P Hardy

Great Pictures, I especially like the fox!

To see the Gaspe, it is pretty hard to not saddlebag it. But, if you want to do day rides in the Gaspe, one option would be to stay in Amqui and ride out of there. Nice area with a good mix of riding, very nice scenery, really good snow cover this year and a place where you are never really far from anywhere. Ride Options: South West - Amqui to Moose Valley, NB and back - approx 180 miles South loop - Amqui, 587S, Matapedia, Campbellton, La'Alverne, Amqui - Approx 180 miles, East - Amqui, Matane via 5, to the St Paulin Relais and back to Amqui via local trails from Matane - approx 170 miles West - Amqui, to Rimouski loop - lots of local trails and zig zagging, could be anywhere from 100-200miles - La Redemption snow mummies on this route. Hotels: Select Hotel Hotel Ambassadeur Just some options, maybe some others will chime in.

Thanks for the update, good to know before we head up!

Thanks for the replies guys. If the boys are feeling adventurous in a couple of weeks, we'll let you know what we find.

While in the area, did anyone notice if the trail just North of La Cache that goes down to the Carlton/Nouvelle area was groomed? I spoke with a local from New Richmond a couple of weeks ago and he said that they were supposed to resume grooming it this year. Nice trail, it would be great if they did start maintaining it again.

Awesome pictures Jean Guy! We were some happy to see the green warming hut on our way back to the truck on Saturday, it was -28 when we got there! Brr

The weather summary from Environment Canada is the only thing that I've found. It's not perfect and they don't keep the information up for long either, seems to be about 24 hours or less. https://weather.gc.ca/warnings/weathersummaries_e.html#QC

Certainly a do-able day, you will be in the 250 mile neighborhood if you take the L'Alverne short cut. Just watch the weather as the trail from Moose Valley to Amqui is lower grooming priority and isn't as well signed as others. Make sure you are topped right up on fuel at Moose Valley before you head to Amqui.

What route are you planning to take from Edmundston to New Richmond?

Don't know the exact mileage but I have done the identical route and it is an easy day on good trail. From the town of Gaspe to Murdochville via the orange trail is very fast and very scenic. I think the orange trail section is one of the nicer trail sections in the Gaspe, typically lower traffic and it stays in good shape.

If there is good enough snow to get into downtown Rimouski, we stay at the Gouverneur. Good rooms, good dining room and they have always had a real good breakfast buffet. Plus, you are close to everything if you want to go out. We stayed at the Hotel Rimouski once, it's down town right before the Gouverneur, It's fine as well, but we did prefer the Gouverneur. If the snow isn't good downtown we stay a the L'Empress but avoid the restaurant. The food might be alright if you ever get it, but it is hard to find the time for an hour+ for breakfast when trying to get on the trail.

Stayed there a few years ago and had fantastic meals, glad to hear they kept that up. Did they reno the rooms, they needed a little attention back then?

Thanks for taking the time to do your reports Alain, they are a huge amount of work but very appreciated by those of us cyber sledding along with you!

COLD BEER summed it up pretty well, though in 10,000km I've never had a stone caught in mine. They do add more of a power steering feel once you are rolling, as you can imagine when going really slow (2mph/parking) they are pretty heavy steering. I got 10 000km on my first pair of agressive runners and they still had about 30% wear left when I sold the sled, but I only ever run them in QC or real good conditions at home, which isn't often. After running them, they are an absolute necessity for me, way easier on the body on big mile days for the fact that they virtually eliminate darting. A couple of years ago I met an old fellow in Quebec who had 30 sleds in 30 years, of all of different brands, he told me that he had ran Snowtrackers since they came out and that they make the biggest difference on Yamahas, which is what I run, so that may factor into it as well. You do have to take care to hit sharper obstacles like curbs and rail road tracks as perpendicular as possible or they can fetch up. One place that i don't like them is off trail, I find them heavy steering then as well.

I remember seeing that a lot of trail work had been done around Squatec last year, maybe this is what they were gearing up for. Thanks very much for the info!