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Joliette/Grand-Mere/St-Alexis des Monts photo ride report 25-01-2020 UPDATED with video added


towing
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*********** video added on the post #8**********************

Here is the trail path of our last Saturday ride 25 January 2020, before the last snowfall

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We took advantage of the chance we have to be able to start our ride by sled directly from home and took #43 trail south from St-Thomas de Joliette in order to explore the south my area. Very mild temperature around -2C. Here along a windbreaker tree line near home

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We then took the #3 east. Beautiful and fast trail with correct snowcover

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The Chaloupe river in Berthierville is good and staked

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We then continue on trail #3, here in the St-Barthélemy sector. There were some spots with  brownish snow but it was before the 6-8 inches of new snow we received in Saturday to Sunday night


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I usually take the loop on the #63 east of St-Barthélemy which takes us a little further north, away from St-Laurence river(ie more snow) but this time I kept the #3 which was correct

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Just before St-Ursule I wanted to take the 2nd loop of #63 but it has changed places (the interactive map is up to date) and it is only a dead end which leads to the Cascades pizzeria at the old location of the intersection.

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We must continue a bit less than 1 mile further to get to the new junction of the #63 trail


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This new trail path connect on the #350 trail path of past years in the power lines

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We continued straight to keep #63 to see the Magnan falls in Charette


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A little further, a big wild turkey crossed the trail in front of us

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When you see one, there are more... the rest of the herd was right next to the trail, not shy at all

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We then arrive on the site of the Magnan falls in Charette

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The falls themselves are frozen hard

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but this place is always nice , a good spot for taking a break.

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Just downstream from the footbridge, the river forms a sort of large pot. One day I should walk to see the fall on the other side ...

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And the view upstream from the bridge

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We then continued towards Ste-Etienne. It was very mild and the trails were starting to get soft. Here in an atv shared section a side by side had swung in the ditch. They were already well installed with 2 other vehicles which were  pulling with winches to bring it back into the trail. Good for him because is a lot harder to unstuck than a snowmobile!

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The trail being soft it was already starting to get bumpy

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We refueled just before crossing the St-Maurice river near the Gabelle dam

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On the other side, trail #3 was particularly worn. We got shaken  up to the junction for Lac à la Tortue that we took. We then took a dead end  before the St-Maurice river to go to the Pizzeria du Lac where we ate very well as usual

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After lunch we continued and got on the St-Maurice river. The sky was geting more cloudy

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We went up to the intersection with #23 trail and saw that the M19 trail (the one that ride on the river toward Marineau) was closed. The club closed it on Friday because of water accumulation. We for our part turned on #23 west

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A few bumps but good condition. We feeling of passing through a tunnel here!

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The snowcover is good and it was riding well.

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We passed near the Vallée du Parc ski resort in Shawinigan

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And then continued west

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Here passing near the l'auberge du Trappeur


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Here a small bridge with a beautiful view, we always stop when we pass there

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We found ourselves in front of that at the #349 junction for St-Alexis des Monts

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It bothered us a lot. I did not know if the detour was to go through the Koubec (#350 trail farther) which would have push me tight for the gaz, so we took a break there hoping that someone who would pass could inform us and that's what happened. About 10 minutes later, a group of 3 sledderss stopped and they were coming from St-Alexis and had just made the detour, so they explained to us what we needed to know. The reason for the detour is the repair of a bridge. The interactive map is up to date but not my GPS map ... I really need to install Imotoneige on my phone ... Here is a screenshot of the interactive map concerning this detour where I surrounded in yellow the closed intersection and green the new.

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Just be careful because the signage coming in the direction like we did is not the best and you have to look backward to see the detour sign. This is before the Pin Rouge entrance of the Mastigouche reserve, so if you got up to the Pin Rouge entrance and didn't seen the junction, turn back. You can't miss it coming from the other side

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So we easily reached St-Alexis des Monts village where I refueled full but it was already 5:00 pm and we were still far from home! It was late enough for the dozers to had start their runs so we rode on a freshly groomed trail up to the Pouvoirie du Lac Blanc. We did a short very rought segment, then got quite decent conditions in the Mandeville club where we crossed the dozer midway

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We cut on Lac Maskinongé staked trail to reach St-Gabriel de Brandon where it started to snow hard very suddenly. It was not too windy so visibility remained acceptable on the low beams. So we came back under the snow and arrived home around 7:45 pm with 215 miles on the dreammeter


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A other great ride for us but the mild weather did not help the trail condition and with the chosen path which was slower in the afternoon it gave us a big day. We discovered ourself new muscles sunday morning which we didn't know existed!!!


