St-Michel des Saint/Marineau Mattawin photo ride report 18/02/2024***video added***

[towing]

Yesterday Sunday February 18, 2024, we rode from St-Michel des Saint to Marineau Mattawin round trip for a 306Kms total

After the last weekend thaw(11-12 feb) the south of my area was very thin and some clubs had stop grooming waiting for new snow. It was still possible to start riding from home but we wanted to ride some nice, wide and faster trail so we did a trailer run and dropped at the village of St-Michel des Saints. In St-Michel village it's thin but rideable and we directly reached the Taureau reservoir to take the trail toward auberge Taureau. The ride on the reservoir is rather rough, there was traffic when it was slushy and it refroze like that. If you have the heart strong enough to move between 100 and 200 feet away from the stakes it is very nice and flat and a new path formed there with many tracks but there is an associated risk and I cannot officially recommend it to you, the safe option is close the stakes.

The reservoir is not at its lowest yet but must be lowered by a good 25-30 feet already

Trail #33 past the Taureau Auberge is a little brownish in the short section that is near the beach

but when you enter on the forest road  just a little further it is very nice

There are some short spots with dirty snow or a few rocks but 95%+ that's it

We went around the Taureau reservoir on the west side and continued on #360 towards the east. The trail base was very hard with a thin layer of loose snow and new snow, very fast conditions but icy enough to have to be careful in some curves

The Mattawin River has decreased in flow a bit but it hasn't been very cold this year and there are still long sections at clear water

We took a break at 440 halt, my prefered break spot. Beautiful view on the river

The whole old path of #360 is very nice. When you enter the woods at the height of the old M20 there is some dirt in the snow on some curves but still beautiful overall, the same thing on the fast sections of the detour further on which come to join the edge of the river before the point of view

The section in the woods after the viewpoint up to the bridge was a little less beautiful but OK. The bridge was quite dry so we took out the rouskis

We left St-Michel at 9:30 a.m. and arrived at Marineau at 12:30 p.m. with 153km on the dreameter

We had a very good big meal there, love this place! As luck would have it, I also met a retired work colleague and his wife who I hadn't seen for ten years! they live on the south shore of St-Laurence river and were passing there by car, a great unplanned encounter!

We took the same exact route for return, The sun had hidden and it was snowing a little. Here the point of view.

We went at the edge of the Taureau dam for a short break

and we started it again towards St-Michel

We came across the St-Michel dozer which was starting its grooming run a few kms north of the Taureau Auberge. I have to take my hat off to these snowmobile clubs, in this case St-Michel and Mattawin who work hard and do miracles with the little snow they have to give us beautiful trails... Thank you!!!

And we were back to the trailer around 4:45 p.m. with 306km for the ride, very happy with our run. It had a bit of new snow yesterday there and at home as well, and even a bit more in Mauricie where my partner Snowcruiser told me around 6 inches of new stuff. We would need more than that to optimize all the trails but at least it help to greenish the trail map on Imotoneige!

We were hoping for better at mid february but it's hard to argue with mother nature! We still hope for more snow and cold but in the mean time the groomers do miracles with what they have and it's still possible to do some great sledding.

My video camera cooperated very well during the ride and I should be able to post some video footage from this ride soon.

Alain

Edited February 22 by towing

[motonick]

As always, thanks for great report and pictures. It's nice to see that there are some good trail conditions.  We wer up in riviere du loup 2/3-2/7/24, trails were very good.  Pictures are on 2/4/24 on the sentier haricana (orange 🍊 trail) out of rdl.

[mccaffrey]

Alain, thank you for your report. 

What a crazy season for snow.

 

[towing]

On 2/20/2024 at 6:17 PM, motonick said:

As always, thanks for great report and pictures. It's nice to see that there are some good trail conditions.  We wer up in riviere du loup 2/3-2/7/24, trails were very good.  Pictures are on 2/4/24 on the sentier haricana (orange 🍊 trail) out of rdl.

http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_02/20240204_090549.thumb.jpg.bcc149ecf39c96216ef997ad805b1a8e.jpg

http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_02/20240204_090605.thumb.jpg.a75c3b169e9fa26dc14b241817ad0f4e.jpg

wow gorgeous picture!!! You got the perfect timing for your trip 👍

On 2/20/2024 at 7:05 PM, mccaffrey said:

Alain, thank you for your report. 

What a crazy season for snow.

 

Oh yes, nothing guaranteed from one weekend to another, I'm myself usually very positive but I developed trust issues with mother nature this season! I try to keep positive for my sled trip first week of march...

[towing]

Here the  a music video of this ride.

I made a test on this one and film/process the whole video in 2k 30fps in place of 1080p 60fps, seems to improve the quality a bit on the net.

So crank up the sound and the quality to 2k and enjoy the ride 🍿🍿🍿

 

[Signfan]

You guys using cell phones for pictures?  Or something better?