farmerold

Just a guess Sandy Stream Mtn.

Only got 6910 miles on not all were in Quebec but the best were in Quebec. Maybe next year I can catch up with Bill.

Time sure does fly when your having fun HAPPY BRITHDAY BILL farmerold & joni

Our original trip was to leave from home, south of Buffalo, but snow conditions were not in our favor. Jan. 28th,2008 Loaded sleds and went to Real Masse', St. Zenon, Quebec. Jan. 29th- awoke to rain. Late morning changed to wet snow. Afternoon decided to go for local ride. Jan. 30th- Nice this morning fresh snow but icy underneath. At 8am left for extended trip, taking trail 63W and very slippery. Wouldn't you know missed trail 323 because trail has been changed. Stayed at Mt. Laurier. Got a good start heading to 315 S. and 43 W. Only sled on trail that day, the trails in the mountains were very icy. Getting to Wakefield trails were closed do to loss of right of way. No gas so we found a motel for the night. The people found us a man that would trailer us to the trail 20 miles from there. After he dropped us off we got gas and headed for Quyon. Crossed Ottawa River into Ontario. Took "A" trail to Pembroke came upon large 40-50 wild turkey. Trails were pretty good, until we reached North Bay, they were BAD! Got in early enough to call District 12 to check on trail. We found all trails around Sudbarry closed due to open water. We had to change plans, now we had to go north and then south, going there New Liskard, Cochran, Hearst. Trail "A" to Cochran was GREAT! We stayed at Station Inn which was very nice. We didn't see any sleds today. Great trail and wow what a tree stand! Feb. 6th-Wed.- 8:30am headed out for Hearst. Trails were SUPER! Moose, lynx, rabbit, and fox tracks. We past 10 sleds today. At Hearst we put the sleds in a heated garage to thaw out. We met 2 people from Lockport,NY The next AM we headed out to Hornpain and stayed at Wawa, 249 miles for the day. At Duberville we found another mill that was closed. The next AM we headed to Halfway Haven and on the way we saw 3 lynx sunning themselves on the trail. Awesome! Another beautiful day! We called District 13, to see if we could cross to St. Joseph's and Drummond Island, then to the US. We found the trails were not open. A lady at District 13 located a man to trailer us over the bridge to Michigan. He picked us up at 8am and took us over to Sault St. Marie, Michigan. We got our trail permits and headed to Munnising. The trails were very rough and it was snowing very heavily! At the motel at Munnising, Ski Doo was having a 2009 sled preview show. Sun.,Feb. 10th- We woke to 60 mile an hour winds and 6 inches of new snow. We couldn't see anything! We decided to stay put! Mon.,Feb. 11th- The wind had died down so we headed for Hurley, Wis. Going down the trail we came upon a man with a fishing hut on a sleigh. It had fallen off, so we helped him put it back on. He showed us his fish, 46" long Northern. We put on 274 miles today. Feb. 12th- Another cold, but sunny day. We had trouble getting out of Hurley, Wis., due to poor signage. We stopped to check out an old iron mine hoist. No this is not a toy Tonka truck! We saw an albino deer along the trail. The trail was very rough. We met a friend at Superior and he trailered us through Deluth, Minn. We had a nice chat with him. Lake Superior was very beautiful! The next day was very icy as we headed to Tower, Minn. The next 2 days were very short only 150 miles each day. We stayed at Fortune Bay Casino. BURRRRR!! Very cold! Feb. 14th(Valentine's Day)- We headed to International Falls, Minn. What a heat wave- 10 below zero! We found out where to cross river back into Ontario, Canada. Feb. 15th- 37 below zero, its getting better all the time! And the sleds STARTED!! We crossed the Rainy River to Rusty Myer Air Service, were we instructed to use the yellow phone to contact Customs to enter back into Canada. In Emo we got fuel and spoke with a man in the groomer. He said they had just opened the trail the day before. Good thing, there was no signs. We lost the trail on a logging road. We took a highway for a few miles then we found the trail crossing the highway and went into Nester Falls for the night. Feb.16th- Today we headed for the Manitoba boarder. The trails were very well marked. We met some very nice. people at a warming hut, they were having a poker run there in Kenora. They told us about a B & B to stay at in Kenora. When we got to the Manitoba boarder it was snowing so heavily that we decided to stay at the Bed & Breakfast. (We had just under 3,000 miles so far on the trip.) I was able to do some service work on my sled. The owners; Ken & Laurie Bracken were very nice and they had a very nice place. It is called Lake Of The Woods. We did over 60 miles on lakes headed for Soux Lookout. Then we headed to Atikokan. The lakes were very rough, we could only go 25 mph. Feb.18th- At Atikokan their snowmobile club was having a family day and invited us for hot dogs & hot chocolate. They were very nice! The next day we passed these two signs on our way to Kakabeka Falls, were we had to be trailered to Nipigon, as there is no trail at Thunder Bay. The trailer never showed, so the local people found us another man to trailer us to Nipigon. Feb.21st- We headed to Marathon, the trails were very rugged but very beautiful. Lake Superior was very beautiful in the distance! Another day with no sleds on the trail, trying to make up time. When we got to Hornpaine, we decided to go on to Hearst. Sunny and bright! When we got to Hearst we put our sleds in a heated garage with 286 miles for the day. We did a little laundry with a washer and dryer service. Yea!!!! The next day we went to Cochran, the trails were SUPER!!! We stayed at the Station Inn. Nice place! Sunday, Feb.24th- Heading back into Quebec. Early in the morning I heard a whining noise and I knew it was a alternator bearing. We stayed at Amos because there was a Polaris dealer there. Being Sunday the restaurant wasn't open, so when we stopped for gas, we picked up beer and had pizza delivered to our room. By the time the sled was fixed, late on Monday, we were only able to go on to Senneterre. The next day we headed on to Chibougamau. Over 100 miles on a rail bed. It was only -5 but the dampness but it went right through you. There was a lot of varmit tracks today. 223 miles on the trail and our sleds had a heated garage for the night. The next day we headed to Lake St. Jean. The trails were little rough, when we got to Roberval we called it a day. Thurs., Feb.28th- Cold again this AM. 20 below zero. We rode 120 miles to Hi to see Bill. He was out riding when we arrived, but he arrived just after we had arrived. He knew it was us because of all the stickers on our windshields. Joni took a couple of days off, so I rode with Bill. One day we went to the Clairmont and then the next day we went to the cave. Great riding with him! March 2nd- 2 more days and we will be back where we started. We had good trails to St. Raymond and the temps. were a little warmer. The last day, we had a bit of freezing rain, but not too bad. Back at Real Masse' that late afternoon. We were happy the trip was over and no major problems. But we were sad it had to end. The trails ranged from horrible to great!!!! Over all the weather was very good. Quebec still has the best trails! We were gone 33 days, rode 30 days, for total of 5700 miles. I was asked if we would do it again and I said,"YEP, in a heart beat!" I had the best riding partner you could have!

