markusvt Posted February 14, 2018 Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 (edited) Day 1, Friday February 8th. -22F, 235 miles We, (Mark, Dave and Randy) headed out of St Michael De Saints in the AM after eating breakfast at the local restaurant across the street from Ski-Doo dealer.. We decided to take the reservoirs and lakes the whole way to Repos. Too early for lunch and we don't need gas so we continue on. The conditions were very good and it was quick running up. We wanted to get in early so we took the road to Kanawata, (mistake, we should have took the trail, more on this later). We got gas and a quick lunch at Kawawata. We rode ½ the lake over to him by zipping down onto to it off the trail. We met our 2 other team members there Todd and Richard already eating lunch. We asked about lunch specials but Mario said he only does specials on the week-end otherwise he ends up having to eat the specials all week himself 3 meals a day, funny guy! We had time and talked with Mario as we were the only ones there. He said his wife left in 2015 after 34 years of marriage, (we wondered where she went). A few guys said she was at the bottom of the lake, I don’t know about that. He has a new girlfriend and seems happy. He is always very nice to us and has helped us with issues in the past. He said watch for the groomer as it was heading back in. Before we got going the groomer arrived in the parking lot, perfect! The trail was groomed and high speed all the way to the Barrage Gouin East entrance. We got there so early we decided to try to find the new place on the reservoir, Escapade. As it turns out it is under new ownership and open for the winter at $105 per person, room, dinner and breakfast and free internet. The best way to get there is 83 east of parent a ways you will see their trail on the left groomed all the way to their door. The hard way is to go west on 83 past the east Barrage Gouin entrance, 3 miles later go past the NEW west Barrage Gouin entrance then go more 3 miles to the old west Barrage Gouin entrance. Grooming is nonexistent once you head in this way. There is an odd assortment of signs leading you Escapade that are not marked when you leave, only marked to get you there!. You go 20 miles up the old west Barrage Gouin trail, then hook a left off it for 10 more miles, then spend the last 10 miles on his groomed trail from Parent. We arrived there at 3:30 and now needed gas, awesome cause he sells it! He also has a full blown airstrip and a plane, cool….. he tells us he is expecting 10 guests for the night but no one has showed yet. We went inside, visited for a bit and got the shortcut directions to get to Barrage Gouin for the night. We headed 20 miles back down the trail, cross a spot on the Gouin reservoir, pop onto the Barrage Gouin east trail and ride the final 10 miles of groomed on Johnny’s trail into Barrage Gouin. Awesome, we were in by 4:30 with some exploring and 235 miles on the day. We got in a few Drone shots before darkness set in. We got to enjoy a great meal prepared by the new chef Bobby, WOW this guy is the real deal! He hung at the table after with us for an hour or so. He speaks 3-4 languages and is a true character. We played rock and roll trivia with him for a while and got our ass kicked. We got lucky cabin 8 for the 5 of us and slept well after a few of the draft red beers. Tomorrow 6 of us are going off trail to Chibougamu! Edited February 21, 2018 by markusvt towing, Scranton1, mikerider and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooright Posted February 14, 2018 Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 Pourvoirie Escapade RoadRunner 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooright Posted February 14, 2018 Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 (edited) Escapade rustic nice inside , has a great view looking out onto the Gouin Not you typical cold weather dog greeted us. This is the sign on the 83 Edited February 14, 2018 by dooright Add pics PLAYHARD, RoadRunner and iceman 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooright Posted February 14, 2018 Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 Here's Bobby , awesome chef at Gouin ! RoadRunner and snowfarmer 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markusvt Posted February 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 (edited) Day 2, Saturday February 9th. -18F, 161 miles Ok big day for us. Off trail all the way to Chibougamu, we have been planning this for some time. Not being really sure of the conditions we pick a 6:30 breakfast time for a 7:30 departure. Junior from Barrage Gouin leading the way with his GPS, tracks, SAT phone and the boss's Freeride towing a sleigh with 8 full gas cans ready to go! Everyone has spare gas on the sled too. 5 other GPS’s up and running also as you can never have enough data. The other sleds were (2) 850 Back Country’s, 850 Renegade XRS, 900 Renegade and a 1200X. Solid team, solid plan and sleds ready to go. 3 years ago we tried this trip but we encountered way too much snow and not enough gas. This time we will not fail, I hope. The first part of the adventure was 50 miles or so on the reservoir to Roselins place, Nimotekan, (N48° 48.343' W74° 34.411'). They serve local walleye and moose meat. They had fish nets set up on the Gouin! You have to book 2-3 days in advance to stay or eat there. Bummer the reservoir was not kind to our gas cans on our sleigh. It may have been the huge drifts, or it may have been towing it at 75mph instead of Johnny’s recommendations of 60KM maximum I don’t know but we were now possibly going to have a fuel situation again so we have to be careful. We topped them off in the front yard of Roselins, then took some more drone shots before heading onto the Gouin for a bit more. After getting off the