St. Zenon Trail Report,La Cabanon

[Brdgbldr85]

Total trail miles for 5 days riding = 819 miles

12/19/10 --- Rode circuit 1 on trail map (Lanaudiere circuits) total of 107 miles. The Arctic Cat big bore 900 got 12.5 mpg and my 800R Ski doo renegade 2009 got 14.7 mpg. Went north on 345 to 360 west and returned by 33 south to 318 east. Good shake out day to get back on the trails, all trails were groomed in this area, going south to La Glaciere had much traffic on Sunday and was rough. Snow cover on trails was good with just a rock or ice chatter here and there.

12/20/10 --- Rode north picking up trail 33 from 318 and was going to Manawan Village. Trail sign at this coordinate N4701.485 W73 52.865 was miss marked and drove in a 24 mile dead end and 24 more back out follow sign to right for Lac du Repos and not left on 33 north. Now with almost 90 miles since fuel we headed back the same way and got dinner at St Michel des Saints. Drove 130 miles and still had 8 liters in the tank on the 800R. Got 15.5 mpg and the cat got 13.4 mpg. This was all on packed and groomed trails. All trails north of St Michael were groomed and get an 8 of 10. Excellent cover and just a ski chatter on a rock here and there. Note when you see the signs for Auberge lac taureau turn a 180 degree turn to stay on 33 north and not get to the Hotel. They have Fuel, cash only and fuel was $1.20/ liter. 176 miles today, plan to revisit this trip later in the week and get to the village.

12/21/10 -- Left today by trail 318 west heading for St. Donat and Mt. tremblant Parc. Got to intersection of what I thought was south to St Donat and actually it was around the corner further at my waypoint of (63s st Donat)- N46 35.370 W7410.031 this is the entrance to Mt Tremblant Parc going south coming from the east to west. Unknowingly, we actually went north for 36 miles and back another 36 miles, best part was 25 foot wide groomed trails, not a waste just a blast!! Had to now get fuel and there is no fuel this year in the parc. Rode back to St Michel. Now went back to pick up trail 63 south thru the parc and at the gate and followed the signs for st Donat to the Cypress relay and then went East for St Zenon and La Glacier on trail 63. Trail back through the parc was groomed to the mountain part and good again after the long hill . As you got closer to La Glacier Auberge trails got rough from much traffic. The club here that runs out of La Cabanon is doing an outstanding job and grooming every night. The plain truth is when guys come here and shoot the snow off of ice based trails the snow ends up off the trail were the groomer can not reach. We left from La Glacier and return by trail 350 and 345 north. About 22 miles.

Rode 214 miles today and trails were a 5 and some a ten plus. All trails in this area are covered well and it is staying under 0 C all the time. Trails are good and the Parc is a beautiful ride. Would be helpful to get a parc map from a local club or Mountee.

12/22/10 – Rode out trail 318 west thru St Machel to trail 33 north. Stopped at Auberge Taureau to top off fuel. 32 miles from Cabanon to that hotel. We went north on the new trail after 33 nord and it was groomed like a tabletop al the way to Lac Du Repos. Passed the groomer 10 miles from the Repo. It was 86 miles to there and returned by trail 345 south thru Mastigouche park after the dam. It is 25 miles from the dam to Le Cabanon. Trails were perfect today with only 15 miles of rough trail on 345 coming south. The new trail north from my coordinates above are a must try, the trail is better than 93 in Valin. It is 45 km from that spot to trail 345 to the Repo. Coming back from the Repo to Cabanon it was 83 miles. We had a great day with mild temps. in the mid 20 F and logged 169 miles with a lot of great pictures.

12/23/10—Rode south today on trail 345 from La Cabanon and picked up trail 350 east to go to Lac Blanc for lunch. Snow cover on trails was adequate and most all areas of small creeks were frozen. Trails were groomed smooth till within 12 miles of Lac Blanc, not enough snow to groom better. It was 47 miles to Lac Blanc. Rode back to La cabanon and wanted to return by trail 318 west and 318 west was closed at the Mastigoche parc to go west only. We backtracked and fueled up back at La Cabanon and went north to the Taureau Lake dam by trail 345 north for a high speed run on groomed trails up and back. What a blast to end a great trip. Rode 152 miles today.

Total miles for the trip was 819 miles on great snow, no dirt of real bad trails. Great start to the season!!!!!!!!

