mxsenior

Last year a friend and I bought 3 day passes from our phones when starting our ride from the Days in Berthierville, QC. We were stopped by police on the trail within sight of the Days inn. They told us the pass on our phone was not good enough. They instructed us to go back to the hotel and get it printed, which we did.

Wild Bill and I had a lot of fun swapping snowmobiling stories with you guys at the Quality inn in Matane. Tuesday was our 6th and last day of riding. Left Matane at 9am riding back to the Universal. We rode trails #5, #35, #571, #544, #44, #85, #526. Except for about 20 miles on #5, all the trails were fresh groomed with 6-8" of power on top. we arrived at the Universal at 3pm, loaded up and drove home arriving at 11pm. It was a great trip with an amazing amount of snow. 1350 miles.

4500 miles. Most of it in Vermont. About 500 miles in adirondacks. 500 miles on tug hill and 500 miles in central New York south of I-90. Had a good time but my snowmobile track, slides, carbides, and suspension got a real workout compared to riding in quebec.

Thanks for the info, Tom. Another ride would be fun. Alain

sold

I've been buying my pass from Bill for years, but I cannot find the link on Quebec rider. Someone mentioned he's on facebook, but I am not. Does anyone know how I can find a link for buying a pass from him.

Hi pipeman, I agree the trails were great . We were the 5 riders following you on the pelchat trail

Extras include Skid plate, 1.25" ice ripper track, upper and lower a arm braces, s module brace. 1500 miles since shocks and skid were serviced excellent cond. Transferable B.E.S.T. warranty good until Nov. 2018. 6,600 miles. No trades. $6195. Call 518 312-2087

Myself and two others rode this trail last year. We started from the Carlton end of the trail and rode to La Cache. Once we reached the portion of the trail that is shown in dotted on the map, the trail was no longer groomed. For a while it was a bumpy single track with brush hanging over the trail. It eventually got wider but still not groomed. Not marked very well either. There were numerous trails intersecting with sled tracks on them. Probably locals. I used my GPS to keep us going in the correct direction. We were happy when we finally reached Trail 595. I do not know if it is rideable this year.

I transfer multiple maps to my gps from my pc using mapsource or basecamp. If you have multiple maps loaded on your gps, your gps should have a menu where you can see the list of maps with a checkbox next to them allowing you to select or deselect individual maps. In order for the map you want to use to operate properly you have to select it on your gps list of maps and deselect all other maps.

You can purchase gps trailmasters snowmobile New England. Their GPS maps cover Vermont, New Hampshire & Maine and I believe new York also.

Jack, Thanks for the info. Alain

Hi Tom, Yes, 6 in our group. Starting from Bernieres for 4 day saddle bag trip

Ok it is working. Apparently 2 versions of 2017 v900 was transferred to my gps, and I had only 1 activated on the gps.

I also downloaded the latest version today. Trail Colors are fine in mapsource, but all trails are gray on gps. Leaving for Quebec tomorrow. If anyone has a solution, please let me know

Hi Tom, Yes, I know you always ride high miles on your trips from reading your posts. You cover some ground in a hurry on that yammie.. Just one brother with me on this trip. I bought a 2015 600 etec Renegade X last year. This trip I was riding my 2013 600 etec Renegade X. The same machine I had when we rode together. It now has 13,000 miles but only 2,000 on a new short block. Alain

