doonali

And here is what the trail we come out of before crossing the road looks like

Location anybody ?

Was up in the motherland last week visiting various places in the Lanaudiere and Zec Chapeau-de-Paille areas
thought some of you might like to see what the place looks like without 4 ft of snow

Day 5 from Manicouagan reservoir back to km 31, pushing miles and miles of snow, snow was really sticky and we were chewing up fuel and oil faster than whimpy eats burgers.  Arrived last night into km 31 around 7 pm with 300 miles for the day a big day for sure.  The teamwork of this group led by Team Maine’s Early Rider is nothing short of amazing.  After 1,000 miles of extremely adverse conditions not being on any marked trail this is truly an adventure not for the faint of heart.  Take care signing off from km 31.
603 Backcountry 
 

We arrived last Friday at km 31 on Saturday morning we headed out into the country for 5 days of off trail adventure.  The first day was an adventure over to km 94 relais manic outarde.  Breaking trail the whole way sleighs in tow we managed 208 miles for the day.  The second day we left and headed for relais Gabriel another 215 of serious trail breaking.  Day 3 was 100 miles of beating thru  the woods and rivers putting in a trail up 80’ waterfalls stuck in deep snow .  Day 4 was a loop east from Gabriel to the old trail along the gorge up to petite Manicouagan back to Manicouagan reservoir in for the night another 190 miles of adventure. Day 5 loaded all back up and headed southwest back to km 31, 300 miles of breaking trail 150 miles of it rivers and reservoirs, ep plus gallons of fuel burnt and 1 plus gallon of oil gone, all in all a great day.  Sorry for the long post pics and comments to follow.

Cruising for miles and miles, weather and visibility has been tough at times

First time I have ever climbed an 80’ high set of falls with water ripping below the shelf ice and many holes to avoid.  Definitely have to be on your game.

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Many tough areas where the snow was not set up and bottomless.  You know it’s difficult when the super wide 24” and 20” wides will not go but we pulled a lot of skis and put the snow bungee to the test.

Another set of falls to traverse and endless miles of powder.

There is a trail system here in the Northern peninsular. It would not be fair to try to compare this system to the one in Quebec. So far we have been on a recognizable trail system about 20% of the time.  Frequent winds and equipment breakdowns create large challenges for some communities here. Still a refreshing style of riding that we tend to enjoy.
 
We have enjoyed the communities and people. Very warm and friendly which is the Newfoundland way for sure!
 
Happy trails 
RR

Hotel Central in Parent....👍 and I miss the Tamarac in Clova.

Many of you have commented on the Western side, and as you can see the eastern region we have run so far had a much more dense snow pack in many places.  We will be working our way down the Western side later this week,  We hope to have good weather for the scenery and strong backs for the powder!
Here are a couple of drone shots , one in Harbor Deep and one in the highlands of the Long Range mountains.
Also Norm from Boughwiffin lodge dropped us off some 2000 year plus iceberg ice last night. That made the Crown Royal taste very special!

 

Mike, it is a very special experience! Again, this is not a big mileage trip, but very awesome in its own way!
Today we took a ride out to the village of Inri in the Conche region. We viewed the Groais and Bell islands as well as a hearty....skipper running his out board along the ice sheets!
Also a ww2 Bomber that crash landed in this region.
 
We are learning lots of  history in Newfoundland!
F
 

The scenery rivals the White road, Labrador and what we have seen in Alaska.  Definitely  this is something to put on your to do list!

Our second day consisted of our self guided run up the Souflette river system into the Long  Range Mountain  highlands.  The highlands are really something to experience and respect. You do not want to get caught out here in a storm system. A local lost his life here a few weeks ago while out in these highlands during bad weather !
. There is no shelter or land marks to go by. You must trust your gps or don’t go! 
 
We headed to the outfitter Boughwiffins on the Cloud river.  Let me just say that both the outfitter at Harbor Deep and Cloud river are first class, if you want to come here , they will take care you.
we have their contact if anyone is interested.
Gray weather is forecasted for the next few days so, we will have not the scenery, still a great time.
 
