P Hardy

Nice evening at the Central. Alain hit the joker poker for $400. Great dinner. Plenty of JACK. 
outside at 9 am Alain feeling worse for wear this AM. It was a big night. Now the Grand Touring doesn’t want to turn over. Battery kaput. Pulled out mini booster cables and got him purring. 
I am pull off the plan being 63 to 33 to Auberge Lac Taureau Guy and Eric never seen it before. Eric and I are waiting in front of Reception/bar at Cental I see in my mirror Alain takes off and crosses bridge in back headed back the wrong way and he has his duckling with him Guy. Tbnk. Well I aint doing the recovery. I send Eric to burn them down and bring em back. 
 
All good he returns and band is back together. The 63 is really not bad. One washout well marked not far from town then smooth sail to 33 and it’s sweet as well sure some thin corners but overall nice. Stop for the sightseeing at Auberge Taureau then hammer it out beautiful run to 360. Then real nice to junction just south of Barrage. Traffic light seen very few sleds. 
 
We retrace our trail from yesterday diwn 360 to Mattawin it’s held up but surely some icy spots. Approaching bridge at Mattawin been riding my gas light forever it seems actually cannot believe it hasn’t quit .
i make it across bridge and the 155 road. Still not out of the woods literally. And then its over. Cannot make it gotta spill it. 180km for me I am happy and shocked it went that far. I don’t ride it for its fuel economy. 
came up 2km short of pump. 
 
360 back to St Joseph de Mekinac still sweet. From St Joseph to St Tite showing some usage. Getting not nice. After St Tite on the 23 was beautiful all the way to River. Here we split forces as Eric and I are inbound for Chez Ice.
I see a bunch of sleds ahead coming east from 23 turn and go down river tiward Grand Mere. I know this is supposed to be closed from the weekend warmup. Sure enough red tape but i see like everywhere else its all refrozen. We go. It’s doable but refrozen with big ruts. We get to Shawi all good. Typical bs trail in Shawinigan sud. Probably smother roads in Gaza than this trail. It may or may not have been us mistakenly on the VTT trail. To finish the last 10km. Slid into home 4pm. Just under 300km today 597km for the run. 
 
Need more snow . Better in the parc. 
 
i say go north. 

here the ride path I did on last Saturday

We had very mild temp this last weekend, trail tend to brownish on some spots even it's sill 24"+ snow to the ground. We especially need some more cold like we got today (Tuesday), and snow would be nice too to whiten the trails.
I had ride with 2 buddies but alone on my sled, my back seat photograph exceptionally stayed home this time.
Here's a music video from the first part of the ride going to our lunch spot Saturday
 
 

1 February
+1c
rain in shawinigan
not good

A couple pics from Rivière Trenche stop yesterday 

Saw lynx 3 times already. They do well when the rabbit population is doing well. Each time I saw them they were just sitting on the trail and staring into the woods. Have read that they have phenomenal hearing and I’m sure they are just sitting there listening to whatever sounds rabbits make. 
Here , Mon ami Jeff, Andre and my buddy Max at the Gilardo dam a couple days ago.  Max is a big hunter/fisher/trapper and snared this rabbit that morning 

Couple pics from the 83 yesterday 

No hot tub out the window here.
 

This might be considered Fake News without pictures. 😜

Got the chance to take a ride. Left Shawinigan this morning first 20km rodeo action. Met groomer near Lac a Tortue . Took local to 23 to join others at Chez Alain right at junction of 23 on river. 
Gather up the gang and 4 strong we took 23 to St Tite then to 360. All mint.  Sure could always use more snow but nice. Continue on 360 at Junction in Trois Rives St joseph de mekinac.
Tabletop to Mattawin. Unreal.  Gas in Mattawin took time to check on Snowmasters rig. Then 360 through the park. Very nice but lots of big rocks to watch for . Some ice in places but overall better then I imagined. To the Barrage Taureau and down i think is 345 this year on damn? But was even good down to Cabanon. 
 
Long lunch at Cabanon. Then off to St Michael des Saints, last 20km into town a higway to hell. But we knew this. 63 shit. 
 
Hotel Central tonight first time ever here. Nice stay great fun at bar and just glad to get to spin the track. 
 
Looking at Pipemans pics feels like I am slumming it down here, 
Unfortunately a longer ride will have to wait. 
 
Back to Chez Ice tomorrow. 
 
my office awaits. 
 
we shall see what we find tomorrow.
 
sorry got no pictures for ya. 

Well we are wrapping up our 3.5 day trip so let’s start at day 1. 
 
Font Brune to Mattawin. Trails were rough but we got through our 430 kms by 8 pm. This route via 63 needs more snow (it looks like they made some of it yellow now which is accurate). Happy to be on the trails. 

