Joliette/Ste-Agathe/Black Mountain St-Donat photo ride-report 8 february 2014

[towing]

This last Saturday ride had been very popular! We were a group of 7 peoples who went dinner at St- Agathe and then went to tease the gray jays on the Black Mountain in St-Donat . Here’s the track of the day ride:

Saturday morning 8:30, variable sky and -13C we started from home with our buddy Snowcruiser

We left on the #43 south to join the #3 trail, our first meeting point with another riding partner. Rollerboy from Sorel who had gone from home early on the south shore of the St-Laurence river took the ferry at 7:30 and was already there, waiting for us. A quick handshake and we were already back riding to our second meeting point not very far. The #3 was nice and fast

Our two first partners behind us...

Our friend Steph was already waiting for us behind the Petro-T gas station near the l’Assomption river crossing on #345 trail . We took the time to introduce Rollerboy to my other partners and to socialize a bit.

We then been back on the trail to reach our third meeting point. Here, the l’Assomption River crossing which was nice ...

The trail was as beautiful on the other side, just fews snow drifts to watch for...

but was perfect behind this one...

We continued westward. It was the open FCMQ weekend and we met a lot of snowmobiles on the trails . Here’s Femme Collins relay in St-Esprit

Those fields trails are fast and allow us to cover much mileage in a short time

...

[towing]

In St-Lin we switched on the #343 north. While stopped at the trail junction, Dani-boy who made ​​sledders checks on the other side of the intersection recognized us and came to shake our hands. I wish to highlight the work of all the volunteers like him that instead to ride, take their time to do this often thankless job to keep us safe on the trails: Thank you guys!

We continued north, the trail becomes narrower and quite twisty in St-Calixte sector. Here near the village, beautiful beasts...

And we then arrived at our third meeting point at the #343/#33 junction where Einstein and his daughter were already waiting for us. They left the Mirabel area to join us at this place at 10:15

Our complete group then took the #33 north which is very mountainous.

Beautiful trail to ride at moderate speed.

Here a small stream that cross the trail in Ste-Marguerite du Lac Masson

We then took the lake, rear view ...

Front view ...

We continued to Ste-Agathe ...

...

[mikerider]

Your pictures are so clear! Do you use an advanced (SLR) camera or just a point and shoot digital camera?

mike

[towing]

rear view ...

Here near the city...

We finally arrived for dinner at St- Hubert restaurant along the #15 highway at exactly noon. We were very well served there, I not sure if it was because we looked a bit excited but they put us in a room just for us alone! We had the chance to talk a lot, a great time for Krikri and me with other passionate experienced riders

We then left by #325 trail which is in fact the last opened section of Petit Train du Nord trail south of Ste-Agathe

We then took the J.A. Ratelle trail to St-Donat

This is probably the most mountainous trail in our area. It is groomed wide enough to be safe but should be ride cautiously, there are a couple curves at the bottom of hills that need to be taken not too quickly.

I personally love this kind of trail, climbing and descend these big hills that never end but my wife found it very sporty to keep the pace on the back.

...

[towing]

The trail also offers beautiful scenery but unfortunately not many places to stop to admire them safely.

We made a brief pause here

And continued to take the real break just a little farther

Yes, yes ... to the summit

When we arrived, there were many people on the top . Gray jays were not there .

We took a good break and gradually other sledders have left . We had a mix of temperature: many clouds, some snow

And a bit of blue sky!

Finally when it got more quiet, the gray jays finally show up. They had likely been handsomely fed earlier in the day as though they seemed very independent

I managed to get the interest of one of them for a brief moment

...

[towing]

We still had a long way to go back, so we took back the trail towards St-Donat

The clouds with the lights snow showers blocked the view a bit on the way down

We took the Archambeault Lake that was beautiful

Our friends on the back with the setting sun

We continued on the #33 trail to Notre-Dame de la Merci. Here’s a classic point of view that many of you will recognize

We took a break and a last fuel-up at the Petro-T in the village. Einstein and his daughter then left us to return to home

We then ride toward St-Côme. The day traffic had probably been intense on this free day as the trail was pretty beaten. Here on the suspended bridge whose deck was all rebuilt last summer.

We then crossed a dozer in going toward St-Côme village. Here Val St-Côme ski resort all lit ...

Ice sculptures would have been surely beautiful to admire but the time went fast and we wee still having a good mileage to go ( especially for my riding partners ) so we continued to St-Jean de Matha .

