Fuse6

I thought no grooming was happening anymore? Or were they moving the machine to summer storage?

Some impressive miles many of you put on this season. Can’t wait until l’m retired so we can spend more time in Quebec. We did 4 trips from Ontario to Quebec 4,800 km, 3,000 miles Mont Laurier Cote Nord Gaspe twice Spend last week doing the Gaspe and a side trip into New Brunswick with my wife. Great trip with ideal conditions to finish the season. Numbers l’m not so happy with: 7,200 km total on the truck for the 4 trips 72 hours truck travel time. Everyone have a great summer and let hope we get through the present challenges ok. Steve

Drove from Ontario yesterday (Saturday) to RDL Universal Hotel. Lot less traffic than normal on the 30 South Montreal by-pass. Everything relatively normal at the Universal. Pool and hot tub was still open. Left RDL this morning and rode south to Lac Baker, NB. In Edmunston now at the Travel Lodge. Very few people on the trails today, almost no one at the hotel tonight. No direct impact on sledding yet on our travels today.Plan on spending next 4-5 days riding the Gaspe. As long as no critical gas station is closed l’m hoping we will be ok. Mother in-law is in Portugal , suspose to be there until April 1. Travel company is trying to figure out if they can get the group back home sooner. Friend is in the travel business, fleet of tour coaches, motels in Florida and Myrtle beach. Family business celebrating their 60th year in business. Getting decimated in a matter of a few weeks. Hopefully situation gets better soon.

day's goal was the southernmost area below RDL, the Packington Loop. We left in snow flurries which quickly changed to a blue sunny sky for the day. Trails were beautiful, traffic lighter the farther south we got. Coffee at Frontier club, and off to the Packington Loop. We top of our gas in Packington and march on, We come to the intersection of New Brunswick signs. The forbidden Lac Baker trail!!! We look at the signs. We gather. We discuss. We pee. We discuss some more. Its a GO. The trail is fun, groomed to perfection, and in seven miles we are cruising down the middle of Lac Baker. Another mile and a small sign out on the staked trail on the lake, a relais. We pull in, and it really is a full fledged restaurant. The food truly was amazing. I thought this area would be remote. Lots of camps on the lake, lots of people around like maybe a town near by. We had pulled it off, another new trail and place to eat. A great trip back and as always after a stellar day, a good happy hour. mike Mike you mentioned you gassed up in Packington. Is the station right in the village? Don’t see a gas station on Google earth. May head to Baker Lac then over to Moose Valley tomorrow. Thanks Steve

Hi Zeusand, Wonderful pictures you been posting. Enjoyed following along as we are headed for the Gaspe/NB Saturday. Where did you meet the Mundle Shuttle on the Campellton side? Are they available on short notice or do we need to call a few hours ahead to set a tentative pickup time? Thanks Steve

Would appreciate that JG. This weekend before we are in the area. Thanks Steve

Anyone know if the orange trail running south from the 587S to the New Brunswick border connects with a trail in New Brunswick. On the NB app doesn’t show a trail on NB side. Would like to ride from Moose Valley to Point La Croix but include the south end of the 587S as part of the ride. TIA Steve

Great to see you back on the trail Playhard. Seen you been posting but not riding all season. Happy trails!

How many miles was the round trip to Baker Lac Mike?

