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Gouin


markusvt
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Mattawin, Repos via M20, Kanawata, Gouin.

The east trail is open again and groomed Perfect!

Excellent!

Snow over your knees here, real winter.

West trail will be open soon, so there will be 2 ways again.

Edited by markusvt
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Take 345 north from Cabanon about 2.5 hours to Repos. Repos to Kanawata is an hour maybe a bit less. The trail up there crosses over road. If road has fresh snowfall you can run logging road at 80-100 and be there very fast as the road is wide. Very wide. Kanawata to the old Haltaparch and then Gouin is probably 3-4 hours. Out of Kanawata again old logging road converted to trail but the trail is one of my favorites as its wide and wide open. So probably a good 8-10 hour day with stops. Ps you're missing some great riding north of St Michel. Gas at Kanawata. No gas until Gouin unless you swing into Parent and backtrack. Casey to Parent there is an unmarked logging road but you need to know where you are going. You can also stay at Repos or Kanawata overnight.

Edited by NJSkidoo
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X2 sing that tune

Pourevoirie Barrage Gouin's trail off of the 83 is not as sweet as the rest of the trails heading in from Cabanon, but you gotta give the owner credit when due, that trail is made with a homemade drag behind his Scandic and many many hours of maintenance that he is not compensated for from the FCMQ, in the past the trail had been groomed by the Parent club and they were charging Barrage Gouin thousands per year to do that run from the 83 up to the lodge. Parent club is no longer grooming up to Barrage Gouin (for what ever reasons) so the owner is on his own to bring in guests. The road he is using to groom has many bridges out so you detour around the bridges by going through the ditches over what ever the bridge is bridging, makes for an interested ride in, then there's the road, while on that trail you will cross a road, by hanging a right on the road you will be heading towards Relais 22 and will intercept with Barrage Gouin's entrance on the left should you decide to make it an adventure.

Good luck

JG

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Hi JG

I have used the express route between R22 and the Barrage! Sweet ride when the road is snow covered and fast! I think the barrage has a groomer now as I follow them on FB and they have been posting pics of it.

Andy

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Hi JG

I have used the express route between R22 and the Barrage! Sweet ride when the road is snow covered and fast! I think the barrage has a groomer now as I follow them on FB and they have been posting pics of it.

Andy

SWEET! The last time I was there he was out with the Skandic and drag and he looked to be struggling. So if they have a tractor and drag do they get funding from FCMQ? Just curious because they should.

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SWEET! The last time I was there he was out with the Skandic and drag and he looked to be struggling. So if they have a tractor and drag do they get funding from FCMQ? Just curious because they should.

I am doubtful they would be eligible for funding. This is a private trail that goes into the Barrage only and does not connect to any other trail systems. The cost of grooming is likely a cost of doing business for them. They are a fair distance of the main trail, close to 30miles I believe. Without grooming they would not get as much business as they do. Every time I have gone there, tour groups were also there. Those are the groups that make their base business in the winter, and likely would not go if not groomed.

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We headed out of Mattawin around 9:30 at -18F. It was very cold for sure. We rode fresh groomed trails all the way to Repos, using the M20 which was awesome. We met the groomer heading back from the end of the M20. I would say 1 foot in the lower elevations and maybe 2 feet + in the upper elevations. Only a few rocks turned up by the groomer here and there. 93 miles to Repos.

We decided to skip lunch at Repos to avoid the crowds. We headed to Kanawata for a more relaxed lunch. The trail is currently on the park road, groomed the whole way. A very quick 35 miles and we were there. The trail on the park road saves 10 miles or so. We gassed up and went in for lunch. They had a few selections including soup, desert and coffee. It was really good to get warm and eat.

Plenty of snow on the regular trail but it is not groomed yet, I am not sure why? Conditions were very good to excellent. It was mostly fresh groomed the whole way. We headed out with time to spare in route to Gouin.

From Kanawata to the 83 it is awesome, groomed very well. Maybe 1 mile of trail outside of Casey it is plowed road, but with plenty of snow on it. Casey still closed no worries if you can go 90 miles on a tank. The 83 is back on the park road for now, which is awesome and groomed perfectly all the way!

The surprise was the east access trail to Gouin is back in use. Johnny is running a fairly big John Deer tractor with a Gilbert conversion and a A.F.M drag this season up there and the trail was AWESOME. He wants you to ride the road the last few KM for now because the east trail has lots of small whips in it. No worry as there is plenty of snow. It was unreal how wide and nice he had it groomed. 85 miles and we were there from Kanawata.

We got in well before dark and it had warmed to a balmy -14F. We had a few pitchers of awesome local draft beer, wings, shower, internet and then onto the main course and desert. We watched snowcross racing and called it a night. It had warmed up to -4F, nice! Up here there is 2-3 feet + of snow.

We woke up to -12F but it was a heck of a lot better than the -30F we had here last year. We had our breakfast and it was time to go after we settled the bill.

We mixed it up a bit on the way back. After gas at Kanawata we hit the lake to cross and hook up with the trail. We rode the ungroomed stuff for 15 miles, then back on the groomed park road to Repos, gas, food, and then back to Mattawan. The trail was a tiny bit chopped from 2 days of sleds, but not bad at all.

We met guys 8 on a 6 day loop, and 2 guys on a 9 day loop.

Johnny said 4 guys were riding tomorrow to Chibougamu from his place all off trail.

As always, we love staying at Pourvoirie Barrage Gouin.

The time to ride is now, saddle up and hit it.

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Edited by markusvt
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Hi JG

I have used the express route between R22 and the Barrage! Sweet ride when the road is snow covered and fast! I think the barrage has a groomer now as I follow them on FB and they have been posting pics of it.

Andy[/quote

Thanks for the Facebook info Andy, glad to hear the got a tractor and a drag this will make for a better ride in now.

Dam gotta get The Facebook lol

JG

Edited by Trailblazer
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