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Lanaudiere:Joliette/St-Côme/St-Donat pics ride-report 3 february 2013


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Sunday morning under light snow -18C, Snowcruiser, Krikri and started our ride from home in St-Thomas de Joliette to go seeing the ice sculptures in St-Côme and the Black Mountain in St-Donat. Here is the route taken:

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Trails near home were quite icy, but the snow cover is still very good.

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But only few miles further on trails groomed by joliette club conditions were very good and fast. It was a bit wavy in St-Félix de Valois but still nice.

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Same for St-Jean de Matha, the Black River (near Gero BRP dealer) was frozen as well

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We turned toward St-Côme and made this unusual encounter on the trail near Ste-Beatrix just before the river. (Sorry for the pic quality, our old camera starts to show intermittent signs of weakness) A porcupine that seems less happy than us to see each other

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Here the river before St-Côme, still strong

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A rare ray of sunshine of the day

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Here the big hill just before the village, in good condition ...

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We were a little anxious for edge of road sections when entering in the village of St-Côme but it is still acceptable and pass well

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The sculptors have not got it easy this year with extreme cold and the ice burst and then the rain, but they still managed to do their job done. Here, even the opened doors of the barn are made of ice

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....

Edited by towing
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And here real art work

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a nice Viking ship

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And this beautiful full size work horse coupled with ice carved chains...

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The mother and her kid ...

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yes I know ,the blue one is less successful than others ...

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and this great big excavator

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There are many others, yours to discover ... We then continued and took the #43 trail (which does not appear on this year map) which passes through our little golden gate bridge

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Just west of the bridge, we encountered a major trail problem. The trail got flooded and the dozer sank into around 24” water. The club had any other choice and closed path.

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We were a bit unwise and crossed it left on hazardous ice but I would not recommend it. The alternative path is to take #343 trail just east of St-Côme village and go north to get to Coin Lavigne. We continued to Notre-Dame de la Merci for lunch and went to this restaurant just next to the Olco gaz station

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The restaurant is not very big and was full. They even made us all a little space for us. Under these conditions we expected to wait a little longer than usual to be served but we were really surprised to receive our plates barely 10 minutes after getting in the restaurant! What a good service!

We then went toward St-Donat on #33 trail, beautiful

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...

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I was surprised to see that this section had not been groomed yet after the thaw. There was a little snow to lubricate

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This classic view on Archambault Lake before arriving in St-Donat

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We discovered the reason why the last miles were not been groomed. The big hill just after the last pic is unclimbable. The last fifty feet from top is on blue ice...

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There is a curve at 2/3 in the hill and this is all the top section that is on ice

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With my prestudded track we easily got down, Snowcruiser unstudded feel a bit stressed but got it down fairly easily but no way we would try to climb it. The club has also closed it at the bottom. Alternate paths would be to go east from St-Donat toward Lac Croche area and get back toward Notre-Dame de la Merci to hook on the #33 again. Not a so big detour and nice alternates

trails

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We refuel in St-Donat

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And we then stepped on Archambault Lake

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There was a little snow but not much. I lowered the two scratchers, we see the scratches each side of my track on this rear view

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We then continued to the Black Mountain

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I was expecting to see a plain rather than snowy decor so soon after the thaw but the cold has already work and we got well white frosted scenery

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And the Black Mountain has surprised us once again with its beauty

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And the gray jays are always ready for a snack

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We took a good break and chatted with other sledders from Laurentians area that came there by the new trail from St-Faustin. They mentioned that it was nice and not too icy. We then had to start our way back

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We chose to ride the trail around the west side of Archambault lake that still less used and very nice. Almost in the west end, we admired the result of mild temperatures on this small stream... beautiful

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...

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We then continued to the new # 33, beautiful trails with a few ice patches , nothing big just to be careful

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we made a last fuel stop at Coin Lavigne

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and ride back down on #63 trail and stop for supper at Domaine Bazinet

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On our way toward home, the big hills in Ste-Émilie de l’Énergie were ok and it is on good conditions trails that we complete the ride home with 210miles on the dreammeter

In summary, the only place where scratchers were very helpful were near home and on Archambeault lake. There are small of ice patches here and there, but nothing that experienced snowmobilers can manage easily. For those studded it is even easier and the only place to avoid is the icy hill on #33 south of St-Donat and there is many alternate path to avoid it. All other hills were pretty easy to ride and the trails are mainly in very good shape.

The trail system survived again this last thaw. Still a lot of snow in the area and more than ever is the time to enjoy ... you never know what Mother nature had planned next...

enjoy and ride carefully

Alain

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We then continued to the new # 33, beautiful trails with a few ice patches , nothing big just to be careful

DSC05913_zpsc1b3451c.jpg

we made a last fuel stop at Coin Lavigne

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and ride back down on #63 trail and stop for supper at Domaine Bazinet

DSC05922_zps929668b7.jpg

On our way toward home, the big hills in Ste-Émilie de l’Énergie were ok and it is on good conditions trails that we complete the ride home with 210miles on the dreammeter

In summary, the only place where scratchers were very helpful were near home and on Archambeault lake. There are small of ice patches here and there, but nothing that experienced snowmobilers can manage easily. For those studded it is even easier and the only place to avoid is the icy hill on #33 south of St-Donat and there is many alternate path to avoid it. All other hills were pretty easy to ride and the trails are mainly in very good shape.

The trail system survived again this last thaw. Still a lot of snow in the area and more than ever is the time to enjoy ... you never know what Mother nature had planned next...

enjoy and ride carefully

Alai

Thanks Alain,I look forward to your reports beginning of the week after your weekend rides(good picturese)thanks again for taking the time.
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Excellent post! And the pictures are fabulous!! Thanks to Kristine!!

