actionjack

Good riddance.  Electric vehicles mile per mile create more Co2 and tons more actual environmental damage.  JHC people are fucking stupid.  Imagine the environmental impact of building the infrastructure out to get the GD electricity to these remote places.  Ya think there's gonna be even 2 of these fucking plugs at Repos much less 50 that would be needed.  Christ!

Boondock Nation just posted a youtube riding at The Sled Den.
 

Nice to see you can get it if you want it.

M&M Tours is off. Left Oliphant Sunday March 17th, pulled into the Best Western Premier Hotel Aristocrate in Quebec City around 8 and had a fabulous dinner at the in house restaurant, La Fenouillière. Off Monday morning and checked in to Complexe Hotelier Escoumins then spent 3 hours trying to find places to stay for them next 5-7 days. 
 
Rode loops for the first 3 days in a variety of conditions…good, bad & ugly mostly due to the new, wet snow even though the groomers were out. Des Bouleaux Blanc clubhouse is a great stop 40 km from town. Thursday morning rode most the day through storm conditions to the ski village Valinouët and stayed at a local rental house, Auberge du Yeti. Rode up 373 as far as we could then spent the night in a cabin at Auberge 31. A quick lunch at Piste D’or was tasty and the owner was entertaining-he sort of reminded us of Bernard 
 
Then back to truck and trailer, 93 did not disappoint-smooth, fast trails. Loaded up and drove to Forestville.

Nice to see you can get it if you want it.

Nice to see you can get it if you want it.

Impossible winter is over.  

Boondock Nation just posted a youtube riding at The Sled Den.
 

2003   Blew piston at end of Quebec airport,  solo,  first sled to come by ( guy from Montreal) towed me to Quebec Inn. Wrecker company showed up with a pick up truck and gave me 2 1/2 hour ride to Maine border for $250.
2004    Blew  Arctic Cat chain  case right next to Yammi dealer near Montmagny.  Took apart and dealer could not fix.  Dealer had wife drive me and sled to Maine border ( 3 hrs.),   sled labor and ride $250.  (I was with Rob Lyons and his crew at the time).
Best one was in Maine 1971 doing 2 day saddlebag Eustis to Jackman and return.  Four Dads & 4 teens. 30 miles before Jackman couldn't get across a lake due to heavy slush. No other way to get to Jackman and not enough gas to return to Eustis. Went to nearby Holeb, middle of no where Maine widerness with a few camps and lumber mill. Mill owner had no gas but stuffed us all into his Suburban and gave us the most harrowing ride to Jackman on a 25 mile  mountainous logging road, bare ice. Pulling into the hotel we got stopped by a trooper and the mill owner got bagged for OUI.  My dad and I drove him back to his mill and we stayed over night at his trailer. Next day the hotel owner gathered volunteers to drive the rest of the gang to the mill and brought along gas.  Cost:  we paid for the mill owner's bail to get out of jail and big tips for the Jackman folks who helped us. 
mike
 

I think that I would have ridden to St. Raymond or as far as I could on open trails then find a ride unless it was an emergency situation. JMHO.
One time we had to do that, we went into the local pub and asked the bartender if he knew anyone with a Suburban like vehicle and 4 bed trailer that could take us. Our ride walked up to our table about 40 minutes later. Price seemed very reasonable at the time.
Another time my buddies engine blew just outside Hearst, Ont. We pulled it towed it into the dealer who quickly diagnosed that he wouldn't be riding it back to North Bay (530 sled miles). The dealer gave my buddy a ride to the local Truck Stop and the second driver coming out that he asked gave him a ride to within 500 feet of our truck. 

Impossible winter is over.  

Impossible winter is over.  

Started in St Raymond last Monday, up to Relais 22 then to the Gouin for the night.  Day 2 went to Val Dor/Chez Vic.  Day 3 to Quebellion/Motel du Lac (had a problem with sled that took most of the day so was not able to squeeze the Matagami loop in). Day 4 the 93 through Chibougamou to Buttes for a large beer 🙂 then the Jardin for the night.  Day 5 back through Apica to St Raymond.  Just under 1400 miles, everything except the section of 83 around Roberval was very good.  Was home in NH by 10PM!

Love it.  Have fond memories of a wild night several years ago in the shit hole bar (Hotel La Patrie - across the street) in La Patrie after dinner at the Resto-Bar.

Love it.  Have fond memories of a wild night several years ago in the shit hole bar (Hotel La Patrie - across the street) in La Patrie after dinner at the Resto-Bar.

What's one to do when you desire Quebec pub grub? Jump on the sled and get it. Thirty-eight miles bump-free from camp on the local Pittsburg USA trail system to the Chartieville QC Customs house. Three of us produced documents & after exchanging pleasantries with a very courteous and joyful customs officer, we traveled an additional twenty-eight miles to La Patrie via 65 & 525. We passed the local groomer inbound & outbound, laying the flat trails with the small amount of snow he had to work with. Upon arrival, we had a great lunch in the very crowded Resto-Bar La Patrie. Surprisingly, the bar & dining room were packed for a Thursday afternoon with tradespeople & snowmobilers. 
The Canadian trails were mint; however, sections in the fields, thankfully short in length, were ugly as they had no snow or were snirt & slush. On our return in Chartieveille, we encountered a sick groundhog that refused to vacate the trail. 
Minimal snow is forecasted locally for the next 24 hours. Failure to get a few inches of new snow and those short stretches of no snow & or muddy slush I described will only be lengthier, deeper, and muddier as the sun was high, bright & warm today. 
Stay safe. 
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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.

