markusvt

Yup, been stopping there for decades.

Correct

Nice ride!

Guys have been riding the power-lines this season from Clova to Chapais. You are talking 140 miles 1 way from Martins to gas in Chapais. They say 5-20 hours 1 way to do it. They are hopeful it will become a federation trail at some point. Our inside guy says the federation is hard set on no new trails, unless you give up an old trail. They have no interest in adding miles.

Pat, sorry to hear about your hand!. Hope you got a few trips in this year with the GPS. I for sure have sat out with injuries of my own in the past, luckily most of them in the summer.

February 7-8-9 La-Tuque-Clova-Chibougamau. Day 3, February 9, 200 miles. Woke up to -25F! Are you kidding me, we can't catch a break with riding in the cold! Only a few folks at Barrage Gouin for the night. We headed out at 8:45am. It did warm up a bit for us. Into Wemotaci in record time. The guy in the restaurant called the gas guy, we hung out 20 minutes or so waiting for him but it beats walking. We filled them and headed back the 83. The trails on either side of Windigo were crazy nice! So smooth and fast. We took the shortcut across the ice again. We stopped at http://www.clubodanak.com/ to have lunch, but after a quick look around we did a mission abort and headed back to the truck. Back by 2:30pm, plenty of time to eat at http://www.chezmarineau.com/en/establishment/motel_des_9/ where you have lots of choices and the food is awesome. Another great ride in the books for us. Those waiting get going, the conditions are really, really nice!

February 7-8-9 La-Tuque-Clova-Chibougamau. Day 2, February 8, 215 miles. Ok. Today's plan was all day with no miles on any federation trails. We headed off on the Gouin towards Obedjiwan. This is clearly marked with red stakes all the way, 30 miles on the ice with some land crossings. This is a bit adventurous as there are some drifts and such here and there, but clearly marked. We got gas and headed for the second part of the adventure. This was ambitious from the start. We planned to got to Chibougamau for lunch, and back to Obedjiwan. This would have been 240 miles round trip. We had a few GPS tracks to work with, and chose the eastern route. It starts with 20 miles across the Gouin, nothing marked at all. Midway we had to navigate a monstrous drift, pressure ridge deal that had us stumped for a bit but we got by. Next was taking summer logging roads in the bush straight up. We followed the GPS but were shocked by the snow. Like un-tracked snow up to your armpits! We decided to go 50 miles up into the bush and make a call. At 50 miles we were working way harder than planned due to the large amount of snow we were breaking. We decided to go more and see if we could do it. the next 10 miles were great as sleds had been on it and the going got really good. Then the next 5 miles the snow was deep and un-tracked again, and the drifts were massive! At 65 miles up, we still had 55 to go. We did some calculations and the data said not enough gas, and not enough daylight to go up and back in the same day for these conditions. Bummer, but this was still quite an adventure for us. Lots of folks play 10 miles off the power lines, but we had gone 65 miles 1 way so far. We spun it around, (better to live to try another day) and headed back. The wind had kicked up making the 20 miles back across the ice a tad scary. In the last 5 miles we saw a few folks riding sleds, walking and ice fishing on the ice. We got back to the gas station with all of our spare gas gone, and the sleds bone dry. We filled them up again and headed off to http://www.barragegouin.com/ via the ice. It is staked, but not very well, and I would say without a GPS and good tracks, you won't make it. It used to be close to 70 miles, going on and off land when it could. Now the trail is 55 miles and 99% on the ice. There is a 2-3+ mile section where the stakes were missing, this could be life threatening for some. We pulled in just before dark, 215 miles and not a stitch of it on official trails. Pretty cool, very fun. We gassed them up, and when in for awesome beer, wings and a supper meal! After dinner we chatted with the owner. As it turns out they did make it to Chibougamau a few days earlier, all in the bush like us. But the difference is they made it. They used the western trail. He shared their GPS tracks, (I had 90% of it already), they did 5 hours of run time and 5 hours of stopped time for 10 hours total. 1 creek crossing cost them 2 hours due to the steepness of the banks. A few differences for them. They allowed 1 full day for just getting there. There were 5 of them, all sleds were Summits or 24 in track utility sleds. They had rope, saws, shovels, bungees, SPOT, satellite phone, and GPS's of course and 5 extra gallons of gas each. Nice chatting so we can be better equipped next time. Fun day, we saw areas most sledders will never ever see, and we lived to tell about it.