I really enjoy seeing your trip reports.

Linda

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Great report and pictures as always Alain! Looks to be recovering well from the 2 January thaws.. but still looks like ice-studded tracks would be the preferred choice. I may need to remount my studded tracks (haven't used in 3+ years in Quebec) before my trip up on 17 February. Hoping for just a bit of snow to cover the ice before then, but weather report doesn't show much in next 2-weeks. Keep us posted on how the trails are holding up.

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Gade-Guy...Not sure when the conditions will change....I hope it will be soon!

You are welcome to join us in Stonecliffe on the Feb 17th long weekend! We will ride that area as there is snow.

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Nice report, love the pictures, it gives us hope to see the base is holding up quite nicely. I like the icy corner pic by st.donat, my studded track would like it. We are heading up to Maniwaki this Friday 2/8/13, going to ride up to Abitibi area do a big week loop. Looks like it will be a long drive in the snow (heading up 81 from Syracuse)

Thanks again for the report!

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Excellent post! And the pictures are fabulous!! Thanks to Kristine!!

I really enjoy seeing your trip reports.

Linda

Thanks Linda!!! Kristine says " bienvenue!!! " ( you're welcome!!!)

As always! A great report! Headed for St. Zenon and Real Masse this weekend! Thank you for your untiring reports!

Thanks bigadouch, we got an half inch new snow since sunday which give some more lube here. My son got to St-Donat for job today and they got a bit more last night, maybe a couple inches. The forecast call for an other couple inches until the weekend. With the groomer work you will have nice solid fast trails.... enjoy!!!

Great report and pictures as always Alain! Looks to be recovering well from the 2 January thaws.. but still looks like ice-studded tracks would be the preferred choice. I may need to remount my studded tracks (haven't used in 3+ years in Quebec) before my trip up on 17 February. Hoping for just a bit of snow to cover the ice before then, but weather report doesn't show much in next 2-weeks. Keep us posted on how the trails are holding up.

Studded track is not necessary, but surely nice to have actually. Personally, I begin to ride since 1986 and had my first pre-studded track last season (an ice claw). In those 120000kms I did before being studded I had always managed to ride without incident but I had some fears that would not even happened if I had been studded before... I hope for new snow too but at least, we already have now a trail network in fully shape in Lanaudiere and Mauricie

Nice report, love the pictures, it gives us hope to see the base is holding up quite nicely. I like the icy corner pic by st.donat, my studded track would like it. We are heading up to Maniwaki this Friday 2/8/13, going to ride up to Abitibi area do a big week loop. Looks like it will be a long drive in the snow (heading up 81 from Syracuse)

Thanks again for the report!

Thanks motonick, have a nice ride and enjoy abitibi snow highways!!! take care...

great alain , reminds me of the old days .. How is the new trail off blacks mtn ?

Thanks grumpysanta !!! this trail to Black Mountain is very nice, not straight path but enought wide with decent visibility to open the machine a bit. You probably remember the old path in the 90' on the south side of the mountain... It was twisty, steep and narrow as hell and we were wondering how the dozer would pull a drag up there...old days... They change the path a bit since it is on the north-west side and it is the best path actually.

As a complementary information, the flooded trail west from suspension bridge is now frozen back and the trail is open again

:drinks:

Alain

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Great report, trails look a lot better than i expected. We will be up there Saturday afternoon at Le cabanon and headed out on a 5 day saddle bag trip.

Thanks 600IQHO, there is still alot of snow, and with the multiple grooming pass and a bit new snow time to time conditions keep improving... Have a nice trip and take care!!!

Thanks Alain, I am meeting Andyman and Mubs in St Donat on Friday evening, you make things look pretty good

you will have good sledding there and if you go on the Black mountain don't forget to bring a little snack for the gray geais !!!

:drinks:

Alain

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Super report Alain, boy that hill looks pretty scary eh!

Thanks TrailBlazer, It was not so scary to go down straight forward but would you imagine going down reverse because you do not managed to reach the top... now it is really scary !!!

Thanks Alain,I look forward to your reports beginning of the week after your weekend rides(good picturese)thanks again for taking the time.

Thanks mccaffrey!!! my pleasure. From the time I had begin to report my rides it begin to create expectations from one week to the other !!! and it's great, i'm glad you enjoy them. If a picture worth a thousand word I had post alot of words in the last years !!!

:drinks:

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Alain... With all your different ride loops and the amount of pictures you have from the last few years, you should consider finding a publisher and having a hard copy book made. It would be a great coffee book to have for all sledders. I'm sure you would sell thousands!

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Alain... With all your different ride loops and the amount of pictures you have from the last few years, you should consider finding a publisher and having a hard copy book made. It would be a great coffee book to have for all sledders. I'm sure you would sell thousands!

It's a surprising idea, something that I never had think of... maybe a future project. It would be more interesting if it can cover more large area in quebec than my usual playground. I would need to team up with a guy like Coyote to shape up the area coverage... I know that there are some books like that for mortorcycling but with internet that already delivered the information for free I'm not sure how extent a book would interest people ??... thanks anyway for this original idea Fozzy :drinks:

I will take 2 copies at $50 each! Great idea Fozzy!

You seems very confident of the results !!! thanks Linda :give_rose:

Alain

Thanks for the great report. You have talent.

My wife and I will be taking photos in your neck of the woods. Last day of 12.

Jim

Thank you Jim, what a great trip you made!!! I followed your days feed back in the other thread, wow! I'm a bit jaleous... nah , I'm just happy for you, I hope you have a great trip ending here and no problem to get back home with the today snow in windy conditions...

:drinks:

Alain

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