gizz

Not if 1/2 of Quebec is closed and it's the only place to ride. they'll get it worked out......I hope

Insane!

Can you elaborate on that little more? Clutching? Usually it's the other way around with a new sled.

We stayed Friday Night so i guess it wasn't you. I could've asked but then it might seem silly asking....Are you "markusvt"....lol. I could end up with a black eye or something with some of the names we have. Think i'll opt for the sticker!

Mark, Did you sit back in the corner in the dining room at Mekoos? If so we about 3 tables away.

Thanks for your reports this year. It really helps to see the condtions through your pictures. We may have crossed paths sometime on saturday as we were coming into Cabanon via 63. It was amazing how quickly the trails deteriorated on Saturday. Lots of sleds at Cabanon when we got back.

That's the odd thing. They were not closed but really didn't seem to want to see anyone else. Maybe he was just tired of the season and ready to call it quits and I'm ok with that. All i needed to hear was that the bar/resto and rooms were closed for the season. Maybe i caught him on a bad day but to be treated like that is pretty much enough for me. It leave a lasting impression. Enough of that though, it's not that big of a deal. We had a great season ending ride and pretty good year between PA and Quebec.

Mark, i think we ran the same stuff LOL! Your report is just about the same as mine. We must've been seperated by an hour or less.

Friend, his 19 yr old daughter and I (spring break for her!!) decided to give it one last run. She is a good rider and this was her very first trip to Quebec, yes she is hooked! We got into La Cabanon Wed Night to heavy snowfall. Thursday - Cabanon to Barrage Gouin. 345 to Repos for soup and gas (soup was hot and good!). Pushed fresh snow most of the way but not bumpy. Then up the orange trail to Kanawata for more gas and a quick late lunch. Freshly groomed all the way up from Repos.....great riding. Kanawata told us that from there north it would be groomed Thu Night. We pushed some snow all the way to 83 but it was not bad at all and very smooth. 83 was toast and appeared to not have been groomed at all for weeks. We only had to ride it a while to the Gouin entrance so no bid deal, just a little soft. We got to the right side entrance and it was untouched. There was NO sign of anyone on that trail as the new snow had it all filled in. Being our first time to Gouin we were a bit nervous not knowing if the place seasonal and possibly closed but we decided to go anyways and boy are we glad we did. I pushed several inches of new snow the whole way bit it was an awesome ride up to the dam. Of course once we got there and realized that it was a year round establishment all worries ended and we were treated to one of the best stays we've had in quite some time. Definately on my list to frequent. Those people know how to do it! Rating 8/10 for the trails overall, 10/10 on the stay! Friday - Gouin to Mekoos After a great stay we headed down the left side back to 83 towards Parent. Again we were the first on that section and it was as perfect and scenic as it was on the way in. We hit 83 and headed toward Parent. 83 was ungroomed and getting messy until we got close to Parent, then we found it groomed into Parent. From Parent south on 13 it was very good riding, some rough spots but nothing bad really. It was all recently groomed nice and wide. We then took 33 south to 100 lacs, great until that 30km or so stretch of twisties....however it was flat so that was a plus. As for 100 lacs, i'll just say this, That guy running that place (in his 70's or so but i don't know his name nor do i care to) was the rudest business manager i've run into. We pulled in there and filled up at about 3 PM, we were the only people there and based on the numbers that we saw on the trail i don't think there were going to any more than a few there for the evening. He went up and down one side then the other on us about asking for food at 3 PM. I honestly thought he was kidding at first and then i said with a chuckle that we did get in a little later than we thought do to having a new rider and pushing some snow. He looked at his watch and sternly said ..... "lunch at 3 PM, not too funny". "You should think about that the next time you expect to get lunch at 3 PM". He then bitchingly said lunch is 11 to 2. I looked around at the very nice but empty place and said ..... "forget the food we'll just pay for our gas and be gone". He could honestly care less. I have to say i've NEVER been treated like that in Canada and expect very little from the folks up there.That was my friends daughter's second day up there and she looked like she was in shock. I told her that 99% of the business owners/managers are awesome and then there's jack assess like that. We'll just erase 100 lacs from our GPS points of interest and never return. Sorry if you have a different opinion or think we must've done something wrong, i can assure you the exact opposite and i'm still in shock about the treatment we got there. Never again unless its under new management. This isn't about 1 episode of cold soup or warm beer, it was the most uncomfortable situation i've ever been in up there........If they are not open then they should nicely say kitchen is closed until ?. Not going to let him ruin our trip so..............to continue the trip......we then blasted down a perfect 53, then 319 all the way to Mekoos. Ran across a couple and a young 8 yr old or so boy that had run out of gas about 10 miles out from Mekoos. I was able to give them a gulp of gas from my 1200 using a little nifty hand pump that my buddy and I threw together. Needless to say they were very thankful and returned the gesture in a round of beers for us at Mekoos. We had a great stay at Mekoos. Awesome place ! Trails 9/10, Mekoos 10/10........100 du lacs 0/10 Saturday - Mekoos back to Cabanon. From Mekoos south on 53 then 319 then 322 to 63 was pretty much perfect. A few spots of washed corners and soft snow but all in all very smooth and fast. Pretty much all groomed. 63 was groomed as well and all in all it was very nice. As we got closer to St Michel things got rough and before you knew we were overcome by the Sno Cross wannabes riding loops out of the local towns. The temps were getting up there and from St Michel to Cabanon it was complete shot.....but we expected that and rolled into Cabanon without any head-on damage from the sleds on the wrong side of the trail coming at us in the afternoon :) Trails - first part 8/10, second part, we just wanted that to be over with - no rating! It was a great last trip for the year and conditions are still very good up north. I would not be afraid to travel up there again however i think you need to definately get further north in your vehicle and then sled from there. Plenty of snow and other than 83 most of it was groomed. Couple things we heard on Saturday before we left was that Kanawata was closing for the season on Sunday 3/24 - unconfirmed but made sense. Cabanon groomers did not operate on Sat Night or Sun AM so i'm not sure what the deal is there but a couple workeds thought that this might've been the last weekend for them. It's a shame they stopped groomed the TQ's so quickly (especially 83) as there is just so much snow up there. I've heard from several locals that it seems to be getting shorter and shorter each year. If you think about it they really only groomed TQ83 from late Dec through Feb . I think the last day they groomed it was March 6. There is no reason why they couldn't groom it again after all this snow and get another 2 or 3 weeks. Overall it was a good year for us both in PA and in Quebec.