We continued and had ​​a good supper break in St-Jean de Matha and we then returned home. We left Steph and Rollerboy near home at 9:00 p.m. and arrived a few minutes later with 235 miles on the dreammeter. It was a longer ride for those two partners especially for Rollerboy which have to took the ferry to go back home in Sorel on the south shore of the St-Laurence river...

In summary , the trails are at their best and you have all you may asking for about good trails. It’s time or never to enjoy because time flies…

Alain

[dooright]

Nice trip with a large group !

What restaurant did you visit in St - Jean de Matha ? Sometimes we start our day ride trips from this village.

[towing]

Your pictures are so clear! Do you use an advanced (SLR) camera or just a point and shoot digital camera?

mike

It's embarrassing to admit but we use an antiquity setup... a 10 year old 4.1mp sony digital camera with no zoom!!!!

I had tried other newer expensive cams but was deceived each time. This old one without zoom react very quick to focus when krikri shoot with it and the waste ratio of blurry shots is very low. It is enought small to fit inside Krikri mit and she keep it always in her hands ready to shoot.

With pictures, light amount is directly concordant to the pic quality you get...If you look carefully, you will see that you quickly see more grain/noise in those with less light and the clearest one are those in full sunlight. But for the application I do with it, this old cam give IMO outstanding results

Nice trip with a large group !

What restaurant did you visit in St - Jean de Matha ? Sometimes we start our day ride trips from this village.

It's a bigger group than usual but all highly experience sledders here... no babysitting to do as the group leader, it was going really well.

For super we stopped at Frit-O-Bec restaurant just beside the Mcdonald/Ultramar Gaz station. It's not a gastromic spot for sure, but we were just need something good and fast and it did the job nicely. The Pizza I took was excellent!

Alain

[dooright]

Thanks , This is the place I normally park my truck ! Yes , good food place.

[lindasledgirl]

Another fantastic report! And good work on the photos Krikri!

[rmk]

well done

[182ray]

Great report as usual thank-you!

[Greasemonkey]

Great job, Alain. This whole area, between here up through the St. Zenon area is where I got broken into Quebec snowmobiling. When I see all your pics of the areas you ride, they bring back many fond memories. You always seem to catch the trails at their best. I know that the trails around Nortre Dame and St.Come and St.Donat can get pretty beat up. One time up on Black Mt, it was snowing and the Jays were hungry. Anyway, a buddy of mine put a piece of cracker on my head, helmet was off, and I didn't know it and a Jay swooped down and grabbed it and pecked my head! I am sure he didn't mean to hurt me but that bird made everyone laugh!

Keep up the great work. I can't ride this year due to back issues so I am enjoying looking at everyones pictures.

[timbo]

Thanks for the report, Alain. Great job, per usual.

timbo

[cityboy]

WOW that is a nice trip with a big group ,looked like u had a great time and real nice pic

[towing]

Another fantastic report! And good work on the photos Krikri!

Thanks Linda ! I admit one of the problem I get when come the time to do my ridereport is that I have too many good shot and I need to discard very good ones..

well done

Great report as usual thank-you!

My pleasure guys!!!

Great job, Alain. This whole area, between here up through the St. Zenon area is where I got broken into Quebec snowmobiling. When I see all your pics of the areas you ride, they bring back many fond memories. You always seem to catch the trails at their best. I know that the trails around Nortre Dame and St.Come and St.Donat can get pretty beat up. One time up on Black Mt, it was snowing and the Jays were hungry. Anyway, a buddy of mine put a piece of cracker on my head, helmet was off, and I didn't know it and a Jay swooped down and grabbed it and pecked my head! I am sure he didn't mean to hurt me but that bird made everyone laugh!

Keep up the great work. I can't ride this year due to back issues so I am enjoying looking at everyones pictures.

Thank you very much GreaseMonkey! The next time I will go to the Black Mountain, I need to do this joke to one of my partners...too funny!!!! It's very nice for us to get great feedback about our reports like yours

Thanks for the report, Alain. Great job, per usual.

timbo

You're welcome Timbo !

WOW that is a nice trip with a big group ,looked like u had a great time and real nice pic

Very nice trip, with outstanding peoples who I had all ride individually with them before but had joined them for the first time on this ride...it went handsome!!!

Alain

[viper2]

Nice report Alain, good time for a large group on the free weekend no less