markusvt

Want to get adventurous, head West, get in the Mont Laurier, north to Atibbi region, come back adding Reservoir Goiun. 8 day trip easy.

Nice trip, not heavily traveled north of Forestville. 1100 miles round trip from Quebec City, and in another 400+ round trip from VT and you have your 8 days. You get to hit the longest suspension bridge too.

http://pipmuacan.securdev.com/PricesPackages/tabid/4243/language/en-US/Default.aspx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ1M3KPXqsU&feature=player_embedded

Labrador City, NL – It is day 4 of Cain’s Quest Snowmobile Endurance Race and 12 teams have checked in to Kuujjuaq (Checkpoint #11) for their 16 hour layover. It was a good day for most teams today with only 1 team scratching this morning at Wedge Hills (Checkpoint #10) Edward Watkins and Simeon Berthe from Kuujjuaq ran into some bad luck this morning with a blown motor and could not continue. This year for the first time, Cain’s Quest has cash prizes on the mandatory checkpoints for the first three teams into those checkpoints. So far the teams that placed in the money include: Goose Bay, Checkpoint #4 (Prize Purse – $3000) 1st – Team #22 (Gardner/Milley) at an unofficial time of 03:04 ($1800) 2nd – Team #44 (Jones/Lemieux) at an unofficial time of 03:06 ($900) 3rd – Team #25 (AuCoin/Girard) at an unofficial time of 03:21 ($300) Nain, Checkpoint #9 (Prize Purse – $5000) 1st – Team #29 (Nui/Nui) at an unofficial time of 02:22 ($3000) 2nd – Team #25 (AuCoin/Girard) at an unofficial time of 02:28 ($1500) 3rd – Team # 22 (Gardner/Milley) at an unofficial time of 03:04 ($500) Kuujjuaq, Checkpoint # 11 (Prize Purse – ($7000) 1st – Team # 25 (AuCoin/Girard) at an unofficial time of 12:16 ($4200) 2nd – Team #22 (Gardner/Milley) at an unofficial time of 12:29 ($2100) 3rd – Team # 31 (Lessard/Hall) at an unofficial time of 12:46 ($700) All official times will be confirmed prior to March 24th Awards Ceremony. Following the Cain’s Quest tracking system it was apparent that at various times Spot Units were not transmitting. After reviewing the tracking patterns and discussing questionable interruptions along the route, the Cain’s Quest Race Marshall has issued Teams 22 (Gardner/Milley) and 25 (AuCoin/Girard) a time penalty of 45 minutes each for breaches of rule 4.4 section 15 “Any attempts to disconnect these locators or obstruct the signal will result in a penalty or disqualification”. For more information on Cain’s Quest or to track the race via satellite visit www.cainsquest.com

4,096 miles, (6,591KM), my best year was 6,500 miles, (10,460KM). Time and money, and desire. The snow was there to do as many miles as your want. The price of fuel per day got a bit harsh this season, especially in the bush.

Lanie says it's all good. She rides 9,000-11,000 km per season, mainly in the Mont Valins area, all without maps or GPS. She knows the area as good or better than anyone. If you see her up there, and get a chance to ride with her, put your big boy pants on, you'll need them. Have fun!

I have the GPS tracks from Clova, across the reservoir to Barrage Gouin if anyone needs them.

Agreed!

Always glad to help yank a fellow sledder out of the bush. Had to remind him of rule number 1, make all the turns.

Lot's of snow great ride! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzvT8Vg79jY&feature=youtu.be

Day 1. Dudes, there is still a TON of snow here, awesome ride here to Roberval through La Tuque and Lac Edward, mountains of snow for the most part. We slept in Shawinagin, but trailered to Mattawin a few miles up the road. Not really needed as everything looked new groomed last night in Shawinagin, not a track on it! Thin here in Robverval and getting thin in Mattawin, but all else is good. I would say the whole way groomed last night or yesterday! Pipeline was very, very good. Cold last night and today, so trail was rock hard. Met 1 groomer north of Lac Edward doing a super job on an already smooth trail. Did of off trail playing, over your waist. Got into Roberval in time to see the Pro-Champ SCM Ice oval final, very fun! Total 221 miles. Day 2. Back to Mattawin. Nice conditions till we got to the road after the RR trestle in La-Tuque, down to dirt. Close to Mattawin was getting pretty ugly too, warm temps will do that. 50 miles either side of Lac-Edward is still AWESOME! Total 211 miles.

