P Hardy

At the end of February 2006 my new Yamaha Rage only had 110 kms on it. Trying Quebec was always in the cards for “someday”, but with a shut out for snow in Nova Scotia, someday was now! Thankfully, two other friends also had new gear with no miles, so the arm twisting was minimal! We set off from PALC on an early March morning, and by the time I reached the top of the ski hill I knew that I would be screwed for ever sledding around home again! In 2008, five of us did the Matane, Godbout, Chicoutimi, Quebec City loop. Met Saguenay Bill and had bookings with Bernard at the Motel Safari until a blizzard changed our plans. Called Bernard to cancel and he told me “That's fucking sleddin”. I never did get to stay there or meet him. Actually only ever got across the St. Lawrence that one time. So much good trail from St. George to Gaspe that it gets hard to justify trucking further..
In 2008, flogging it for the ferry in Matane, I came around a corner after the St. Fidele cable bridge to meet a New Holland groomer with a heavily bearded operator in it. Being half shy and a little short on time, I missed my chance to meet Jean-Guy and have never been able to catch up with him since. Same goes for Andyman, positive I fueled up beside him in Amqui that very same day. Met Eddieskidoo in a blizzard on the Gaspe in about 2014. We turned around and him and Skidoo420 kept going towards Mt. St. Pierre. If I remember right, they never made it and had to get trucked back. Wild snow, I think that there was 70cm by the end of it. Anyway, I am trying to talk a little more to the folks I meet on the trail in case they are members here. Always nice to put a face to a name.
I haven't bought a local trail pass in a few years, one local mile is harder on gear than 10 up there. That, along with the hospitality and availability of services, makes it hard to turn a track at home. Some year though, I am going to sled up there right from my door, just to say I did it.
One of the cool things is; of the two guys I went with in 2006, I have always gone up with one, if not both of them every year since. Sometimes you just gel with certain guys.
As others have said, this website is the icing on the cake of the best sledding I have ever done!
Thanks to all the contributors for their time!
 

At the end of February 2006 my new Yamaha Rage only had 110 kms on it. Trying Quebec was always in the cards for “someday”, but with a shut out for snow in Nova Scotia, someday was now! Thankfully, two other friends also had new gear with no miles, so the arm twisting was minimal! We set off from PALC on an early March morning, and by the time I reached the top of the ski hill I knew that I would be screwed for ever sledding around home again! In 2008, five of us did the Matane, Godbout, Chicoutimi, Quebec City loop. Met Saguenay Bill and had bookings with Bernard at the Motel Safari until a blizzard changed our plans. Called Bernard to cancel and he told me “That's fucking sleddin”. I never did get to stay there or meet him. Actually only ever got across the St. Lawrence that one time. So much good trail from St. George to Gaspe that it gets hard to justify trucking further..
In 2008, flogging it for the ferry in Matane, I came around a corner after the St. Fidele cable bridge to meet a New Holland groomer with a heavily bearded operator in it. Being half shy and a little short on time, I missed my chance to meet Jean-Guy and have never been able to catch up with him since. Same goes for Andyman, positive I fueled up beside him in Amqui that very same day. Met Eddieskidoo in a blizzard on the Gaspe in about 2014. We turned around and him and Skidoo420 kept going towards Mt. St. Pierre. If I remember right, they never made it and had to get trucked back. Wild snow, I think that there was 70cm by the end of it. Anyway, I am trying to talk a little more to the folks I meet on the trail in case they are members here. Always nice to put a face to a name.
I haven't bought a local trail pass in a few years, one local mile is harder on gear than 10 up there. That, along with the hospitality and availability of services, makes it hard to turn a track at home. Some year though, I am going to sled up there right from my door, just to say I did it.
One of the cool things is; of the two guys I went with in 2006, I have always gone up with one, if not both of them every year since. Sometimes you just gel with certain guys.
As others have said, this website is the icing on the cake of the best sledding I have ever done!
Thanks to all the contributors for their time!
 

Ride out of Jackman a lot and saddleback to Quebec, tend to take Friday off and come back Sunday afternoon in less than 10 minutes pass more sleds than the 3 days in Quebec, and the trails in Jackman are beat up, unless it’s a cold under 10 degree day. Always curious if everyone in Jackman have DUI’s or is it they just don’t have passports? 

