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In Parent we are


snowmaster2112
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Rode from buddies camp on Lac Chapeau de Paille (off the M20 at the end) to Parent today and staying at L’ Ombré du vent. The only place to stay in this town for sure. Trails are a 20 on a 1-10 scale. Saw about 10 sleds total at Repos today at noon. Rode the rode to Kanawata (no tracks) and we were the only people there for late lunch at 2pm. They said a group of 4 stiffed them last night and never showed or called. Hate when people do that.

At this point we have actually not passed anyone all day. Onwards to my personal favorite trail section in the world (Kanawata to Casey) and up to the 83. All as good or better than I have EVER seen it. Flatter than “piss on a plate”. Hauling along about 1/2 way or more to Parent and BAM first sled of the day comes around a corner. At first I’m like oh well actually good to see others out braving the cold. Then another sled, and another, and another, and another......goes on for what seemed like 2 full minutes. The three of us collectively agree that there was somewhere between 35-40 of them.

UNREAL it was considering we hadn’t seen ANYONE all day to this point. Funny thing is it’s so cold that the already perfectly flat trail was literally unaffected from their passing. Lady that owns the depaneur in Parent said it took her an hour to fill them all up. They were French, on a multi day 1000K trip. 1/2 or more of the group was going to the Gouin and the other half some outfitter whose name I have never heard of????? Or maybe I didn’t understand her. We have no definitive plans and are gonna ride 3 more days up here and head back to my buddies camp on Thursday. Hope everyone made it through the storm alright. We only rode yesterday from the camp to Matawin and back a 100 miles and that was challenging with the cold, wind and snow but really fun too as again, no one out and trails were flat with all kinds of fun loose stuff. Matawin was nearly dead yesterday at 1pm Didnt take many pics today but here is one in Casey. I had to stop and regain my composure from the run from Kanawata..

PEACE

 

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Edited by snowmaster2112
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We were in that area yesterday and the trail thru Casey  is special. Stayed in Matawan last night. Was hard to follow the trail out but after we got on 33 to 53 it was great.

Only thing was the cold. Your right about no sleds. From Matawan to Mont Laurie we meet 4 sleds. That was more than 120 miles. Now the cold may of had something to do with it.  The locals in Parent told us we were f ing crazy and that was the women. 

Be careful with the frost bite and be safe. 

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Club Fontbrune's facebook site recorded a large group of Europeans departing yesterday (Monday) morning for a multi-day 1000km excursion.  I remarked that they were waaaay more hardy souls than I,  and I was born here!  You guys are pretty hardy too, I might add!

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Sunday AM going through Fontbrune's  yard we saw 20 plus sleds all looking the same... perhaps they did a test run Sunday.  It would have been a wild first ride for them Sunday... cold and snowy ... hard to see the trail when not well marked.   

The 13 from Rabaska ( via the 236 not on the map ) to Fer a Chavel was sweet Saturday.. much more snow here than south of the Baskatong. Elevation was up to 1399 ft on the Poo GPS .. that has a lot to do with the snow I imagine. 

Glad to hear the 83 is already in top shape.. headed there the end of Feb into March when the longer days and warmer sun arrives. 

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We got a late start leaving Parent this a.m. (11 or so) my buddies sled needed a repair for the air suspension and Andre from L’ Hombre du Vent fixed it good and cheap. Headed towards Clova and the trail was beautiful the whole way. Blue skies and a lot less wind today. Heading west from Parent to and including Clova has less snow than east of Parent towards Wemo. Totally doable and great just less.

Saw 4 sleds coming at us about 1/2 way mark and that was it. Had lunch in Clova (were the only ones there) Dominic reports the trail towards Faillon will have the bridges done any day and then he is sending the groomer in. He hoped Friday or Saturday but sounded a little “iffy”  Back tracked to Parent , gased up and headed towards Gouin. Ran into a group of 10 heading west again about the half way point.  You could certainly tell that half of that big group we passed yesterday stayed here at the Gouin last night as the trail coming in here had small bumps. Waitress reports 17 here for stay. Said they were from France. 

