P Hardy

Good morning Lamarche
 

Thanks for the write up and pics, I know it's time consuming, but greatly appreciated!
 

Did you guys cause this?
 

Wed 
at Otis Nature 
trails varied today 373 rough in spots lots of use on it. 
still much more better than terrible. 
It’s all riding
limited internet here
Today’s run 
210 miles
 
 
 
 

Day 1: today went from Amos up to Matagami total miles 253. Great trails the whole way fast running made the miles go by very quickly. Had lunch up there at a nice little restaurant. Met a couple from Ontario heading up to Matagami as well so we all rode up together got to love the snowmobiling community! 

Today rode West on 83 to Auberge Presbytere for breakfast.  83 West was awesome.  Spent the day just riding 83, 23 and especially 383.  Stopped at Relais La Genouille, pretty good sled club. All trials awesome.  Unfortunately, when we got back to the Dela it was 35 degrees.  Snow getting soft and bare spots worse, Calling for rain on Friday.  Not sure I'd rec coming up this weekend.  Was 4 days riding worth 2000 miles drive from Pittsburgh?  YES.  Heading home tomorrow.

Today seemed to stay below the freezing mark making a nice ride today with lots of sunshine. Getting out of town is getting somewhat bad but still doable. Few miles out and things change drastically for the better. I am guessing there are some loops I won't try as those close to the St. Lawrence may or may not be good. And trails around Club Hiboux showed closed. Just sticking to the southerly trails where I know its really nice.
 

Day 5. Today we started our way back to our starting point. It’s going to take four days and another 720 miles to get back. Woke up to 5° below zero and finished the day 25° with sunshine all day. We took a beautiful side trail today to add another 15 miles to the ride so it was 190 miles today. 

2 hours & 40 min. for me to Temiscamingue-drove there for a one dayer once to break in new motoneige-150 mi. + lunch & drove home!

Just going to Pabos tonight. Rooms are hard to come by. Not sure why, not many sleds on the trails. We called a couple places last night when we got in for tomorrow and everything in our range was booked. A short ride today will be nice, yesterday was a long day

Have a great ride. It is what it is this year you will get into it. Its not all bad. Enjoy!

Day 2: Left Riotel FYI don’t have to go up the big hill. Go closer to the road around the back of the little brown building and it will take you right up to the road. Everything dry pavement in town, got up to the trail and took 5 East. Mix of good to fair with a few great sections mixed in. The most snow is in the elevations, all the towns are scratchy like late March. First 30 miles from Matane is pretty thin. Staying in Grand Vallee tonight. The deepest snow of the trip is out here, probably from Mont Louis to here. Calling for a warm up Thursday-Friday, we will see

Day 2 Tuesday 
 
Woke to beautiful cold morning after awesome night at Pouvoirie La Dore. Great stay had great conversation with Owner Stephane super nice guy. Big chalet with four bedrooms nice fun. Terrain here is big i think their territory stretches 20 miles. 18 chalets and big fishing and hunting for bear, moose and caribou. Lake trout and brook trout. 8 miles out trail to TQ93 trail groomed into pouvoirie with small drag but real good. TQ93 has been groomed north he has not returned south. It’s beautiful all the way to local trail to Resto du Chef.  Saw 2 sleds north bound direction Chibougamau. Been very little traffic few here and there but very spread out. 
 
Bingo that is the plan. Good old fashioned trail bingo. Here in the honey hole. I got all day to go nowhere. Destination St Felicien tonight and we will be in the vincinty all day. 
 
And now please stand by for a
Public service announcement. 
 
Everyone please continue to circulate only on the Blue federal trails as you are now. 
We thank you all for you continued cooperation in helping us enjoy the other trails privately without undue, unnecessary, excessive traffic. Thank you for the support. 
 
 
Say it with me or even better sing it out loud.  B I N G O……B I N G O 
 
Up down over back up down over up back around all that. And is awesome. 
One after the other  
Please sir may i have another? Yes you can. 
 
Late lunch Resto du Chef then then another 80 miles into hotel the BINGO way. 
 
Saw Mother Lynx with kitten. On TQ93 west of Lac a Jim. Leisurely strolling together right off side of trail. 
 
We will keep on going. One day at a time. Headed for Otis Nature via 373 and some bonus honey hole action. 
 
