Sled Dog Posted March 14, 2010 Report Share Posted March 14, 2010 (edited) Another great Gaspe ride! 1148 not pushing miles! 3 of us went, me and another who have ridden the Gaspe before and his brother from TEXAS! Came up to ride sleds! Hasn't ridden one in over 10 years I think!!! He did great. Day 1 - RDL to Matane. 230 miles. Stayed at the Riotel. 5 to 579 to 587 to 591 to 5W to 5E. Trails leaving RDL were pretty hard, recently groomed. I had ice scratchers and I'm glad I did as all Yamaha riders know, they can eat slides. Trails rated from 5 to 10. It was snowing in the Matapedia valley, around a inch of fresh on the ground. Bare spots around Rimouski but very doable. Bare roads getting to the Riotel. Most gas stops and getting to hotels were on bare ground in fact. Day 2 - RDL to Grand Valee. 240 miles. Trail 5 all the way. The higher we went, the more fresh snow. I'd say 4-5 inches of fresh at times. In the lower elevations, the snow was getting mealy. 8/10 day. We stayed at La Maree Haute. Ok place. Well signed to get to but....they wouldn't call ahead for us to make a reservation at Hotel Copper. She said it was long distance and had no way to charge the room. I was willing to pay cash but they still wouldn't do it. That annoyed me as every other hotel we have been to will call the next one for us. I figured that was kinda a hotel thing. They had a pay phone but my credit card rejected it as "high risk". Whatever, we decided to wing it. I knew we might have trouble getting a room at Hotel Copper but we had plenty of time to go further if needed. Day 3 - Grand Valee to Murdochville. 213 miles. Stayed at Chic-Chac. 5 to 597. Around Gaspe it got a little thin. We got gas right off trail 5 and it got really thin. Riding over grass and at one point we had to do a little mud bogging! About a 10 foot stretch of open water. No big deal. After that trails were great again. We wanted to take the local trail that connects 5 to 597. I have been on it before and kept looking and looking and finally figured out I was on it! We were somehow diverted to it and they were calling it a 5 detour. I did not see where 5 ended and the local trail picked up. Oh well! That trail and 597 were great. We arrived at the Murdochville gas station to about 10+ mountain sleds fueling up....not looking good for staying at Hotel Copper. They were in fact full at Hotel Copper but the guy at the counter (with the Hummer) told us to wait and took off. He had told some guys skiing that we needed a room. Turns out they are running a hotel, "Chic-Chac". Its to the right of the church you pass on the left getting to Hotel Copper. I think we paid $55.00. We had the huge house to ourselves. Meals were a short walk or shorter sled ride up the road. We ate community style with all the skiers. Pierre was our contact there and he was great, spoke very good english. I guess they tow people up the mountains with a tracked ATV or utility sled and then let them ski down where ever they want. Very cool and the skiers seemed to love it. Its another place to stay there if Hotel Copper is full, or if you want a different experience. Lots of snow in Murdochville. We took the local trail that connects to 595 for a while...very good. Turned around at 5:30 as dinner was at 7:00. 9/10 day, even with the thin conditions around Gaspe. Day 4 - Murdochville to Amqui. 250 miles. Stayed at hotel Ambassadour. 5 all the way. Not much to report. Groomers trails were....spectacular! Smooth, corners slightly banked...great end of day ride. Day 5 - Amqui to RDL. 215 miles. Hotel Universal again. 5 all the way. Inner idler wheel on one of the Yamaha's spun a bearing. Noticed it at a pee stop, replaced with one I carry. Filled the Arctic Cat chaincase about 40 miles from hotel with 2-stroke oil. It had been smelling like burnt oil at every high speed run. Turns out it had no oil in it. Only "problems" we had....and to me, they are not problems if they can easily be fixed. Trails around RDL were getting snirty and it was warm. We did see the groomer go by the hotel on Saturday though! Trails for the most part were great. Some were hard and choppy but I could still do 50+ over them. They are ice based with chopped up ice on them. Higher elevations have snow on them. For me, I'd rather ride though a snowstorm at -10f but that's me. We had 30f temps, blue skies 90% of the time and fast trails. My 06 Attak ended the trip with 13700 miles on it. Without a hiccup. New sleds are expensive so I'll probably put another season on this one....unless I can find a good deal on another!!!!! :drinks: I do have pics but still have to get them on computer... Edited March 14, 2010 by Sled Dog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groomer Posted March 14, 2010 Report Share Posted March 14, 2010 hi sled dog !! thanks !! happy for you that you enjoyed your gaspesie trip !! groomer !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sled Dog Posted March 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2010 Some pics.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monster performance Posted March 14, 2010 Report Share Posted March 14, 2010 GREAT write up, awesome pics! myself an a couple others will be heading up tuesday am or wed am, havn't decided yet. I think we will be starting from mont joli though instead of RDl. ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groomer Posted March 14, 2010 Report Share Posted March 14, 2010 greaaaaaaaaaaaaat pics !!! groomer !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbickf7 Posted March 14, 2010 Report Share Posted March 14, 2010 greaaaaaaaaaaaaat pics !!! groomer !!! :drinks Hi Groomer, I was suppose to head up this wednesday or thursday, do you think the trails will still be ridable this coming weekend? Are you getting rain today? Thank you in advance, Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monster performance Posted March 14, 2010 Report Share Posted March 14, 2010 (edited) no rain that i can see and the weather outlook is pretty decent http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/radar/index_e.html?id=XAM Edited March 14, 2010 by monster performance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monster performance Posted March 14, 2010 Report Share Posted March 14, 2010 http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/forecast/ci...c-15&unit=i week ahead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groomer Posted March 14, 2010 Report Share Posted March 14, 2010 Hi Groomer, I was suppose to head up this wednesday or thursday, do you think the trails will still be ridable this coming weekend? Are you getting rain today? Thank you in advance, Mike hi !! like i said to another member by pm ,it s sunny here since last thursday ,about +8c today and i checked the forecast from the mont joli airport on the weather channel and it should be sunny all week .cant remember exactly but temps will be over o c all week during the day.during the night ,its around -8c,- 10 c yesterday at the clubhouse ,waitress told me that sledders came from mont joli using trail 587 and trail was still good .friends of mine went riding off the trail near ste anne des monts yesterday and it was no problems with the snow .they had left from somewhere around matane . talked with the president this morning at the clubhouse and he went to matane last week end ,he said it was still good ,but a bit scratchy around town . the advantage we have here in the area ,the traffic is very low during the week .for sure expect to see a bit of dirt around cities. we were supposed to have 4 to 6 '' of snow today ,but blue sky since a few days .i wish i could tell more ,very hard to have info on the french forum since a week . no rain at all . earlier this week ,a guy from mont louis ,near mont st pierre ,said they still had snow for a month ,so.... groomer !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mid Range Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 Rich....Tanx for sharing this with us.Looks like you had a wonderful trip.I'm very happy for you that, finally,you've been able to pile up some good mileage up here in Québec.Patience paid off!!! twas my pleasure to helping you out with trail conditions thru the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 Wanted to do Gaspe real bad this year but never had snow everywhere to go all the way around. Called it grasspe. Next year that is the plan again. Never been there and can't wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groomer Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 Hi Groomer, I was suppose to head up this wednesday or thursday, do you think the trails will still be ridable this coming weekend? Are you getting rain today? Thank you in advance, Mike fyi , my thermometer is in a '' shadow area '' and its +10 c right now and blue sky !!! groomer !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groomer Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 Wanted to do Gaspe real bad this year but never had snow everywhere to go all the way around. Called it grasspe.Next year that is the plan again. Never been there and can't wait. hi bill !! saw it quickly last night on the weather channel ,average snowfall in gaspé (city ) 375 cm and this season only 178 cm :wacko: groomer !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 hi bill !! saw it quickly last night on the weather channel ,average snowfall in gaspé (city ) 375 cm and this season only 178 cm :wacko: groomer !!! Just my luck.... We talked about going there for years and this year was going to finaly do it and Bam no snow!! :sad: . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sled Dog Posted March 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 Tough year for Quebec snowmobiling. Usually your good to go but this year it was a search for snow and even then you had to hit it at the right time. I feel for the business that rely on snowmobiling $$. The hotels on the south shore of the Gaspe must really be hurting.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfm Posted March 18, 2010 Report Share Posted March 18, 2010 no rain that i can see and the weather outlook is pretty decenthttp://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/radar/index_e.html?id=XAM Ian, My Dad and I just got back from Gaspe, groomer set us up with some great and very useful info. We did 315 miles in two days. Not bad for a 70 year old and a 50 year old that feels 79. LOL!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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