We are the only ones here tonight and just finished a GREAT Lasagna dinner and sharing a bottle of wine. The Fox is running around the parking lot waiting for some hand me outs. Water was froze in the shower in our cabin so we had to bring our stuff over and shower over at the main house. No biggie at least the toilet and bathroom sink in the cabin work. 

A GREAT day overall. Great trails, extremely low traffic, blue skies and good friends. They are calling for a solid 6” here tonight/tomorrow so that oughta be interesting. We are thinking of spending the night in Windigo tomorrow after we go to the 22 for lunch and ride some trails over there a bit. 

PEACE

 

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Arrived at 100 Lacs about an hour ago. Got a SWEET 3 bedroom cabin ( Congress it’s called) which is so befitting to us 2 Americans and 1 Canadian in our group. The cabin even has a bathroom in each bedroom. Sitting in the dining room now and wondering if the day could have been any better. I guess if it was all blue sky that would have topped it off. We had overcast skies but thankfully hardly any snow which was welcome as they have PLENTY. Saw less than 10 sleds all day and every trail was as flat as a pancake with 4” of loose on top. Every corner was FUN,FUN, FUN. Had a fantastic club sandwich at Kanawata for lunch, took a quick break at the old Lac Chateauvert place (the roof is caved in now). Sad, I had some great memories of the big guy (old retired boxer) that ran the place like 15 years ago. I even paid him to let me take a shower in there once as my buddy and I were at his cabin for like 3 days and I was ripe...LOL  Gased up and hung around the grocery store in Manawan for awhile. I’ve been blessed with having many a fine snowmobile day in my life and I can’t think of one that was any better than today. Going to enjoy a nice meal and tomorrow we are heading back to our buddies cabin for the last night of the trip. Enjoy the pics and get out and RIDE !!!!!

PEACE

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Another beautiful day here at 100 Lacs. 2 inches of fresh pow pow and we are just finishing up a GREAT breakfast.

we have about 240 clicks to get to the cabin so we should all be good. It’s like 30 degrees F here this a.m. so in the last 5 days we have seen a 60 degree swing in temp.....UNREAL!!!

thanks for following along

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12 minutes ago, mikerider said:

Thanks for posting, I have enjoyed following along.

Is Manawan a friendly place now? It gave me bad vibes when I was there over a dozen years ago.

mike

 

Yeah great ride. Thanks for taking us along.

When I was in Manawan years ago I got the same vibe. Filling up the sleds guys were pulling up to the store in white cargo vans just watching us. Never took their eyes off us. While getting gas the kids were hanging around jumping on the sleds, eating bags of chips and just throwing the empty bags on the ground, dogs watching them, drooling all over waiting for just a crumb. Then heading out of town kids were lined up along the road slapping high 5's with us as we rolled through. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and say they are good people but man it has the vib of don't take your eyes off anything you don't want to grow legs! The cages on the gas pumps and on every wall in the store says there is good reason to be concerned IMO.

Edited by JBlavl
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We stayed in Manawan last Sunday. Stayed at the Aberge Manawan. Can't miss it as its across the  main road from the 33 trail. Also the police station is across the road.  The building is new I believe.  We were on the ground floor and parked the sleds right out side and glass sliding doors.  Back of the building looking at the lake. Room was great. Only draw back was no restaurant in the building but there was one next door.  Little tough to get out of town mainly because it snowed and the trail was hard to follow. Great place to get a good night's sleep and continue on. Rooms were great.

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JB

Just like you described. Gas station and pumps with steel bars. Kids by the dozens coming to you touching everything. Moms pull into the gas station and stare at you while the men in brand new trucks drove by the gas station over and over again. We got gas and high tailed it as fast as we could.

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Some things have changed in Manawan since my first visit in 1995. A nice new grocery store with gas pumps without cages or locks and the Auberge Manawan that I've only heard good things about.

  With that being said some things haven't changed, stray dogs running the streets that look to be starving and kids interested in the outside world and that occasional stare like you have three heads......:shok:

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