I called tonight. They will groom AFTER this new snow. She said they would get be grooming for this upcoming weekend.

Thanks Mark! Don't tear em up too bad!

That's what has me worried. New snow but ungroomed. Some places are saying 6 to 10" We'll be up sometime next week to see what we can find

From what i've read there's still 2+ feet of snow. It was warmer at the end of January than it will be this weekend/early next week. I've had some of the best riding in late March/very early April and it was 17F which is cold enough. My concern is the grooming seems to be stopping sooner and sooner each year. I know that day we rode back to Safari on April 1st we passed groomers and it wasn't a freak year. I'm not suggesting riding on stones but just because it's march doesn't make it spring conditons, it still gets cold out and there calling for 15cm on tuesday. That is not slush, that's snow.

If La Tuque is closed then so much for 355 and 73 in that area. Thanks for the update i was looking yesterday myself. We aren't coming up until Tuesday but the weather temps looks good. I'm dissapointed that they quit grooming so soon. I can understand areas south but not the northern areas. I remember riding from Shawinigan about 4 yrs ago or so in April. Went up there for a 3 day ride and everything was perfect. Now we are only midway through March and they quit. That is dissappointing

Alain, We are heading up for one last run next week. Probably 4 days of riding. I really appreciate the information you provide because without it we would be left guessing. This was originally a Gaspe trip but sounds very bad out there, then it was a Shawinigan(which isn't out of the question), but now we are leaning more and more on starting at Zenon and heading north/west. Grooming is what worries me the most. If they stop grooming for whatever reason, then it won't matter how much snow they have.

Sounds awesome

Thinking of heading up on the 16th to Shawinigan for a 4 day trip and 355 could be in the plans if it's fixed. If not continue north on 73 i guess. Bigger worry right now is the snow in Shawinigan and the warm temps forecasted. Used to be able to plan on riding mid march without worries but not anymore.

That's awesome Bill!. Any major Issues with either of the Doo's? I know there were some folks on here asking for anyone with high mileage on their Doo 4 strokes and. I guess 20,000 miles between them should count! 7800 in one year? Very impressive.

Was thinking about Maine myself for a short trip mid march but we are hoping Gaspe is still good 3rd week of March. It gets thin in towns but usually the riding is still very good. We'll find snow somewhere. Maine is actually a longer drive for us so if it holds we may just go to Shawinigan and figure it out from there.

Love the flag pic, says a lot without words

You better re-read from the top and put brand or ownership aside. I don't think the bashing was referring to anything i said. I thought that entire thread was civil, just some good debate on the general forum but it's fine. Let's just move on.

I guess it's best if we just let it die

I kind of wondered how you had time to do it all. I hope i speak for others when i say i don't expect all the pictures and reports you give daily or multiple times daily but i appreciate them when you do. However if you think that you NEED to do all of this for us that is NOT the case and I don't blame you for losing it a little. You should NOT be the only groomer for the area and if so then shame on them for expecting so much. And you get my vote for getting whatever machine you need in order to be able to groom what you do. Stand your ground and make them cough up a new machine to your specs.

This sounds like it's getting out of control again. It would be VERY EASY to catch these guys if they wanted to. Put some type of GPS tracking device on the trailer/sled/etc and set them up. These devices are not expensive considereing what is being stolen. I don't think they want to catch them. I used to be worried about parking in a locked corral with cameras/etc and now you can't even get a piece of chicken without worrying about your stuff being stolen.

I was slightly expecting a little more HP for the 4stroke but te 1200 is about 130 or so, way more than necessary but ...... That 900 ACE with the 3 selectable modes, electronic throttle instead of cable will be a very sweet motor. 23 MPG won't hurt either. I thought maybe they'd replace the 1200 with a turbo on the 900 ACE but that would be a lot to bite off the first year. I don't really want a turbo either. Either way i'm good for a few yrs anyhow.