fredsleds

By La Manoir do you mean Manoir du Lac William?

Double Tree by Hilton (old Sheraton 4 points) id a good place to start to LSJ from. left rig there may times with no issues. Not much riding in and out with the closure of TQ3 to Baie St Paul, but, if your planning on going to the Delta it's a pretty straightforward ride. Make sure to gas up at L'Etape on your way up. Fred

Actually, I put my phone on airplane mode. This saves batteries since your phone isn't always "looking" for a cell signal. The GPS and app work fine in airplane mode. I carry a charging cord and every time we stop I plug the phone in. Last 3-4 hours even when super cold. i use RAM emoluments to attach it to the sled. Just have to glance at phone at intersections and you know right away which way to go. Fred

If you have a smart phone, in my opinion the FCMQ map is the best option. it shows you where you are, let's you map routes, stops, etc. It's cheap and super easy to use, way easier than getting out a paper map 20 times a day. Just my opinion. I think from the FCMQ site you may be able to download and print maps. Also, just about every gas stop, snowmobile club, and hotel will also have either a posted paper map or one available to take for free. Have a great ride!

How can a sled trail be going through an active helicopter LZ? Seems like sonoe's got some 'xplainin' to do Lucy. Poor guy, I mean WTF, your riding and all of a sudden there's a Black Hawk on the trail??? Of all the things I've heard and seen sledding this might be the top one....

Shortest way is 413 KM, but, that means taking TQ 23 E which is twisty. If you're willing to add 35 KM, I'd backtrack a few miles on TQ 23 W, then 350 S to Pouvoirie du Lac Blanc where you can catch 380 E, that's a bit twisty, but once you hit 63 E it's WOT for miles until TQ 3 E which is also WOT. Then you take 381 E 2 good lunch stops on 381, the Microbrewery Presbeteie is a cool little place. If you want to keep going I'd stop at Restaurant Morel Le Chivangy, gas right next to hotel. Good food especially smoked meat sandwiches. You'd then get onto TQ 3 basically all the way to The Fairmont. My suggested route is a bit longer, but, likely faster. Check out the FCMQ interactive map and look at both ways. We rode all those trails in February. I'd really try and avoid going through Quebec City on a weekend, TQ 3 can get really beat. This is a very early start day and arrive fairly late, but, it can be done. Good luck and keep us posted. Fred

Yes Ravage would fit your itinerary pluperfect.

Hot tub?

Hotel Sacomie Fairmont Richeleu

We ate lunch here will on a day trip from Shawinigan. Looks pretty nice. If anyone has stayed here please let me konow what you think. Especially for security of sleds, truck, trailer. Lunch was great, if anyone stayed on the package how was breakfast and dinner? Thanks for any help Fred

4 of us were here from Saturday 2/16 to Friday 2/22. Reggie and Pascal were great hosts. The room have really been upgraded from when I stayed here when it was Teh Safari. Nice breakfast in the morning. SAFE sled and trailer storage. Sleds in heated garage each night was nice. Trails right to the hotel were groomed almost daily. Only day that wasn't 1/10 was on Sunday when we went o La Tuque and back, it looked like TQ 23 hadn't been groom in a long time. But 360 and 351 were awesome. The entire week was blue sky days except for Thursday when we woke up to 10 cms of new snow. W ent to Hotel Chignvy (? spelling) to the east on the St Lawrence flat fats trails with new powder. Just a great day and the whole week was perfect. Also a REAL GEM IS THE MICRBRWEREY PRESBYTERIAN just look for signs at the river crossing. An awesome lace!!

I keep my phone mounted on a RAM mount, the cold doesn't seem to effect the battery life much, I did try and attach a car charger, but, got a message that "phone is too cold to charge". It times out and the screen goes dark in 10 minutes. Not a problem just tap if at an intersection and it finds exactly where you art. My Android has a rapid charge function and in a half you It'll go from 20% to a full charge while having lunch. We always have at least one other guy with the app that they have turned off and in a pocket as a backup in case my battery dies..

I agree it's very accurate. If you zoom in you can tell within 100 feet if you're on the correct trail or not. The distances n signs are a joke. We went to Wapish near Mt Villan and it said 26 KM when it was 56. Also, if you have WiFi in the morning, look at the app and you can see the grooming map. Finally to save on battery, I put the phone on airplane mode when I leave in the morning, it keeps the phone from constantly looking for a cell signal. I also carry my charger with me and plug in whenever we stop to eat etc.

We were heading from Plattsbugh to QC on that Saturday. Both my car GPS and Waze app were pretty much useless. Got off the exit where they had patrol cars blocking the road, just followed a semi who likely had a CB, about 15 miles of 2 lane road and then back onto the 20 Est, it took like an hour to get around. The small road we were on paralled 20 and you could see the carnage, amazing that no one was hurt.

I wet on imotoneige and was going to re-buy it, when I did it just updated to 2108-19 automatically for free..a bit odd, but that's what happened

I remember buying it only once, it seems to update for free each year. I'm getting the grooming delay and it matches what's on my computer...

Jack, 100% agree about printing on a map with trail passes where it is acceptable and where it is not, great idea

This year on the FCMQ maps there are more "red" trails than I remember in the past. It's almost certainly because of these reasons. This man is PISSED, they destroyed his blueberry field (a lot of locals really depend on these to make money during the off season), no matter how deep the snow a 200 HP sled with 3" lugs is going to dig to the bottom and destroy the plants. He can't even take his family out skiing because of the 2%'ers who ruin if for the 98%. I doubt that anyone who does this s*&^ ever even reads this site. They probably don't know what "passage c'est fragile" , or "Rester dans le sentiers" means. I wonder if the offenders are from the US or Canada. Anyone from the US who doesn't speak French could just play dumb and say they didn't "understand" the signs. Look at trail 93, it's missing a piece that takes you way out of the way to get around. It's apparently not because of logging so I assume it's a landowner. I agree 100% about the long tracks destroying groomed trails. Maybe they should just stay in the Gaspe or go out West in the Rockies. This BS is killing it for the (*% who respect the landowners) and would NEVER intentionally disobey the trail rules.

Also, if you've had a DUI in the last 10 years and haven't had you're record expunged, they may not let you in. This is what 182ray is referring to. Don't even think for a second about bringing a handgun into QC, you'll be back in the USA in no time flat if you're lucky, if not you may be arrested...

Alain, C'est tres bon. Wow, what a great video, thank you!! Fred

Is there gas at the PIP too? 62 in and and 62 back might be a strech for my Sidewinder LOL

Playhard, Thanks for the information. As long as there is gas an food I think we'll check it out. Your pics are from this year, correct? On their site it said $60 CAD per sled, but, if you leave the Zec before 23:30 on the day you go in they refund $30 CAD, so, maybe to ride some private trails is worth a few CAD's!! Regards, Fred

Their web site says you need to buy another pass. Also, look like they may have had a fire this summer. Thanks for the information, there's enough FCMQ trails to ride without buying another pass...

Last year we took the Bras Louis North from TQ 93, made a right at the "T", then came to what I guess is the trail head to Zec Onatchiway. We didn't take it as it was late in the day. I'm going to be up the in February, I think it said ??30 KM from the trail head. My questions would be;' 1. Is there food there? 2. Is the gas there? 3. How far form the intersection of the FCMQ trail is 30 KM correct, I doesn't rememebr exactly? Thanks!!

I don't see any trails on the FCMQ map. Is this all off trail or is there a rtoad that you can ride. Any gas there? looks like a cool place.