just for fun !!!

[groomer]

just for fun.played with g/e this morning and wrote where i had met members(hope did nt forget) and few spots to help you to remember my part of tq 5 between town and st fidele cb.

groomer !!!

[GT Rider]

Groomer,

Thanks for the maps. I am learning the land marks.

I have a GE trail map from 2009 if you are interested.

Do you groom to the St Fidele Club?

[groomer]

Groomer,

Thanks for the maps. I am learning the land marks.

I have a GE trail map from 2009 if you are interested.

Do you groom to the St Fidele Club?

hi gt rider!!

i turn around at the st fidele cable bridge .roughly mid way between causapscal and cross point .posted pics of the new bridge and the old one .

the shack is on the st fidele side.probably a bad habit for us here.the real name of the club on the other side of the bridge is :club marquis de malauze.

they start grooming from cross point and i guess they must groom l'alverne .small village up the hills near cross point .back in the 80' s til early 90 's ,there was a relay/relais half way i guess between cross point and the st fidele cable bridge .the relais/relay come from james bay , hydro quebec project back in the 70 's.the relais is closed since many years now .st fidele used to be a very small village back then.

last time i went there sledding , back in 89 or 90.remember it was -30c something that night.

thanks for the offer , i just did it for fun .

groomer !!!

[GT Rider]

Hi Groomer,

Thanks for the info and photos.

In 2008 I passed this big metal building club house that was closed. Is it snowmoble club or just VTT?

I was wondering do you groom to Amqui?

[groomer]

right on gt rider !!

checked last night ,but no luck to find it .back then it was a relay and i can t tell you if they use it for for an atv club.atv club use tq 5 here at many places.

here s tq 5 in town ,start from the cable bridge over the matapedia river ,then go all around town.

west side of the cb over matapedia river ,guys from albertville groom it .

groomer !!!

[groomer]

from town toward st alexandre and lac au saumon !!

groomer!!!

[groomer]

on the first pic,trail for st alexandre is 2 miles on the left side of the zec office.

btw , i took the road for the lake this afternoon riding my 4w.

groomer !!!

[groomer]

local trail for ste marguerite,trail start at the ''zec office ''.groom that trail every 7-10 days ,depending of the weather and traffic.

all 4 ,st alexandre,lac au saumon ,lac 8 milles and ste marguerite roughly 12 hrs.

groomer !!!

[groomer]

local trail for ste florence.this one start about 4 miles west of ste marguerite( tq5 ).

about 2 hrs of grooming.i groom that one when i groom tq 5 .every 2-3 runs on tq 5 .very low traffic trail .

before i forget ,guys from albertville groom toward amqui .i groomed that part of tq 5 5-6 times in 10 years.they groom from albertville toward the cb on matapedia river ,then we meet at the school bus.they turn around there + trail 587 .

groomer !!!

[GT Rider]

Wow now I can see why you get little sleep during the winter.

Thanks again for your fantastic work.

These trails are on my to do list!

I see my old GE map does not have the trail to lac saumon.

[groomer]

hi gt rider !!

ha !! ha !! grooming sometimes 4-5 days in row, depending of the situation can be tough on me .since 2 years now ,instead of starting at the end of the day and come at 6-8 am ,i wake up between mid night and 5 am.personally i think it s better.less confused if i can say that.

just checked ,lac saumon trail is not on the gaspesie map.from the st alexandre trail ,it s about 6 miles to go to the road 132 .once at the road 132 ,you must cross the lake to go back on tq 5 .but in the village of lac saumon ,i don t even know where the trail goes.

i ll find pics and post them tomorrow .

went to the st fidele clubhouse today ,after 20/21 years without going on the other side of the st fidele cb.

groomer !!!

[groomer]

Wow now I can see why you get little sleep during the winter.

Thanks again for your fantastic work.

These trails are on my to do list!

I see my old GE map does not have the trail to lac saumon.

forgot , ''les marais '' (marsh) it s a pool on the causapscal river .they put a fence on the higher side of the pool to keep all the salmons in the same pool to avoid poaching up the river.on the lower side of the pool ,there s a fence too ,but with a ''gate ''.so each time a salmon enter the gate ,they count them.went there years back and there was up to 700 salmons.

biggest one they have seen in the pool 62 or 65 pounds ...big fish!!! the falls are a few miles lower .

groomer !!!

