Columbia NH to Perce and back

[longriderss]

We pack up and headed up to camp in Columbia on Friday evening of Feb. 8th. I

arrive at camp and get the wood stove going. The furnace already has the place

at 65 degrees. (Thank goodness for programmable thermostats). The first

adventure of the trip is Jon's question as to what the best way to unload his

sled from the back of his truck? My suggestion is to back up to the snowband

and just back the sled up enough to get on the top of the snowbank. The first

OOOOPPPPSSSS, I guess he went too far and now the sled is pointed to the moon.

We dig the snowbank out and get his sled into camp to thaw out and prep for the

morning, but where is out third member?? It's now 10:30pm and he still has

not arrived. Finally about 11pm he arrives and we get some sleep.

Day 1

We get suited up and decide to head to Pittsburg to top off before going over

the border. A quick breakfast and camp and were off. We get to the border and

the customs agent decides he likes us and takes about half an hour to check us

out. Finally, we are off to our first destination. We decide to take a shorter

route up to St. George and head out on 580 east over to 25 and up to 75. We

stop at the clubhouse in St. George for lunch without incident. We headed north

on TQ75 up to TQ35 and find out first issue. The trail is marked with detour

and the river has about 10' of open water. We look at each other and the next

thing we know, our first member has crossed and is waving us on. We cross over

without incident and I look back and see about a 15' peice of the ice that we

just crossed now floating down the river. I look over and think, we aren't

going back this way. Well, it's now just afternoon and we only have 200 miles

on. We need to get crackin'. We get out onto the TQ35 and set out cruise

controls on 70. We get to Pohenemook at 7pm and meet up with the Pioneers from

Bow. 9 guys out on a few day ride. They have aready met up with the trail

police and have realized that mirrors are essential in Quebec. Two of them

recieved $150.00 tickets for not having mirrors. We get unpacked and have a

great meal at the Auberge La Villa Des Frontieres. 392 miles logged in, day one

complete.

Day 2

It's up early and off to ride. But first, J has been concerned about his 8.5

miles per gallon and decides to change the helix and spring in his sled. Well,

maybe trying to get back to the stock configuration will help. We head

northeast and get to our first fillup in Cabano. The weather is great and the

trails are wonderful. We continue on to Mt. Joli and reach TQ 5. Our trail for

the next few days. We fill up again and J is still wondering what's going on???

His Yamaha just is not keeping up with the fuel mileage of the rev's that Jon

and I are riding. We head east on TQ 5 and arrive in Matane. Our encounter

with the trail police. Registrations checked and all is in order. We get to

the motel Riotel in Matane and settle in for the night. We are all impressed

with the hotel and enjoy the food.

Day 3

It's up at 7am and we are all ready to get riding. We head over for breakfast

and hear the guy next to us is having an issue with his brand new sled. Jon,

being the good tech that he is, decides to have him us the hotel computer and

google up some answers. A few minutes later and we are all discussing what the

issue might be. Jon offer's to look at his sled after we eat. J decides that

he still doesn't like the mileage on his sled and decides to change the spring

again and try a different combination and wrap.

The hotel clerk then tells us that the trails are all closed due to the snow

from last night and the predicted 90 kpm winds coming in later that night. Jon

finds that the issue is a wire rubbing on the jack shaft and he can't reach it

to remove the grounding issue, but assures the guy that it won't damage the sled

to ride.

We hit the trail. First stop, Groomers clubhouse for lunch. We arrive and meet

a couple of guys from Ontario that used to live near Perce. We talk about

conditions and the scenery on the way. The three guys from PA arrive and we all

talk for a while. Time to hit the trail again. We head out and get about 35

miles down the trail and the wind is blowing and drifted snow has covered the

trail. J spots a turn arrow way down to our left and heads down to check it

out. The second OOOPPPPSSS of the trip. Sled is buried in 4' of fresh powder.

As we are digging it out, we see the two guys from Ontario head down in the

other direction and we now know where the trail is. We get turned around and

follow their tracks. It's now 2:30pm and we start up this huge mountain. The

snow has drifted and there are signs on the trail warning of how steep it is.

We get to the top and wish that we could see more that 10 feet in front of us.

We head down the other side and get to Mont Saint Pierre. We get to the town

and see a hotel and the two guys from Ontario's sleds. We decide that it's only

3:30pm, but with the snow and wind, we don't want to get cout out in that after

dark. We get our room and the guys from PA come out of the trial head. Hey,

are you guy's stopping, it's only 3:30pm. Yep, well we are going to continue

on. We meet up with the guys from Ontario and have dinner. After which, J

decides that he is going to change springs again and wrap to improve the mileage

that is now up to 11mpg.

Day4

The weather has broken and we can now see the huge mountains that we went over

yesterday afternoon. We also see the ones that we have to continue over for

today. We

finish up breakfast. We get onto the trial and J is having a helmet malfuncion.