The dude with the mask on .. nice touch  

Quebec is way nicer, but the UP does a good job maintaining the trails.  They just get way more traffic, so they need constant snow to keep things good.   A little tighter in terms of stops, but when you need to ride it's not a bad second choice.   Off trailing is fun, lots of two tracks and typically lots of snow.  Just have to stay out of the swamps.

Old Forge is a beautiful area, I could only imagine the traffic there.
 

I've been coming to Quebec since 1995 and believe me there is no comparison. Don't get me wrong the UP can be good, but that is going to be mid-week riding.  A lot of times in the UP to get from point A to point B you only have 1 trail that will take you there, in Quebec you might have 4, 5 or more options, makes a big difference. In Quebec, even on the weekends, if you want to get out away from the crowds you can, in Michigan you can't.  Haven't rode in Michigan on the weekends in many years and have no plans to. These last few years I've been doing most of my riding in the Lac St. Jean area. It's a 14 hour drive and many liters of fuel and it's worth every bit of it.
 

Less people speaking French this I am sure of. Beyond that i got nothing. 
Quick search on google since Mrs Ice is asleep and i could not ask her.
UP Michigan just over 3000 miles of trail
Quebec 33,000 km 

Seems like a fair goal to get the trail miles equal to or greater than truck miles!

if operator took the pic...he s awesome not to let us see his footprints on the trail !!! 😂

Having already reached our 7th and last day of travel on Saturday March 7, 2020,  we therefore had to try to return home near Joliette ... from Hébertville, It's a good run!



For our friend snowcruiser it was around 225 miles to get home in Champlain sector and he had kindly offered us to sleep there if necessary so we had a plan B in bank but with the exceptionally nice conditions we had, leaving early Hébertville we were able to cover the 325miles during the day and arrive at our home a little past 7:00pm without forcing and we enjoyed this day to the maximum.

Unfortunately, I ran out of space on my camera memory card for the very last bit, but I still have a good big video for the day

Here the last video summerizing day #7:  Héberville/Joliette 325 miles
 




Which concludes my ride report from our  2020 sled vacation. It was a first for me to make a detailed report on our annual vacation, it's a lot of work in video editing but it will make us outstanding memories of our trip for Kristine and me as well as our faithful riding partner Snowcruiser. Sorry for the long delay to complete.
 
hoping you enjoyed the ride!
Alain

Yesterday at noon. Man that “Tony” from Alliance du Nord can groom like no other 

Touchdown!  Thanks for riding along!  Happy trails to all still out there!
Eat some dirt to build your immune systems! And watch out for the crazies!

 
 

Today 3/11 we depart Hotel Matagami at the crack of 9:47am and as luck would have it we meet the groomer which has just came up the whole way we are headed. I saw 4 Lynx all together which was cool as hell to see. Lunch in Barraute on our way to Gas at Sennetere and who pulls in.....Snowmaster2112 !  So here we are at Faillon together and will be heading to Parent tomorrow. 
 

So where to Wednesday to be set up for Thursday in 3 Rivers?  We'd love the 23 down to St Ray, but that'd make Thursday short. And my protégé has well earned a cush stay, so destination Le Manoir Richelieu Charlevoix!
There are a dozen miles of stutter bumps, but that became a distant memory with section after section of bliss. First with slidey cheesy flatness, then the Clermont E-train. The best I've ever had it. 
Swapped sleds for a stretch. Great place for tasting the step up in weight & horsepower. Go cart is fun as hell for me. But what the hell?! Who left the front door open?!  I'd forgotten how cold it was this morning until I got behind the mid/low windshield! Good thing Joseph didn't love wrastling with the big girl.
Had a quick class on what the puffy-face cloud guy sign means at the drifts at bottom by the river. Then what the yellow dash light with the "F" number counting up the clicks we've done on reserve. 
Pas du problem! I'll dump the gallon into the Apex, and the Vector should be fine for the last 10 miles into the pumps. Oops, musta forgot to fill that roto! Grab the other, oops? OK! Let's have a class on throttle control! We make it. Nice new station in Clermont.
Then the last 8 miles to the Fairmont look fresh groomed! A nice way to end the (early/3hr) day. We don't tear it up. "Tread Lightly". Just then a light flurry starts as we roll down the golf course. They really think of everything over here. 
Tuck into the undergound garage, Team sticker still on the Zamboni, Jack & Gingers pre-game, out to the pool, over to the Casino, first a stop at the on-site St Hubert bar for finger food, won BIG at the cashier booth (35% exch), made the donation and hit a few times at roulette, and bon nuit!
 

