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Joliette/Hautes Laurentides photo/video ride report 3days March 2 to 4, 2021


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Here the path of our small annual trip 2021

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Day#1: Joliette/Mont-Laurier by #63+petit train du nord trail
Day#2: Mont-Laurier/Mekoos passing on the Baskatong reservoir+Devil's mountain attractions and the Kiamika dam east from Chutes St-Phillipes
Day#3 Mekoos/Joliette by the north on #33/#345 trails and St-Zénon #23 trail

It was also a ride to try our new snow toy that I had just bought: a BRP Grand Touring limited 900ACE 2020 slightly used at 1700miles

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After several Polaris and Yamaha, this is my first Ski-doo. It have huge shoes to fill because my last Venture modified to my need/taste was pretty much the "Ultimate touring machine" for Kristine and me. I appreciated it so much that I kept it 2 years longer than the usual 5 years but now, exceeding 25 000miles with the AD Boivin (rear suspension) which exceeds 40000 miles and which  is no more manufacturated since 12 years ago, I had to turn to another option and I try my luck on this one.

So Tuesday morning (March2) was a start for our small trip. All just refreezed night before after Sunday/Monday thaw and not all the snowmobile clubs had regroomed. Scratchers were mandatory to ride in the south but was more snowy toward north. Here near the Domaine Bazinet outfitter

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We refueled at Coin Lavigne, it was pretty cold  at -17C on their thermometer with a strong wind.

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We took the #33 trail north-west

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Here near the closed cafeteria

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The #63 trail was handsome, especially the half groomed by the St-Michel des Saints snowmobile club.

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We ate our lunch between La Macaza and Riviere Rouge on the edge of the trail in a wooded area to be sheltered from the wind and a happy coincidence wanted our friend Luc who was also passing there had recognized us and stopped with his friend Gilles talking to us a few minutes.

After filling up in Rivière-Rouge we took le petit train du nord trail toward north (still #63)


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And arrived at the Quality Inn in Mont-Laurier around 4:30 pm with  202 miles on the dreameter

I was not able to film that day, I first thought it was because of the cold, but it was ultimately a wire on the power supply that was faulty. I corrected that and shot some great scenes on the next 2 days.

I will bring you these other 2 days as soon as possible with pics and videos, come back and see from time to time to have the rest of the ride...

To be continued...

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THANKS  Alain . great pics as always , waiting on video ... Down here the trails are hard Brown , not real fun . Good luck on new sled as you know i had a GT for 4 years then the exp / se and liked them both..but would love to buy another EXP..  have fun..

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Ok 2nd day March 3, 2021

Starting from Mont-Laurier after a good outdoor breakfast at Tim's

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We headed west on #63 trail to get on the #322 and ride on the Baskatong reservoir. Fortunately it had snowed a bit overnight because there is a long plowed road section at the start of #322

Here is a first video which summarizes this section. For best viewing, turn on the sound and crank the player's quality to 1080p on the big screen.

 

Then we did the local trails in the Devil Mountain Regional Park. Here to start, the tower's mountain and the Devil's mountain views

We then went for an outdoor lunch at Windigo Falls. It had been several years since I had been there and I was a bit disappointed to see that we could no longer approach the fall site by sled. We have to park and walk a 700-800 feet to get at the base of the falls but the walk is well worth it! I also climbed up and went up the river a bit to capture some nice images

 

We then headed east on #322 trail through Chutes St-Philippe and passed the #53 trail to take a local trail toward north that took us to the Kiamika dam. We then joined back the #53 to our night destination

We ended the day with 154miles and we heated the wood stove in the evening in a chalet at Mekoos

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day#3 to follow...

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4 hours ago, PLAYHARD said:

Wishing you BEAUCOUP miles & smiles!

As always: Thanks for sharing!

Most importantly: How's the review from the Queen throne?

Thanks you for the wishes PLAYHARD!

I have to put in context that we were riding a pretty much aftermarket's modified beast, fine tune over many years so it was not realistic to hope to have a new toy better just out of the box. One of the first Kristine's comment was the suspension feels like the Boivin when it was packed full of snow! 😂 I was already knowing we would lose with any stock touring sled on this point, i had choose the one I think would be the best

There are plus and minus but I would tell from the Queen's trone, other than the ride being less smooth when the trail is rough, the position is nice for her but she is seated lower compared to me so the front view is not as good but it's ok. The non-adjustable backrest had a weird angle way too straight and the top was trying to skeeze under her scapula so I already modify it by pushing the lower part a big inch front giving a more natural angle which she is very pleased now. The footrest give her a better grip but are colder than the yammy one. A new to her feature she now love is the heated seat! just too bad it have just one setting: broil! even Kristine is not able to keep it on even at -20C. We highly consider bringing bacon and eggs and use it to cook for our outdoor lunches! 🤣

 

3 hours ago, grumpysanta said:

THANKS  Alain . great pics as always , waiting on video ... Down here the trails are hard Brown , not real fun . Good luck on new sled as you know i had a GT for 4 years then the exp / se and liked them both..but would love to buy another EXP..  have fun..

