Pics from the Matapedia Valley !!!

[GT Rider]

Where are the trail police when you need them :D

It has been a strange start this year with high temps in some areas. I have observed temps in Harve St Pierre at 40 and 18 here in New york. Many places in Quebec with a green Christmas.

Thanks for the updates Groomer. Happy New Year.

[groomer]

ha !! ha !!

very strange start of course .i was thinking about that .back in 02 i was at my camp on january 11 with my truck .returned the next day and storm began .

if i remember well ,started grooming on jan 22 th !! :wacko: and i think i groomed only 1x before christmas .at least we have snow ,better than looking at the lawn !!! ha !! ha !!

happy new year to you too !!

groomer !!!

[groomer]

just brought back the machine on west side of town.same problem than yesterday ,no stickers again !!

snowing very lightly here ,no accumulations yet.temps still mild .

groomer !!!

[smclelan]

just brought back the machine on west side of town.same problem than yesterday ,no stickers again !!

snowing very lightly here ,no accumulations yet.temps still mild .

groomer !!!

Those are funny looking moose!!

[groomer]

you should slow down the wine during your meal !!! not good for your judgment !! ha !! ha !!

saw on the local news ,yesterday in sept iles it was 5.6 c ,it s a 60 y/o record !!

my brother e mailed me this afternoon .he s a ''snowbird '' since last october ,he s in florida and it was +4 only there this morning !!ha !! ha !! ha !!

looks like weather is bad everywhere !!

groomer !!!

[fuzzy600ho]

Hey Groomer,,, Just wanted to say THANKS for all your hard work and the GREAT PICS,,, plus all your "updates" of your area.. Your info is the next best thing to being there,,, When do you sleep??? Fuzzy

[groomer]

hi fuzzy600ho !!

ha !! ha !!

you re welcome !! well during the summer i have only a seasonal job .so during winter time i don t work .the only job i do is grooming .so i have plenty of time to look for info .

when i applied to be a groomer operator ,it was written in the ''contract '' don t expect to sleep much !! ha !! ha !!

seriously ,after a few runs ,i get use to not sleep much .anyway ,i m not the kind of person to sleep 10-12 hrs in a row .winter time ,5-6-7 hrs in a row ,it s enough for me .even less .

last tuesday , i groomed 4 local trails ,15 hrs of grooming .spent 21 hrs awake that day.came back at 1 am in the morning and was awake at 6 30 am......the same day !!

last sunday night ,my dad ''offered '' lunch .he offered me wine ,so i was too shy to say no !! ha !! ha !! came back home at 10 pm ,went to bed at 11 hrs .time to fall asleep ,close to midnight and woke up in a hurry at 3 30 am and came back from grooming at 2 30 pm and went to bed i guess around 10 30 pm .

it s just a routine .i said it a few times ,when i start grooming ,i wake up in the first week of april !! ha !! ha !!

it happen often ,start grooming and feel asleep right at the beginning ,but after 1 hrs or less ,i just come back to ''life ''.

be sure ,some weeks are very crazy !!! i never tried to sleep 20-30 mins in the machine while grooming .i don t want members here taking pics of me sleeping on tq 5 while grooming !!! ha !! ha !! :D

groomer !!!

[groomer]

met smclelan ,mac and david at the clubhouse this morning for the second time since thursday .they were on their way back home .

finally it s cold , -12 c right now .

i ll be on tq 5 early tomorrow morning .

groomer !!!

[revct1]

Hi Groomer,

We've been looking at your pics for awhile. Fantastic!!! You do more for promoting this sport than any other groomer. Reports, pics, laughs, it is great.

Maybe we’ll get out to see you this year. We’ve been to Gaspesie a couple of times but it has been a few years since the last trip. Maybe this will be the year.

Thanks again.

Jack & Sandi :D

[groomer]

hi jack + sandi !!

thanks !! it ain t cost much to help others !! like my dad, i m not afraid to volunteer !!

let me know if you come , ill be very glad to meet you !!

im on my way to groom ,-20 c right now !!

groomer !!!

[groomer]

back from grooming at 4 30 pm .trail was still an 8 +.probably the greatest day for grooming since i started back in dec.

first 2 pics of the moose ,andy , this is right where we met with mubs 2 years ago.then half an hrs later ,2 more ladies doing there early morning shopping (ha !! ha !! ) going up that long hill where there s a little ''board '' on the left side at the bottom .i was about mid way up just before arriving to that tree stand on the right .

walked about 800 ' to get closer .snow was ''crunchy '' , i was making a bit of noise .saw about 8 sleds most of them friends + 3 guys from nova scotia going back home a few miles before arriving to the truck logging road on the way back.

sledneck ,if you read this ,the 2 mooses together ,right were we met last year .

still cold ,at least outside town ,there was 1-2 '' of fresh snow.

groomer !!!

[groomer]

just back from the clubhouse to meet timbo ,andyman ,chopper + 2 more guys.sorry can t remember their names.

thank you very much guys for doing those extra miles to come at the clubhouse to see me .very appreciated !!

happy to meet you again !!

looks like one of the member had an extra passenger ????? just lucky it was nt - 48 c like last year !!! :D

according to the cook , timbo ,thank you very much for the ''gift ''.

thanks for the stories !!

groomer !!!

[mustang00]

She forgot her helmet...silly girl.lol or

[groomer]

hi mustang !!

.....and a few extra things !! :D

we installed a sicle bar this afternoon on my drag .looks like extra work is coming !!

-23 c here this morning and -12c right now .sunny all day.

groomer !!!

[groomer]

few pics from today.went grooming a local trail up to a lake .snowy on the way up but turned to wind on the way back .you can see the snow '' flying '' across the trail.

my camera fell down on the floor of the machine :wacko: ...............again !!

groomer !!