We did last week, starting sunday march 1st and ending saturday 7th our annual trip. We started our tour directly from home with goal to loop around  lac St-Jean and coming back by sled, a week trip without trailer. Here what's finally look like our St-Jean Lake loop

I will use a different format as for my report with video and pics and will post by segment of a day ay a time. You can come back here and see regularly for more content...
Here is a short video summarizing our day #1: Joliette / Kanawata 217miles
Spending the night at Auberge Kanawata

Kristine enjoying the fireplace in the evening...

More to come soon, stay tuned!

Too late to go up 73 and loop down 355 & 360 thru St Joseph, and maybe criss-cross with our CT buddies also staying at Drakkar?
We'll be up this way tomorrow. So east toward St Raymond.
This was the only bit that wasn't 9 out of 10 the whole day, it's a bit lumpy, but it's Sunday, and Joseph thinks it's the way it's supposed to be, so who am I to bitch?

 

 

 

Today's goal was the southernmost area below RDL, the Packington Loop. We left in snow flurries which quickly changed to a blue sunny sky for the day.
Trails were beautiful, traffic lighter the farther south we got. Coffee at Frontier club, and off to the Packington Loop.  We top of our gas in Packington and march on, We come to the intersection of New Brunswick signs. The forbidden Lac Baker trail!!!
We look at the signs. We gather. We discuss. We pee. We discuss some more. 
Its a GO. The trail is fun, groomed to perfection, and in seven miles we are cruising down the middle of Lac Baker. Another mile and a small sign out on the staked trail on the lake, a relais.
We pull in, and it really is a full fledged restaurant. The food truly was amazing.  I thought this area would be remote. Lots of camps on the lake, lots of people around like maybe a town near by.
We had pulled it off, another new trail and place to eat.
A great trip back and as always after a stellar day, a good happy hour.
mike
 
 

good morning p hardy !!!
like gt rider.....did nt pay too much attention ...
took that pic maybe 10 miles from ste ierene....only thing i remember ...on one sign it was written ...maine
 
jean-guy

I was on the trail recently. I guess I did not pay close attention. I missed the trail you are referring to.
Sorry I cant be of more help.

Im not an expert in the area but about 2 weeks ago we took the trail I think you’re referring too. It was well marked. Shows Amqui and L’Assension and then splits. I forget the mileage but I think it was about 3hrs to Point a la Croix from Moose. We gased in a small town on the Que side. Nice ride for sure. 

Thanks everyone.  Looks like we are going to keep our day 4 and 5 option open and probably end up doing something of a hybrid of what was suggested.  We'll see how my son feels and if he feels like riding an extra couple days or we can cut it short and go back to the truck.  Going to stop at Mont St Anne on the way home and do some snowboarding so he may just want to get there. 
 
Thanks guys I'm complete newbie in the gaspe and this site was very helpful much appreciated !

Baker Lake is quite close to that loop, more of a village than town. There is a beautiful looking restaurant right on the lake where the trail passes, it wasn't open the couple times I have been by. The trail from there to Edmundston is actually very nice, and has been in excellent shape anytime I have been on it. It would appear that the majority head east towards Moose Valley and these trails seem quite a bit lower traffic. I thought the area was pretty neat and have looped through a few times now.

Baker Lake is quite close to that loop, more of a village than town. There is a beautiful looking restaurant right on the lake where the trail passes, it wasn't open the couple times I have been by. The trail from there to Edmundston is actually very nice, and has been in excellent shape anytime I have been on it. It would appear that the majority head east towards Moose Valley and these trails seem quite a bit lower traffic. I thought the area was pretty neat and have looped through a few times now.

Day3
Today was one of the days you remember. Blue skies with the most scenic part of the gaspe ahead! Tq5 freshly groomed! Perfect all the way to Mt St Pierre. Hit all the overlooks, traffic low, never gets old! After Mt St Pierre tq 5 is pretty spanked all the way to the 597 to murdochville which is also in need of some tlc. Lunch at the copper. Thought was new Richmond but rooms all booked. Deceide on easy day into la cache on the orange trail which could also use some tlc for the night. 188 miles