Day 1 , Jan 25th, Tuesday - We started from Berniers Motel on Tuesday at 8am. We were a group of seven. two XRS 800's, one 1200 renegade X, Two 600etec renegade X's, one 600etec XRS and one artic cat 600. #75 to #35 was thin snow cover, bumpy, with icy corners in the woods. The fields sections were smoother with better snow coverage. #35 had better snow Coverage. #547 to #55 east was also thin coverage, icy, and bumpy. From # 55 on was groomed with plenty of snow. One of the 800 XRS's started vibrating badly. It had two broken motor mounts. He backed off the throttle a little and we continued on to #35 east to # 526 North. Although our destination was Riviere-Du-Loop the trails were so nice and we were having fun so we turned right onto #85 and rode to #544 north until we arrived at the . Then turned around rode it in reverse back to #526 and continued on to Hotel Universal. Arrived at 6:30pm with 305 miles. Day 2, Jan 26th, Wednesday - At breakfast the rider with the broken motor mounts decided he was going to the Skidoo dealer to try and get the 800XRS repaired. His roommate, the other 800XRS rider, was too sore and beat up to come to breakfast. It was his first ride of the season. They were going to keep in touch by texting and possibly meet up with us later. We left at 8:30am on #526 to the orange trail that takes you to #544 east Trail was groomed with a few inches of fresh snow on top. We were putting first tracks down. 30 miles in the check engine light came on the 2016 600etec Renegade X. He said the rave valve was stuck. He had been to his local dealer twice with the same problem. The next village we passed thru had a gas station with a heated garage. The attendant let us use the garage to take the rave valves out. He even loaned us some tools. It took about 2 hours to get them out, clean them and reassemble. Back on the trail 11am to #571. Then #5 east to #579 and #587 to Amqui. All the trails today were a 10. Arrived at the Selecthotel at 6:00PM with 225 miles. Day 3, Jan 27th Thursday - Started at 7am heading south on #5 towards Causapscal. turned onto #587S about 9 miles before Causapscal. I've been on this trail before, but never when the conditions were this good. It was fresh groomed with tons of snow. The trees were covered in snow. This trail is 84 miles long and intersects with #5 at the end. If you like twisty trails with at lot of elevation changes this trail one of the best. When we intersected with #5 we turned left and headed north to just past where we started #587. turned onto an orange trail that took us to #5 ust east of Pointe-a -la-Croix. Continued on #5 west to #587N near Amqui. #587N to #579N to #5 west. Stayed on # 5 west to #529 to Riviere -Du-Loop. The artic cat barely made to the gas station at 122miles. The 1200 Renegade X ran out 100 ft from the pump. Pulled into hotel Levesque at 7:30pm with 405 miles. Day 4, Jan 28th Friday- Left at 8:30am. on #526 to #35. 16 miles out my brother on the 1200 renegade X realized he had left his phone in the room so he went back to retrieve it. The rest of us continued on to the relais at the intersection of #526 and #35 and waited for him there. Continued on #35 east until I made a mistake and was on # 561N. continued to # 5 west. #5 west was thin coverage and icy all the way to #557. Turned South on #557 to #55. These trails were great. Continued on #55 to #75 . Once past #35 intersection on #75 towards bernierns the trails were even thinner and icier then when we left on Tuesday. It was dark and the leader went over an embankment leading down to a creek crossing the was no longer frozen. He braked but then pinned it and rode across the open water. Everyone else behind hit the brakes. The artic cat which had no studs at all went sideways, tipped over and ejected the rider. The sled and sled and rider were fine. We all crossed one at a time. No big deal. It was only about 20' to the other side. Two other riders showed up just as we crossed. We decided to watch them cross. One did, but the other one could not make up his mind, so we continued on to Berniers. arrived at 7:00 PM with 300 miles. 1232 miles total All the trails were great with the exception of about 50 miles from Berniers Hotel. The rider that had the problem with the rave valve lives near Utica, NY and normally rides Tug Hill, Old Forge and the adirondacks. He is an experienced rider but he had never been to Canada before or been on a saddlebag trip. He was amazed at the quality and quantity of trails were you can ride thousands of miles thru cities and towns and with the hospitality we experienced in Quebec

Mark, Just curious, could you have gone further east? Enough snow? 3 years ago three of us made it to Baie-Johan-Beetz before turning around. I have a cote nord map that shows the trail goes to a place called Blanc-Sablon, which is about 400 miles east of Havre St Pierre. We would like to finish that trip. Possibly this winter. There is not always enough snow to get there. Al

3 trips to quebec. Also rode in New York Adirondacks, Vermont, NH, and Maine. 5000 miles total. Alain

I agree, They told Glen they could put a short block in and the sled would be ready to go before they closed that night. Glen decided against getting it repaired there only because it was our last day of riding anyway. Alain

When we came down off the mountain the trail runs parallel and right next to rt.132. Chez Mamie is just across the road from the trail. Small place. If it had not been dark, we probably would not have noticed the lighted signs on the building.