With Compliments to the hard work provided by Dennis with the local Club : Royaume de la motoneige Great work Grooming nightly!!

[Snobeeler]

Great report! I thank you. We are heading up on the 2nd and will probably do the same loops. May try to head over to Mt Laurier overnight.

[Live it up Rupp]

Total trail miles for 5 days riding = 819 miles

12/19/10 --- Rode circuit 1 on trail map (Lanaudiere circuits) total of 107 miles. The Arctic Cat big bore 900 got 12.5 mpg and my 800R Ski doo renegade 2009 got 14.7 mpg. Went north on 345 to 360 west and returned by 33 south to 318 east. Good shake out day to get back on the trails, all trails were groomed in this area, going south to La Glaciere had much traffic on Sunday and was rough. Snow cover on trails was good with just a rock or ice chatter here and there.

12/20/10 --- Rode north picking up trail 33 from 318 and was going to Manawan Village. Trail sign at this coordinate N4701.485 W73 52.865 was miss marked and drove in a 24 mile dead end and 24 more back out follow sign to right for Lac du Repos and not left on 33 north. Now with almost 90 miles since fuel we headed back the same way and got dinner at St Michel des Saints. Drove 130 miles and still had 8 liters in the tank on the 800R. Got 15.5 mpg and the cat got 13.4 mpg. This was all on packed and groomed trails. All trails north of St Michael were groomed and get an 8 of 10. Excellent cover and just a ski chatter on a rock here and there. Note when you see the signs for Auberge lac taureau turn a 180 degree turn to stay on 33 north and not get to the Hotel. They have Fuel, cash only and fuel was $1.20/ liter. 176 miles today, plan to revisit this trip later in the week and get to the village.

12/21/10 -- Left today by trail 318 west heading for St. Donat and Mt. tremblant Parc. Got to intersection of what I thought was south to St Donat and actually it was around the corner further at my waypoint of (63s st Donat)- N46 35.370 W7410.031 this is the entrance to Mt Tremblant Parc going south coming from the east to west. Unknowingly, we actually went north for 36 miles and back another 36 miles, best part was 25 foot wide groomed trails, not a waste just a blast!! Had to now get fuel and there is no fuel this year in the parc. Rode back to St Michel. Now went back to pick up trail 63 south thru the parc and at the gate and followed the signs for st Donat to the Cypress relay and then went East for St Zenon and La Glacier on trail 63. Trail back through the parc was groomed to the mountain part and good again after the long hill . As you got closer to La Glacier Auberge trails got rough from much traffic. The club here that runs out of La Cabanon is doing an outstanding job and grooming every night. The plain truth is when guys come here and shoot the snow off of ice based trails the snow ends up off the trail were the groomer can not reach. We left from La Glacier and return by trail 350 and 345 north. About 22 miles.

Rode 214 miles today and trails were a 5 and some a ten plus. All trails in this area are covered well and it is staying under 0 C all the time. Trails are good and the Parc is a beautiful ride. Would be helpful to get a parc map from a local club or Mountee.

12/22/10 – Rode out trail 318 west thru St Machel to trail 33 north. Stopped at Auberge Taureau to top off fuel. 32 miles from Cabanon to that hotel. We went north on the new trail after 33 nord and it was groomed like a tabletop al the way to Lac Du Repos. Passed the groomer 10 miles from the Repo. It was 86 miles to there and returned by trail 345 south thru Mastigouche park after the dam. It is 25 miles from the dam to Le Cabanon. Trails were perfect today with only 15 miles of rough trail on 345 coming south. The new trail north from my coordinates above are a must try, the trail is better than 93 in Valin. It is 45 km from that spot to trail 345 to the Repo. Coming back from the Repo to Cabanon it was 83 miles. We had a great day with mild temps. in the mid 20 F and logged 169 miles with a lot of great pictures.

12/23/10—Rode south today on trail 345 from La Cabanon and picked up trail 350 east to go to Lac Blanc for lunch. Snow cover on trails was adequate and most all areas of small creeks were frozen. Trails were groomed smooth till within 12 miles of Lac Blanc, not enough snow to groom better. It was 47 miles to Lac Blanc. Rode back to La cabanon and wanted to return by trail 318 west and 318 west was closed at the Mastigoche parc to go west only. We backtracked and fueled up back at La Cabanon and went north to the Taureau Lake dam by trail 345 north for a high speed run on groomed trails up and back. What a blast to end a great trip. Rode 152 miles today.

