Grand-Mère/St-Joseph de Mékinak/Gazoduc/Zec Tawachiche 13february2016 photo report

[towing]

It's been a while since I wanted to see what it looked like on the Mauricie side in Iceman’s territory, the trail on the St-Maurice river, the diverted trail... Therefore, we join Snowcruiser at his home in the Champlain area and makes a good loop from there. Here is an overview of the path traveled:



Saturday morning, good winter temperature at-23C at start with sunny sky and some clouds. Krikri and I accompanied by Snowcruiser make a start from Champlain just on the shore of the St-Laurence river in Mauricie. The cold was bitter and we were not really used to real cold this winter ... snow was rather thin initially just on the shore of the river but very ridable.



We then went on trail #351 along Highway #40 west. Beautiful trail superb conditions and very fast. Then we cross Highway #40 and kept going north. The conditions were surprisingly good and it was riding perfect in the fields



Few ruff bases woody sections lack some snow but where the base is not too harsh the conditions were really good



On the #3 trail big straight stretch north of St-Narcisse, the cold bite us a bit more and we took a few minutes break to warm-up our thumbs



At the next intersection, we continued on the #3 trail and then switched right towards the Lac à la Tortue



And we got down on the St-Maurice River



There are some snow blades but nothing to keep us from riding a very good pace, only the cold moderates us a bit



As some of you already know, the snowmobile club Mauricie had hard time this year. The St-Maurice River is not good enough to go up north on his usual path to reach the #360 and the # 360 north of St-Tite is cut off because of loss of right of way which was blocking two major access to the north. The club managed to make a 2 in one to break the deadlock temporarily this year by making us going up the river to the height of camping of St Roch de Mékinac (just before the village) and letting us join Quad trail (shared to help us) that allows us to join the #360 just south of St- Joseph de Mékinac. Obviously, this is a temporary situation and we must take it as such but it work very well.

On my map at the beginning of the report I trace an hand made trace of the bypass... It may not been exact but it still gives a good idea of the reality.

The first short section when getting out of the river going to St-Roch junction is very narrow





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[towing]

It then get a bit wider and ride ok just a bit twisty. Note that we did not see any quads or quads tracks on the whole share trail



The farther north we goes and the better the trail got.



We arrived early at St-Joseph de Mékinac and stopped to warm up and eat at the restaurant at the Blue Jay.



The picture does not do justice, but the Caesar/spag for Krikri was really huge!



After being all well full with those generous meal’s portions, we continued on the #360 trail north



There is a bit of new trail in the woods that lack of snow but the rest goes well



And we got on the pipeline section



It is a ruff trail base so it takes pretty much snow to get it beautiful ... now it ride ok but it could still take a bit more snow to be really nice…there were some intermittent toc-tocs in the skis



The larger hills are not groomed, instead the dozer has surfaced their summer bypass path. It can be take just at the base of the hill on the right side



It is much less steep to climb and in good conditions

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[towing]

Overall conditions are good enough to ride at normal trail speed





We rode it up to the junction right towards Zec Tawachiche. I had been told that the rest of the gazoduc especially norther than the big railroad bridge was even nicer and more snowy



We took the #351 to the south. The dozers have did a very good job as it was beautiful. A couple bumps but still very good





The rest had good snow and ride great



Since it was early, at the #23 junction we turned left to Lac aux Sables



The conditions were good, here the river was riding very well



By cons between Notre Dame de Montauban and the #353 junction it lacks snow, it is the thinnest part we travelled. Here near the intersection we could still see traces of the dozer that had sunk in the savanna.

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[towing]

We took the #353



Thin in the wooded sections but beautiful in the fields



And have turned on the #302 towards St-Adelphe



Where we stopped to refuel (90.4 cents /liter!!!) and warm us at this little nice snack bar. It took a second to Krikri to spotted the wood stove in the room and we had to negotiate to deter her to sit on it! I think she was really due for the hot chocolate break!



We then returned on seat and took the #302 to # 51 which joins the #3 trail and we then pass by St-Narcisse and local C3 path to return to our starting point. Trail conditions were better on those sections and were all good even in the woods. We finally returned to Champlain around 7:00pm for a total of 199miles on the dreammeter.

In short, a nice ride in real winter temperatures while the trails were strong and got less traffic giving best conditions and good humor motors ... just like their drivers! The locals snowmobile clubs had well deal with many unexpected problems this year to give us a good trail network in that area. We will hope that Tuesday's storm will happen to be as good as forecasts and add some cream on the cake to give excellent conditions everywhere… Keep your fingers crossed!

