towing Posted January 10, 2023 Report Share Posted January 10, 2023 (edited) Beautiful sunny Sunday with winter temperatures (-15C at start around 9:30), we did this ride: a kind of Taureau reservoir loop with a fuel up at Marineau Mattawin! We parked the trailer in the parking lot of Pub 111 in St-Michel des Saints, the trail passes through the parking lot. We left a little late around 9:45 and headed off on #63 towards the Cabanon. The snow base held the thaw good but there was a bit less new snow on top around the village of St-Michel. The big slopes facing south near the village are the only place that suffered and some rock has risen to the surface and is mixed with the snow. the little snow we got today and forecast this week will help getting this spot better This pic is not very representative and unfortunately I had not a lot of photos at the start of the ride because my Gopro didn't want to cooperate and we are at testing with a new camera to replace Kristine's old Sony which is about dying(the camera 😉). You may notice some photos of a different look in my reports. We rode up to Auberge Le Cabanon and then took the #345 towards the Taureau dam. It had not been regroomed overnight and Saturday's heavy traffic day+warm weather had sculpt the trail shape! .The lady behind me was swearing into her helmeth... that's why we don't have communicators!!! We took a little break at the dam. We see that the reservoir level has started to drop down... And the water output flow is still high... We then continued on #360 east. Grooming was much better despite some bumps to watch in the curves up to #345 junction (towards Pourvoirie Lac du Repos) We then got superb, almost perfect trail conditions on the #360 up to Mattawin. I like this very panoramic section the snow cover is even much better going toward Mattawin This is one of the most beautiful section of the #360 with a fast trail along the beautiful Mattawin River. We took our usual little break at stop 440 to admire the river which is currently flowing at high flow. we then continued east... As many of you know, the M20 trail (and M21) are not done this season due to logging, which requires plowing the road of the usual route of these trails to get the wood out. Here the M20 path which is closed to snowmobiles this season The Zec Chapeau de Paille road that we usually use for the continuation of the #360 towards Marineau is also plowed, so the club made detour trail further north. It's a bit winding at the beginning especially the first miles but it quickly becomes better and then very good for the 2nd half with beautiful nice stretchs The detour joins the usual trail at the height the Zec entrance and we continue on familiar trail path To finally arrive at our refueling point around 12:45 with 93 miles on the meter After a good meal break at the auberge, we left in the opposite direction a little before 2:00 p.m. for the second half of our ride. It bugged me to not be able to film in such beautiful conditions and by dint of trying I managed to find a way to convince my gopro to stay alive in the afternoon and I finally have images in the bank for a future video. it was really good and nice ride We took a first and only break at #360/#345 junction (towards Repos) and surprisingly we had a little beggar who came to ask for his food! After all these years in Lanaudière, we have often had gray jays come in our hands, but black-capped chickadees this is the first time here. We had some last spring in Gaspésie... they may have spread the word about us!!! We then continued and once near the dam held the #360 to loop around the reservoir on the west side It was riding very well, just usual season beginning ruts to watch out for. There is a short section less than one miles where the club had started to groom the trail next to the road path where we usually pass?? The trail became even nicer from the #33 junction which had been groomed the night before. We were quickly near the Auberge du Lac Taureau and chose to cut across the Taureau reservoir to return to St-Michel. The snowmobile club had published earlier last week having marked it out after testing the ice at 15" thick. The level of the reservoir is still high enough so that the ice cover is still almost flat on the whole length, riding this was like a creamy cherry on the top of our day ride We finally got back to the trailer around 4:45 p.m. with a total of 188 miles/302kms on the meter to say it's pretty much the same distance either way of the reservoir So a 2nd great ride in the last 3 days for us which kicks off our snowmobile season this year. I expect that the trail network will continue to grow rapidly with the actual cold and snow ahead and also that the information on the interactive map will become more up to date as there are open places that are not shown on the map actually but also several other places that the clubs are at finish opening. Everything is finally falling into place for a great 2023 snowmobile season! Edited January 10, 2023 by towing chrisv, jak, zeusand and 17 others 17 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT Rider Posted January 10, 2023 Report Share Posted January 10, 2023 Hi Alain, You are off to a very nice start this season. Thanks for taking us along. Our 2021 and 2022 trail pass did not get installed on the machine. I have 2023 on now. Your beautiful pictures have me salivating to get up there. The new camera is taking some great shots. Happy Trails ! jak and towing 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowmaster2112 Posted January 10, 2023 Report Share Posted January 10, 2023 Merci. merci, merci Alain Will be a couple weeks before we get back up and hoping it can only get better. Looking forward to reports from people going north of the Repos. Hopefully some snow comes more widespread so the rest of the province can get going too. Very isolated now to a handful of areas. towing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smclelan Posted January 10, 2023 Report Share Posted January 10, 2023 Great reports as always. Looking forward to more. jak and towing 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markusvt Posted January 10, 2023 Report Share Posted January 10, 2023 Looking good! towing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSX800 Posted January 10, 2023 Report Share Posted January 10, 2023 Awesome report as always. Can’t wait to get up there after reading your reports. towing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viper2 Posted January 10, 2023 Report Share Posted January 10, 2023 another great report Alain, Thank you! towing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towing Posted January 11, 2023 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2023 (edited) On 1/9/2023 at 9:25 PM, GT Rider said: Hi Alain, You are off to a very nice start this season. Thanks for taking us along. Our 2021 and 2022 trail pass did not get installed on the machine. I have 2023 on now. Your beautiful pictures have me salivating to get up there. The new camera is taking some great shots. Happy Trails ! You are welcome GT Rider ! Ya it's always thought to get the best of the electronics but Kristine new camera setup begin to work pretty good, even in very low light. The last shot on the reservoir was at pretty high speed and it was already enough dark to use the lights and the shot came outstandingly considering the conditions. I wish you and Mrs GT a great time on snow soon! On 1/9/2023 at 9:25 PM, snowmaster2112 said: Merci. merci, merci Alain Will be a couple weeks before we get back up and hoping it can only get better. Looking forward to reports from people going north of the Repos. Hopefully some snow comes more widespread so the rest of the province can get going too. Very isolated now to a handful of areas. You are welcome Snowmaster, the forecast is looking good: cold and snow! On 1/9/2023 at 10:12 PM, smclelan said: Great reports as always. Looking forward to more. 23 hours ago, markusvt said: Looking good! 15 hours ago, GSX800 said: Awesome report as always. Can’t wait to get up there after reading your reports. 12 hours ago, viper2 said: another great report Alain, Thank you! Thank you for the good words guys👍 Edited January 11, 2023 by towing GT Rider 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DareDog Posted January 11, 2023 Report Share Posted January 11, 2023 Great report. I like them better now cause of the skidoo lol. How do you like it? towing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towing Posted January 12, 2023 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2023 23 hours ago, DareDog said: Great report. I like them better now cause of the skidoo lol. How do you like it? Thanks Daredog! We get used to the skidoo, I was knowing from the beginning that the Yammy+Expert-X Boivin rear skid combo would be hard to replace and it is the case. I enjoy the 900ace touring until I encounter a rough trail section...not that the skidoo is not good and I improved it with 3 Elka shocks but the Expert-X was at the next level... The skidoo shine as for fuel usage/increase mileage range and the heated seat is a great addition that Kristine and me are both enjoying more than expected when it's very cold. I left you a small musical clip put together from this last ride image blackjack1, MrGutz, MrsGTRider and 7 others 7 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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