PLAYHARD Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 This being our season ender we didn’t really care what trails we were going to ride, but we had one definite mission in mind… After 12 years of riding the province, we finally made it to the legendary Chibougamau last week, in a loop out of Shawinigan of 1050 almost completely groomed & cream-cheesy miles over 5 (and a quarter) days. We arrived in Shawinigan Saturday night 2/27 to a kinda scary scene. No sleds, no trailers, and for our first time ever, we saw the painted stripes on the parking lot. The front desk folks told us that 4 groups had cancelled that day because the river was open-water and closed to sledding. We left the sleds on the trailer in case we needed to drop farther up, and we took a ride around town to eyeball the trailheads. It was slushy on the river, but the sticks were up and there was a fresh track or two. The base around the trailheads was pretty solid so we planned to nail it in the am. Which we did. Day One (the quarter day) started out with a roost of water spraying out behind us as we floated over the 8” of water on the 20” of ice. Then we (I) got a lesson in “STAY ON THE TRAIL” as I instinctively took the local M1 trail toward the 318 across a farm field, and just as I realized that the trail was about to take the dip that I remembered from the years before, I saw the trail sticks heading out hard to our right. To add dumb to dumber I saw that the sticks were blue and we weren’t even on the sled trail. Well I stopped at the top of the dip, but just a little momentum and the weight of the saddle-bagged 4-stroke pulled me (gently) 20’ to the bottom of the irrigation ditch. No damage/no injury. But over the next 5 hours we had the pleasure of the assistance of Allan the director of the Station De Ski Vallée Du Parc who coordinated the Shawinigan fire & police departments who in turn coordinated Farmer Bob with his jumbo 4 wheel drive front-end-loader/tractor who busted out in perfect English! And just for good measure a very nice local club leader (François?) stopped by to assist the rescue. So we wrote off day 1 and returned to Shawinigan to dry out Big Bill’s boots and regroup (if you don’t mind eating bait and drinking sake & Sapporo, the Sushi Taxi joint by the Gouverneur kicks butt): 15mi Mmm kay, back on track (“Stay on the trail!”)… Monday: Back out M1, then 318e, and up the river 347n/Grande Mere which was still interesting, but was flat and had plenty of crumbs for lube. What was creepy was the yellow Danger tape across the slushy river entry from Richard’s, back down from where we’d just ridden. The few (6?) miles north of Mekinac to 360e were bumpy but then we had a perfect ride all the way to the front door of Château Roberval, up 355n stopping for gas in LaTuque (100mi) and topping off @ Lac Edouard to 83w to 373n: 250mi Tuesday: 373n was cold, hard, rutty & bumpy, and we topped off early in La Dore (40mi?) where we saw the remains of a sled that overflowed gas and lit up at the pump the week before (extra crispy). 93n/w was a new trail for us and HOLY CRAP it was good. Then at the 100 mi mark from Roberval we came into this Abitibi industrial Twilight Zone area and circled around the buildings/barracks looking for the trail. There was an unmarked local looking trail behind one of the buildings (which turned out to be 93). And just when we were shrugging at each other, a dude in a hard hat walked across the snow covered street right by us and over to a big gas pump and held out the hose to us. Oh yeah!! He knew enough English to tip us off to the best soup and hot-chicken sandwich and maple syrup cake in the region, next door in the cafeteria ($10). It’s a damned good thing we looked as lost as we did and that the dude came out, because we had enough gas to blow right thru there (after 60mi), but that was it for another 100mi into Chibougamau. Not that they needed it north of the Twilight Zone, but we passed the groomer along the way, which made a perfect trail even dreamier. We had two small delays, one tugging my sled across the trail over a 2’ washed out stream/ditch, and then stopping to assist a group that had a rider go straight at a 90-degree red-right. Then the last 30 miles were a clean burn: 200mi Wednesday: We back-tracked, following and catching another groomer down 93s/e, and gassed at Abitibi Twilight Zone. It was too early for lunch so we passed on the daily special of steak hache. Then down to a local orange trail that bypassed LaDore, and hooked back up with 93/373. There was plenty of snow, but it was too cold & frozen and without enough crumbs for lube we started smelling the slides and soon after that I had one of my idler wheels chasing me up the trail across one of the farm fields by Normandin/Albanel. So we busted out the map and saw that there was a Yamaha Dlr where we were headed to in Dolbeau! Just outside of town at a local clubhouse a couple of non-English speaking Yamaha riders told us to look for the sign. No worries. There were a series of signs that even NY Governor Patterson would have seen. We’d made insane timing on the big trails so we had plenty of time to change three wheels (better ones with replaceable bearings), and did an alignment (which didn’t hurt after the ravine/bulldozer incident back in Shawinigan: 200mi Thursday: We’d gotten reports to not bother crossing over the lake to the Mt Valin area, and the front desk folks in Alma confirmed that there was no riding connecting where we were to the east. No worries. We kinda wanted to repeat Big Bill’s birthday bash at Windigo anyway! 93w to 373s we bombed around Roberval and went onto the lake to see the Village de Glace and next door where they were scraping the drag race course for the weekend. We lunched in style at Big Red Chicken Head (aka: St Hubert) in Roberval, topped off and took 83w to Relais 22, topped off again and ended @ Windigo. Daniel & Martine are the best hosts, as long as you call ahead. They were totally prepped for us, but they had to turn some folks away to Relais 22 that just showed up right after us. Happy Birthday Bill!: 200mi Friday: Daniel & Martine had busted out a topo map the size of the pool table showing us that the river we were on had a short cut that hooked up with 73. Nice! It was flat & cheesy. Perfect. We stopped a couple of times to check the GPS because there were some tracks that went off in different directions, but it was a great ride and popped us right onto 73 after a small smooth local trail. We took 73s into LaTuque to gas up, and only the last couple of miles around town were sketchy. Then we burned down a perfect pipeline/355. We’d been ready to jump off the trail and call a cab or a buddy to come get us at whatever point the warm weather and lack of snow would force us to. St Joseph was still no problem. We took the 351s not to push our luck on the river/347, and it was nearly perfect with just a few bare