How is the new sled feeling ?   great videos

The last thaw have been hard on the south trails here especially in the wood sections that are brown as well as yours. The weather forecast I saw for the next week are not good at all, we will wait and see but it smell the end for the south trails

As for the sled from my point, also plus and minus. Other than what I already mentioned the 900 ace engine is handsome, enough powerful for our needs and easier on gaz which give us better fuel range. The darting was bad in many trail condition/air shock setting but I just put a set of snowtracker which lighten the steering and enable one hand precise driving live my yammys, very happy with the result. A thing a would think would be behind with a brp is the ice in the tunnel...wrong!  it is even worse to the point it interfere with the track travel and make endless grooling noise in very cold wheather. Those G4 seems to be bad ice makers. The driving position is very different but I wil get used to it. Wind protection is not as good but the heated grips and thumb are very powerfull and the heated seat is a bonus. The cluster is handsome and having the option to play with the air shock on the flag is nice.

I think I have a great base in the hands to customize. It's different DNA with their quality and flaw, I'm pretty sure we will be very happy with it with some improvements

 

 

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2 hours ago, towing said:

Thanks you for the wishes PLAYHARD!

I have to put in context that we were riding a pretty much aftermarket's modified beast, fine tune over many years so it was not realistic to hope to have a new toy better just out of the box. One of the first Kristine's comment was the suspension feels like the Boivin when it was packed full of snow! 😂 I was already knowing we would lose with any stock touring sled on this point, i had choose the one I think would be the best

There are plus and minus but I would tell from the Queen's trone, other than the ride being less smooth when the trail is rough, the position is nice for her but she is seated lower compared to me so the front view is not as good but it's ok. The non-adjustable backrest had a weird angle way too straight and the top was trying to skeeze under her scapula so I already modify it by pushing the lower part a big inch front giving a more natural angle which she is very pleased now. The footrest give her a better grip but are colder than the yammy one. A new to her feature she now love is the heated seat! just too bad it have just one setting: broil! even Kristine is not able to keep it on even at -20C. We highly consider bringing bacon and eggs and use it to cook for our outdoor lunches! 🤣

 

The last thaw have been hard on the south trails here especially in the wood sections that are brown as well as yours. The weather forecast I saw for the next week are not good at all, we will wait and see but it smell the end for the south trails

As for the sled from my point, also plus and minus. Other than what I already mentioned the 900 ace engine is handsome, enough powerful for our needs and easier on gaz which give us better fuel range. The darting was bad in many trail condition/air shock setting but I just put a set of snowtracker which lighten the steering and enable one hand precise driving live my yammys, very happy with the result. A thing a would think would be behind with a brp is the ice in the tunnel...wrong!  it is even worse to the point it interfere with the track travel and make endless grooling noise in very cold wheather. Those G4 seems to be bad ice makers. The driving position is very different but I wil get used to it. Wind protection is not as good but the heated grips and thumb are very powerfull and the heated seat is a bonus. The cluster is handsome and having the option to play with the air shock on the flag is nice.

I think I have a great base in the hands to customize. It's different DNA with their quality and flaw, I'm pretty sure we will be very happy with it with some improvements

 

 

hi Alain,  my impressions of my gt. was ok but few problems , never did like seating position front or rear seat..but loved heated seats and i had the adjustable backrest which was very good ,  Carbides were not my favorite with the adjustment,, my  exped. i changed when brand new , for 6 inch from Qualti- piece.    i did go thru 3 reverse motors before i sold it ..Exped. had better seat position and more room for pass. and easy removal with box underneath..900 was good but missed top speed a few times , gas gauge was not accurate on  both.. Handling was good on exped , better than i expected with 20 x 154 .. i would order another one .. just gt had big ice buildup so u had to try to get some out at night before u put to sleep...wooden hammer and backup a few times ,, you must make sure you do not get too much ice on the air hose to the rear susp. or it will break..

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2 hours ago, iceman said:

Congratulations on the new Sled. I am sure you will get it right where you both are very happy with it. 

