markusvt Posted March 11, 2013 Report Share Posted March 11, 2013 (edited) The plan was good, no need for plan B or C, because plan “A” was so awesome! A 3 day trip was the deal. Day one was to head out of Mattawan, then up to La-Tuque, then over to Windigo. End the day by going to Parent, and spend the night in Clova, (325 miles). Day 2 was to cross the reservoir via GPS, eat lunch at Barrage Gouin, then down to spend the night in Kanawata, (225 miles). Day 3 was to then head down to Repo, then M20, explore M21, play a bit, and then back to the truck, (180 miles). Day 1: As planned, we slept in IceMan’s town of Shawinigan. In the AM we trailered up to Mattiwan to start our journey. We headed to La-Tuque. The pipeline was awesome, and to our surprise the 6 mile road before the trestle was completely snow covered! Very, very nice riding. We took the shortcut just after the 355/73 junction to head into town, (1000 feet past it, take a left). It bypasses all of the roads and crossings, airport, the speed traps, the whole bit! We gassed them up in town and then headed up the 73. We took the shortcut to Windigo off the 73, (bypassing Relay 22). After about 5 miles on the Ice, Randy’s 2009 XR with 8K on the clock, spit the track completely in half and out the back with me behind him. He coasted for a thousand feet or more, and I ran over his track at 85 mph, (video to follow). It wadded up my front bumper and broke some of the plastic detail parts, but that’s it. So sitting on the ice, it appears we have a few issues, (there is no way plan ‘A” is going to work anymore). Jay stopped and picked the track, Dave towed the trackless Ski-Doo, and I rode double with Randy the remaining 4 miles to Windigo. Over lunch made by Martine, (they do not normally serve lunch here), we start to go over options. The best we came up with was to tow the sled to a parking area 1.5Km away, then the 3 of us ride back to the truck, and then come back to get Randy. Martine gave us a road map, on back roads it was 90 minutes from La-Tuque. We got back to the truck by 5:15 with 284 miles on the sleds. The conditions were very, very good. We loaded them up and headed to La-Tuque. We got a bite at McDonalds, checked into Motel 9, swaped sleds and trucks around, and then called Randy and told him to meet us at the parking area at 9:30. We used the great map we were given and headed out into the wilderness to save our buddy. We got the parking area at 9:30, and no Randy. We loaded up the trackless sled, got the cover on it and Randy pulled in riding on the back of the owner Daniels sled. The temps were now down to 15F. As it turned out Daniel decided to add 15 minutes to their arrival giving us a bit of cushion so they wouldn't freeze waiting for us. No cell service out here! We got back to La-Tuque and bed before midnight, yeah! Day 2: A quick breakfast and we were out of there. Once back in Grand-Mere we hit the rental location and got Randy a 2013 600 Etec X! We were on the trail by 9:30 against all odds. We left the truck there and hit the trail. We took the 19 miles of river to save some time and then the 345 into Mattiwan. It was thin in the 2-3 mile section of logging, but the rest was really, really nice with a lot of snow. We gassed up in Mattiwan, and headed out towards Kanawata. We took the M20, then went out to the end of the M21 to check it out, (very cool, tons of perfectly groomed snow). We even saw a few groomer’s out. I would say it got up to upper 30’s. It was very sunny and very light traffic. We got to Repos with 120 miles on the clock due to our playing on the M21. With the warm temps, the 600 TNT I am using ran out of gas with 1.5 miles to go, (so close). A quick tow and all was good. Good news is they had fuel, the bad news is the lunch service is still terrible. Hot chicken had nothing hot. Cold bread, cold chicken, cold peas and cold gravy! A disgrace to Quebec! We headed out and got to Kanawata in 45 miles. We were there early, so we headed out on the lake to do some more exploring. We found a shortcut across the lake that saved a ton of miles! We came back and gassed them up and check into our cabin. The dinner was very nice, and served super-fast. When our heads hit the pillow no one had any issues falling asleep. Day 3: After a very nice breakfast we settled our bill and got ready to head out. We decided to head across the lake and save the miles. We rode awesome trails all the back to Repos. No food this time just gas and go. We were out of Repos before the folks sleeping there were even up! Early bird catches the worm.... The groomers had been out and the trail to the M20 was wonderful, first tracks the whole way, (I hate that :^)). The first half of M20 was a bit bumpy, but the second half was great. The trail into Mattiwan was very good. We gassed them up and headed down to the river. The 20 miles of trail down to the river was all fresh groomed the night before, and perfect. 10 of a 10. We buzzed the river back to return the rental sled and load our own sleds. We rode 670 miles plus or minus, and the trails varied between a 7 and a 10, with most being 9-10. Get out while you can, there is a TON of snow still. The traffic was light everywhere we went. Mark. Edited March 12, 2013 by markusvt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iceman Posted March 11, 2013 Report Share Posted March 11, 2013 Awesome Mark, sounds like you made out real good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooright Posted March 11, 2013 Report Share Posted March 11, 2013 Rental came from here http://www.maximumaventure.com/ Excellent experience for me ! Had a adventure on this ride to say the least Pressed on and had a great weekend with markusvt , jaybird and davemod04 Thanks guys ! dooright Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iceman Posted March 11, 2013 Report Share Posted March 11, 2013 Improvise and overcome the only way to do it. Good guys at the Maximum Aventure there in Grand Mere. Have had others use them in the past. Experiences all good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailblazer Posted March 11, 2013 Report Share Posted March 11, 2013 Snowmobiling is always an adventure Someone i know here once told me "Once you put that helmut on you never know what's going to happen", so very true, glad to hear you guys concored and had a nice trip. JG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davemod04 Posted March 11, 2013 Report Share Posted March 11, 2013 nice report, Mark, I was there, and chuckled reading about it! great time when attitudes all so positive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revct1 Posted March 11, 2013 Report Share Posted March 11, 2013 Glad to hear you still got in a good ride. Sometimes you have to pick up the pieces, assess your options and go for it. Good choice. Jack & Sandi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizz Posted March 11, 2013 Report Share Posted March 11, 2013 Sounds awesome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Florida Snowman Posted March 11, 2013 Report Share Posted March 11, 2013 Thanks Mark for your report. Quebec Adventures! Yes Adventures! Never quite know how things will turn out. Glad you guys still got the trip in. Lucky nobody got hurt with that black serpent escaping at 85 MPH!! That can be a wicked wipeout for the driver and/or for the person tailgating. Kudos, Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccaffrey Posted March 11, 2013 Report Share Posted March 11, 2013 Now that's getting the deal done! You guys are a hoot, LOL . Glad you could get some riding in. I like hearing about your short cuts.You ever need a fill in let me know. Going up Wednesday to complete my trip that was shortened 2 weeks ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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