Teet F8SP Posted February 28, 2016 Report Share Posted February 28, 2016 (edited) We returned Thursday from 3 awesome days in Quebec. My father and I drove up Sunday night and stayed at the Real Masse in a cabin right on the main trail. Great location and great food. Best part about Masse is they have a large heated garage to keep your sleds in at night. So nice on Monday morning when it was 15 deg F below 0, the sleds were melted and started right up. Monday we left at 7:00 and it was bitter cold, hard snow pack, scratchers down (otherwise would overheat in 1 mile) we rode north on 23 up 345 and on to Lac Taureau. grabbed the 360 over to the 33 and down to Lac Taureau resort for gas, 100 miles and only saw 2 sleds so far... Hopped down the 33 to Saint Michel de Saints and on to the 63 east to La Cabanon. From there we grabbed more gas and down the 63 back to Real Masse for quick snack break and continued down the 23 to the 63 to 345 which we grabbed more gas just to top off in Mandeville. Continued up the 345 and on to the 350 to head west. This is where it got bad, not trails bad but accident bad. See bad accident thread for info on this. We finished with around 250 miles for the day and dad wasn't even sore where if we ride 70 miles on tug hill he is sore the next day. We passed maybe 20 sleds all day on the trails with an unplanned route from the start just finding and staying on the freshly groomed trails. We literally were the first tracks on the groomed trail for 2.5 hours before seeing the first sled and the trails we rode all day were in pristine table top conditions. Tuesday we left Masse again cold but 0 degrees felt warm compared to -15, still had to use scratchers, heading south down 23 grabbing the 63 at the warming shack. Took the 63 east and north to the 343 and over to the 33 planning on heading to Matawin. Once we got north where the 33 branches off we found that trail to be not groomed in a few days so we turned around to stay on the fresh groomed trails. We took the local red trail back east to the 63 and north to Cabanon (this trail has amazing terrain). We shot down the 23 to 350 and east to La Glacier for gas where we head south down the 63 to 343 and on to St Come back on the 349 up to 63 to the 23 and back to camp with another 230 miles of no bumps and great trails. On the way back to Masse we came across another accident this time on the 23. A group of sleds parked along the side of the trail with the police sled and wagon parked as well. We find someone speaking english who explains a couple went off the trail and down over an embankment where both riders were banged up, the husband was able to shake it off however the wife suffered a broken femur. The accident happened at 12:30 and they didn't get here to the ambulance for transport until 7:00 by the time the rescue got to her, rescued her from down the slope, and stabilized her for sled transport. We passed maybe 30 sleds all day, they may say were were in busy quebec tug hill area but we picked a good time to go must be because it was very quiet and peaceful on the trails we were on. Wednesday we woke up to snow falling and it snowed all day long. We were enjoying the fresh snow but it definitely cut down on visibility. We were able to keep a good pace and racked up another 200 miles before returning to the Masse at 4:00 to find a fresh 8" of snow accumulated throughout the day. We hear they are expecting another 6-12" with rain on Thursday so we packed it up and booked it out of there tracking through the fresh 8" of snow about 6 miles to get back to the main road towing the trailer. We made a run up to the Taureau dam taking some off trail routes along the way to play in the fresh powder. As it started snowing harder we were wiping our visors every 30 seconds just to see but it was worth every swipe because we were in great conditions. I will share a few pictures and will post a few go pro videos once I get them edited... Go pro vid 1 is trail 63 heading south from La Glacier - https://youtu.be/AeHf7j03-uc Edited February 28, 2016 by Teet F8SP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MXZ700RIDER Posted February 28, 2016 Report Share Posted February 28, 2016 Great post and pics. I just returned from riding myself up in the area....but more near Bazinette. Was up there Monday-Thursday. I know what you mean about getting to or from Real Masseys by trailer after a snow. Sorry to hear about the crashes.....definitely would bring a somber mood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smclelan Posted February 28, 2016 Report Share Posted February 28, 2016 Great report, pics, and video. Sounds like you had a good three days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil 1 Posted February 28, 2016 Report Share Posted February 28, 2016 250 miles in by dark and not tired Perfect . Glad you guys had a good run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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