Yesterday we rode from Delta to Otis Nature.  First 8 miles until you cross the second bridge were lots of rocks, snirt and dirt. One of the Sidewinders kept overheating.  After the second bridge a Huge improvement. Flat smooth.  Couldn't go WOT as there is ice beneath a thin layer of snow, corners very icy.  Goof smoked meat at Otis Nature.  110 miles.
Today took 83 S to Auberge du Ravage.  Much better getting out from the Delta.  Lots of open straight trials where you could go WOT.  Nice lunch at the Ravage.  87 Octane gas at the Ravage is 2.50/liter.  Was a great day for 160 miles.
 
Tomorrow we're going to head North again and shoot for Auberge KM 31.  Will post tomorrow.
Overall, it's still better then work.  Sled wheels are a really nice to have in the Delta parking lot.  Completely bare asphalt 
 
Fred

Is this the same operation?  The Sled Den. . . 
https://www.gaspe-snowmobile-adventures.com/snowmobile-rental-house.html
 

Rode out of Jackman again
 
75 to 25 then local trail up to 535 to 55.  55 into Notre Dame des Pins and on of my fav pic spots at the covered bridge.  Then 75 to 535 again to 545 back to 75.
 
Trail were great again this day, avoided the high traffic areas.  
2 flocks of turkeys in that field had to be over 40 birds.
175 mile day

Rode out of Jackman.  75 to 580 local trail by lac drolet up to 55, to 535 to local trail to 541 north then local trail back to 75,   Stopped at the club house in Beauceville, place was busy lots of people out riding.   
 
Trails were mostly very good, a few thin spots here and there.  75 by the highway was thin and lots of brown snow.   
 
Clubs are doing a great job.
 
240 mile trip.
 
 

Finally, here's the report of our first ride of the season did yesterday January 20, 2024

We could have ridden last Sunday but it was an after a foot snow storm day with mild weather and we knew well that the trail conditions would not hold and be hard for us 2up so we waited until yesterday and were not disappointed . The cold of the last few days has been very good for the trails and the ice... it's about time!
We were able to start directly from home in St-Thomas near Joliette, the trails are open and there is more than 2 feets of snow and it increases over 3 feets in some spots on the route that we did. Here in the fields near St-Norbert. The sky was very gray with a little snow at times which makes the pics less attractive but it still allows you to see what it looked like.

We strategically chose to do the wooded northern section to start the ride and to return via the fields to the south which remain nice for longer under the effect of traffic. Here north of St-Gabriel de Brandon.

And here at #23/#63 junction in St-Damien

5 km north of the Renard Bleu outfitter, the trail turns 90 and takes a new route to connect to #350 this year due to logging in this area.

there are a couple of kms to go on a plowed road but it ride very well

Then we are on the road path which is snowy for a long section it ride really great, I really appreciated this new path groomed wide

After the #350 west junction there is 1km where the trail passes either next to the plowed road or a new path in the woods that the club is at finishing but it is very short

then we return to the usual #350 path which was really very nice and fast

We quickly passed in front of the Koubec

And we went up #345 towards the north which was as nice and fast

And we continued on #23 towards the east which was just as beautiful, just the last 2km which goes up the mountain before reaching intersection #350 which seemed to still be on the first dozer pass...
This #23/#350 junction(Gaston's trail towards Lac Blanc) was our expected meeting point with our friend Snowcruiser who was leaving from Trois-Rivières airport to meet us with the plan to eat together at Lac Blanc. It's a bit ambitious to arrange meetings in the middle of the woods like that... especially on the first season's ride. We had 140km to go and he had around 70km to get there but we had agree that we would wait a little and at worse we would crossed each other while riding, but we were lucky with our estimates that were spot on. I was stopped for less than a minute when he showed up! After a bit of chatting we got back in the saddle to try to get at Lac Blanc before noon to beat a bit the lunch crowd.
The #350 going back down to Lac Blanc was still very beautiful, just a little worn in its big hills and very panoramic in terms of snow, it's impressive


We arrived at the Lac Blanc Auberge at 11:40 a.m. with 165km done from the morning. We obviously weren't the only ones who had this idea!

Given the size of the crowd we wondered how things would go for the meal inside but I have to take my hat off to their extremely quick and efficient organization which was ready. We didn't wait a second to be seated in the dining room and we had our meals in front of us less than 15 minutes later! I was impressed.
After this good meal break and a refueling we left under the snow a little after 1:00 p.m. towards the southeast on trail #350. The view from the lake when we left!

This trail was starting to get pretty beaten up by traffic but was not that bad on our side of the trail heading south. We tested our suspensions up to the #63 junction where we took a break. I was able to chat a little with Jonathan Doucet from Randonnée Motoneige au Québec on Facebook, whom I had recognized and briefly meet as I left Lac Blanc auberge

The trail condition came back nice on the #63 and we were able to ride good trail all the way back home. Snowcruiser left us to return to his trailer via St-Léon/St-Sévère and we continued on #63 and #3 for the return


The Bayonne River is already solid and the trail passes over it without problem near Berthier

We got back home early around 3:45 p.m. with 272 km for the ride, very happy with this season's opener which had been a long time coming.
The trail network is pretty much open and connected in Lanaudiere and Mauricie minus some rivers that are not ready yet. The cold we just had in the last days helped alot for this and I hope that mother nature will continue to cooperate in the next days to complete the puzzle.
Have a  great riding season!
Alain

We use Glove Box mount with touchless charger. Been in temps -40. Works great.

True but no reason to sell off. Have ridden Yamaha my entire sledding era until we started back country riding.  My Sidewinder is an absolute Quebec touring Maybach but I could care less.  I have no problem buying renting or riding any other brand. 

A $12 Hobby balloon with a ham radio hanging from it!