Trailblazer

Best wishes for a speedy recovery Bill, hope to see you back on the Saguenay trails next season.

It would I love to have a copy of your address book Tom. 😁😁

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Got wired up for another chalet ride, so Friday last decide to quit work at noon go home suit up a leave from the yard again! Missing the days of travelling around the province by sled. Day 1 Departure 1:30 pm I take the shorter way up (through Rigaud & Ontario) so I can make it to the grocery store up there before they close for curfew. Arrival 7 pm. 210 klms Day2 Make some sandwiches and boil some soup for the thermos. Gotta big loop planned out for today. Gonna head west across the parc then north to Maniwaki, fuel up and continue north to Pointe David on to the Baskatong, ride across to Devils Mtn and have lunch at Chutes Windigo. Go east through Ferme Neuve, Chutes St.Phillipe, St,Veronique, Nominigue and head south down to La Minerve and back. Out the door and on the trail for 9 am. Parc trail was dreamy, up north between Lac de Milles Isles and Lac Bouchette trail needed a touch up, after that everything all day was absolutely great. Baskatong crossing has changed this year instead of east to west it goes east to south as it did back in the ‘90s. Tons of people at the falls, atvs side by sides sleds. Put the sandwiches on the muffler and off to the falls for a beer, 15 minutes later sandwiches are toasty, soup is good sun is out what else do you want? Return to the chalet just as dark sets in at 6:30 pm with 440 klms. Day 3 My plan is to return the long way staying on the Quebec trails, decide to take a peak at the grooming schedule and I’m glad I did. Club around the cottage and other club going down to the Ottawa river showing grooming the last 24 hours. Pine Hill club further to the east for the Quebec route back is showing no grooming for the last 36 hours and given how beautiful of a week end it was and with all the traffic on the trails guess what that means for that area. Decision is a no brainer but no rush today relax a bit and clean up for the next visit. On the trail for 1pm with a plan to be back in St.Lazare for 4 at the Relais to meet a friend. On the Ontario side I take a gamble and try a different route to get back into Quebec, paid off nicely, trails were mint and fast and later taking a look at the gps track the route angle was much better. Arrival at the Relais at 4 as promised, buddy freaked out thought for sure he’d be waiting a bit for me. Take a little snack break and off we go to see another friend when we come across these 2 guys on some old iron in tow. The guy towing had got his hood up and the engine is doing a smoke show, I stop and ask if he needs help. He looks at me and rolls his eyes, guess that’s a yes. Tell my buddy I’ll tow one and he’ll tow the other, buddy says they are already tied together so I’ll just tow both, he’s got an Expedition. Off we go down the trail towing in tandem to the rendez-vous pointe for his truck’n trailer. Drop them off say our good byes and off to buddy’s place for an outdoor fire and a beer. Back home at 7 pm. 278 klms.

Bad day for both, one towing the other and when we came by the the one towing had his hood up with engine doing a smoke show. Buddy pulled them in tandem to the road crossing. Guys son was on the way with truck’n trailer. IMG_6319.MOV

You’re welcome to give me a call for a ride Don, after all I’m on the Quebec side of the border.

Thanks Sledfarmer, I’ve been crossing it the last few week ends riding to and from my cottage in Duhamel. I made a call to the club president back then and I would like to share with all of you what he said. The trail will be marked closed indefinitely on the FCMQ interactive map from now on. The club will no longer be staking the ice for insurance reasons. However the even though the red line on the interactive map runs up on land for a bit, the trail is still maintained and groomed to the river, while on the river stay with in the tracks that have already be made. Basically follow the river on the north side from Montebello to Fasset where you can cross to Lafavre and catch the Ontario trail system. The crossing at Fasset/Lafavre is staked by the locals.

Says it’s closed but I’m sure sleds are running it. I may try it on the week end heading up to my cottage. We’ve been riding the river from the Carillon dam to Cushing, Qc already this year, roughly 8 klms on the river with no staking and there never is, 14” of ice there now.

Very good MrsGTRider

Nice try but no cigar

Hers two. One familiar to many and the other to very few.

Thanks for sharing the details, it’s definitely a winter all of us need to adapt. We’ve been up to the Cabanon twice this year and brought in our own food including our trail side lunches. Did the Gouin have a microwave in the common area or in any of the rooms?

I was as surprised as you to hear this but sad to say get ready to hear more of it this year. With a combination of a slow start to the winter and snowmobile sales emptying showrooms across the province and very little used inventory means there’ll be a lot of antsy first timers, inexperienced riders and many getting back into the sport from being out of it for many years. This is a recipe for more incidents to come this winter. I’ve already experienced this first hand this season, took my my son in law out for a ride and while out there he had to ditch his sled off the trail to make room for an oncoming idiot that was totally on his side of the trail. Sad to say his sled suffered damages but he escaped uninjured. The oncoming sled was in the middle of the pack and the riders behind saw what happened but continued on. Ride safe, Ride on the right.

Wanna do the extra miles you need the extra gas. Where there’s a way there’s a will.