towing

And we continued onto the #3 And bifurcated on the M3 to our dinner destination: the Pizzeria du Lac After a good meal and refueling, we left to cross the St-Maurice in Grand-Mère We then traveled up west on # 23 trail. Here the ski center in St-Mathieu And the legendary Cabane à Hill We continued on the #23 ...

Yesterday( Saturday) cloudy -15C, Krikri, Snowcruiser and I started our ride from home near Joliette. We wanted to ride the south trails of our regions a bit so we tried this itinerary: The fields trails were all freshly groomed and with the cold night were also really hard and fast. Light pressure on the throttle produced indecent speeds and it is the cold that moderated somewhat our ardor. Trails were 10/10 The #3 trail in Mastinongé/Louiseville area have slightly less snow with a little sand mixed with snow just in a few curves but still very good overall. We passed by St- Paulin on Trail # 63, by the legendary Cabane à Gerry And here, the famous Magnan Falls near Charette We then continued to St-Etienne des Gres ... To cross the St-Maurice River near Gabelle Dam ...

Great report and pics good offtrail shots thanks for sharing Alain

Great report With a third day like this one you will remember this ride for a while !!! Thanks for sharing Alain

Great report trailblazer love the pics B) Alain

I won't help you much for your purchase, I'm using very old basic stuff, a sony 4,1MP without zoom. Krikri is taking most of the pics you saw while riding without stopping so we need something that work really fast, point and shoot with a size that enter in Krikri mits and work on standard aa batteries. We had tried newer one and came back to the old one... the ratio of good shot in the lot we take is really high with it and the colors are great... maybe the graininess is not the best but for our use the overall package is great. I buy an other one used this summer exactly the same as a spare for $50 with a huge memory card in it... mcstar is right, it's just here on the yellow arrow... The thaw we got improve the trails condition by hardening trail bases without really losing snow and we got a foot of new stuff since... so You will have a good time for sure... Thank you guys for your good words Alain

After a good meal, we then went to Archambeault Lake... The trails were beautiful and very soon we were near the Black Mountain... Finally, we should have made a lunch to go and came and eat here ... it's so beautiful!! Just a little disappointment, gray jays were not there ... They probably had their daily ration by other visitors before us ... We would like to stay a bit more but we were away from home! Had to go back... We descended the mountain and the trails were so beautiful we decided to go around the lake to come back.We then took the #33 like earlier and then came towards Parc du Mont-Tremblant trought Caribou entrance. The trail was very nice and fast We then swithched to the Coin Lavigne, this section was much bumby but the solution was already in application... After this quick section at sunset, we took a break at Coin Lavigne and then been back trought St-Émilie /St-Jean de Matha and the morning path. Total: 226 miles In short, my best ride to date this season. The snow is good in the south and amazing in the north making our of trails network 100% operational in superb conditions. It is now that it's happening! No excuse, if you want to ride this season you will find no better! Alain

Several sculptures are not yet complete, but it allows us to watch the carvers work ... The good Lord heard me and finally the sun came out for the rest of the day ... I'll do another post for the festival of sculptures because I still have many beautiful pics ... We then continued towards the suspension bridge. The trail need grooming but the scenery was beautiful... Suspended bridge On the other side trails maintained by NDM were mint as usual We switched north and took the #33 to St-Donat. Everything is freshly groomed 11/10 Arriving near St-Donat And we took our lunch at the famous Cuillère à Pot ...

Yesterday morning cloudy sky -13C at the start, Krikri and I were starting our ride from home near Joliette. Target: to see the ice scupltures festival in St-Come and then the Black Mountain in St-Donat. Here is the itinerary for the day With the hard trail base caused by the lasts week thaw, the heavy snow from last friday and this last cold night we had beautiful trails to start our day We went north from St-Jean de Matha on freshly groomed trail and then took # 349 to St-Come, which was just as beautiful ... Just a little past Ste-Beatrix, the trail was not longer recently surfaced but still nice and very snowy ... A little point of view ... Just before the village of St-Come, there was a small obstruction in the trail ... I think he regretted having gone too far on the trail entrance ... a good operator would be out of the hole in few second with this equipement ... And we arrived in St-Come. I was deceived a bit because it was the third year in a row it was cloudy when I came to admire the sculptures. There are for every one, from snowmobile to dragons ... through all the themes available ... ...

well... seems to be a trip you won't forget :blink: statistically, after being so unlucky you should be ok for a while ;) finally, nobody hurt and you had fun... managing the unexpected is part a trip... by curiosity, how much mileage had your wife vector and the other one that broke his drive axle ??? Alain

It's confirmed, it's now officially open from today 28 January 2012. I raise my hat to this snowmobile club that work hard and fast without giving up even the situation seemed really bad at first. It finally paid and this important trail link is now 100% operational Alain

Well... Hard for me to not ride this weekend <_< The hard flat trail bases made by the thaw from the beginning of the week are now coated with a 8"+ of new stuff in the north and even at home in the south...This last snow drop now make the trail network for Lanaudière and Mauricie 100% operational with outstanding conditions...what the hell I do infront a computer For those who doubt, no question...what we were all waiting now happened and the full playground is waiting for us... :D Thanks again snowfarmer and Linda for the feedback and pics Alain

You're right Linda, there are a bunch of carver that realize real art pieces each years there. As a teaser, here some pics of last year.. On a more humoristic note, this Moes bar scene from the simpsons with Bart and his friend making graffities on the wall of the bar And this piece from 2007 edition that impressed me the most Alain

