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Joliette/St-Côme(ice sculptures)/St-Zenon photo ride report 1st february 2020


towing
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Here is the path of our Saturday February 1, 2020 ride

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We started directly from the home in St-Thomas (near Joliette) by sled with the primary objective of going to see the ice sculptures in St-Côme. It was around -8C at the start with a layer of fog that the sun was chasing away

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We went through Joliette. Slightly past Lapointe Sport, the trail runs along the railway that we used to follow up to St-Félix de Valois in the past but we must now, almost at the beginning, turn left and make a detour. The trail that goes straight is the ATV trail only that takes the road further.


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The interactive map is up to date and I put a screenshot on which I wrote the old approximate route with red x and an arrow shows the intersection from where I took the pic above

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We connect back along the railway a little north of Notre-Dame de Lourdes

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The snowstorm from the previous weekend did a great improvement and the snow cover is now very good even in the south of my area. Here a little north of St-Félix de Valois. Note I have different pic size on this report,  some come from the camera of my sweetheart and others from my Gopro headset


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North from St-Jean de Matha, just past the BRP  dealer Gero, the Black River is marked and solid

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As we go up from the river, the trail that used to take the wood now runs along the road. A good path that ride very well

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A little further at the junctio we took on the left towards St-Côme

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The snowcover is excellent and the decor is beautiful

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Note that the trail run on a road bridge instead of an ice bridge this year. Here when approaching St-Côme

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The "St-Côme en glace" festival  was just started we were on the first day of it on February 1st, and it run 3 weekends up to the February 16, so you still have a lot of time if you want to come and see. As we expected, the ice sculptures were not yet very advanced and we were rather in the construction phase where we see the artists working on them. Unfortunately as almost every time we go there to take pictures, the sun hides as soon as we set foot in St-Côme! We laugh about it now it happens almost every time but we take pics anyway. Here is a sample of what we saw:

Some sculptures are small ...


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And others bigger like this plane which is about to have an other wing 

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Several sculptures are well started and will be completely finished  in the next days.

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Several are real life size so always impressive to see

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This one is under realization and will surely be impressive to see when finished, a good one for the dogs lover like me!

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As usual they push the ice concept and go from cute to usefull!

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It was already past noon, so we went to La Marguerite restaurant at the entrance of the village. With the festival, they were obviously a bit overloaded and the restaurant was already quite full when we arrived but I have to emphasize the exemplary service they gave.  We got there around 12:25 and at 13:10 we had already eaten very well, bill paid  and ready to go! I stop eating in many places but efficient like them it's not common and it was the same there last year: my hat to them!

Being near to leave St-Côme, the sun started to show up! so we took the opportunity to go see a couple of other sculptures at the entrance of the village.

Here, the fox and the crow ...

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Not sure there was squirrels in this story but they are cute!

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and this fireplace with a lot of details, so realistic that it smelled like a log fire next to it ( it is funny buy was really true !!!)


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We then took back the venture and rode north on #343 trail

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There has been logging in this area in the past years because of the power line construction but it is over and we are now taking advantage of the forest road path they left us. Very nice to ride, wide and clear view.

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We made the detour to go and fuel up at Coin Lavigne

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We then took #33 trail north. The river along the trail offers several beautiful views


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We then took the local trail which brings us on the #63 further east


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We passed La Glacière and took #350 trail


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And then forked on #23 trail to go down south. The trail started to be worn due to the traffic of the day but it was really better than I expected 

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We passed the Pourvoirie du renard Bleu


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And took a break at the #63 junction

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We then continued and passed St-Gabriel de Brandon where the 2 dozers were just leaving to do each their their own runs

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To shape up the ride a bit, we went through Berthierville where we also met the dozer at the height of St-Cuthbert.

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We finally came back home around 6:15 pm with about 170miles on the dreammeter, another wonderful day for us. The suspension of the venture worked well because the sugar pie we had put in the Givi rearcase in St-Côme arrived home in not so bad shape ... and the taste completely intact !!!

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In summary, we are in the heart of the slead season and the conditions are great everywhere. If you want to make beautiful rides let go, it's time!

For those interested, the St-Côme en Glace festival continues until mid-February and leaves you another 2 nice weekends to go if you don't have time during the week. The trail passes through the village so super accessible and the experience is as beautiful day and evening as most of the sculptures are illuminated. For more details: https://festivalstcomeenglace.com/

Otherwise for more details on the trails and snowmobile in Lanaudière/Mauricie: https://www.snowmobilecountry.ca/en/conditions/

I managed to capture quite a few good video scenes and I should be able to put you a montage here later this week ...

Bye!

Alain

Edited by towing
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On 2/3/2020 at 7:30 PM, towing said:

We finally came back home around 6:15 pm with about 170miles on the dreammeter, another wonderful day for us. The suspension of the venture worked well because the sugar pie we had put in the Givi rearcase in St-Côme arrived home in not so bad shape ... and the taste completely intact !!!

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:good::hi::drinks:

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Thank you very much to all of you guys!!!

The St-Côme sugar pie have an history for us. In Kristine's childhood, her grandma had a chalet in St-Côme and each time they were passing by, they bought a sugar pie and some cinnamon buns from the bakery near the river in the middle of the village. Later when we begin to ride by sleds together, we had always stopped there and bought a sugar pie or cinnamon buns that we would eat by the half in the parking. I remember trying to fit the remaining half sugar pie in the rear trunk of the single place indy 400 85... It was a bit more damaged at arrival home!!! We continued to do that since, and each time we take a bite in their sugar pie or buns, it taste again exactly the same as more than 30 years before for me and 50 years for Kristine... one of the best treat on the planet!!! give it a try if you pass there :good:

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As promise, i left you a video clip of this same ride that I just edited. as usual crank up the sound and quality to best enjoy it

 

Edited by towing
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The best tarte au sucre I've ever had in my life was at Hotel Sacacomie (sp)? (They're not very friendly to snowmobilers and ridiculously expensive.) We stopped there for coffee once and the top of the sugar pie was crystallized like creme brulee. Now I want to go to St. Come. LOL

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