[groomer]

went grooming tq 5 .spent at least 2 hrs cutting branches with the sicle bar.looks like a war zone ,but it s not too bad.i took adavantage to go backward many times ,i was alone on the trail.

cleaned the next 2 miles east of the truck logging road.then went you cross main street in ste marguerite .then about 5 miles east of ste marguerite , after those 2, 180 ' curves ,just after the clearcut on the left.then from the bottom of the last hill before the st fidele cb til the bridge .

pics does nt tell the truth.a lot better than it was .

well , there s no traffic at all ,saw 4 sleds in 12.5 hrs ,all locals.1 rabbit ,1 partridge and 3 deers.trail was still a 9.5 ,not to say 9.8 .it was flat from town to the cb.

groomer !!!

[groomer]

friend of mine sent me those pics by email .mountain ''the radar '' south of sayabec ,last week

groomer !!!

[Sled Dog]

Very cool pics!

Also, I've wondered how you guys keep the trails open and its been explained to me but the pics make it easier to see.

[groomer]

hi sled dog !!

if you talking about '' cleaning '' the trails ,a guy from town built the sicle bar a few weeks back .it s extra work on the trail ,but i like it .there s a few places trail was narrow because of the branches .so yesterday i took advantage of it .i was alone on the trail , i made the widest possible .

branches should nt bother me for a long time .

just back from fueling the machine for tomorrow ' s run .4 guys arrived behind me .2 of them had supertraxx (sp maybe ) written in the back of their jackets .

talked with one of them .he said ,we have all 4 brands and we must be ''polically correct ''.so i guess they were from that supertraxx magazine from toronto .

light snow today here ,no accumulations.-6c

groomer !!!

[coldsmoke1]

great pics :D

[groomer]

hi coldsmoke !!

are you serious ??? ha !! ha !! thanks !!! like that place to take pics at the end of the day.about 4 miles outside town.i try to keep it 3 width of a drag .nice place to take ''fresh air '' . :D about 1 mile long straight .

just back from grooming a local trail toward ste marguerite .first pic from this morning and the rest from yesterday.went grooming 2 local trails and made a clean up with the branches .i ll probably keep the sicle bar one more week to do one more run on each trails .

very happy with it .extra work but at least branches won t hit the cab or windshield for a while .probably put it back in march ......if we still have snow !!! ha !! ha !!

slowed down a bit with pics,light is always ''rotten '' most of the time .

groomer !!!

[bob_o27]

Hey the trails are looking great. I have never road this area and we are looking at taking a trip this year. Any suggestions for routes around the Peninsula and the best timing?

The pictures are great.

Thanks

Bob

[groomer]

hi bob !!

thanks !!

could be better if we had a little more snow .well ,tq5 is a must to do for the north side of the gaspesie .if you like mountains ,trail 595 ,between la cache and matane .trail 597 is must do too !!

right now, there s a big problem in the gaspesie .theres no snow on the south side ,near the sea.

let s say tq 5 end in cross point for now, i guess.50 miles east from here.don t know how far you can go by the north side.

i live in a small town and i ride enough in town ,i can see there s no traffic right now .

best time to do the loop, imo , late february to mid march.if you like to take pics ,days are longer and it give you more time to stop and take a few .

made a little search in my pics .all pics are around the 3 th week of january ,from 06 to 08 .just for fun.

groomer !!!

[Trailblazer]

friend of mine sent me those pics by email .mountain ''the radar '' south of sayabec ,last week

groomer !!!

Hi Groomer

I have been to this mountain before, many years back when i was in the the Gaspe. I had talked to you about my last visit briefly in one of my other responses. I stayed a few days at a guys house in Amquoi after we met at a Mechoi in Faribou ealier in the season, my last response to you i could not remember their names but now i do, one of the guys had a machine shop called Ateliers d'Usinage Amquoi his name was Gervais and the other guy had a garbage truck company his name was Sylvain, he used to call me #1, still trying to figure that out one out, must be a local thing giving everyone nick names.

Sylvain and one of his friends don't remember his name but everybody called him Raisin (gee i wonder why) took us up to Mont Radar (not the real name but the locals call it that) and we went down on the other side where it was steep as hell, i remember we had to get off our sleds and pretty much walk them down the mountain it was that steep, scared the bejesus out've me. :wacko:

We had a blast with these guys riding, partying what ever, they knew how to live life, far from what were used to here in Montreal.

It' been too long since my last visit to the Gaspe, i need to get out there and reexplore all those gorgous trails your taking pictures of, gotta put some miles on my new sled, 08 Yammy Apex LTX GT.

Keep up the good work Groomer and keep those pics coming loving every one of them, you da man.

JG

[groomer]

hi trail blazer !!

thanks !!

well the world is small !! ''raisin '' i know that funny guy (maybe crazy too ,ha !! ha !! ) since the early 80's .last time i saw that guy ,about 2 years ago.he worked a few years in new richmond and i think he s back in amqui .

one of his brothers ''bébine '' is a director for the club in amqui and ''ti-hue '' is a mechanic at the cat dealer in amqui.i used to see those guys often ,but since i started grooming back in 00 ,i don t go to often to amqui.only to see my dad.

that garbage compagny ,i know the 2 bosses(sp ) ,maybe i know sylvain too ,just can t remember .about gervais ,i ve been there 1x ,but many years ago .

never been to the ''radar '' .i hang most of the time on the east side of town,toward duniere reserve ,park matane ,z e c casault ,etc.

all pics ,at the same places ,back on april 3 th ,08 .probably my last run .

-23c here this morning at 6 am .-12c right now ,sunny and windy a bit .

groomer !!!