February 7-8-9 La-Tuque-Clova-Chibougamau. Day 1, February 7, 301 miles. We left La-Tuque by 8:15am, (this is a good start for us). The plan was to go up the 73 to the Windigo shortcut and across the reservoir. The trails were awesome to the cutoff. We got to the access at Duplessis and the gate was closed! Yikes, never really saw the gate before as it was open and buried in snow. We tried a few side trails to bypass and no luck. We asked at the cabin and the owner said open it, it's not locked, (please close it when you are done). Funny. We let ourselves in and closed it behind us and went on our way. The ice was snow covered and really smooth. None of this is marked, you need it on your GPS for sure. We stopped and visited our friends Martine, Stephenie and Danielle at Windigo, and then we headed off to Wemotaci. We like this trail as it bypasses Relay 22. The trails were very nice, lots of snow and smooth as heck. We arrived at Wemotaci with 131 miles on the tank, (no gas or food at Vermillion, it is for sale for $200K). We got gas out of the tanks at the restaurant. We arrived in Parent with 204 miles on and 1:30PM. We ate at Hotel Central. Food was nice but that town has some really odd characters floating in and out! When we got gas there were 2 guys from PA wanting to get to La-Tuque for the night via Relay 22! Say what? You dudes got 250 miles to go at 2:30PM, doable yeah, but why? We gave them a few options. We gassed up and headed for Clova. The trail was screaming fast and so nice..... We gassed up and headed out towards http://www.pourvoirie-martin.ca/ on the edge of the Gouin. The side trail is only 30 miles, but nicely maintain by them with their JD and 5 foot drag. About 5 miles in we came on a really stuck utility sled and their tow sled full of supplies. The snow here is deep, like 3-4+feet deep. We dug, pulled and worked for 1/2 hour to get him on his way. We arrived at 5:15PM, ready for showers and food. Line , (Lynn) does a really nice job here. The cabins are excellent, and the food awesome. She works really hard to make sure you have a great experience. Nice day, very little traffic and mighty fine conditions. Off to bed after dinner, no lullaby needed.

There is a dude selling gas out of 2 tanks in the restaurant parking lot. He is sometimes in the building next to the tanks, sometimes not. The tanks get filled every 3 days due to the town folks getting their gas also. If he is not there, ask in the restaurant or the store, and they will call him, and you will wait. He says he will reopen the gas station and run it in the next month or so. Nice guy and $1.50 a liter. If all else fails, go to our gas in a can guy.

You are limited to 4.88m but you are well below that so I am not sure? Glad you guys liked the islands. Orleans is fun and not many folks go there!

In and out of the Delta is a PITA for me. Once parked, I stay. Maybe eat lunch a bit out and end at the Delta, lengthen your ride?

200 miles by lunch is cooking pretty good.

See the light blue tracks under the 23, it is the 23 this year.

Lot's of side trails in Baie Comeau you can check out, of course Baie St Paul has a ton of sidetrails too. And my favorite on the way back hit Orlean's Island, very fun.

2 of us ride with the high end Klim bibs, very nice. Keeps you dry and warm, and we have ridden some very cold days this season so far.

You are picking a big loop with legs that don't have many options for you. I might scale it down and not get so far out, it will give you more options if you need them depending on the riders in the group.

We'll being going through again on Friday and will report on what we find. The route we are using, we will need gas for sure there, and I am not worried they will have an option for us.

Keep control of your sled overall, and if you like to wave, go for it. What you do with mittens, gauntlets or god forbid night riding I don't know? I am hopeful I don't have to pitch my sled into the bank for any more 2-ups signaling what they think is behind them.

Bummer, did they say what the issue was for them? I can assume no snow, but maybe poor signing, poor grooming or no gas too......

Keep going! You are so close, looks like you have another 200 miles of trail to go to the end!

The list still works for us. If there are a few items you like to keep you safer, take them and leave the rest.

Have a nice ride! This is what we found last week: http://youtu.be/9qV4dhTKhGI http://youtu.be/Us58v0AUDE8

Have a nice ride! This is what we found last week: http://youtu.be/9qV4dhTKhGI http://youtu.be/Us58v0AUDE8

Make it easy, 3-93, 260ish.

If you go Quality Inn to Universal, 185 miles. We were there before dark, screwed around a bit and did not leave super early.