quickly behind





We also had something I don't encounter often, a long train that gave us a 12 minutes break before clearing the way



We left the #5 trail in St-Michel area (west of Montreal) to cut toward St-Louis de Gonzague(bridge). We had few trail changes to make so I pointed my destination on the Gps to make it easy but a change between my map version and the real world trail glitched my gps that route us on the wrong side. I figured something was wrong by seeing directions for villages that we had already pass before. I got my cell phone out and made a check with Imotoneige that locate us and confirmed we were out of our route. We stepped back but it add some miles over an already busy ride.  


Here the 2nd video that summarize that part of the ride
 
We finally reached our ticket to the north shore at St-Louis de Gonzague around 4:00pm. It's a 3/4 miles long car bridge over Beauharnois canal were snowmobiles are allowed to cross for free. The bridge is also almost snow free so I did as usual and throw some dish wash soap on my track slides before starting the crossing to help our mule to move our 2 ass on the other side of the bridge without overheating too much. It went very well.



After crossing the Beauharnois canal we were needing next to cross the other half of the St-Laurence river that is done directly on ice. Even not groomed it ride nicely



We then continued to catch the #33 trail, The day was already well advanced



We got on the long Deux-Montages lake a bit past 5:30pm. A bit bumpy but it was ok and was riding good. We missed our target to cross it at daylight... here brief turn to admire the sky behind us 



We stopped for a real supper break at Île Bizard snowmobile relay around 6:00pm. We were near alone there but the people who operate the place told us they were crazy busy from the morning up to the end of afternoon and had depleted most of their food stocks. I took a good club sandwich with a cheese slice in place of the tomatoes and it was delicious! Nice authentic people there, I recommend it! 
We got back in saddle a bit before 7:00pm to do the remaining 90miles to get home
The sony flash was in strike



The trails in this area were pretty worn out and I adjusted the beat to go forward but safe given our day fatigue and the conditions. Our way home went well and we also got the chance to hit some freshly groomed trails on some sectors
Here the 3rd and last video that summarize this last stretch 
 
We finally got home at 10:15PM with 340miles in our butts for the day. The small 900 ace did it flawlessly even if my old venture/expert-x miss missed us in the rough sections. We didn't needed to get rocked to sleep that night!
Another nice good big ride for us !
Alain

 

Came down it today. Seems like some changes here an there. Had been groomed but still some areas that were a bit rough but overall still decent,

That's unfortunate, was hoping they might reopen, now more than ever will have to book in advance as the numbers of places are fewer

Came down it today. Seems like some changes here an there. Had been groomed but still some areas that were a bit rough but overall still decent,

Came down it today. Seems like some changes here an there. Had been groomed but still some areas that were a bit rough but overall still decent,

Came down it today. Seems like some changes here an there. Had been groomed but still some areas that were a bit rough but overall still decent,

Stay tuned but press conference this afternoon. Word is restaurants maybe open to 50% capacity next week as well some other things that likely we sleders won't care about

I noticed that as well it doesn't or it didn't show closed now. Maybe the trucking is finished.

-22C this morning.  This afternoon it is going to be -10C.  Warm compared to what we have been in.  We will take it.
The forecast for the rest of the week has changed once again.  Snow starting tomorrow, a few centimeters.  Then the snow continues into Saturday and Saturday night.  No accumulation listed for the weekend yet.
The trails are really shaping up nicely.  Hmm!  Where do we go today?  Around RDL was groomed of course and 35 / 5 towards St Pamphile.  Some grooming around Trois Pistoles too.  Not much activity in the Squatec area.  Its all good still.  With the cold the past few days and little traffic, I can't imagine the trails being nothing but stellar.
Be safe everyone.
Jack

Stay tuned but press conference this afternoon. Word is restaurants maybe open to 50% capacity next week as well some other things that likely we sleders won't care about

I'll say today was a fine day of riding.  Cool temps, great trails, no traffic and fantastic company, JAK and two of the GutZ guys.
We went west on 5 then took the connector to 526 and to Relais Explorateurs (single arch).  The trail was firm and smooth.  We got on 35 west and this was even better.  The railbed went by quick and before we know it we are at the junction with 557 that goes over the mountain.
You know guys, 35 is good but look, 557 was groomed last night and there isn't a track on it yet.  557 it is and off we go.  The first 20 miles is a nice mountain trail with gentle twists and turns as you climb in elevation.  Beautiful!  Then the trail is on a road for 15 miles.  It doesn't get much better than this.  Just cruising along, blue sky and sunshine.  We can feel the heat from the sun thru the shield.  Snow dust in the air behind us.
The relais in St Pamphile is closed like most of the others.  We continue on into town and gas up.  U-turn back to the relais and left on 55.  Another trail that was groomed last night.  Wow.  Perfect all the way up to 35.  Turn right on and it is still groomed.  We are making time now.  The kilometers are ticking away.
About 15 miles in and we are at the little connector that takes us up to 5.  Off we go on the connector and then right on 5.  A little choppy here but that is comparing 5 to what we were just on.  5 is still fine.  We stay on 5 the rest of the way back to RDL.
Quebec really knows how to take care of the trails.  Thanks!
Jack

I was planning this route back a week Sunday from Roberval. Hopefully some fresh snow flurries next Friday afternoon. to cover. 

About time you stopped being an armchair rider
Enjoy

We got delayed getting back to the truck last night. Left Ste Ann at 9pm. Was great no traffic to deal with all way home and no cops to ticket us. Crossed the ferry at 11;30. Given that the curfew was being lifted today I wasn't expecting a hard time.