Thank you Iceman! We are not made to change sled often, we are very picky on some details but yes we will get it right for us

1 hour ago, PLAYHARD said:

Like any marriage!

Thanks again for the vids, tres bon therapie!

👍👍👍

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Congrats on the awesome ride and new sled mon ami !!! You wont regret changing over to Skidoo (I hope ..LOL)

was wondering what you did with the "old girl" (Yamaha). Did you keep her or sell/trade it in. Very curious what a sled of that age and mileage would bring in. I'm guessing a lot less than it's true value.

 

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On 3/8/2021 at 7:57 AM, Jackstraw said:

Lotsa ice in the G4's have to bang the tunnel with your boot every morning and after lunch breaks. My track shows the ice results!

I'm used to clean the tunnel with my last yammies, ideally at the end of the day or in the morning but having to do it during the ride seems heavy for me! 

On 3/8/2021 at 6:28 PM, snowmaster2112 said:

Congrats on the awesome ride and new sled mon ami !!! You wont regret changing over to Skidoo (I hope ..LOL)

was wondering what you did with the "old girl" (Yamaha). Did you keep her or sell/trade it in. Very curious what a sled of that age and mileage would bring in. I'm guessing a lot less than it's true value.

 

Thank you Chris! I hope too!!!

As for my old girl (not Kristine 😜) I still have it home. I will sell it but need to put back the original rear skid in (brand new 0 miles) the original ripsaw (around 10k)and a final checkup. and i'm not sure I will find the time to do this fast enought to sell it at spring. Usually I buy at spring and sell at fall. I have bought my new skidoo from an owner (not a dealer) so no trade in possible but a dealer would just give peanuts for a such mileage machine, better sell it myself(what i did with my last yammies)

The used sled market is still high actually but had begin to fall a bit and will fall even more in the next weeks. If I had sell it last week It would have gone around $4200/4500 probably.  

4 hours ago, GT Rider said:

Hi Alain,

Congratulations on your new ride. With time you will get it to both of your liking.

Thanks for taking us for the ride. We like to see you out enjoying the trails.

Thank you GT Rider! 

It's part of the fun to fine-tune/customize and adjust, it give even better distinctive machines suit for us. So I have some fun ahead! 

the last day ride report follow in few minutes...

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Day#3  -18C

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We had a good run ahead (which turned out to be 250miles) to get home but had a nice trail path to do it. Starting from Mekoos, we would took back the #53 north to # 33 east to fuelup at Repos and continue to St-Zenon via #345 / dam and #23 for the last part.

Here is a first video between the Meekos and the Pourvoirie du Lac Repos. It is obviously mostly wooded area but a lot of beautiful large wide strech with good visibility, very pleasant to ride. 

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We took a mini hot take-out to warm up a bit at Repos but eating outside at -15C is not ideal for warming up .. no big deal we are made strong!

This guy was the only one at the Repos bar...


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from there we took the #345 and went down south. With the cold the trails were all nice

here is a sample of this between the Repos and the Cabanon

South of St-Gabriel de Brandon, the trail parts in the woods were brownish. I don't think we will go far in march with those sections

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We finally arrived home around 5:15 pm which completed our 3 day ride with 606miles for the short trip. The grand touring had passed its first test!

Alain

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On 3/7/2021 at 4:28 PM, towing said:

Thanks you for the wishes PLAYHARD!

I have to put in context that we were riding a pretty much aftermarket's modified beast, fine tune over many years so it was not realistic to hope to have a new toy better just out of the box. One of the first Kristine's comment was the suspension feels like the Boivin when it was packed full of snow! 😂 I was already knowing we would lose with any stock touring sled on this point, i had choose the one I think would be the best

There are plus and minus but I would tell from the Queen's trone, other than the ride being less smooth when the trail is rough, the position is nice for her but she is seated lower compared to me so the front view is not as good but it's ok. The non-adjustable backrest had a weird angle way too straight and the top was trying to skeeze under her scapula so I already modify it by pushing the lower part a big inch front giving a more natural angle which she is very pleased now. The footrest give her a better grip but are colder than the yammy one. A new to her feature she now love is the heated seat! just too bad it have just one setting: broil! even Kristine is not able to keep it on even at -20C. We highly consider bringing bacon and eggs and use it to cook for our outdoor lunches! 🤣

 

The last thaw have been hard on the south trails here especially in the wood sections that are brown as well as yours. The weather forecast I saw for the next week are not good at all, we will wait and see but it smell the end for the south trails

As for the sled from my point, also plus and minus. Other than what I already mentioned the 900 ace engine is handsome, enough powerful for our needs and easier on gaz which give us better fuel range. The darting was bad in many trail condition/air shock setting but I just put a set of snowtracker which lighten the steering and enable one hand precise driving live my yammys, very happy with the result. A thing a would think would be behind with a brp is the ice in the tunnel...wrong!  it is even worse to the point it interfere with the track travel and make endless grooling noise in very cold wheather. Those G4 seems to be bad ice makers. The driving position is very different but I wil get used to it. Wind protection is not as good but the heated grips and thumb are very powerfull and the heated seat is a bonus. The cluster is handsome and having the option to play with the air shock on the flag is nice.

