smclelan

Looks like everyone had a good time. Sorry I couldn't make it this year. We will get together this winter somewhere, till then

Nice pictures Groomer!!

Forest Fire? Volcano?? You been into the wine again haven't you?

Welcome to Quebec Rider.

Things have been a little slow, so lets try something. Of all the pictures you took last winter, pick two of your favorites and put them up. Maybe with some detail on them. This is the bridge in Baie Comeau on the way back from the Quebec Rider Get Together Coming down from the lookout at Perce in late March

This was my second spring snowshoe hike with Groomer. He certianly has a nack for picking weekends with perfect weather and locations that are simple put "Breath Taking"!! Here are a couple of my pics from our weekend hike. A view on the way up A nice tight trail Groomer coming behind me (I think he stopped for a beer) One of the spectacular views At the Summit (note the beer beside him) All I could say was WOW!!! Here he is into the beer again!! On the way down. Thanks Jean Guy for a great weekend.

Happy Birthday Bill!! I hope you have a great day with family and friends.

The dates are set in my calander. I will be there. Thanks for doing this again Bill, what a fantastic location. Tell Ray and Yvonne I am looking forward to staying with them again.

Funny thing, we all looked at the moose and never took a picture. We all said we had enough moose pictures, that comes from riding the Gaspe.

Just thought it would be interesting to see how many miles we put on as a group in Quebec this year. When you put your miles on just add them to the previous total. Lets keep the number in miles. This season I drove in Quebec: 4000 miles

Do you suppose the curvy tracks have anything to do with the wine???

A couple from a trip through Perce on the 22nd of March 09.

Thanks for the update. How do things look there this weekend?

I have yet to see sediment problems, but have seen water problems on different ocassions. High volume stations are usually safer. I always look in the end of the noozle before putting it into the tank. Many times I have seen the noozle filled with snow.

Thanks Guys for the nice comments. Without putting a political hat on, I think it is great for government to recognize the economic impact snowmobiling makes, and investing more money into improving it. It is a $1.5 billion business in Quebec annually, $8 billion right across Canada every year. This is generating the government huge tax revenues. I was lucky to have him make the announcement in Nova Scotia. It was the PMs choice to ride into the announcement on a sled. I was lucky enough to have him ride in on the Snowmobilers Association of Nova Scotia's (SANS) sled and get to ride with him. (mind you I did say he could have the E-Tec if, I got to ride in with him, LOL)

There is still lots of snow in the Gaspesie Region, just got back on the 24th. See my post in the Gaspesie Form. Trails were all very good and I can only think of 2 bare spots in 1080 miles. Lost of good off trail riding too. The owner of La Cache said he is getting lots of bookings for people looking to off trail.

Great Report and some fantastic pics. Sounds like you took care of the bad weather for us before we got there. All we ran into was a pesky 10" dump of snow. The people in the Gaspesie region are the friendliest people you will meet anywhere I believe. Too bad we didn't hook up, we just missed by a couple of days.

