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Champlain/Lac Edouard/St-Raymond photo ride-report 18-19 January 2020


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Here is the map of our first 2-day ride from Champlain to Lac-Édouard and then St-Raymond

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Saturday morning we left Champlain (east of Trois-Rivières) accompanied by our partner Snowcruiser under a cloudy sky and a temperature of -21C . Just decent snow along the St-Laurence river but it quickly improved as we ride toward north and the trail base was hard and well groomed. We went up to Grand-Mère where we took the trail on the St-Maurice river

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We rode  few miles on the river up to the #23 trail junction which we took north. The long trail that continue up on the St-Maurice river is also already open and marked. Under good conditions we passed St-Tite village

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Just before crossing the Des Envies river, we stopped to give some help to bring back on the track a snowmobile that had gone straight into a curve. Fortunately no injuries but plastics are not tought at -20C when it stops on a tree ...

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We then continued on the #23 whose path is improved this year to make less roadside

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We stopped at Ste-Thècle to refuel and continued via trail #351 to go to dinner at the Tawachiche relay just at the entrance of the Zec

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After a good warm up and meal we continued north

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It was riding well even in this part where the trail base is really uneven,  just barely a few bumps still present. I do not know the reason but the trail is actually diverted in the wood on the part just before connecting with the #355 instead of staying under the power lines like by the past years

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Here a rear view at the  #355 junction, looking towards the Pipeline section further south. There was a lot of wood cut on the right!

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We then continued north. Here near the big railway bridge over the rivière du Milieu

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The conditions were very good on #355 and we see more snow to the ground as we go up. Before Lake Wayagamac, we forked on the local trail Lt1 on the right

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We then took the #73 east

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and finally the #355 for the last stretch towards Lac Édouard.

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The trail was a bit bumpy but the snow cover is impressive

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We missed the junction for the lake trail and finally ride the whole path on the land trail

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And we arrived at our destination at Gite d'Edouard just before dark with 150miles on the dreammeter. It is a place that we have visited few times in the past years and the owner Nicole has again received us as well with great hospitality and generous/delicious meals. We had a real good time there after our day ride and we had relax and chat alot before a good night at warm

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On the next morning, a little layer of fresh cream was on our sleds

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We had retraced our steps on the #355 trail. The groomer was passed overnight leaving us a perfect trail to start our day

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We then switched east on the local Lt2 trail. There was only one sled track in the 3-4 "of new snow at this place and we had great fun to play in this nice powder

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We took a short break near the relay at the entrance of the Zec Jeannotte

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And then continued on #73 trail east

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We took another short break near the "Marmitte"

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We passed Rivière à Pierre and continued on the #73 towards St-Raymond and my Kristine managed to catch this beautiful action shot at trail speed. We then stopped for lunch at St-Raymond and ate well at the Paquette pizzeria.

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We then continued south, our goal being to loop back in west direction to Champlain. We had a little overestimated the progress of the trails opening in the south in this sector and our first try proved being unsuccessful: we tried to take the trail to Ste-Christine just south from St-Raymond but after a couple miles in an AtV shared trail under the power line, the ATV trail turns left and the snowmobile trail.... well it was just not done yet. Here right after we turned back.


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So we took the #23 trail east to loop a little farther south east. They had made a first groomer pass but the trail was not so good. Near St-Basile the #3 trail was even worse and we really think to turn back but after talking with a guy coming from the opposite direction we were knowing that is was better a bit farther and it was not a dead end so we kept going forward at very low speed. We cross some people that were at installing stakes and signs

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When we were near Portneuf Station, to get better conditions, instead of keeping on the #3 we went up on #23 to make a loop a little further north. The trail base was good and although a little bumpy it was perfect after what we had rode just before! We took back  the #3 trail just a little before St-Marc des Carrières


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The rest of the trails further west toward Mauricie were all good and the 5 to 6 inches of new snow allowed us to ride at a very good pace


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We got back at our starting point in Champlain around 5 pm with 165 miles for the day and 315 miles for the 2 days. An other great ride for us!!!

The snowmobile season is finally off to a good start and with the snow fallen in the weekend it is only a matter of a few days to have all the south trails completed and the trail network fully connected. It's now finally the time to enjoy it and hit the trails for saddlebagging trips. The best of the season is just ahead us!

To see the state of the trails in Lanaudière and Mauricie, here the trail conditions site: https://www.snowmobilecountry.ca/en/conditions/

:drinks:

Alain

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Thank you Alain. You and your wife have brought us along through words and pictures on another great ride. Are you doing a big week long tour this year?

I still remember the epic meeting when you and your wife met up with GTRider and his wife. A historic international  meeting of two snowmobiling couples  from both sides of the border with a passion for riding.

mike

 

 

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20 hours ago, mccaffrey said:

Hi Alan, thank you for the report, as always we all enjoy your reports,

You are welcome mccaffrey! I hope I have many others ahead which mean I will do many other rides... 

20 hours ago, Cnc said:

Always a pleasure to see your pics and report.👍

Thank you Cnc! 👍

14 hours ago, mikerider said:

Thank you Alain. You and your wife have brought us along through words and pictures on another great ride. Are you doing a big week long tour this year?

I still remember the epic meeting when you and your wife met up with GTRider and his wife. A historic international  meeting of two snowmobiling couples  from both sides of the border with a passion for riding.

mike

You are welcome Mike! Yes I have a week off on the beginning of March especially for riding with my good partner Snowcruiser. We don't know where yet. We begin to talk about it last saturday night on our small trip and had no definitive plan. We are very late planners, we will decide in the last days before the trip knowing the snow conditions and the possible storms that can affect our plans.

Yes I was so nice to meet Jim and Gemma at RDL and having much time to chat with them. And it was nice to meet you there too for the first time!

14 hours ago, slomo said:

Thank you very much. Merci beaucoup.

You are welcome slomo, Bienvenue! I took some video files as well during this ride, I will try to do something with them in the next days ...

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