Skidoorider

I’ll throw another little update in here…..Wednesday went east to syndicat took 328 out and 93 back with a late lunch at chapelle. Mostly good especially coming back had almost fresh groomed the whole way. some bad starting to show the warm weather is starting to take its toll. Thursday we did a loop around lake Saint Jean north of the lake was awesome flat fast and couple inches of fresh snow in some areas. Got gas in Saint methode and lunch at relais des butte. From lunch on it started out good but progressively got worse with the worst section being from just after the lake crossing in dresbians and up 383 back to Alma lots of dirt patches and pavement showing on the I assume bike path the trail runs on just generally thin conditions. it was passable but not enjoyable. Tons of sleds showed up here Wednesday the place was near empty the beginning of the week now there has to be 75 sleds parked here. Last day riding today think we’re going to head north of the lake and do some loops over there that seems to have had good snow, flat trails and less traffic. It looks like the torch is coming out next week for up here I’d expect to see some red trails show up unfortunately. Get out while ya can.

We’re at the hotel universel they have a parking garage storage cage here too. I’m hoping this little warm up the next few days doesn’t kill the trails leaving town. Riding has been pretty good so far went south today and trail was 80% awesome conditions wise the views were 100%.

Wow we must have been right behind you. I think I seen your sleds at onatchiway. We got there around 2:30 you don’t see many lynx around so I notice them maybe it wasn’t you though. We did the same stops and similar route too. The route we took…..left Alma headed north on 23 to 93 east, up local 554? and then east on 328, up 476 stopped at the cave (thank you for the above posted directions that helped) we got lunch and gas at onatchiway. From lunch we headed west on 373 stopped at that warming teepee, think we took local 900 to get back 93 not sure the trail was so good I wasn’t really paying attention lol. 93 had a ridiculously long straight rip down the powerlines I thought was never going to end. Then it was back over toward Alma. Leaving Alma wasn’t great but rideable. Everything up to the cave was good snow just bumpy needed grooming. The highlight of the day was definitely 373 trail was smooth and fast very fun we even ran into the groomer on it.

Staying in Alma now trails coming out of town were little rough not horrible but once outside of town it got pretty good. We got a late start(noon) due to my sled breaking(secondary came apart) 20miles in so had to limp back and get my buds backup sled to ride. We rode 93 over to pic du le dos de cheval for some summit pictures and went over and got dinner at yourte bistro by the ski mountain. The only thing I noticed bad was there is a lot of ice under the groomed snow so be careful. My bud slid backwards down the hill going up to the ski resort for gas lol. Trying to get parts this morning so probably another late start. I posted some pics on freedom sledder I can’t get them to work here for some reason.

lol great Alma is where we booked with a plan of doing loops heading north and northeast. I didn’t see really anyplace for lodging north of Alma until you got closer to the Saint Lawrence. Figured do some exploration loops for a couple days heading north of Alma keep it kinda near the room and maybe backpack it up along the Saint Lawrence potentially toward the middle/end of the stay don’t really have a plan at this point just want to find some good snow and ride. That’s the plan do some exploring and adventure find some good riding. None of us have ever been to this area of Quebec so it’ll be a fun adventure that’s for sure.

I did notice some updates were older but seen quite a few from the 11/12th also. It’s our best option at this point nothing worth while in Maine, gaspe looks toast if this doesn’t work out oh we’ll sit in the pool and make the best of it beats going into work

Canceled the trip to gaspe today a map of mostly yellow and red up there and pictures we seen on Facebook just didn’t seem worth bothering trying to reroute and make it work with conditions what they are. We booked a room for the week near Saguenay so hopefully it’s good up there find out in a couple days but at least it seems all green for now.

I’m not liking the looks of the red and yellows up there and some pics I’ve seen. Anybody have first hand reports? Looks like Rimouski is all red no way to get to the hotel we booked….all yellow past new Richmond and red and yellow in New Brunswick no way to get back to Maine as far as I can see. I don’t see any snow coming should we cancel this trip or just plan for different stops if it’s even possible this late. We are supposed to be leaving in a few days.

