Day 3
ok tout le monde, here we go....
Had a super dinner last night at Restaurant Julie just in back of Hotel du Havre. Up this Am and went to check the continental breakfast included with the hotel room. Not inspiring. Or fulfilling either. Toast, cofee, juice? Iceman need substance. Is what it is we decided not to go to Tim Hortons and to just head on out. Nice and cold this AM. -5F they say. Suit up and roll quick stop at the gas and we need to do a quick ice removal on the Steering Boots on the Sidewinder as its got ice built up in there and steering is binding up. I break out my rubber mallet and that along with a bucket of hot water makes short work of this job. Great teamwork tipping sled up and working together to solve the issue albeit a small one.
We bid farewell to Havre St Pierre and head west on a beautiful groomed trail under cold but clear skies. Big sun. This is gonna be a much different day than the grey flat light of the past two days together. 30 miles is all you get of this groomed trail. Over finished see ya bye. Now we have about 30 more miles to gas and this trail is not terrible. We did all the heavy lifting yesterday and today will not be like that. With trail broken and drifts knocked down its much easier navigating and we make it to the gas in Rivere Tonerre in half the time as yesterday. Stomachs are rumbling so its into the grocery store for a quick defrost and some snacks to fuel up. Too early for lunch that will be later today. Nice break and some nourishment and we head out. This is the 40 miles that will make or break your run. Again its a whole new game today as we opened the trail yesterday. Much easier to follow the GPS track and no drifts to navigate like yesterday. We really make awesome time and now it seems almost easy this trail. Don't be fooled. Its got no real marking and yes our tracks are there but now its Saturday and there's been some local's out here and tracks are going many different ways. Good luck. Our navigation team is on it. They got their ducks in a row. No slackers on this team, We pass 2 sleds headed east big Expeditions. Yeah i know you did not need our help but you're welcome, trails packed down for you no big drifts left to pass through. Again super time here and we cut our time in half through this section. Two more locals on mountain sleds with funny pipes. Making lots of noise. No cops out here to bust them that's for sure. On down and across the Moise River. Excellent its 1:30pm unbelievable time today. Here, well what do you know, fresh groomed, in fact groomer is turning around to head back to Sept Isles now.
At the road crossing is a group of 6 locals out for a ride they are headed east. We head for Sept Isles on groomed frozen white Asphalt, however, wherever there is open areas the wind is fierce and blowing like crazy drifting up fast. Groomer just passed and yet it is drifted right back over. Mad wind.
We are headed for gas in Sept Isles and some lunch. I'm thinking hmmmm,.....saturday? Yes ok, near town? Yes ok, Police out? You betcha. Well Dooright is dooing it, I find myself second in the mix. I'm pedaling it hard to try to reel him in. i come over a hill and well hello Police. Hey Now! What you doing? Oh shit, there are two of course. One has taken an interest in dooright and so much so he is making a U-turn to go chase him. Right in front of me. I back it on down, it was a surprise to see him turning around in fromt of me on a hill in a bad spot but I had my "spider senses" tingling telling me to watch it. The other cop throws up his hand and puts on his lights. Yeah I know. I'm prepared for a real issue as I was practically not touching the ground over the hill in pursuit. I greet him as he comes over to me "salut, ca va?" He smiles says in english where are you from? By now everyone else is lined up behind me. I tell him i am from Shawinigan he asks if we are all together i say yes. Some from USA. He asks where we are coming from and is surprised to hear Havre St Pierre. He says I just am checking for trail pass stickers. Hey no problems. Mark comes up to point out (and very true) that he was holding us in a dangerous place as anyone coming behind us over that hill would surely hit us. The officer looks at my sticker then says go ahead its ok. See ya. Down by the road. Randy is there with the Police. I stop to see if I can do anything. This cop speaks some English too, so i am no help. I see him writing but he is just taking Randy's info to put in his daily activities report. No tickets. We are out. One more group of 3 we pass (it is saturday) and down to the gas on groomed trail. Gas and next door to the mall and the St Hubert for a real lunch and a defrosting. Great break here and well deserved. Out of there its close to 3:30. Time to sprint to Port Cartier.
