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Joliette/Ste-Agathe/St-Donat 24 february 2013


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Saturday morning very cloudy with light snow -5C Krikri and I were going to join Steph to go dinner at St-Agathe. It had been years since we had not been on that side and I really wanted trying the new trail St-Faustin/ Black Mountain. Here's the path of the day.

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We have therefore joined Steph, who left from l’Assomption area ,behind the Petro-T near the l’Assomption river on the edge of St-Thomas/St-Paul municipality limits

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The shack and the small parking lot there have been made by the VTT club (this trail segment is snowmobile /VTT shared). I know that also some snowmobilers use it.

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The cloudy white weather not only made tame pics but also make it very hard to “read” the trail, all look white.

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Fortunately, the trails had groomed during the night and ride nicely. The new snow we received during the week has left a good layer of snow on the trails and because the night was not very cold it left us pretty soft trails, it was therefore expected that some bumps would appear earlier in the day ...

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Passing the Femme Collin place

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And here near the village of St-Esprit

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At St-Lin we forked to St-Calixte

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....

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It was a bit twisty before we saw those horses near the village

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Passed the village the trail is much better, we took a first break near this old shack. It was snowing a bit more

DSC06435_zps261d3b22.jpgJust a little further we reached the #33 trail that we took north

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This trail is generally quite hilly. As a mountain lover I really like it but Krikri on the rear feel it was a bit sportive to follow the beat ...

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Here a nice shot Krikri took on the flag

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We arrived at Ste-Marguerite du Lac Masson ...

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There were many sleeders on the lake, surely drag racing in preparation as we saw the race track on the left

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A little farther, we took the #43 to Ste-Agathe

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...

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Great trip report Alain and Kristine!!

You two have great fun and it shows in the pictures!!

I hear warm weather is coming your way...keep us posted!

Thanks,

Linda

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I like this pic where you see in my mirror Steph who follows us and the group of snowmobiles we just crossed

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Here just before Ste-Agathe ...

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Where we stopped for lunch at 11:45 with 92 miles done(left in the morning around 8:30). Many memories came back to me by stopping there because for several years, to have dinner at Ste-Agathe St-Hub was almost a tradition for me and Krikri

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After the meal and fuel-up, we crossed a police check point. It's not really funny to have to search our pockets for papers, but the officer was friendly and it lasted only a few minutes.

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We then took the #325 trail in St-Faustin direction on the Petit Train du Nord path

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And we quickly arrived at the junction of the new trail to St-Donat/ Black Mountain

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It is a beautiful mountainous trail with beautiful scenery. The gray weather limited the view but on a sunny day it would be wonderful. There are some spots I would liked having a side parking space where we could safely stop to admire the view... maybe the club would develop this in the future??

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We stopped a few minutes here ...

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...

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krikri began to overheat folowing me on this mountanous trail at a good pace ... we pushed her into the snowbank to cool her down a little ...

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The landscape quickly whiten ...

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and to my surprise we were already at the Black Mountain

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I do not know if it's because of the snowy day but the gray jays were not there. Those more timid mésanges were there to replace ...

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They still left this message to our attention ... (bring a lunch)lolll

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We stayed a moment to enjoy the place

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And then went back down to St-Donat

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Visibility on Archambault Lake was really not very good so we limited our speed and ride cautiously

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We then crossed St-Donat

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...

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And headed for the Caribou Park entrance. As expected, the traffic had its effect on those soft trails with new snow and mild temp. and sled suspensions had to work a bit more

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Here in the Mt-Tremblant Park

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I unfortunately have no beautiful pics of this section because the combination cloudy dark sky / bumps /speed gave fuzzy pics. The section between the #310/#33 junction and Coin Lavigne was better and went very fast

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We then forked east.. This section was particularly bumpy ... Here the junction to St-Côme village where we wondered if we continued straight ahead or to st-Côme

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We finally went straight and continued for supper at Domaine Bazinet around 5:30PM

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On the return, #63 was bumby but arrivied south from St-Jean de Matha all the clubs had already groomed which was much appreciated! We returned to our starting point at 8:30 p.m. with 242 miles on the dreammeter

In summary: despite the warm weather around freezing point in the last day the snow cover is increasing and instead of grainy hard snow conditions of the last weeks it is now the beautiful new snow lining our trails. The season progresses quickly, so take advantage of the opportunities you have to ride and go for it... can’t go wrong now in the area

Alain

Edited by towing
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Great trip report Alain and Kristine!!

You two have great fun and it shows in the pictures!!

I hear warm weather is coming your way...keep us posted!

Thanks,

Linda

Thanks Linda !!!

I hope you are wrong for the warm temps...

I know that there is a storm on the forecast for wednesday and the max temp. seems to be around the freezing point for the next week....

I hope for the best... and keep you informed how it goes..

Alain

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Hi Alain,

We are expecting the snow here too! Tues-thurs.

The warm temps aren't my idea...believe me!

I hope they are wrong too!!

Linda

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Always a great way to start my morning, coffee and checking your wonderful pictures. mike

Thanks mikerider ! i'm glad you enjoyed the report. When i think of it, few peoples write me the exact samething, including recently a great guy from France!!! you in Maine and him in France enjoying your morning looking at my Quebec ride... the world is small with the net!!!

Your ride reports and pics are always a first class " production" Alain. Thanks for taking the time to post after a long day.. Fuzzy

my pleasure Fuzzy!

Another great report Alain, really appreciate them! How many miles have you accumulated so far this year?

I'm glad you liked! How many miles??? not enought!!! In fact, only 2125 miles done this season, just a 2 day trip+ single day rides. Had to admit it was high quality miles on deep snow cover, most of them starting from my door...ok I won't complain!!! and I am at planning a few days trip for next week...

Thanks again for a great report,those early week reports I enjoy.That will hold me off till Wednesday when i get up north

We have still warm temps running in the 0C to 3C during the day but only snow on the forecast for the next days... no rain!! would like some cold to harden the trails but still looks good for next...... have a good ride!

Very nice report. Krikri great job with the camera. :clapping:

Gemma and I also stop for St-Hubert since Saguenay Bill told us about it.

Thank You.

thanks GT Rider !! That St-Hubert is a must for us if we ride around there. Not only a nice place with good meals but also great memories for us...

Thanks Alain & Krikri for your excellent reports. Always very informative & entertaining!

Best,

Tom

My pleasure Tom to share a bit of the great fun we had on this ride!!

Thanks Alain & Krikri you do a great job. Looks like it is time to get there.

Thanks Phil! I don't want to think of it but time goes fast and we are already at the end of february... I hope for an other 5 weeks of riding but the warm temp we are having now make me freak a bit...

Alain , I do not know how you get so many good pictures and the time to post it to actually ride all those beautiful miles ,, good luck and have fun , great job.

Thank you grumpysanta, we are very lucky to have all needed line-up to this results: great rides and fun together Krikri and I and this for so many years now. As a side note, we just learned tonight that a person near us got hit by a cancer and it look pretty bad... so my word is: if you are healthy, don't wait for later, life is now ! enjoy and take the best of it

:drinks:

Alain

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