reservoir we headed into the bush for the next 50 miles. Lots of snow, lots of snow, lots of snow. Mostly summer roads and unused logging roads. A few bus size drifts strategically placed to make sure you are awake and paying attention. I scared myself on a few of them for sure. Did I say we haven’t seen any sleds all day, cool……. The next 40 miles are completely untracked power lines. Super wide and you go anywhere you want. We had a few stuck sleds, a few ricochet off an unfriendly evergreen tree but otherwise no issues. It was lunch on the trail for everyone today as there are no options out here. Really pretty and scenic ride so far for us. Best I can tell Junior is having a blast and at times I’m not sure who is guiding who. We are close to Chibougamu now and we have to ride the next 10-15km on lightly plowed logging roads as we can see no other option. We jump on the 93 for the last 10 miles and we are into the Nordic for 3:30PM. Johnny thought we would make it between 5:00-7:00, (we may have exceeded to recommend off trail speeds at time, opps). As it turns out we had an abundance of gas, nice. When checking in she asks if we want the heated garage for $10 per sled. What don’t ask me twice where’s the door. A few minutes later we are stacking in 6 sleds, nice. The rooms are awesome and way nicer than I envisioned! A drink, a shower, and a short walk to the restaurant down the street. We get back early and (4) of the team members are crashing hard. Randy and I head over to the Bar Le Cabaret which appears to be only a bar now which is fine for us. TV, Internet and bed by midnight….. One of the most fun days this season by far. Tomorrow we will make a few adjustments to the ride back to Barrage Gouin. We were asked by the person who figured this out to not share these tracks. This is not completely;y uncommon as I have been asked this before when riders give me tracks, (some folks guard this data very close for varying reasons). I have given my own tracks out that I have figured out myself to those that request many times. I will ask again, no worries. Edited February 15, 2018 by markusvt im4snow, doonali, snowfarmer and 7 others 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikerider Posted February 14, 2018 Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 Just the kind of story I so enjoy reading, Thanks for posting. mike markusvt and dooright 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooright Posted February 14, 2018 Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 Day 2 Roselin on the Gouin RoadRunner, Triggerhappy, towing and 8 others 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailblazer Posted February 14, 2018 Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 (edited) Awesome guys, true adventurers. Go team VT Edited February 14, 2018 by Trailblazer dooright 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iceman Posted February 14, 2018 Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 Success to Chibougamau. nice! dooright 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackstraw Posted February 14, 2018 Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 Great report! dooright 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoadRunner Posted February 14, 2018 Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 Very well written article Markus, great photos! Doo right, Gotta love it! Where is your next adventure ride?😁 Happy trails RR dooright 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoadRunner Posted February 14, 2018 Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 Looks like you made some great planning for this trip, it pays off in the long run for sure! To quote Team Maine’s Early Rider Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance 😉. Great Run! dooright, markusvt and PLAYHARD 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snobeeler Posted February 14, 2018 Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 Great report and pics, especially the drone ones. Do you have any issues with drone battery and cold. Mine will not fly in those temps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markusvt Posted February 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 I put hand warmers in the bag with the batteries, no problem at all. Snobeeler 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markusvt Posted February 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 Fozzy, Florida Snowman, towing and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpysanta Posted February 14, 2018 Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 SUPER pics adventure ride for sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooright Posted February 14, 2018 Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 7 hours ago, RoadRunner said: Very well written article Markus, great photos! Doo right, Gotta love it! Where is your next adventure ride?😁 Happy trails RR Next adventure ... Revelstoke British Columbia next week .. On rental 850 Summits ! RoadRunner 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doonali Posted February 15, 2018 Report Share Posted February 15, 2018 23 hours ago, markusvt said: The conditions were very good and it was quick running up. We wanted to get in early so we took the road to Kanawata, (mistake, we should have took the trail, more on this later). Details? Running it Saturday Thanks for the great reports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markusvt Posted February 15, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2018 (edited) Day 3, Sunday February 10th. -26F, 151 miles The plan was to meet for the Nordic hotel continental breakfast. We had a last minute change to walk over to Tim Hortons. -26F and no one was really chomping at the bit to get going. We adjusted the plan to leave at 