Alain

[viper2]

Nice report Alain once again Thank you!

[PLAYHARD]

Thanks for the report! Those are the trails I was first introduced to PQ on, so it's VERY nice to enjoy them thru your lens!

[mikerider]

Very nice Alain, you and your wife enjoy the true meaning of snowmobiling; being with friends and seeing the beauty of the land in its winter white.

mike

[revct1]

Very nice Alain. The pictures really bring us with you on your ride. Thanks.

Jack & Sandi

[mccaffrey]

Alain thank you. Look forward to your report first of the week. Hope Krikri is feeling better from her sore ribs.

[Trailblazer]

Thanks Alain for taking a ride over there, I was really wondering what the condition were like given the reports that were coming in.

It seem very rideable and after today's snow coming in its only going to get better.

[Jackstraw]

Nice job as usual, Krikri is a real trooper to sit on the back in those temps! We are hoping to launch out of shawinigan in a week or so, looking better then I thought

[Teet F8SP]

Nice to see that area! Hope you guys get a bunch of snow this week!!

[Triggerhappy]

Great report!! We did a large portion of that loop on Friday. We started in shawinigan though. That section on the quad trail was surprisingly good. Great ride. That river run was chilly though!! Thanks again for the detailed report.

[VTrider]

towing....

Do you have any info on how the Shawinigan area held up after the rain? Plan was to head up this weekend with the wife and friends. Staying at Gouverneur....concerned about the river conditions, wondering if the snow got washed away from trail on river. Wife is not to keen on ice....especially if she can see it, haha.

Thanks in advance

vtrider

[towing]

Nice report Alain once again Thank you!

You are welcome viper!

Thanks for the report! Those are the trails I was first introduced to PQ on, so it's VERY nice to enjoy them thru your lens!

My pleasure PLAYHARD! Krikri's lens is pretty skillful!

Very nice Alain, you and your wife enjoy the true meaning of snowmobiling; being with friends and seeing the beauty of the land in its winter white.

mike

Very nice Alain. The pictures really bring us with you on your ride. Thanks.

Jack & Sandi

Thank you for the goods words guys! Yep, it's really the best of sledding... I'm pretty happy to be able to transport this through our reports

Alain thank you. Look forward to your report first of the week. Hope Krikri is feeling better from her sore ribs.

You are welcome mccaffrey! Oh , I create expectations..loll Yes Krikri recover nicely, it hurt less and she was able to do this last ride without problem. I just hope she will be enough in good shape to do a real sled trip in the beginning of march

Thanks Alain for taking a ride over there, I was really wondering what the condition were like given the reports that were coming in.

It seem very rideable and after today's snow coming in its only going to get better.

My pleasure Trailblazer, was the same for me. I am searching for confirmation of the real conditions there but if it is like us in my area the storm have been good

Nice job as usual, Krikri is a real trooper to sit on the back in those temps! We are hoping to launch out of shawinigan in a week or so, looking better then I thought

Thanks Jackstraw! Yes she's a real one! and when she remove her mitt at speed to take pics shots..brrrrrr. I will post when I have confirmation for Shawi side but I will be surprise that it would not be good

Nice to see that area! Hope you guys get a bunch of snow this week!!

Thanks Teet F8SP! At home in Joliette we had 5-6" of new snow before freezing rain and rain. It end up around 4" of compact stuff with an ice crust over. The more north you go and the more snow, up to St-Michel des Saints with over a foot of new snow! I heard 10" in Parent and even more on the west side

Great report!! We did a large portion of that loop on Friday. We started in shawinigan though. That section on the quad trail was surprisingly good. Great ride. That river run was chilly though!! Thanks again for the detailed report.

Thanks Triggerhappy! Yes, the bypass is ok, I even wonder if there is some quad riding there... did not cross any. Yep, if you forgot a zipper opened on your suit you know it on the river run for sure!!!

towing....

Do you have any info on how the Shawinigan area held up after the rain? Plan was to head up this weekend with the wife and friends. Staying at Gouverneur....concerned about the river conditions, wondering if the snow got washed away from trail on river. Wife is not to keen on ice....especially if she can see it, haha.

Thanks in advance

vtrider

Like said upper I will try to get some more confirmation of the real amounts but from what we got here, I can't imagine that the conditions have not improved from my ride there too... The river is still opened and conditions evaluated "good" updated today : http://snowmobilecountry.ca/en/conditions