Mid March snowmobiling is always good in the Gaspesie. This year was no exception. I landed in Pointe a la Croix on Friday afternoon to start a three day trip with Longriderss and Scorpionbowl. They were coming in late friday night from New Hampshire. While waiting for them I decided to run over to see the most famous groomer operator in all of Quebec at his clubhouse in Albertville. The trails were perfect, the PALC groomer had just done the trail to the St Fidele cable bridge, and from there Groomers trails were perfect. On the way back I stopped at the little bar in Sainte Margurite for a beer, not many people speaking English in there. LOL So I got an extra 130 miles on than the other two guys that landed late, those are "Bonus Miles". We all pulled out Saturday morning in beautiful sunshine and about -10c. We went to New Richmond, the snow was a little hard and you could smell slides from time to time. I had to drag a heel to put extra snow into the skid for cooling on the TZ1 a couple of times. We then turned up the 595 and the cooling problems seem to disappear. A perfect morning on the 595. Scorpionbowl smoking by. We stopped at La Cache for gas and a drink. Never noticed before, La Cache has a 1 Star rating. Don't think I have ever seen one either. The trails were tabletop all the way through, and the weather was perfect. Longriderss posing like a peacock. We pulled into the St. Paulin Clubhouse, it was very busy. We left there and headed East. A trip along the North shore just isn't complete without a picture of the "Bus", the Lighthouse at Le Martre and the Bear Lookout. We stayed the night in Mont Saint Pierre. 300 miles right on to the parking lot. The Hotel Motel was sold last year but Raymond was there serving breakfast in the morning. He does it to help the new owner, great to talk to him again. We were on the trail early Sunday morning heading east. We went past the 597 to Riviere Madeliene snapped a pic or two of the bridge, then into the waterfall just past town. We then turn and went back down the 597, past Murdochville and too the local trail that goes out to Douglastown and south to Perce. Trails were perfect again all the way. Yours Truly We struggled to leave here, it was just a great day to look at the Rock. But we forced ourselves away only to get stopped by the QPP and a Trail Warden before hitting the TQ5 again. They were great and only held us up a minute. We gased up and turned up the 597 from Chandler, the boys all said lets fly up Piston Alley, WOW what a ride. The TZ1 was sitting at the end waiting for a couple of minutes for the other two to show up. It was working very good. That night we stayed at the Copper. 300 miles again for the day Morning Rush Hour at Murdochville The next morning we took the trail from Murdochville to La Cache and back up the 595 to St Paulin. We got to within about 5 miles of the clubhouse and a moose was on the trail and would not get off. We followed him for a couple of miles, at one point I thought I would get a little closer and try to chase him off the trail. He turn broadside to the trail and flattened his ears down, Groomer had told me at one time that means he is "Pissed Off". Needless to say all three sleds instantly went into reverse and we were making double time backwards. We had a bit of a Mexican standoff for a bit till he headed up the trail again. We finally passed him on the side where they have cut the trail out wider. We had a coffee at the clubhouse and headed toward Matane. There was about 8" of frest powder and some snow in the air. Perfect trails again. From Matane we traveled the 591 a ways then turned toward Saint Vianney, Saite Tharcisus, and Saint Alexandre des Lacs. Neither of the guys with me had been through these trail before and agreed they were hidden jewel of this area. I strongly recomemend them to anyone. The next stop was for a beer with Groomer and tell him of our adventures. That night we backtracked to Amqui and stayed at the Ambassadeur. 265 mile for the day. Tuesday morning we left early and headed to the trucks. Stopped long enough to snap a picture of some snow drifted in front of a house in Sainte Margurite. Groomers trails were awesome. We ended the trip at the Lookout over PALC, I have been looking for this one for a couple of years and found it this time. There is one at the top of the ski hill and the other going toward Albertville right off the trail. This one is on the Albertville side at the very top of the hill you have to go up a very tight trail barely wide enough for a sled. 85 miles Longriderss and Scorpionbowl remember that 130 miles I got at the first of the trip, that now gives me 1080 miles. HAA

What a great report. Good pictures, excellent detail. I have never stayed in Clova before, but I have heard lots of really good things about the Auberge this year.

I haven't seen Switchback 2006 on the board in a while. I checked and it was back in January when he was online last. Has anyone heard where he went??

Nice picture of the deer framed between the trees. I like the way the zoom works on your camera.

Good report Andy. Sounds like you had an excellent trip.

I got this privilage because I am the President of the Snowmobilers Association of Nova Scotia. As far as why he made the annoucement in Nova Scotia, just luck of the draw. Yardawg I have just over 4000 miles on my E-Tec and have also have no issues at all with this sled. I would stronngly recommend one.

The Prime Minister took my E-Tec for a ride on Friday while announcing $25,000,000 in Infrastructure funding for Trails across Canada. The Big Guy and I

Good report. I was on a 2100 mile trip in January, I prefer the longer trips over the 2-4 day trips. I have never been up in the Matagami area, are the trails in and out of there good?