Happy trails RR
 

I just wanted to point out that no one here on QR has limited or restricted Bill's access to the site, whether or not the Delta is a sponsor. We appreciate Bill's reports as much as everyone, and look forward to more of them in the future, if he so chooses...

Did it last two yr's. both ways, it cuts off approx. 20-25mi using the bypass (old trail)

For sure everyone appreciates the live updates from the trail. For those who don't realize it, they aren't the easiest thing to do after you've been on the trail all day, then you need gas up, unload, check-in, shower, have dinner, catch up on what you've missed during the day, plan the next days ride and you're tired as hell and need to get up early the next day.

With the beautiful sun forecasted and the fast trail conditions, we chose to do one of our classics: The Joliette/Mattawin River big loop



We were a little uncertain after Friday's rain on whether the trails would be icy or not so on Saturday morning we took a look at the interactive map to see the latest grooming and the majority of the trails had been done during the night so we went for the big loop

It is a ride that we make every year (once in each direction!) And that we particularly appreciate for its fast and rolling trails for being so south. The ride gave us 287 miles which when we have good conditions can be done quite easily in the same day. Having no riding partner we did it quite intensive without taking many breaks: We left home at 9:00 in the morning and came back home for supper at 7:00pm

So it's under a beautiful sun and -12C  that we start from home by sled on Saturday morning. The trail was very hard so I dropped the 2 scratchers from the start




It was a stunning sunny day but the wind was very strong. We just rode a bit in the field with the wind sideways and a good draft had made its way in the face of my sweetheart making her a cold spot just between the two eyes and she was feeling like she had just eaten a half-pot of ice cream too fast!!! I took out a sticky hot-pad kit and tinkered her a solution ... not very cute but effective!





Top notch riding apart from the side wind that wants to throw us down the Yam from time to time. My sweethearth no longer complains of the cold, not sure if her brain unfroze... or completely froze!




The more we rode on the #3 to the east and the more new snow we saw after the rain that turned to blowing snow










East of Ste-Ursule, I switched on local trails between #3 and #63 to keep a more direct route. Perfect trail conditions










We did a pit stop in St-Étienne to refuel and then continue to the east. Here crossing la Gabelle dam reservoir ...




On the way up on the other side of the river, some snowmobilers in the group in front of us had been trapped on an ice strip in the hill. I really love my Iceripper track, had not even free spinned





And we go back on the St-Maurice in Grand-Mère




The short stretch up to the junction with the #23 was pretty bumpy. Next was better but being two-up on the Yam, it been up to the height of Grandes Piles before I could open the throttle comfortably 





The St-Maurice river scenery is always as beautiful ...







We then ride to get the #360








And we arrived for lunch at Marineau in Rivière Mattawin around 1:00 pm with about 130miles on the dreammeter





Alot people there but as always a good nice and fast service 




Barely an hour later we left, all 3 full (Kristine, the Yammy and me) on # 360 in St-Zénon direction. Just after the bridge the trail connection has changed place  and the first portion is on a new, more direct and less twisty path. I like it much better for sure.




The classic Mattawin River view





The #360 was like a carpet, beautiful and fast.





We took a break at the summer rest area 440




It's a picnic area, if you want to use the table plan to bring a shovel!





Then back for a lazy-boy ride on the beautiful #360








I chose to cross the river on the dam instead of the bridge, like in old time!




The reservoir level is already considerably lowered ...






 
The #345 was nice and fast too. As we expected we met a dozer who was starting his run from Cabanon







A last fuel-up for the venture at the l'auberge le Cabanon 





The #23 south was as good, even in front of the dozer that we passed
 




The only less good section that was bumpy was few miles each side of Réal Massé where #23 and #350 share the same trail, then it was ok and once in the St- Gabriel trails even better. We also crossed their dozer who was leaving for his run too



 
We finally came back for supper at home at 7:00 pm with 287 miles on the dreammeter. The trails near home had enough loose snow with the day's traffic to ride easily without scratchers.
Once again the big tour did not disappoint us. Even with some rain last week, the trail network is still fully operational and nice: the best of the season is now! where ever you want to ride, do it now.. time flies really fast!!

You can always keep an eye here for trail conditions and more: https://www.snowmobilecountry.ca/en/conditions/
Have fun and ride safe!
Alain