Well oiled machine here. Great bunch of riders. 
 
206 miles of
8/10 to 10/10 all damn day (r.i.p. Big) 
 
Corral full and overflowing here at Du Jardin. Hotel full tonight. 
Ordered dinner from Restaurant Mikes. 
 

 
 

Day 2 Tuesday 
cold, but mint trails loving it. 
 

 

Yesterday Sunday February 18, 2024, we rode from St-Michel des Saint to Marineau Mattawin round trip for a 306Kms total

After the last weekend thaw(11-12 feb) the south of my area was very thin and some clubs had stop grooming waiting for new snow. It was still possible to start riding from home but we wanted to ride some nice, wide and faster trail so we did a trailer run and dropped at the village of St-Michel des Saints. In St-Michel village it's thin but rideable and we directly reached the Taureau reservoir to take the trail toward auberge Taureau. The ride on the reservoir is rather rough, there was traffic when it was slushy and it refroze like that. If you have the heart strong enough to move between 100 and 200 feet away from the stakes it is very nice and flat and a new path formed there with many tracks but there is an associated risk and I cannot officially recommend it to you, the safe option is close the stakes.

The reservoir is not at its lowest yet but must be lowered by a good 25-30 feet already

Trail #33 past the Taureau Auberge is a little brownish in the short section that is near the beach

but when you enter on the forest road  just a little further it is very nice

There are some short spots with dirty snow or a few rocks but 95%+ that's it

We went around the Taureau reservoir on the west side and continued on #360 towards the east. The trail base was very hard with a thin layer of loose snow and new snow, very fast conditions but icy enough to have to be careful in some curves

The Mattawin River has decreased in flow a bit but it hasn't been very cold this year and there are still long sections at clear water


We took a break at 440 halt, my prefered break spot. Beautiful view on the river


The whole old path of #360 is very nice. When you enter the woods at the height of the old M20 there is some dirt in the snow on some curves but still beautiful overall, the same thing on the fast sections of the detour further on which come to join the edge of the river before the point of view

The section in the woods after the viewpoint up to the bridge was a little less beautiful but OK. The bridge was quite dry so we took out the rouskis


We left St-Michel at 9:30 a.m. and arrived at Marineau at 12:30 p.m. with 153km on the dreameter

We had a very good big meal there, love this place! As luck would have it, I also met a retired work colleague and his wife who I hadn't seen for ten years! they live on the south shore of St-Laurence river and were passing there by car, a great unplanned encounter!
We took the same exact route for return, The sun had hidden and it was snowing a little. Here the point of view.



We went at the edge of the Taureau dam for a short break

and we started it again towards St-Michel


We came across the St-Michel dozer which was starting its grooming run a few kms north of the Taureau Auberge. I have to take my hat off to these snowmobile clubs, in this case St-Michel and Mattawin who work hard and do miracles with the little snow they have to give us beautiful trails... Thank you!!!


And we were back to the trailer around 4:45 p.m. with 306km for the ride, very happy with our run. It had a bit of new snow yesterday there and at home as well, and even a bit more in Mauricie where my partner Snowcruiser told me around 6 inches of new stuff. We would need more than that to optimize all the trails but at least it help to greenish the trail map on Imotoneige!
We were hoping for better at mid february but it's hard to argue with mother nature! We still hope for more snow and cold but in the mean time the groomers do miracles with what they have and it's still possible to do some great sledding.
My video camera cooperated very well during the ride and I should be able to post some video footage from this ride soon.
Alain

Brisk -31 when we left Chibougamau this am
Didn’t warm up much all day but 93 was carpet all the way to Quevillion
😎

Rode to KM 31 from the Delta. Again, after second bridge, again much better. 134 to 93 7/10.  93 to Imago Village 9/10. Imago to KM 31 8/10 . Trail to Relais Chappel, the 8KM for km 31 to Chapple seemed liked 80 KM. Totally whooped up.  Got gas at Chapelle, but, line for food was 20 deep.  Went back to KM 31, got a table and some good food for lunch.  The Delta is getting less busy each day.  Called for rain on Thursday, amazing but true.