corners. St Tite was still no problem. We took 318w to the Grande Mere crossing and it was solid as a rock with no trace of slush. So were trails 318w into 347s on the other side. We inched onto the last stretch of river down to Shawinigan and it was super fine. The look on Pierre’s face behind the front desk of the Gov was priceless, as if he had never seen a snowmobiler (at least they hadn’t seen any in about 10 days): 200mi Total miles 1065. Total ungroomed 40 west of Roberval/St Felicien, but the groomer was headed right for there! Traffic was light all over. Pure blue skies. Temps around 30-32 by day and freezing at night up north. And just like all season the groomers were doing an amazing job. There was definitely a ton of snow, and cold, to last at least a few more weeks north of LaTuque. We had heard the same from some riders who made it to Roberval from out west/Senneterre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iceman Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 Bonzai brother glad you guys made it to chibougamau (it does exist) told you now next year we go to the rail bed from Chapis on the 93 and stretch the legs on the Yammies Oh yeah! sounds like quite an adventure to recover that sled Wow good stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 LOL I still rememeber looking at that BIG map at LeCabon and saying lets go to Chibougamau back in the early 90's and a young guy and we would all laugh..... But now have been there a few times like it is nothing... The mistek is gone LOL. Now need a new place to shoot for. How about Radison ?? anyone been there?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iceman Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 LOL I still rememeber looking at that BIG map at LeCabon and saying lets go to Chibougamau back in the early 90's and a young guy and we would all laugh..... But now have been there a few times like it is nothing... The mistek is gone LOL. Now need a new place to shoot for. How about Radison ?? anyone been there?? not yet but have been studying the prospect of doing it Is all riding along the roads to go there plus towing gas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greasemonkey Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 LOL I still rememeber looking at that BIG map at LeCabon and saying lets go to Chibougamau back in the early 90's and a young guy and we would all laugh..... But now have been there a few times like it is nothing... The mistek is gone LOL. Now need a new place to shoot for. How about Radison ?? anyone been there?? I read a story about some guys that rode to Radison. It's defiantly a trip that you must research and plan well in advance. Might not hurt to hire a local guide to take along. Have to carry your own gas. Some spare parts wouldn't hurt. Probably a very exciting and rewarding trip, though. I'm sure the scenery and wildlife must be phenomenal. Better take 4 strokes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted March 16, 2010 Report Share Posted March 16, 2010 Hmmmmmmmmm Now I really want to do it. If anyone come across any info please pass it along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPM Posted March 17, 2010 Report Share Posted March 17, 2010 (edited) hey playhard you still ride with new england bob ? Edited March 17, 2010 by SPM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLAYHARD Posted March 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2010 (edited) hey playhard you still ride with new england bob ? No, we graduated from NE Bob. He did a good job of showing us the ropes. I remember our first conversation back in '98 when there was no snow in the Berks, and he said the only downside of riding with him in Quebec is we'll never wanna ride in the Berks. Here's a link to pics from this ride... http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creati...Photos-_-Sharee Edited March 17, 2010 by PLAYHARD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPM Posted March 17, 2010 Report Share Posted March 17, 2010 No, we graduated from NE Bob. He did a good job of showing us the ropes. I remember our first conversation back in '98 when there was no snow in the Berks, and he said the only downside of riding with him in Quebec is we'll never wanna ride in the Berks.Here's a link to pics from this ride... http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creati...Photos-_-Sharee thanks for the pics,you ever hear from bob?does he still ride? it is true when you discover snowmobiling in quebec its hard to ride anywhere else. its great only living a short distance from the best trail system on planet earth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smclelan Posted March 17, 2010 Report Share Posted March 17, 2010 A very good report and exceptional pictures!! Looks like you had incredible weather, that just makes a trip even more memorable. I have traveled all those areas in the past if was good to see some familiar sites again. I remember my first trip through that area, I took lots of pictures as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLAYHARD Posted March 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2010 thanks for the pics,you ever hear from bob?does he still ride? it is true when you discover snowmobiling in quebec its hard to rideanywhere else. its great only living a short distance from the best trail system on planet earth. Last we heard from NE Bob was that he was organizing horseback tours. We wish him well for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPM Posted March 17, 2010 Report Share Posted March 17, 2010 Last we heard from NE Bob was that he was organizing horseback tours. We wish him well for sure. same here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted March 18, 2010 Report Share Posted March 18, 2010 (edited) I don't know how you guys take so many Pics... LOL ..... I guess I need more self control LOL ...Nice Pics Edited March 18, 2010 by Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLAYHARD Posted March 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2010 I don't know how you guys take so many Pics... LOL ..... I guess I need more self control LOL ...Nice Pics I hang a small digital on a long neck thingy just inside my jacket, to unzip-click-rezip, mostly @ smoke & wizz breaks. But the many (too many) 355-Pipeline shots were because we had plenty of spare time and wanted to milk the last day. You can't really see it, but we took turns standing/waving on opposite peaks. Anyway the pics (and the quads) help us to get thru the warmer months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfm Posted March 18, 2010 Report Share Posted March 18, 2010 Very nice report and I really liked the pictures (except the one with the front end stuck, I'll bet that hurt). Thanks for sharing. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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