In summary, the snow cover is good everywhere and will be even better with the snow that we have just received. The snowmobile season is at his best and now is the time to enjoy it.


For details on the trail conditions here is the place to look: https://www.snowmobilecountry.ca/en/conditions/

:drinks:
Alain

Edited by towing
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Really nice! I am curious about the turkeys. Did they just show up in recent history. I ask, because Maine may have caused this if they are a new arrival. Maine thought it was a good idea to import turkeys to the southern Maine area as a new bird to hunt. They did not realize the turkeys would greatly expand their territory far and wide to cover the entire state of Maine. They are now everywhere. I wonder if some of our birds are illegal immigrants to Quebec.

mike

 

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17 hours ago, im4snow said:

Fantastic pics and reporting.  Thanks for taking the time and sharing.  

it's my pleasure im4snow!

15 hours ago, mikerider said:

Really nice! I am curious about the turkeys. Did they just show up in recent history. I ask, because Maine may have caused this if they are a new arrival. Maine thought it was a good idea to import turkeys to the southern Maine area as a new bird to hunt. They did not realize the turkeys would greatly expand their territory far and wide to cover the entire state of Maine. They are now everywhere. I wonder if some of our birds are illegal immigrants to Quebec.

mike

 

Thanks Mike! you are right, yes they showed recently... I didn't know they were coming from your border side! They may had tried to escape before your american thansgiving but they did not know we ate them for Christmas!!! As for hunting them , from what I seen the challenge would have not be really high... I was tempting to try to feed them like the gray jays!!!

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I used to be a big turkey hunter years ago. Hunted them spring and fall. Looks like it might be easy to get one now that they are everywhere but go into the deep woods on "their turf" and it's quite difficult actually. They have very keen eyesight and can detect movement you wouldnt thought possible. We saw 3 of them up in St Anne-du-Lac last week and I was surprised they could live up there with all that snow and ground cover.

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Nice report as usual towing, it’s like riding along with you. We are over run with turkeys in my area, ( Laurentiens ) often all over the roads when you come around the corner and gangs of them walk around  my property quite regularly. We never used to see turkeys much but about 10 years ago there started to be more and more of them. I understand that in Quebec for turkeys, it is only a 1 day hunt and only till noon. Lots of rumours up here of where they actually came from including that they escaped or were let go from a turkey farm that used to exist about 30 miles from here.  

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On 1/29/2020 at 4:39 AM, snowmaster2112 said:

I used to be a big turkey hunter years ago. Hunted them spring and fall. Looks like it might be easy to get one now that they are everywhere but go into the deep woods on "their turf" and it's quite difficult actually. They have very keen eyesight and can detect movement you wouldnt thought possible. We saw 3 of them up in St Anne-du-Lac last week and I was surprised they could live up there with all that snow and ground cover.

I was joking about it, when the animal show up it always seems easy to catch it but when it's you that trying to find it, it's an other game!!!

On 1/29/2020 at 9:39 AM, Cnc said:

Nice report as usual towing, it’s like riding along with you. We are over run with turkeys in my area, ( Laurentiens ) often all over the roads when you come around the corner and gangs of them walk around  my property quite regularly. We never used to see turkeys much but about 10 years ago there started to be more and more of them. I understand that in Quebec for turkeys, it is only a 1 day hunt and only till noon. Lots of rumours up here of where they actually came from including that they escaped or were let go from a turkey farm that used to exist about 30 miles from here.  

Thanks Cnc! We see some turkeys here but not as much and not as often as you seems to have on your side. For sure it is something new here because the first we seen in a trail is 3 years ago and since I see some each years.

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6 minutes ago, towing said:

I was joking about it, when the animal show up it always seems easy to catch it but when it's you that trying to find it, it's an other game!!!

Thanks Cnc! We see some turkeys here but not as much and not as often as you seems to have on your side. For sure it is something new here because the first we seen in a trail is 3 years ago and since I see some each years.

 

6 minutes ago, towing said:

I was joking about it, when the animal show up it always seems easy to catch it but when it's you that trying to find it, it's an other game!!!

Thanks Cnc! We see some turkeys here but not as much and not as often as you seems to have on your side. For sure it is something new here because the first we seen in a trail is 3 years ago and since I see some each years.

Here’s a Couple of pics of them just cruising through my front yard. Only time we don’t see them is just before thanksgiving and just before Christmas!😁

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