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A Quick Gaspesie Loop


smclelan
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Myself and five other friends just returned from a quick loop of the Gaspesie. As usual the Gaspesie does not dissappoint! The plan was to drive up last Tuesday after work, however a sizeable storm was forecast for home Tuesday. On Monday morning I got a call from the rest of the group saying they were going to pull out Monday after work. This means packing at the last minute and things get forgotten, one of which was my camera. I get a couple pics from a buddy to do up this report, I may get some more later from some of the others.

Day 1

We got up Tuesday morning early ready to head out with great expectations for high mileage. One of the guys pulled the zipper up on his jacket and it came off in his hand. This normally would be seen as a bad thing, however being the good friend I was and my friends best interest at heart I went to the front desk and got a repair kit. Red tuck tape in hand his jacket was pulled together and he was sealed up! What are friends for?!?!

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Once on the trail we headed up to meet Groomer for breakfast, apparently we were 21 minutes late according to him LOL. We had breakfast and headed to Amqui to the Ski Doo for Tuct Tape boy to buy a new jacket. Once everyone in the dealership stopped laughing at him they showed him the jackets they had available. There was nothing there he liked, so we headed to the dealership in Matane, at this point I knew this wasn't going to be a high mileage day. Everyone at the Matane dealership laughed at him when he walked in there too. He found a jacket he liked but by the time it was all said and done we headed to the Quality Inn for the evening. This would now be known as the Ski Doo dealership tour! Trails were very good, a little less snow than usual but still great conditions.

Day 2

Plans were to get an early start, head East and get some miles on. We got on the trail with plans of stopping at the Relais St Paulin for breakfast.......St Paulin does not serve breakfast anymore.. We stopped at the Cap Chat club for breakfast. Up till there great conditions, a little thin getting out of Matane in the fields but this is not unusual. Once past the Cap Chat club you start gaining altitude and snow depth kept growing it was perfect. We drove to to Mont Saint Pierre for the evening, a good day.

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Day 3

Beautiful sunny day! Left MSP and headed to Murdochville for breakfast, lots of snow. We then took the trail toward La Cache, the groomer left about an hour a head of us out of Murdochville. The trail was great except for a short section where they were logging, the impact of this was lessoned by about 4" of fresh snow that fell the night before. We stopped at the top of My Lyall for pictures, it was so clear I think I could see Saguenay Bill on Mt Valin in the distance. It was unbelieveable being so clear and only -10, awesome

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We continued to La Cache, up the 595 to St Paulin then back tracked to Relais Chic Chocs for the night. We pulled in without any reservations, they hummed and haaed saying they didnt know if they had any rooms, they somehow found some. There were only two other sledders in the main building besides us!! What a great evening, two of the guys in the group were giutar players, they grabbed the guitars from the stage and jammed and sang for the evening. I wore my good slippers down to the bar, the boys seem to think they looked funny.

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Day 4

Left Relais Chic Chocs after a great breakfast and pointed back to Matane, took the 591 toward Amqui and stayed at the Select for the evening. Trails were very good and very lttle traffic, local or tourists. A good day but very uneventful. A great evening at the Select, unfortueately the hot tub was out of service.

Day 5

This was going to be a short day back to the truck. We left Amqui early, had breakfast at Groomers club. From there we traveled the 587 through Matepedia. This is a great trail that doesnt get a lot of mention, dont miss it if you have the opportunity to ride it. We landed back at the trucks in Point a la Croix late afternoon and spent the eveing in the newly opened bar, which is owned by the same people as the Select in Amqui. As I said early on without my own camera I didnt get many pictures but it was a great trip. The Gaspesie is open for business and will NOT dissapoint!

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sounds like a good litttle trip plan on doing the whole loop leaving from saint georges leaving this friday. as of right now i do not have any reservations, and this would be my first saddle bag trip without any. is it anything to worry about? or maybe better to make some real quick this week before i leave?

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sounds like a good litttle trip plan on doing the whole loop leaving from saint georges leaving this friday. as of right now i do not have any reservations, and this would be my first saddle bag trip without any. is it anything to worry about? or maybe better to make some real quick this week before i leave?

February can be problematic. Traditionally the busiest month in Gaspe' and also many hockey tournaments. Most everyone works on the basis of taking stock of where you are at lunch time, what the conditions are; and where you can realistically expect to make it to before dark and make the call(s) then.

Edited by vt_bluyamaha54
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hi smclelan !!!

as usual ...great meeting you + a funny group !!!

i was supposed to groom tq 5 earlier this morning....no thx....at -31c ...a bit too risky for a bad luck !!!...but sunny !!!

hi to all !!!

jean-guy :drinks:

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February can be problematic. Traditionally the busiest month in Gaspe' and also many hockey tournaments. Most everyone works on the basis of taking stock of where you are at lunch time, what the conditions are; and where you can reasonable expect to make it to before dark and make the call(s) then.

hey thanks, just called and made the 1st 2 night reservations for 2 rooms seems as if the places are pretty booked, but that was friday and sat night. dont want to hijack this thread too much but guess its on topic smcleanlan glad that you were able to have a good trip and enjoy the trails, as seems to be kinda a low snow here but i think its starting to pick up, atleast here in Nh this last week were starting to get some snow

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Great slippers Steven!! Thanks for reporting on your trip. Isn't it amazing what you can do with duct tape. I never snowmobile without a bright colored roll in my saddlebags. Looking forward to a week in the Gaspesie in March. Haven't been out that way in too many years! See you soon.

Best,

Tom

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sounds like a good litttle trip plan on doing the whole loop leaving from saint georges leaving this friday. as of right now i do not have any reservations, and this would be my first saddle bag trip without any. is it anything to worry about? or maybe better to make some real quick this week before i leave?

It is a good idea to call for reservations, at the very least call around noon to confirm rooms are available. The weekends are extra important because of possible hockey tournaments. I have made likely close to 30 trips to the Gaspesie on snowmobile and 10-12 by car, had I landed and been told there were not rooms available I knew of likely 6 other options within 60 minutes. Reservations when you don't know the area is always best.

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Steven we left Murdochville earlier in the morning before you guys came through. We caught the groomer about 2/3 the way through wow it needed it. We also were up on Mt. Lyall what a great clear day.

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Steven we left Murdochville earlier in the morning before you guys came through. We caught the groomer about 2/3 the way through wow it needed it. We also were up on Mt. Lyall what a great clear day.

It was a spectacular clear day, I think I have only seen it that good one other time.

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