If you want to ride in Le-Tape, you stay in St-Foy or even Stoneham, then truck up an hour and you are there, very easy. Grooming in and out is never super, and the locals ride it to death.

Went by there on Saturday, they are correct TON"s of snow, a little warm and rain will not hurt them 1 little bit.

Yes on the chain, , yes on the handle clearance. If you do very long WOT, like in miles, 500ml will puke some out. Also the lever pulls much easier if the drive belt is not too tight.

A few more.

A few more.

A few Pictures.

Day 1: 4 of us drove up to Motel Godard in Lac Nominingue. Maybe 2 hours or less out of Montreal, less than an hour to Mont-Laurier. We used to go there a lot, I have not been there since 2000. Our plan was to head out to spend the night at Pourvoirie-Martin on the Resivoir Gouin. It's maybe 25 miles due north out of Clova on an AWESOME trail. Wow, fresh groomed all the way to Mekoos. OMG has that place changed since 2000. They built onto the place in 2004, and it is huge now, and nice. 5 miles out heading north, my sled dropped a cylinder. We headed back, and they let us used their heated garage and tools. Awesome cause we had to use their soldering iron to repair a connector issue. After a 1.5 hour delay we were up and out of there. Onto 100 Lacs for lunch, awesome! Up to the 83 all was still perfectly groomed. 83 a little bumpy, but not bad. Had to tow the Apex the last 3 miles, it ran out at 116 miles on the clock. Filled them up in Clova, and got to Martin by 6:30 with 284 miles on the day. The cabins were awesome, great showers, wood stove if you wanted it, (we did), and Line (pronounced Lynn) does an awesome meal! Great wireless hook-up there too. Got to park the sleds in the heated garage for the night, awesome! Day 2: Started with an unreal breakfast, her home made blueberry sauce and pancakes, yummy. Back down to Clova on a fresh 8 inches of snow, very fun. Gassed them up and decided to ride the famous Lepine road/ Woodrunner trail. Not so nice, too bad cause you are on it for 100 miles. Whooped out, not terrible but annoying when there is SO MUCH snow. Passed the groomer, but he was making almost no difference. Blades up and going too fast. Oh well. Heavy wet snow, almost rain for a bit before lunch. Lunch at Club Gatineau. Perfect English, said they have received over 6 feet of snow so far, they are ready for summer, again perfect WIFI. We wanted to stay at Rabaska but they were full, so we had reservations at Point David. Very fun trail to get there. A bit bumpy here and there, but the last 10 miles were like highway! No WIFI, he says by next season. The 4 course dinner was ridiculous, tons of food and awesome, maybe the best desert I ever had in my life! Breakfast was also multi-course, I am not kidding! I don't need to eat for a week. 5 star accommodations for a 3 star price. We ended the day at 192 miles. Day 3: Looked like short way back to the truck was 84 miles, hum, nice sunny day we have to do better than that! We headed out for Devils Mountain. I have not been there since 2000 either. Wow, the trail system has improved so much! Lot's of ways up and down now, and all groomed to perfection. We would have kissed the groomer guy if we found him, well maybe not. So much snow, may have snow in July I think! We passed back by Mekoos again, this time ate lunch there, very, very good. Maybe 10 miles out came on a black bear in the trail, yup, IN THE TRAIL. We went around him, stopped, went back and snapped a few pictures. I think he is out of his den a bit early! Back to the truck by 3:30 with 173 miles on the day. Home by 6:30PM. All in all a very good trip with a mountainous amount of snow. The month of March is looking real good!

Nice! Have fun, ride the heck out of them! We rode 285 miles today, ton's of snow!

From LeTape, on 23, maybe 15-20 miles on the right, big sign there, in the middle of a left hand turn, lot's of sled tracks, can't miss it.

You can build trips and load them into the 500 and the 550, very easy.

My Nuvi 550 has worked at -36F, no issues. I would love the Wide Screen Zumo's, but 3X the price!

Looks like a fun trip, very similar to our rides.

Buddy's that went yesterday said the snow was very thin there now.