NSHM

Day 6 final day 230 miles. Headed out over to LaSarre this morning the first 35-40 miles was pure white carpet the type of thing snowmobilers dream about with the fresh snow from last night the sun coming out, and the snow covered trees made for an unforgettable ride. Did a couple of the loop trials north of LaSarre all of which are totally awesome then headed over to La Reine which is right on the Quebec/ Ontario border you get there by running about 10 miles of rail bed, which again was pure white carpet. At the end of the rail bad we ventured into Ontario for a bit via the same rail bed which is unmaintained into Ontario side but still a fun Boondocking experience. Then made our way back to Amos via TQ 93. Another epic day to finish out an epic riding week. Anyone who wasn’t up here missed out on some amazing conditions. Hard to believe the weather for the next 48 hours which looks downright horrible Hopefully this area makes it though. I hope everyone enjoyed following along, and I just made a few people jealous along the way! 

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Internet really wonky with this many people here 
 
 
 

We took the risk of leaving directly from the home in St-Thomas and passing through Berthier to go up to St-Zénon and have dinner at Réal Massé

If I had to quickly summarize the report: don't do like us and stay no further south than St-Gabriel de Brandon and go north. We wanted to take advantage one last time of the privilege we have of leaving directly from the home without touching the trailer and we managed to do so but the southern part of St-Gabriel is too lacking in snow... I gave a good beat to my snowtrackers!
From St-Thomas we joined trail #3 to go towards Berthier. Surprisingly, apart from the surroundings of the gas station in the village, the fields were still very beautiful. Here along the railway line.  Scratchers mandatory very hard/icy base

There was a lack of snow in a few inside curves but overall very good

Things got bad when we arrived at the airfield in St-Cuthbert, there was quite a long way to go on a plowed path now on dirt/gravel and it wasn't nice in the wooded area that followed or near the Valrémi sugar shack
We gave a try on the #3 towards St-Barthelemy...It was worse too much south and we had to turn around we lost the trail at some points

We headed towards St-Gabriel de Brandon, the wooded sections are good

But in the fields the trail path is hard to miss 🙄, it has melted too much. There is quite a long stretch like that

Past St-Gabriel de Brandon going north was the way to go, the conditions there are fine and keep going better toward north
We had a checkpoint just north of the village of St-Gabriel, the guys were nice no problem.

And we went up the #23 north which still has good snow cover

I was unsure about a short plowed section but it's still very good and was ok

We got a few bumps from traffic but the snow is still very good in that area

We had a late start around 9:30 and time was passing quickly so we took the #350 south

And we had dinner at Réal Massé. It's been a long time since we've been there and their meals are still delicious and the atmosphere really nice. They are open from Thursday noon to Sunday afternoon.

From there we decided to continue #350 and loop around via #63 towards Ste-Émélie de l'Énergie. Here direction the Glacière


Past La Glacière on #63 heading south it was still very beautiful with good snow cover


Here passing by the La Barrière outfitter


We passed through Domaine Bazinet and continued south

The big hills near Ste-Émélie de l’Énergie are still in good condition

Past Ste-Émilie village we headed towards St-Damien where we stopped to refuel while passing through their courtyard.

Leaving the gas station we climb the mountain and at the very top facing south there is the only mud spot we saw to the north of St-Gabriel on this route very close to the small shack at the #23 junction which joins our morning route. We took a little break there.

We resumed on the morning path in the opposite direction which was still in the same state, beautiful up to St-Gabriel but then with bare spots going south

We returned home around 5:00 p.m. with a little over 250km on the cluster, overall happy with the ride that succeed our wish to start from home.
In summary, there is still some great snowmobiling to be done north of St-Gabriel de Brandon when it is cold like today. This year it's like that, don't be too critical and take what can be done... The upcoming weather forecasts are a bit scary but I still hope they're wrong! we'll see...hoping for the best
Alain

We wondered what would happen if we ran out of gas/broke down & he came along-big/black & nasty 2" fangs!

I was thinking about Lac Moreau, I had forgotten about Trout lake.  They were kinda ball busters too, but it was a sweet place.
Funny story.  About ten years ago we stopped and ate there not knowing they mostly cater to reservations with full package only, so it wasn’t cheap and the food was pretty bad.  As we left I asked about gas.  It was waaaaayyyyy over priced, and I mentioned it, but needed it so we paid….So off we go back to the trucks.  Long story short we went the wrong way for about an hour before realizing the mistake we had made.  So we ended up back at his gas pump for another round a couple hours latter.  The guy laughed a little when he said that I liked his gas so much I came back for more…lesson learned, never run your lips to the guy with the gas, no matter how bad he gouges you.

At least you get to wear knit slippers that thousands of others wore. At least the last time I was there.

At least you get to wear knit slippers that thousands of others wore. At least the last time I was there.

Hey was hoping one of you ran out of gas or had to stop for a nature call😅 

Hey was hoping one of you ran out of gas or had to stop for a nature call😅 

At least you get to wear knit slippers that thousands of others wore. At least the last time I was there.

Hey was hoping one of you ran out of gas or had to stop for a nature call😅 

The good ole ball buster… Le Balbuzzard Sauvage.  Only the second place I know of that makes you take your boots off to come inside.  Funny now that I think of it, the other place is also a log cabin.
How is the snow depth between Faillon and Clova?  Think it can survive another warm spell?

Here the  a music video of this ride.
I made a test on this one and film/process the whole video in 2k 30fps in place of 1080p 60fps, seems to improve the quality a bit on the net.
So crank up the sound and the quality to 2k and enjoy the ride 🍿🍿🍿
 

Did you guys cause this?
 

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. 

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.
 

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.

My new SkiDoo gauge shows me going down a waterway and shows red and green buoys.  And it keeps beeping telling me to put on my life jacket.
 

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.

This is the year of the triangles 😧 

Probably burned the skis off.

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
 
 
 
 

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