towing Posted February 1, 2012 Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 Yesterday morning cloudy sky -13C at the start, Krikri and I were starting our ride from home near Joliette. Target: to see the ice scupltures festival in St-Come and then the Black Mountain in St-Donat. Here is the itinerary for the day With the hard trail base caused by the lasts week thaw, the heavy snow from last friday and this last cold night we had beautiful trails to start our day We went north from St-Jean de Matha on freshly groomed trail and then took # 349 to St-Come, which was just as beautiful ... Just a little past Ste-Beatrix, the trail was not longer recently surfaced but still nice and very snowy ... A little point of view ... Just before the village of St-Come, there was a small obstruction in the trail ... I think he regretted having gone too far on the trail entrance ... a good operator would be out of the hole in few second with this equipement ... And we arrived in St-Come. I was deceived a bit because it was the third year in a row it was cloudy when I came to admire the sculptures. There are for every one, from snowmobile to dragons ... through all the themes available ... ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towing Posted February 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 Several sculptures are not yet complete, but it allows us to watch the carvers work ... The good Lord heard me and finally the sun came out for the rest of the day ... I'll do another post for the festival of sculptures because I still have many beautiful pics ... We then continued towards the suspension bridge. The trail need grooming but the scenery was beautiful... Suspended bridge On the other side trails maintained by NDM were mint as usual We switched north and took the #33 to St-Donat. Everything is freshly groomed 11/10 Arriving near St-Donat And we took our lunch at the famous Cuillère à Pot ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towing Posted February 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 (edited) After a good meal, we then went to Archambeault Lake... The trails were beautiful and very soon we were near the Black Mountain... Finally, we should have made a lunch to go and came and eat here ... it's so beautiful!! Just a little disappointment, gray jays were not there ... They probably had their daily ration by other visitors before us ... We would like to stay a bit more but we were away from home! Had to go back... We descended the mountain and the trails were so beautiful we decided to go around the lake to come back.We then took the #33 like earlier and then came towards Parc du Mont-Tremblant trought Caribou entrance. The trail was very nice and fast We then swithched to the Coin Lavigne, this section was much bumby but the solution was already in application... After this quick section at sunset, we took a break at Coin Lavigne and then been back trought St-Émilie /St-Jean de Matha and the morning path. Total: 226 miles In short, my best ride to date this season. The snow is good in the south and amazing in the north making our of trails network 100% operational in superb conditions. It is now that it's happening! No excuse, if you want to ride this season you will find no better! Alain Edited February 1, 2012 by towing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJSkidoo Posted February 1, 2012 Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 What camera are you using to take these pics? Looking to get a new one before upcoming annual trek to QC. Your pics are very clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viper2 Posted February 1, 2012 Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 Nice report Alain, love the snow in the trees. Thanks for the pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowfarmer Posted February 1, 2012 Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 Great area and nice report will come to this area again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VTrider Posted February 2, 2012 Report Share Posted February 2, 2012 Where on your GPS map are the gray jays located? Would love to stop and see that at some point in our travels... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
600IQHO Posted February 2, 2012 Report Share Posted February 2, 2012 Great report and pics! I have been on most if not all those trails before. The conditions up there look great! I will be up to the Cabanon next Wednsday but will not be headed that direction, I will be going north. Seeing pictures like that really gets the blood pumping.It looks like you have had no problems up there from our huge warm up south of the border. 60F here in southern Pennsyvania today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcstar Posted February 2, 2012 Report Share Posted February 2, 2012 Where on your GPS map are the gray jays located? Would love to stop and see that at some point in our travels... Looks like he was on Black mountain when he mentioned the birds!(all the way on the left, lower way point on the map) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towing Posted February 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2012 What camera are you using to take these pics? Looking to get a new one before upcoming annual trek to QC. Your pics are very clear. I won't help you much for your purchase, I'm using very old basic stuff, a sony 4,1MP without zoom. Krikri is taking most of the pics you saw while riding without stopping so we need something that work really fast, point and shoot with a size that enter in Krikri mits and work on standard aa batteries. We had tried newer one and came back to the old one... the ratio of good shot in the lot we take is really high with it and the colors are great... maybe the graininess is not the best but for our use the overall package is great. I buy an other one used this summer exactly the same as a spare for $50 with a huge memory card in it... Where on your GPS map are the gray jays located? Would love to stop and see that at some point in our travels... mcstar is right, it's just here on the yellow arrow... Great report and pics! I have been on most if not all those trails before. The conditions up there look great! I will be up to the Cabanon next Wednsday but will not be headed that direction, I will be going north. Seeing pictures like that really gets the blood pumping.It looks like you have had no problems up there from our huge warm up south of the border. 60F here in southern Pennsyvania today. The thaw we got improve the trails condition by hardening trail bases without really losing snow and we got a foot of new stuff since... so You will have a good time for sure... Thank you guys for your good words Alain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindasledgirl Posted February 2, 2012 Report Share Posted February 2, 2012 Beautiful pictures and a great report!! Thanks so much for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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