We did the Cote Nord couple weeks ago. Started in Sacre Coueur and had a great run out to Sept-iles. Tuesday night in Sept-iles our plan was to continue east to Havre St. Pierre. By Wednesday morning the forecast had changed with snow and high winds by Thursday. Thursday plan was to depart Baie Comeau and ride to KM31 on the Pelchat trail. By the time we got to Forestville really started to snow and blow. Arrived at the gas station west of Forestville right on the highway. Gas station power was out so no gas. Impossible to make the 185 km run to KM31 with no gas. Time for a team meeting. We called the Pelchat hotel and they had rooms available and we should have enough gas to make the 80 km trip. Off we go in poor visibility conditions. With the aid of GPS made it to the hotel about 4:30 pm. Highway was closed by then and hotel was full. Arriving at the Hoteliere Pelchat Hotel Thursday Feb. 27 Next mornig machines drifted in, clutches were packed with snow. Friend says we have to ditch the spare underware and socks next trip to make room for a nylon sled cover. Left hotel Friday around noon heading for Sacre Coueur. Other riders had broke trail out to trail 3. Trail 3 the groomer had already done a pass for the first 20 km then he turned around at the end of his run. From there no one had been further west on #3. We had to break Trail in almost 2 feet of powder. Did that for about 20 km then come over a hill and see the flashing lights coming towards us from the groomer out of Sacre Coueur. Thought we would be golden for the remaining 20 km into Sacre Coueur. The snow was so deep the groomer was having problems climbing the hills and had to often back down the hill and do another attempt. Every place he had to back down the drag left a huge snow pile blocking the trail. Some were low enough we could drive over them . Others were to high and steep and had to go around them. Had a few stuck machines but we finally made it to Sacre Couer. About a 3 hour trip to do the 76 km. The adventures of sledding. The seafood platter at Chez Julie in HSP was our goal. That will have to wait for another trip. Have a great ride.

Really enjoying the pictures Jack. What did they serve for supper at LaCache. We stayed there one night a few weeks ago. Two pieces of homemade pizza is what we had. Was very good but that was it, nothing else was offered. The shower was not working in the motel building when we were there. Justin was the young lad running the place when we were there. He was very helpful making some phone calls for us to Mont Joli to make arrangements to have my truck come rescue one of our group who sled chain case grenaded.

Mike, My wife has a cousin that owns a cottage on Baker Lake. We stopped in there this summer for a visit on our way to Newfoundland. First thing l asked was there any snowmobile trails nearby? Pulled up the NB App and the trail ran right in front of their cottage on the Lake. It appears the local club uses the marina on the lake for their Clubhouse/restaurant during the winter. Scout it out for us, slight chance we may head RDL way in couple weeks. Steve

Signfan, We did a 5 day trip, 1,900 km in Northern New Brunswick in 2018. Yesterday on our drive back home to Lindsay from our Cote Nord Trip we decided we will do NB again next winter. We started in Edmunston at the Travelodge which worked fine. As PHardy said the Days Inn is on south side of Edmunston right on the highway. Only negative is no restaurant on site. We did a big loop similar to what P Hardy suggested except reverse. First day left Edmunston headed north up to Moose Valley Lodge. That’s a beautiful ride. Ended up in Bathurst that night. Next day we left Bathurst and rode out to the end of the Acadian Pennisula. We will not do that ride again. Majority of the ride out is an old rail bed. Must of crossed 100 driveways and roads. Not much to see and relatively flat. Got to ride on the bay at the ocean but other than to say we did it was a been there, done that ride, don’t need to do it again, Ride from Bathurst down to Maramichi then back west to Serpentine Lodge is a great ride also. Have to meet the Serpentine Lodge owner and his beautiful husky dog. Real character. 85% of NB riding is forestry roads. Fast running. Were we normally may do 300 km on a Gaspe loop 400 km in NB is doable in the same number of hours. Gas isn’t a problem but you do have to have a plan and hit the lodges in the interior. There is also new gas depot at Mont Carleton now. The trail that runs parallel with the highway from Grand Falls north to Edmunston is more of a getting from point A to point B type of run vs being a scenic need to do that again trail. The snowmobile club at Bathurst has a really good website with daily updates on grooming and trail conditions. Can’t think of the site address at the moment. Really enjoyable riding where your headed. Have a great trip.

