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Western Quebec


Munson
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We are looking to drive straight north from Syracuse NY in a week or two for 3-4 days of riding.

Given current conditions, how far north do we need to drive to find rideable snow?  We stayed in Maniwaki two years ago but I understand we need to go further north than that.

Would also appreciate any suggestions on 150 - 200 mile loops and back pack trip options.

If I should post this in one of the sub forums please let me know which one.

Thanks

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1 hour ago, Munson said:

We are looking to drive straight north from Syracuse NY in a week or two for 3-4 days of riding.

Given current conditions, how far north do we need to drive to find rideable snow?  We stayed in Maniwaki two years ago but I understand we need to go further north than that.

Would also appreciate any suggestions on 150 - 200 mile loops and back pack trip options.

If I should post this in one of the sub forums please let me know which one.

Thanks

The region that your talking about is Laurentides. Mont-Laurier and north. The Wood runner trail  system is something to check out also.

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West Québec is located in the Outaouais Region.  The seven clubs are the Ours Blancs (Maniwaki), Pinqouins (Fort Coulonge), PSDA (Quyon, Shawville, etc), AMO (Gatineau area), Maraudeurs (Duhamel, La Minerve), AMVN (Montpelier, Cheneville, Montebello etc) and ourselves, the Hill & Gully Riders, covering area north of Buckngham/Thurso and north into the Reserve Papineau-Labelle.  Yesterday, the 323 from Lac La Blanche northwards towards the TQ 53 was incredibly smooth (we dragged it Thursday) but hard as a rock.  I was poking along looking for spots where I could get a cell signal so as to post appropriate signage later this year, and had to allow my 800 Etec to cool down at one point.  A bunch of buddies had left the clubhouse earlier in the day heading for the Duhamel area and, as they were heavily studded, the trail was sufficiently shredded that, on a little trial run, my sled didn't heat at all.  We attempted to groom that section last night, but the groomer wasn't accomplishing much, and then had to return to base with a broke brace on the front blade.  Once again, the trail was very smooth as it hadn't received any traffic since last week's grooming.  We're heading north from the clubhouse today for Mékoos, so hopefully today's snow/ice pellet mix will improve things a bit more.  Anyway, I'll see if I can manage to post from my Blackberry this evening and let people know how the day went.  By the way, the replacement transponder for our John Deere groomer parked at the clubhouse parked at Lac La Blanche still hasn't arrived, so, online, it looks like that machine hasn't budged all winter.  We're not real happy with this new supplier, dammit!

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On 2/23/2018 at 11:51 AM, Munson said:

We are looking to drive straight north from Syracuse NY in a week or two for 3-4 days of riding.

Given current conditions, how far north do we need to drive to find rideable snow?  We stayed in Maniwaki two years ago but I understand we need to go further north than that.

Would also appreciate any suggestions on 150 - 200 mile loops and back pack trip options.

If I should post this in one of the sub forums please let me know which one.

Thanks

A report from Timberman on Friday suggested that if you are heading north to the Mont Laurier area don't get off the black trail till Sainte Anne du Lac.

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My wife and I just got back yesterday. I wanted to give her a great Quebec experience. Wiith the warm up coming last week, plan A of starting out of Mont Laurier was out. Plan B was to start in the West out of Waltham going up to Val d Or. That was out. So we pulled the trigger and drove all the way to Val d Or.  Long drive from our home outside of Watertown NY. 400 miles, one way. Easy drive.  The trails were worth it and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. Staged from the Forestel. Day 1 (Thursday) - Forestel to La Bannik outside of Ville Marie. Great place!  Trails were smooth and hard. Could have used some fresh on them, but no problem, that came the next day. Day 2 (Friday) - La Bannik to La Sarrre and a stay at Villa mon Repos.  Snow started around 10:00. Nice coating of fresh stuff on already flat, hard trails. Amazing ride to La Sarre. Day 3 (Saturday) La Sarre back to Val d Or.  My wife remarked that those were the best trails and conditions that she had ever been on. I’ve been riding Quebec since 1995 and I would say they were right up there.  The short of it is; if you’re coming out of Syracuse and are used to driving to Mont Laurier or Maniwaki, keep going another 3 hours to Val d Or. There was pretty much no snow in Maniwaki when we came through there yesterday and it was full on winter in Val d Or.  Good Luck.

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