Figured I’d post on here in case anyone wants to follow along or is curious of conditions. Trucked up from PA up to Amos at the Amosphere 14hr run but bluebird day made travel easy. Pretty good amount of snow here considering how crappy a year it is grooming map shows lots of activity, so should be some excellent riding. Just doing day trips and big loops each day from Amos might head to Mattagami tomorrow will post report and pics. 

funny think every now and then seen 850 etech foul a plug...haven't seen 2 at once...trying to index the gap so it points towards the injector was a service tip early on...but never found a us dealer with the index washers....plugs use to be 5 minutes...now next to impossible on the trail without a little knowledge and the right tools...hopefully that is your last problem.

Truck to Lac Bouchette to Auberge Eva. Not viable to leave from Shawinigan. Monkey wrench right out of gate, Got 5 strong this run. With snohorse, nhmoose, Mark and Phil. We had complications with the 850etec backcountry. No fire, turned over no go.  Recalculate. Tough decision. Got spare bullet in my garage 3 hrs by road 3 hours back. Freeride is there ready to run. Or go for DRC Sport in Alma and try to get in on Monday morning for a diagnosis. Snohorse is adamant we go to dealer and try it. Arrive there in Alma at 7:26 am 2 guys already waiting outside. I go over to talk with them and service manager opens door says we can wait inside but don’t open till 8am. We get acquainted and he assures me he will get us in and looked at. We get in and by 10:15 we are good changed 2 fouled plugs. Truck back to Eva to catch up with NHmoose and crew. Left Eva noon. Icy straight out from Eva but very good. 
different kind of year this season will keep you honest. Further north we go the better. 
 
355 to 83 to local orange past St Hedgewich. Then local orange to La dore then 93 up to 373 junction then u turn back down 93 to orange to chef then to 93 and to Pouvoirie La Dore. 
only 5 here tonight private party just for us. Stephane, Cynthia , Alex and Meti. Great gang here. 
Love it here. 
get here and encourage them. First year on I motoneige second winter open. Well worth tge stop. 
Trails very rideable and it’s now or never. Get out or miss out. 
 

At the last minute I decided to drive to RDL two days ago, on Sunday. Didn't have much hope for great riding, but was going stir crazy sitting around the house.  I also heard SkiDoo invited the sled magazine press to Quebec starting Sunday to ride the 2025 sleds. Several years ago they did this same thing and stayed at the Universel in RDL. It was great getting to talk to the factory guys. Turns out (found out today) this time around they went northeast of Montreal. 
Driving up thru Maine, Jackman actually looked pretty decent. The Chaudierre region of Quebec looked like toast, no riding there. In fact I didn't really see good snow until about 30 miles before RDL. Pulled into RDL seeing bare tar everywhere. Yuck!!!   Less than an inch of new snow fell Sunday night.
Today I finally decided to unload the sled and take a look around the area. Anyone who has been here knows how big the hotel parking lot seems when it is bare tar. Onto the trail heading for the clubhouse.  Snirt, dirt, some ice, and more snirt. This may be a short ride. I remember my January trip here, 1,800 miles of low snow but perfect conditions, except on the last day when the warm up came.
Drive by the club house, closed today.  Thinking head South and SW.   In the blink of an eye, or maybe someone spiked my morning coffee with magic mushrooms, I was in the middle of all out winter, a true winter wonderland. Beautiful packed powder, groomed to perfection, trees coated in white,and what appeared to be a better snow depth than my January trip. Giddy up MXZ baby.
Further I got, it appeared this area got half a foot of fluff Sunday night.  I did a 100 mile loop that was 5 star riding,  every bit as good as the 5 star meal I had last night at Hotel Levesque.  Quick meal at Exploreteur Clubhouse. Eventually made my way north to trail 5.  The last few miles of trail 5 was much lower snow pack but still really nice except for a couple snirts here and there.
Since arriving here, weather forecast changed from a cold week to a gradual warm up starting tomorrow and rain later in the week. Hopefully I can remember to bring my camera on tomorrow's ride.
Several groups left for Gaspe in the past few days. Just saw one sled return via flat bed a few minutes ago.
mike
 
 
 
 

Day 4. today we traveled 180 miles from Baie Comeau to Sept-tiles. Last 125 miles was slot, car fast and smooth. Had about 15 miles of rough stuff 25 miles east of Baie Comeau. Woke up to bright sunshine again this morning. Tomorrow we start heading back on similar route that got us here.