Another launch option is Mont Joli which is 45 min less drive than Matane. Hotel Options 1. Motel Mont Joli, older motel but rooms are good. No restaurant anymore. Reason we used it in 2017 and last week is their rescue service. Left our truck keys with front desk, have break down they have a guy that will come with your truck and pick you and sled up. In 2017 one of our group had to be picked up in Murdochville. Last week one of our group had to be picked up in LaCache when a chain case grenaded. 2. Brand new Quality Inn in Mont Joli with good trail access. Not sure if they have a restaurant, Normandin family restaurant right across the road. Nothing wrong with starting from Quality Inn in Matane. Mont Joli to Matane area is perfect start point for a 5 day 1,500- 1,600 km loop. If doing 5 days be sure to ride the 587S trail instead of trail 5. Beautiful ride up through the Matapedia valley. One of those secret trails should be reserved for QR riders only. Stop at Albertville club house for lunch if timing right. The 587N trail runs through the windmill farms. From the one lookout can see 100 windmills down the valley.

Go to Legends to see the grooming delay map. For mileage hit the Black Diamond with the right hand arrow in the top right corner of the map. Can then drop pin A and B to map your route and show the mileage. Comfort Inn is what comes up on the map. Haven’t stayed in Campellton so don’t know if there is other options. Most the running in north NB is fast. If your doing 300 km a day in the Gaspe can do 400 in NB in similar time. We will likely go back to NB next year. Did 1,900 km there in 2018. There is handful of lodges similar to a Moose Valley, more in the interior. Will try to plan our route staying in them when possible.

Jean-guy, Groomer operators are the unsung heroes of snowmobiling. I’ve always thought it can’t be a fun job, especially the all night grooming, cold, loneliness then equipment problems to deal with during difficult weather conditions. Ran equipment all my life and it is extremely frustrating dealing with tired machinery or trying to complete a job with equipment that is not up to the challenge. Step back, take some time for yourself. There will be brighter sun rises and happier trails in your future.

Just back home form an epic 5 day trip in the Gaspe. Not often you get 5 sunny days, no storms, no blowing drifting snow to complete a whole trip. Planned on staying at Copper in Murdochville Wednesday night. Tuesday night we called to make reservations and they had no rooms available so we changed our route a bit and stayed at LaCache. Think for the next few weeks if your a larger group needing multiple rooms would want to be booked a couple night ahead.

On a Monday l would look at the Grooming map at 6:05 AM and decide my route. Where you coming from St. Zenon? The northern route likely better ride

Grimmer, here is a possible plan. Day 1. Matane to Mont Saint Pierre or Auberge LaMarre Day 2. Mont Saint Pierre to Perce (Rock) Stay at Table du Roland Day 3. Perce up to Murdochville, across the Chic Choc trail to LaCache, stay at Relais LaCache. Be sure to see the sled museum at Copper Hotel in Murdochville. Depending on time can head back north to Matane, if you have two days available to ride go south from LaCache to New Richmond then back north through the Matapedia Valley to Matane.

GutZ, a friends sled: - long time saddle bagger - Building Contractor - Non BRP supporter! Would think the box was build for the sled, 144 chassis.

In Mont Pierre right now having lunch. This is what you have to look forward to.

Anyone know if the gas station at Murdochville carries Arctic Cat or Polaris injection oil? Passing through there mid next week and two of the group running 2 strokers.

Here is a lodging suggestion for anyone travelling with your spouse in the Montmagny area. We stayed one night here last summer on our bike tour. Beautiful place with lots of charm and history. https://aubergedesglacis.com/?lang=en

Eastmark it looks like you have the essentials very well covered. You have 2 sleds to pack luggage or riding two up? Likely biggest challenge will be convincing your wife to limited the amount of clothes required for saddle bagging. 750 miles in 4 days would be a lot for many women. Tricky balance between having an enjoyable trip vs turning it into a marathon. Weather always the unknown between beautiful riding days vs cold challenging days. From some other posts looks like you are planning on travelling the Bas St. Laurent and Gaspe area?