[groomer]

few pics from the lac saumon trail.

pic 1: took the pic about 1 mile off the st alexandre trail.going up that field ,the last 400' can be hell to enter into the woods.very bad place and most of the time ,there s no traction there.snow blew by the wind is nt the best quality.

pic 3 :lac saumon ,tq 5 is up the fields ,few miles i guess.albertville is on the left.never been there.

pic 4 :about 1 mile before arriving at the road 132 .must do it right on the way down.nice drifts there sometimes.i ll be ''dead '' on the way up.ha !! ha !! never happened tho.

pic 5 :on the way back from the lac saumon.st alexandre is about 1 mile on the left side of the clearcut and the trail is also about 1 mile higher than the clearcut.you can see the barn for the horses at the bottom of the fields.

pic 6 :looking toward amqui ,at the intersection of amqui/st alexandre

pic 7 :where i turn around in st alexandre , i go on ''main street '' and back on the trail.took the pic from the amqui side.st alexandre is a very small village .

pic 8 :strange mooses on the lac saumon trail .ha !! ha !!

groomer !!!

[groomer]

if you look at my google map,trail for ''lac 8 milles.first 2 ,where i turn around at the lake .

next 2 at ''the stump '' on the way back.

groomer !!!

[groomer]

tq 5 ,if look at the map again, where i wrote ''drifts ''.all pics at the same place. roughly mid way between ste marguerite and the st fidele cb.

groomer !!!

[groomer]

tq5 again,.

pic 1 : where i wrote ''snow bank and channel ''. roughly ,4 miles west of the st fidele cb.

pic 2-3-4 : andyman's bld

pic 5 : andyman/mubs ,about half a mile east of andyman's bld and 1 mile west of the ''drifts ''

pic 6-7 :just before entering the field in ste marguerite with the 2 channels on the way back and right in the field.

groomer !!!

[GT Rider]

Groomer,

Thanks for the education. The photos make me wish for winter.

I find it amazing how you plow through those giant drifts and leave a white carpet. Have you ever lost traction? Is there a possibility of getting stuck with the dosser?

I see the moose are friendly with the ears up.

[groomer]

ha !! ha !!

very easy to get stuck.must know ''your '' trail very well .there s a ditch on both side of the trail,not too deep tho,but enough to make the machine lean on one side .the weight of the machine (very heavy ) transfert on all on the same side and you must hurry up to back on hard packed before it s too late.at the base of the hill ditch is deeper ,came close very often there.

what happen ,when there s 3-4'+ there i can t see where is the edge of the trail ,so if one track is off the trail and there s already 3-4, of snow ,there s a little bit more off the trail.it does nt take much time to lose the rpm and the drag fill up very fast with snow .time to go back on the hard packed snow.sounds silly ,but it happen very fast.machine ''sink '' very fast.thats why i keep that place very wide,even if there s 3-4-5 ' on the trail ,at least i know there s hard packed snow under.drifts are great places to gain experience.

pic 1 on post 13 ,before entering in the woods ,it s steep and it s about the width of the machine .the snow there , it s snow blew by the wind and the quality is very poor.95 % of the time going up there ,tracks spin all the time and can t use the drag to fix it well.i do it on the way back.downhill.probably the worst place to groom .

all 3 pics on this post ,tq 5 ( map ) plain-rev/90' corner.plain-rev is the one with the blue coat.

ps:never got stuck in drifts .3-4 times in 10 years .good average ,ha !! ha !!

groomer !!!

[groomer]

forgot ,post 13 ,pic 5 ,from the 5th red stick going up the field to enter the woods,worse place.same field than pic 1.very narrow.snow come from the left side .

pic 1 : bridge in town.can t see the bridge ,too much snow .

pic 2-3 .tq 5 ,where my run begin .cb over the matapedia river .albertville guys turn around on the other side of the cb( west ).park the machine about half a mile from there.

groomer !!!