Mark
just spoke with 3 guys at 22 who came from Alma
said it was perfect all the way 

With the exception of roadside cobble/snirt ride from 345/83 junction all the way into Wemo it has been FAN FUCKING tastic the whole way from the Gouin to the 22
with the exception of the 3 [New Yorkers I think) right out of Kanawata a half kilometer have NOT had a sled come head on or seen ANYONE since  we left camp yesterday morning 
just got to the 22 and about 25 people here

Waking up and having breakfast at the Barrage Gouin. There were us three, 4 guys from Rochester and 4 guys from Tug Hill region here last night. So 10 New Yorkers and Mon ami Andre……LOL
was a GREAT day on trail yesterday. 190 miles from camp via 345 and 83. And other than three New Yorkers passing by us leaving the Kanawata parking lot….we saw NO ONE all day. There was one sled in the parking lot when we got to Kanawata at noon. He was sitting at a table with a broken hand all swelled up. Day before they were heading into kanawata and 37 km before they got there he hit a big up/down divit in the trail. Snapped his wrist, bent handlebars and riser block and busted up his windshield and glove box cover going ass over tea kettle. Their truck was in St Zenon and the other guys were coming back to get him. Thankfully he and his machine were not hurt more. 
the trail between Kanawata and Casey was in fine shape yesterday and everything was freshly groomed thru Casey up the 83 and all the way past Haltaparche as was the Gouin trail with no tracks. There is plenty of snow to ride albeit not normal amounts up here. One has to be extremely vigilant as the groomers can not get the trail perfect because of lack of snow so a “surprise “ can come out of nowhere. The Alliance du Nord groomer was sitting in Casey and I’m sure he was sleeping somewhere and be rolling again today. Rest assured that even though the iMotoneige app dosnt show it groomed IT IS.

we are heading east today and spending the night somewhere over LSJ area. Looking forward to a cheeseburger at the “22” today.

Welcome to QuebecRider.  One of the best sites you will find for Quebec info.
Sandi had read about a truck stolen on Facebook too.  I don't have any more details.  Theft isn't as bad as it was many years ago but it can happen anywhere anytime.  Take precautions so your equipment isn't the easiest to steal.
It does take awhile to get the passes so order them as soon as you can if you haven't already.  Caveat, the snow this season is not as good as it normally is.
You may already have found this link but if not https://fcmq.fcmqapi.ca/carte-motoneige/indexen.html#map has a wealth of info for the trails.  Click on the snowflake in the top right.  It will show snow depth, trail conditions, grooming info, etc.
The area you are looking at is very popular.  Two other areas that we like to ride are Lac St Jean and the Riviere du Loup.  Take your time and enjoy the sights.  The trails are much different than anywhere else in the USA or Canada.  Get trail maps from where you are staying or download the app.  You will find snowmobilers at most hotels and most will be glad to assist you.  Be safe.
Jack & Sandi

Great area for dong loops. You are coming from the West, so East and South would be the easy options:
East - To Rimouski via the 5, I like to take the 518 by Saint Simon instead of the power lines the whole way. You can easily loop out as far as St. Gabriel de Rimouski and then come back on the 35. I think that's a pretty common loop for people riding out of RDL Not necessarily a loop, but a day trip to Moose Valley, NB and back is an awesome ride, and if you are short on miles, you can easily make them up on the way back by dropping below Lake Temiscouata South - I've had some big days riding south between RDL and NB. Not a big area but you can spend the day zig zagging on the trails there, never touching the same trail twice and never far from where you started.  If you want to really add miles you can drop into NB West of Edmunston and have some real good running there too. Lots of running and lots of trail side stops in that area.
 

Dam fine day so far
have seen no one since we left camp
except this guy on the 345
got within 6 ft of him

Perhaps it's part of the ongoing transition to complete dependance on electronics. It seems (to me) that  (some) people tend to rely completely on electronics/technology and pay no attention 
to the real world around them. Sad part is it seems there is no interest in learning things like simple navigation. A GPS is a nice tool, but I always say one should have, and know how to use an M*A*P. How many young(er) folks could parallel park a vehicle with a standard transmission? And then there are self-driving vehicles. Perhaps it's just the old school, old fashioned, or just old in me, but I cannot wrap my head around why it is not clear that this is a bad idea, but that is another story. 
 
Fingers crossed that winter, and full blown snowmobile season will arrive in La Belle Province and elsewhere soon. Be safe out there.

Shaw to Lac Edouard was so so. Left Sunday am from Domain Edouard ended up at Pourvorie La Dore tonight awesome place!! Most of 355 was good fields around LSJ ok but warmth will kill them quickly if it happens. 93 was good so far. 

Anyhooooo………
got Christian squared away with help coming and bombed the rest of the way back into camp.
told Christian I want the trail “ like a fucking bowling alley” when we pull up on the 345 tomorrow morning heading north out of camp
he assured me we would be pleased 
back at camp having shrimp/pasta/veggie souflet