.........I create expectations...... ;) Maybe St-Côme would be a good idea for my monday ride... Anyway, I would already tell you unless they get rain (wich not seems to be on the forecasts) that it will worth it. The officials dates are from 28 january to 12 february for their ice sculpture festival. We see from the pics that it's already begin... Thanks again snowfarmer and especially Linda to put the pics online, great !!! Alain

Thanks snowfarmer, great report With the new snow on the way beginning in few hours, we will have incredible trails conditions soon. Can't wait to ride again... B) but only this next monday for me ... Alain

I just check the latest news on CMIQ french forum and the bypass trail is done but they are waiting for new snow to open it. There is a problematic 4 miles of new trail on gravel... maybe the next days snow will solve this... http://www.motoneigeauquebec.com/forum/showthread.php?129830-Condition-Mauricie-et-La-Tuque-22-janv&p=1153113#post1153113 http://www.motoneigeauquebec.com/forum/showthread.php?130286-Boucle-Shawinigan-la-Tuque-Lac-Edouard-l-%C9tape-st-Raymond-et&p=1157079#post1157079 Alain

Finally we are now at 0,5C . The day have been pretty mild with warm wind which melt snow a bit more. At home in Joliette, it left to the ground about the 2/3 of what we had before the rain and this wet snow will have to freeze back this next night. I would expect some south trails to had suffered but when all will freeze back, we will get a solid trail base. There few inches of snow preview for thursday/friday, maybe enought to put back good conditions in the south. Temps tonight should get down at -6C at home and -10C in St-Zénon . I know they also got rain norther but from the comments I read, there's no real damages other than they will wait that all freeze back before grooming, probably not tonight but tomorroy night. I expect good conditions with solid trail bases after the dozer pass... Alain

Rain finished this morning, cloudy 2C at home. We see that the snow had packed a bit but no real damaged by now. Alain

Thank you very much for your comments guys For the danseuses in shawinigan area, I don't know... maybe Iceman will... Alain

condolences to all mourning familys and friends :( it's a good occasion just to remember to take care a bit more when we ride. Slowing down will never hurt us, it will just make the ride a bit longer... who will complain of sledding more !!! Alain

Right now at home in Joliette near St-Laurence river, it is light freezing rain with 0C. It begin around 18:00. I'm not too worried right now, because the rain amount in the forecast was 5-10 mm here at home and less norther(2-4 mm of freezing rain in Shawinigan and 1-3mm in St-Zénon)It should be finish tomorrow morning and all should freeze back on tuesday/wednesday night. I will post later to update... Alain

It was 10/10, beautiful and fast up to Jeanotte shack ... Continuing east, the conditions were just as snowy but the trail was a little more beat with some bumps in curves. The scenery was beautiful ... A lot of snow in this area, it was funny to see the snow accumulated on the bridge sides ... And we then stopped at the famous relay Marmitte for a good hot chocolate with good still warm cakes... Then the sun was too low for the pics. We headed up to Rivière à Pierre for fueling and then we ride to our starting point via trails # 23, # 3 and # 351. The trails were nice even in spite of all traffic of the day, we even crossed a dozer working in the area of St-Marc des Carrières. With the night that was coming, the cold got stronger and we ended the trip at moderate speed with 228 miles on the dreammeter. To conclude, a beautiful ride in very nice full winter conditions. It’s finally big winter, the actual trails conditions are very nice and the trail network is near 100% ready even in Lanaudière than Mauricie side. I hope the thaw previewed on the forecasts at the beginning of the next week will not be too severe and will simply harden the trail base which could be a good thing... It’s something to watch especially for the south of our area… keep our fingers crossed ... Alain

The scenery was beautiful, even more when the sun was willing to show up a bit And we started the pipeline section, always fun to do ...It also now seems groomed a bit wider than on iceman's video Shortly after the intersection for # 351, the path of the trail is plowed but still snowy It ride well but the trail was plowed up to the railway bridge We then continued on a very snowy trail and a little farther, took the second part of the pipeline. Apart from a few bumps in some big hills it was beautiful. Then, just before arriving near Wayagamac Lake(before LaTuque) we took this little local trail that I had never done. It passes south of the lake to connect with the # 73 between the two lakes. The trail passes on a summer road. It was not surfaced recently but was very beautiful without a single bump and with alots of fresh new snow not packed yet So we ended up on the #73 we take it to the east.

Yesterday morning ,cloudy -22C, Krikri and I are starting our ride with our friend Snowcruiser near Champlain east of Trois-Rivières near St-Laurence river. Here’s the itinerary of our day in Iceman's playground: Although the degree was not so cold, humidity was probably pretty high because the cold was biting. The good side is that trails were really mint. We see that the snow accumulation near St-Laurence river is less but sufficient because the trail were beautiful and it rapidly increases as we go north. We took the trail on the St-Maurice River in Grand-Mère… It was a bit bumpy on the first miles and with the cloudy sky the visibility was not so good to clearly see the trail so we took it easy As we rode trail got better, just a few sections of frozen slush time to time And then the sun improving visibility we could open the throttle a bit more We then continued on the #360 , very snowy and beautiful At the #355 junction (to pipeline) we decided to go south a little to warm us in St. Joseph Mékinac We fueled up and also had our dinner here ... thier pizza is excellent. Then we came back our steps towards pipeline, a lot of snow here ...