[GT Rider]

2/08

Your photos make it look easy (the way you push the snow around).

My photos show the snow pushing me around

2/08

2/09

Edited May 7, 2010 by GT Rider

[groomer]

whoooops !!! ha !! ha !! don t worry ,it happened to me while grooming.i had the ''bull ''down a bit and pushing snow ,trying to ''level ', the trail.snow was so hard packed by the wind ,it was pushing the machine ',off the trail ''.outter track fell in the soft snow and stuck for 3 hrs !! ha !! ha !!

st fidele clubhouse was very popular back in the 80's and early 90 ' s.

first pic ,tq 5 ,about 3-4 miles east of ste marguerite ,almost at the bottom of a looooooooong hill.there s an 180 ' curve behind the machine ,met andyman,smclelan,mubs and ron about a quarter mile behind the machine.

next 2 ,about 2.5 miles west of ''plain-rev/90' curve .i wrote ''bucher/clearcut on the map.

groomer !!!

[groomer]

i saw on one of your map, the bell river in matagami .thought about that.all the pics are fom when i worked for challenge kanada back in 97 i think ,maybe 96 .just can t remember.pics of the first ''leg '' (not sure if it s the right word).rouyn noranda to chibougamau.

this on lake parent in senneterre ,about 25 miles from town.we had to go up to the bell river ,then enter the woods.when we arrived it was on open water and we were nt sure if it was the bell river .so we went up to the bay.trying to find trails and roads.we did nt know that area at all .

what happened ,our ''guide '' made the circuit with a plane,from rouyn noranda to chibougamau .easy from the air ,but once the land ,wooooooooooooow !! another story for our guide.first night he came to see us at the motel in rouyn noranda.first thing he told us ,guys i don t ride deep snow at all,95 % of the time on hard packed trails.i learned that the next morning.my friend was the greatest guy to take beers with and tell jokes and stories,but very poor rider in deep snow ,also.so i was caught with 2 terrible riders in deep snow.

if i remember well ,we took 7-8 days riding off the trail ,from rouyn to senneterre,way too much .once in senneterre the guide went back home after a week vacation.hell of a week .it was supposed to take 2 days to do that.taking notes and mileage for the roadbook.

pic 1/2 ,off the bay .

3-4-7 first time on lake parent.

5-6 second time on lake parent about 3-4 weeks later .visibility was ''0 ''.pics taken about a quarter mile from the bell river.

our first day on lake parent ,my friend forgot to bring injection oil and unable to make it back to the motel,probably 20 miles + away .so it was getting late in the afternoon ,close to darkness on our way back to the motel.

suddenly while riding on the lake ,a bunch of sledders arrived behind us.one was out of gas .so we traded a 5 gallons can of gas for a pint of injection oil and made it back to the motel in the darkness.they saved our day.i could tell you tons of stories about my 2 years with challenge kanada .

groomer !!!

[GT Rider]

I stayed at Motel Senabi 2/09. The town allows snowmobiles to ride the street. We had a nice breakfast at the pizza shop. Went to BRP down the street.

It is funny how weather can make a known place feel like a strange place. (your pics 5 & 6)

I like to travel with my GPS and way points for safty. You are brave to make your way travling on rivers.

Great story about the oil.

[artcat900]

I stayed at Motel Senabi 2/09. The town allows snowmobiles to ride the street. We had a nice breakfast at the pizza shop. Went to BRP down the street.

It is funny how weather can make a known place feel like a strange place. (your pics 5 & 6)

I like to travel with my GPS and way points for safty. You are brave to make your way travling on rivers.

Great story about the oil.

Small world.......In March we stopped at the same 2 places........pizza and gas

[groomer]

after i posted this morning , i remembered it was the ''bella villa '' in senneterre.

here s a few places i ve been ,off the trail .

the second year ,when we left from rouyn up to chiboo,down to lsj ,latuque and st gabriel de brandon , i calculated we did roughly 225/250 miles on rivers and lakes.we don t have big rivers and lakes like that around here ,woooow !!! awesome !!!

just too bad ,i ve been on too many lakes and rivers can t remember them all.

great adventure and experience!!

groomer !!!