Hey guys, look at me, it's like a snow globe inside his helmet. We offer to

duck tape the shield in place, he declines and says it doesn't bother his. We

arrive at the top of the mountain, and decide to stay on TQ5 heading east. We

pass the junction to Murdockville and find a big group of sleds all sitting at a

shack on the trail. Here we go, it's the three guys from PA. They got just a

few Kilometers past the shack last night and ran into a 8' high snow drift

straight up. With the snow coming down, the 90 KPM winds and low on gas, they

turn around and stay at the shack. They proceed to tell us that the other group

of 8 guys from Ontario came past the shack last night and disapeared. They

drove back down to the snow drift in the morning and saw no tracks or trace of

them, but did not hear them turn around. The guys from Ontario immediatly start

telling them about the Shrimp Alfredo dinner last night and the wonderful

breakfast. We hear the story of boiling water and the granola bars that the

three had for dinner. Well there is another couple there and her sled is out of

gas. Jon breaks out the spare tank on the back of his sled and SUPERMAN to the

rescure again.

We gather the group together and head back to TQ597 to Murdockville. We get

there fill up on food and fuel and decide to ride as a group of 8 down to Perce.

We head out after lunch and the trail is in fair shape down about 45 miles. We

get down to a junction, see no trial signs but a 4 wheeler trail sign. One of

the guys from Ontario remembers the trail from riding last summer and heads us

down the trail. Two and half feet of fresh power and we are off. The banks on

the side of the trail at 10' high and we head down the shute. Nobody gets stuck

and we make it all the way to TQ 5 on the south side. We gas up and head up to

the Rock. We thank Clyde and his partner for the tour and head down to find a

room for the night. We get checked in and unloaded and Jon heads next door to

ask the guys from PA want to walk down to the bar and have a drink before

dinner. They decline and Jon comes back and tells up that the room smells like

ben gay and they have declined the offer.

We get down to the bar and find a few of the guys from the 8 Ontario group. I

ask them what happened last night, he stated that they all got off their sleds,

found a soft route over the snow drift and packed it down by walking back and

forth. They then drove the sleds over and went on their way. They stayed the

night in the following town. But, they ran into issues today and had to run the

road as the trail was unpassable. Four had the chase truck pick them up and

trailer them to Perce. The others were still on the trail at 6pm and had not

arrived.

We decide it's time for dinner and walk back up the street. We find the guys

from PA eating dinner and join them. We finish up and head back to the rooms.

Jon open our door and we smell smoke. The guys from PA open their door next

door and the smoke alarm is raging and the security lights are on. Their room

is on fire. Jon is first to grab snow and J heads to get help. Jon and I start

grabbing handfuls of snow and putting it on the fire. J arrives with shovels

and we douse the fire. Jon grabs the door mat and pulls the smoldering travel

bag off the stove. The fire department arrives and we pull the stuff out of our

room and put it by our sleds. The firemen come in with an IR gun and start in

on our closet door with the AXE. I guess we aren't staying in that room

tonight. The owner relocated us and thanks us for the help.

Day 5

We get up early and decide that we want to put a few miles between us and the

guys from PA. We get to breakfast and are half way done with the guys from PA

join us. We finish up and they tell us that they are going to be a little late

getting on the trail due to having to go over insurance information with the

owner. We suit up, and get out of town as fast as we can. We take a few

photo's and head west down TQ5 on the south side. We decide to do 320 miles and

get to Amqui for the night.

Day 6

We head out from Amqui to Mt. Joli and the trails have just been groomed. What

a pleasure. Just prior to Mt. Joli we experience a couple riding a two up and

have a few issues getting around them. Jon and I get around, but J is having an

issue. J finally gets around the guy and nails the gas. The guy now speeds up

and starts waving at J, He wants no part of this and speeds up. We arrive in

Mt. Joli 60 miles down the trail and find that J's bag is bouncing on the snow

on a bungy cord. I ask J if maybe that's what the guy was concerned about, and

he says I don't think so. We gas up in Mt. Joli and head down to 548 to Cabano.

We stop for fuel and lunch at the clubhouse. In walks the couple and J is very

quiet. Jon says, hey, I think that is the couple that we passed about 160 miles

ago. No way! We finish up and head south down TQ35 to TQ55 back to St. George.

420 miles for the day and we are beat.

Day 7

We have breakfast at the comfort inn in St. George and head south on TQ75. We

take the turn off back onto TQ580 and the deer are everywhere. There must have

been 60 deer on that route just off the trail. We arrive back at camp by 1:30pm

and Jon and J decide to head home.

What a trip, 1800 miles in 7 days, and yes we did have time for photo's. 135

gallons of gas and just over 3 gallons of oil.

Best part, we are headed back next year to finish doing the remaining trails

[Greg du Vermont]

Nice post, Thanks for sharing

[TDI-HAM]

Great report- I don't know what's better the actual riding or the misadventures... Glad to hear nobody was hurt and that you managed to get the fire under control.. I think some of the best riding memories are when you have "hiccups" in the trip. And meeting people on the way can always be entertaining as well.. Post some pics sounds like a fantastic trip.

[smclelan]

I agree with TDI-Ham 100%. If at some point in the trip you don't have a mis-adventure then you didn't have an adventure.

Here is an example, note just the top of the windshields showing.

[TDI-HAM]

smclelan Good thing the sleds didn't have the low cut racer bling bling style windshields....

[Xeena]

Thanks for the report...good idea to get as far away from the PA guys as possible... :wacko:

smclelan - I've been at that same motel in the same conditions...crazy after we had ridden in rain the day before