I think I have a great base in the hands to customize. It's different DNA with their quality and flaw, I'm pretty sure we will be very happy with it with some improvements

 

 

Hello Alain,

I very well understand Kristine’s feet being cold. I have sat behind three Skidoo GT’s so I know how cold her feet could be. May I recommend electric socks? I have been using electric gloves and socks for 20 years ( thanks to my wonderful hubby). I could not be without those when we are riding.😁😁

Thanks for the pictures and videos. Have a safe ride !

Gemma

 

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23 hours ago, PLAYHARD said:

Mixed feelings to see our old friend masking up.

But GREAT to see our old friend!

Big Merci!

:drinks:

 

 

I was knowing this popular furry friend would make few of you smile...

8 hours ago, MrsGTRider said:

Hello Alain,

I very well understand Kristine’s feet being cold. I have sat behind three Skidoo GT’s so I know how cold her feet could be. May I recommend electric socks? I have been using electric gloves and socks for 20 years ( thanks to my wonderful hubby). I could not be without those when we are riding.😁😁

Thanks for the pictures and videos. Have a safe ride !

Gemma

 

I note your recommendation Gemma, it would certainly be very confortable.

Kristine was reluctant to be "wired" to the sled in the past, she got traumatized seing her sister (many years ago when we ride with her) having 4 wires tying her on her boyfriend sled backseat. We get older and she finally accept the heated vest 4 years ago, the heated gloves the next year and she would not ride again without them now. I add this season the electric visor (an other wire!) and she appreciate too. Maybe I will be able to add the socks next year! 

We were usually using hotpads in the boots for the colder days. The brand "Hothands" 2"x3" individual pads rated 18hours are very efficient and really last the whole day( they are usually still warm after 24hours!) in contrary as the regular hotpads that are rated 8 hours and last 4! 

5 hours ago, GT Rider said:

Thanks again for the ride!

Mrs GT uses the insoles and gloves with the duel heat control.

https://www.gerbing.com/12-volt-heated-gear

Best of luck with the new machine.

The vest and glove Kristine is using are the brand "venture heat" without wired control box, but the vest have an integrated 3 heat setting managable from a small unwired remote control that Kristine keep in her mitts. Im pretty sure it is possible to add on some insole or pants to the system

But I'm a bit worried to overload the sled electrical system. it's hard to know exactly the power amount available after all sled's features took their part... i'm pretty sure the 'broiling" double heated seat probably take a good toll on it!

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15 hours ago, towing said:

I was knowing this popular furry friend would make few of you smile...

I note your recommendation Gemma, it would certainly be very confortable.

Kristine was reluctant to be "wired" to the sled in the past, she got traumatized seing her sister (many years ago when we ride with her) having 4 wires tying her on her boyfriend sled backseat. We get older and she finally accept the heated vest 4 years ago, the heated gloves the next year and she would not ride again without them now. I add this season the electric visor (an other wire!) and she appreciate too. Maybe I will be able to add the socks next year! 

We were usually using hotpads in the boots for the colder days. The brand "Hothands" 2"x3" individual pads rated 18hours are very efficient and really last the whole day( they are usually still warm after 24hours!) in contrary as the regular hotpads that are rated 8 hours and last 4! 

The vest and glove Kristine is using are the brand "venture heat" without wired control box, but the vest have an integrated 3 heat setting managable from a small unwired remote control that Kristine keep in her mitts. Im pretty sure it is possible to add on some insole or pants to the system

But I'm a bit worried to overload the sled electrical system. it's hard to know exactly the power amount available after all sled's features took their part... i'm pretty sure the 'broiling" double heated seat probably take a good toll on it!

I installed a fuse box (30 AMP) connected to the battery. When the machine starts the accessories (GPS, Lights, Winch, Mrs GT stuff) get power. It has worked great for the 2 seasons so far.  I can give you the info when I get home.

We do not use the heated seat. If it is snowing you will be on a wet seat.

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