Yes, That was me at Chez Mamie, along with my friend Glen. It was a pleasure meeting you guys. After the night in Perce we continued counterclockwise back to 597, then rode the orange trail to la cache. Spent that night in Pointe a la Croix. The next day, (Friday) Glens sled started running on one cylinder near Albertville. We limped it to the skidoo dealer in Amqui, who confirmed it was terminal. I continued back to Rivere du loup to retrieve the truck and trailer. Drove back to Amqui with the truck and trailer and we spent Friday night at the Selecthotel. Sounds like we were in Amqui the same night. What Hotel were you staying at? The next morning we drove back home to NY from Amqui. 11 hour drive from Amqui. Alain

Yes, 597 is open to Chandler via a recent reroute.

My riding partner and I left Riviere du loup on Sunday morning (Feb. 16). it was snowing and the wind was blowing. There had not been any grooming since the storm started on Friday. It was difficult to stay on the trail due top drifting and poor visibility. We got stuck several times. We spent the night in Matane. The next morning, Monday it was still snowing and the snow was getting deeper the further east we traveled. When we reached the hilly terrain near St Anne des Monts and Mt St Pierre it was a real challege getting up the hills. About 4pm we stopped to have lunch in Mont St Pierre. The restaurant was full and the Motel parking area was full of sleds. Where did they all come from? We passed only a handfull of sleds on the trails all day. The waitress said the trails were impassable and everyone was staying put. The Motel was full. We called the Copper Hotel in Murdochville but they were full also. Finally found a hotel in Grande Vallee, (48 miles east) that had room for us. On the way there we passed a group of 5 and a group of two couples. We could tell there was a groomer ahead of us without a drag because there were two deep ruts with a high spot in the middle of the trail. We caught up to him 8 miles from Grande Vallee. He was breaking the trail, in 3 ft of snow, attemping to climb a steep, winding hill. While we were waiting there the other groups caught up to us. One person rode up to speak to the groomer. he said it would take him all night to reach Grande Vallee. We all turned around and backtracted to Riviere Madeline where we found a little restaurant that had a couple of rooms. There were already sledders there that had ridden the road from Mt St pierre. He only had room for two people. Lucky us. The group of 5 took the road to Grande Vallee and the two couples hired a flatbed to take themselves and their sleds to Riviere au renard, where they had reservations. The next morning (tuesday) the Motel owner said the groomer from last night could not climb the hill and returned to town. They were going to send two machines, one of which is a Bombardier, which is better in deep snow to open the trail. A call was made to a club in Chandler for info on trail conditions. They said the interior trail 597 was groomed all the way north to trail 5. We rode trail 5 west until we reached trail 597 and headed south to Chandler. The trail was groomed to Murdochville and slightly past, but then it was only broken by sleds for about 50 miles. Totally rideable since there were no steep hills. Once we reached Chandler the trails were all groomed. They had gotten less snow than the North side. Spent the night in Perce. The next day we continued counterclockwise around the North side and almost everything was groomed. The rest of the week the trails were great.

Yes, in spite of conditions, and a few wrong turns on the trail, he made pretty good time. He said 380 miles on the odometer. Forgot to mention that when he left Hebertville he did not have much fuel. Arrived at MT. Apica at 6:30 AM to find it closed. He did not have enough fuel to get to Etape. He had to walk around in circles to stay warm at -22F until the operator arrived at 8AM Alain