9:00 and take our chances. This gave us plenty of time to eat, get the sleds out of the garage and load them up. We visited a bit with a guy here from Rouyn-Noranda, (8 hour drive) for a hockey tournament in Lake Mistassini. We have never been there but he did say it was a very clean and a very nice local village. Maybe next time we will check it out. We looked at variations for our trip back. At 5 miles on the trail back we took a side route. This hooked to a different road leading us to the same power lines. This saved 5 miles on the 93 and 5 miles of the plowed logging roads. the new road was very lightly traveled and plenty of snow. It was fun to play again on the power lines on the way back. There was one big hill going this direction that swallowed up the Freeride towing the gas sled. 3 of us circled back and the other 3 had him out and going again. It was a perfect time to drain the gas cans and give the freeride a break on the weight. Off to the unplowed logging roads after the power lines and all was good. The temperature came up a bit and the going was very fast. We got to the reservoir super quick despite leaving an hour later than yesterday. We did not stop at Roselins this time and just pointed towards Barrage Gouin, 50 miles on the Reservoir. We started off at a sensible 60-70mph, but then started playing at 80-90mph. There are 2 massive ice heaves that require you to stop to fish your way through as they are maybe 5 feet high but otherwise its good running. Richard and I were playing and hit a pretty good drift sending is both pretty high and far, super fun. Then there was the surprise second one which had one of us separated from our sled for bit. No harm no foul. The reservoir claimed belt off the 1200, no worries it had 9000 miles on it. We cruised in at 3:30PM way ahead of our estimates. We did chop 10 miles off on the way back which helped a bit, and it did warm up to somewhere around 5F or so. High fives at the gas pump for a successful mission. Junior brought a bottle of wine to the cabin before dinner for celebration, Richard had one going already. There must have been holes in the bottom because they disappeared awfully fast. Louise was on dinner duty as Bobby was on a trip back to town for a checkup. She did an awesome job. Patricia was our server and she was awesome also. We headed off to the living room to visit with some guys from Ontario and NH, others from PA. Nice sharing stories and trips with everyone. Edited February 15, 2018 by markusvt RoadRunner, Scranton1, PLAYHARD and 2 others 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markusvt Posted February 15, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2018 2 hours ago, doonali said: Details? Running it Saturday Thanks for the great reports. Take the trail. Its back on the old trail and is very good running. doonali 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markusvt Posted February 15, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2018 (edited) Day 4, Monday February 11th. 12F, 192 miles The day has come to head back to the truck. We woke to a fresh 6 inches of snow and a balmy temperature of +12F. A quick breakfast, settle the bill and time to go. We said thanks again to the whole team at Barrage Gouin who knocked it out of the park for us on all counts this trip. We will be back again soon possibly this season. We were at Kanawata pretty fast. A short visit and filled the gas tanks then off to Repos. Pushing new snow 2 of us had gas lights on already. This early in the day we saw no traffic in either direction. We took the whole lake across this time out of Kanawata to the trail. Like TB reported it is staked with trees this season, (we have not seen that before). The trail to Repos was awesome. It is obvious they have been really keeping up with the grooming and being back on the old trail now keeps the miles similar to the road. We went in for a quick bite of chicken like broth water stuff, (no choking hazards here) once arriving at Repos. On a Monday it was all tour groups here. We took to the lakes again all the way back to the truck after some exploring on the reservoir and more picture taking. There are some amazing house on these lakes and reservoirs! It was mostly a bluebird day with a few lingering snow squalls, a great day to be out riding! Back to the truck loaded and out of there before 3:00PM. Another trip in the books. Tons of snow everywhere, go get you some. Edited February 15, 2018 by markusvt Scranton1, mikerider, PLAYHARD and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooright Posted February 15, 2018 Report Share Posted February 15, 2018 Looking across the lake in front of Kanatawa , winds in that grey cloud were crazy ! So strong from the side it was really hard to track straight doonali 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooright Posted February 15, 2018 Report Share Posted February 15, 2018 There's a net under the ice to get fish , it runs between the two sleds in the pic. doonali, Florida Snowman and PLAYHARD 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gun-driver Posted February 15, 2018 Report Share Posted February 15, 2018 Now that right there is a trail ride!!! Thanks for sharing!! The Backcountry part up to Chibougamu would be a blast!!! I could do without all the other high mileage days though as that's not for me anymore but the off trail looks like way to much fun. dooright and markusvt 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
603backcountry Posted February 15, 2018 Report Share Posted February 15, 2018 (edited) Great write up, we enjoy this area a lot and enjoy the adventure off the beaten path Edited February 15, 2018 by 603backcountry dooright and markusvt 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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