Ihad pick on 63 to come across, like your sugestion on using 323 down to 43 .Not sure at this point whether to do 43 across or take 323 all the way down to crossing. I see that there are 2 place to stay on 43 and 323 not sure on the miles to there but might be where we would stay. Will call this weekend thank for your input.

Thanks for the info on crossing. Can you update me after this warm front goes thourgh?

Bill got trail permit today did you get what i sent you? Thank you for the quick service. Hope to see you this winter

Planing extend trip this winter and part of it we will be crossing Quebec on trail 43 was wondering the best and easiest place to cross over to Ontario. I haven't been on any trails west of 13. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Three year's ago i took my daughter and my grand son to Gaspe that what memories are made of.

More like three + weeks to do the trip. It take 8-9 days just to go around Lake Superior and it will also depend how much riding we do in Quebec.

My wife and i are planing a extend trip this year. We want to link together the different place's that we have rode before. Hopefuly we can start in NY then to Quebec , Ontario , around Lake Superior then finish back in Quebec. We got the time all we need is snoooooooooooow lots of it.

There are no bad trail's just some are better than other's on any given day.

Wife and i like to do 200 mi a day and when my budies ride we do 250 to 300 and are usally in by five to recap the days ride over a few cold ones.

Would that be near ST-ELZEAR on trail 35 and conector trail to 540 been few years since i been thourgh there.