Total miles for the trip was 819 miles on great snow, no dirt of real bad trails. Great start to the season!!!!!!!!

With Compliments to the hard work provided by Dennis with the local Club : Royaume de la motoneige Great work Grooming nightly!!

Great report!

I am taking the family up to Mt Tremblant for a vacation.Is 318 an east access from Mt Tremblant?I want to take the family on a few small (100 mi) loops with a lunch stop in the middle.Any ideas?

Thank you.

[timbo]

Great report!

I am taking the family up to Mt Tremblant for a vacation.Is 318 an east access from Mt Tremblant?I want to take the family on a few small (100 mi) loops with a lunch stop in the middle.Any ideas?

Thank you.

Mt. Tremblant area is not real "snowmobile friendly". It was folks in that area that were instrumental in closing down a key segment in the linear park about 10 years ago. There is not much connectivity to the trail network from St-Jovite/Tremblant which makes it tuff to get around, especially if you are not familiar with local trails, etc.

Where are you getting your sleds? Are you trailering your own to Tremblant, or renting sleds somewhere in the area??

Coming in from the west (La Macaza) you can connect to 318 to St-Michel off of TQ63 near the St-Michel-des-Saints park gate. (There is no gas from La Macaza till you get to St-Michel).

Some nice (easy) day loops out of the St-Jovite area are to take TQ43 West and do loops around Lac-des-Plages, Duhamel (eat lunch here and enjoy the deer ravages. the deer will come up and eat out of your kids hands),take 323 around La Conception and work your way back down to TQ 43. Another nice loop is 319 up to Lac Nominingue and back around 325 and 323. If you want a bigger day, take TQ 43 west to TQ 53, then loop around to TQ 63 and come back down thru Lac Nominingue.

enjoy your trip.

timbo

[Brdgbldr85]

Do the loop from 318 and 33 at the park entrance around the corner and up into the park you can ride in as far as you want and back track out. The trails are groomed well. Our best ride was north on the new trail to repos. Can ride 33 north to auberge taureau . It is groomed excellent and would be about 50 miles to the repos for food and fuel from auberge taureau.

[Live it up Rupp]

Mt. Tremblant area is not real "snowmobile friendly". It was folks in that area that were instrumental in closing down a key segment in the linear park about 10 years ago. There is not much connectivity to the trail network from St-Jovite/Tremblant which makes it tuff to get around, especially if you are not familiar with local trails, etc.

Where are you getting your sleds? Are you trailering your own to Tremblant, or renting sleds somewhere in the area??

Coming in from the west (La Macaza) you can connect to 318 to St-Michel off of TQ63 near the St-Michel-des-Saints park gate. (There is no gas from La Macaza till you get to St-Michel).

Some nice (easy) day loops out of the St-Jovite area are to take TQ43 West and do loops around Lac-des-Plages, Duhamel (eat lunch here and enjoy the deer ravages. the deer will come up and eat out of your kids hands),take 323 around La Conception and work your way back down to TQ 43. Another nice loop is 319 up to Lac Nominingue and back around 325 and 323. If you want a bigger day, take TQ 43 west to TQ 53, then loop around to TQ 63 and come back down thru Lac Nominingue.

enjoy your trip.

timbo

I am renting 2 sled for the 4 of us.Any rcommendations on rentals in that area?I was going to ask the consierge's.We're just going to ride 2 days & ski 2 days.

thank you

[Pipemaster]

I am renting 2 sled for the 4 of us.Any rcommendations on rentals in that area?I was going to ask the consierge's.We're just going to ride 2 days & ski 2 days.

thank you

Stayed in Mont Tremblant 2 yrs ago with the wife.We trailered to LaBelle and took off from there for 3 nights on the trail. Only about 1/2 hr away and I think there were rentals in LaBelle, check with local club. Most of the rentals near the ski mountain are by the hour.

[Live it up Rupp]

Stayed in Mont Tremblant 2 yrs ago with the wife.We trailered to LaBelle and took off from there for 3 nights on the trail. Only about 1/2 hr away and I think there were rentals in LaBelle, check with local club. Most of the rentals near the ski mountain are by the hour.

Where did you stay? This will be my first time staying in the park. did you & the wife like it?