We had to do a little reevaluation as some places were booked for the amount of rooms we needed. Another bud decided to come so 5 of us now too. We did get all the rooms booked though. My buddy also decided to leave from Houlton instead of Fort Kent. Day 1 will be Houlton to Rimouski Day 2 Rimouski to Sainte Anne Day 3 Sainte Anne to Rivière au Renard Day 4 Rivière au Renard to Carleton Day 5 undecided but maybe casino in Edmondston Day 6 will be casino? Back to the truck We will be doing basically what fuse6 suggested for a route above…run up to la cache on 595 and skipping the rock for 597 piston alley type trail. We will be coming down through the Christmas mountain in New Brunswick that was suggested to likely the casino but who knows basically winging the last stop before the run back to the trucks in Houlton. February can’t come soon enough 👍

We pretty got all stops planned now besides this one. Thinking we might just bypass the rock and come down 597 to chandler instead like you suggested above. The piston alley comment is too much to ignore lol. I’m a little nervous about getting rooms myself. Last time my two buds went in 20 they just winged it and call at lunchtime to book a room. This was pre rona though actually right during rona they shut the border down right after they crossed. I’m guessing staff shortages and potentially places went under are going to make rooms harder to find and book quicker now. We do plan to book this week though if we have to adjust stays a little is what it is I guess. That’s exactly what we were thinking not much scenery and should just be able to rip across that section pretty quick. Do you know when the last tow over the bridge is? This a 5pm last call deal? I’m going to call them this week when I go over to my buds to get rooms booked but I’m just curious what last call is if anyone knows. Getting that over with at the end of them day seems better to me than waking up next morning and dealing with it.

Thank you that’s a big help. My computer illiterate ass didn’t realize you could do that on the map. Mileages don’t seem bad at all between hotel stays most are half what we usually do in Maine in a day but I’m sure we’ll be doing much more sightseeing along the way than we normally do.

Great info guys really appreciate it. If we got a room in pierce for a night does anyone know the rough mileage to the bridge at Campbellton. I’d like to get the tow over the bridge done at the end of a day and stay just over the bridge for the night. When you say long trail into pierce is the trail rough/narrow and not worth the ride in? I like the sounds of the Christmas mountain route sounds like a better option than 28 which I understand is basically old rail grade.

1. 6 to 7 days of riding. I put together a crude map off a map my bud sent of the route he took in 20 (I’ll add below). I used most of the same route and stops for rooms he used then but It can be adjusted nothing is set in stone yet other than a Fort Kent start instead of Jackman. The group wants to go down through New Brunswick also so just trying to put something together off that. 2. none of us were aware of pierce rock looks like a neat place to stop or even stay a night there. 3. The thinking as of now would be if we have no issues and make it to Campbellton if we want to extend the trip do the Houlton ride for an extra day otherwise cut straight over from Campbellton to Fort Kent. Yes, we’d likely do the estimated 300ish miles of Campbellton to Houlton in a day. We have no problem putting on miles as you can see from my buds 20 map and his f to g hotel stays. I got muddles towing info from a member on another forum that also sent me here but good info to know what they charge per sled. Do you know if they have specific hours they’ll tow sleds across?http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_01/IMG_4905.thumb.jpeg.74b7f380534d906546d7586dbcc40dff.jpeg

Yup, that was the route I was considering coming down from Campbellton. 300miles would work out good was thinking staying in Campbellton as I understand there is a hotel right after the bridge then stay a night in Houlton. Have you rode that route? We’ll be coming up the north shore our first stop from Fort Kent is Rimouski. My one bud that has done it before did the perimeter loop last time but never went down into New Brunswick or inland so that’s a first for him and the rest of us if we end up going that route. I think we’ll have a day to kill between Rivière du renard to Campbellton so that’s how the loop inland idea came about. I was little bummed when I read that trails closed this year maybe we could do a smaller loop inland I did see a few on the map or just keep on the perimeter trail. Open to suggestions for routes and hotels after rivière du renard basically. Would it be worth doing a smaller loop inland? That New Brunswick route worth it or just do the quicker option straight over to St. Leonard.

Hello Our group is planning a gaspe trip mid February for a week leaving from Fort Kent Maine and I’m looking for some suggestions on routes. 3 of us have never been and one has been in 2020. We got it basically planned out up until around rivière-au-renard-quest area. I was thinking of doing a loop inland on regional 597 by St. Charles cut over to 595 and back down to provincial 5 and onto crossing into New Brunswick but have since seen that a connecting trail is closed this year and that’s not possible. Are there other loop possibilities inland or is this the only option for a bigger loop. Would it be worth going all the way up 597 and come down 595? I’m sure that’s a lot of miles but if scenery and trails are good maybe??? The other thing I was curious on is if anyone has gone down New Brunswick on the east side say provincial 42 and crossed over at Houlton Maine. Good riding and rough mileage Campbellton to Houlton crossing? I understand Campbellton to St. Leonard is about 120miles or 4-5hrs so I was looking to maybe extend that route by going east and coming up from Houlton back to Fort Kent. Thanks in advance for any info