Out of town and not far from town at a road crossing, Greg du Vermont says here...points to his Sidewinder. Yeah buddy I will pilot that girl. He hops on my Apex and is gone. I'm thinking....hmmm lets see what this baby got. Well tabernac it took me a mile or two to get used to the steering, just different than mine obviously. Wicked smooth power. Quiet and all the punch of the Apex but stealthy. Damn I like this thing. I can not believe it but they say don't knock it till you try it. I don't believe "it's once you go cat you never go back" as this thing is alot Yamaha. I'm smitten with it and not missing my sled by the third or fourth mile. I've got it figured out more now, Need to watch it cause she is so fast. Quiet and fast. You look down you are barely giving it and it's doing 80mph. Please sir can I have some more? This one has the fox floats and though it was not rough I am told by Greg that it's not the best shock package. I would need to ride it a bit more but my first Impression is I need one of these.
So thanks Greg now I will spend all day in my helmet tomorrow. Trying to figure out how to break it to mrs Iceman that i need to expand the stable to 3. Maybe i'll letter up the white 13XTX with Mrs Iceman Decals so she thinks its her's? I need to figure this out.
Seriously big thanks to Greg and damn you.
Into Port Cartier at 4:36pm. Trails were perfect from Sept Isles to here and groomer was headed out when we got here.
Taxi to a great restaurant and another awesome day comes to a close. Great crew and great trails.
Life is good.
Back to Forestville tomorrow and then home to Chez Iceman. Gonna be a late night getting back to Shawinigan tomorrow.
Until next time....
It was -15F this morning in Churchill with a stiff northwest wind, putting wind chill numbers way down. We dressed accordingly and headed out. It was 120 miles up the Esker road from Churchill to Esker siding. This road was built back when Churchill dam was constructed in the late 1960s. At that time no 500 road existed, so the only way to get construction equipment into the dam site was over this 100 mile road to Churchill. The Schefferville Sept Isle train unloaded the trucks, turbines, trailers and construction equipment to be hauled in over this road.
In Churchill , which is a company town, for the power station, the town center is like Mall village. The grocery store, school, hotel and restaurant and shops are all located in this company facility. Kind of neat.
Today, It is not groomed but was fun to ride and imagine the activity 50 years ago. One of the structures for water control is pictured below. We stopped at Esker siding and got a fire going in the warming hut. Spent an hour thawing out gear than off to Lab City where Rob's wife Tina cooked us all an awesome home cooked meal of Baked ham, Mac and cheese, potatoes, green beans and muitiple types of salads and Rolls and deserts. Wow that was awesome after ten days on the trail. A down day to tomorrow with minor sled adjustments and than off bright and early Sunday for Gabriel Quebec, near Manicougan reservoir.
The Trans Labrador trail was an initiative started a decade or 2 ago to connect the Labrador communities and promote tourism. It has fallen onto complete disrepair in the Remote regions of Labrador. The huge runs between these villages with minimal services created obstacles that they apparently could not overcome. It's a big shame, because this ride and experience could be enjoyed by many with a commitment to better signage and trail maintenance, even if it was similar to the white road program in Cote Nord, where they use smaller more nimble machines to do the trail with, it would be awesome.
The scenert,people and hospitality in this region is second to none. Just really great people!
The Trans Lab, Quebec loop would also take coordination between both Quebec FCMQ and Lab to make a success. That can be difficult too.
Maybe it will come back sometime with a coordinated effort. Tourism is such an important part of local economies today.
Trailblazer got a reaction from vt_bluyamaha54 in Iceman and Friends head east.
Trailblazer got a reaction from PLAYHARD in Iceman and Friends head east.
Trailblazer reacted to iceman in Iceman and Friends head east.
Trailblazer got a reaction from rene2015 in Iceman and Friends head east.
Trailblazer got a reaction from RoadRunner in Iceman and Friends head east.
