Jump to content

The F__ Lady is singing


doo4adoo
 Share

Recommended Posts

With a look of the oncoming weather forecast we figured we better make one for run. Bad season for us and yes I know better than many of yours but still

So a look at the map and not a lot of opportunities for a weekend run within a reasonable truck ride. Lots of red trails. So we opted for out safe bet area and said Saint Ann du Lac and north. Called around and not a lot of space. Appears others had the same idea. Clova full, Parent full, Windigo closed, Kanawata closed except for gas. 100 Lac's room! So we finished work Friday and hit the road. Wanted to stay in Saint Ann, but you guessed it full. Comfort Inn has rooms. She says there's no snow. Silly lady of course there's snow if you know where to look. Obviously she's not in charge of marketing & tourism. We wanted St Hubert for dinner but they have to close for 9pm with the curfew. Hammer down I want by bird. Ordered ahead and pulled in at 8;58pm. All good well delicious actually 🙂 

Woke the next morning and it was a bit different than our last start. Included the picture from Jan 16 2021. Off we go to Tim's and then off to Saint Ann. Parking was hard to find trucks everywhere today. Unload and off we go. Lake frozen and some snow. Good start. End of lake to the orange trail. Lots of dirt. Dogging here & there for snow but after a few miles conditions improve. Once on the way it actually was very good. Plan today was ride up to parent for lunch and then back track to 100 Lacs. Not a lot of options. Passed lots of sleds, great to see people getting in a last ride. Chatted with some riders at Fer Cheval for a while no rush today.  Came across some sledders with rad issues. Fixed them up with a can of rad leak fix. Not sure why they're surprised I had some. Doesn't every one carry this? Onwards to Parent. Expecting it to be nasty once we got closer to Parent. Yep but actually not as bad as i was expecting. Gassed up got some munchies from the store and pulled across the road. Group of 9 Cats also there enjoying life.

After a nice break off we go to 100 Lacs. Haven't been on this trail in many many years but it was good & fun. Pulled in just before 4. Saw the gas man out so figured better to do it now. Was a little concerned with quality as he's now pumping out of some portable tank, all main tanks are done. Well I made it back so it turned out it was fine. Parked the sled and with the sun shining ordered some cold beers to enjoy outside and talk with some of the others now arriving. Great end to the day. 6;30 dinner call. Beef or Trout. We opted for the beef, came with salad, soup and marble cake. All served in our rooms still. Well considering there's no shooters allowed and wifi sucked i called it an early night.

Breakfast call at 7;30 and choice of eggs or French toast. I tool the latter. Maple syrup was yummy. Paid may bill and off we go. Trails were crunchy this morning. They froze up over night so ride wasn't as spectacular early going. We wanted to go back via Meekos but heard snow was scarce between Meekoos and Saint Ann. So we opted for the safe run back. A noteable difference of snow felt since yesterday. We can hear her singing. Heading across the lake today it was glare ice. Our sleds did not like this. My buddy's shuts off about 1/2 mile from the end, mine was hot so we wait a few minutes its not far we can almost see our truck. He starts and able to go. I start and it won't move. Check the belt and its fine. Crap did i damage something here? Pull out the rope and buddy's son is going to pull me home. Well a group of riders show up. We met them yesterday and one was actually getting his sled brought back with us as his partner had to abort yesterday. So he says lift the sled and hit the track. Couldn't believe it. Track was melted to the slides. First time I ever experienced this or even heard of this. Well start it up and off we go. In the truck and loaded by 11am. 

We know its our last run and this is way early for us as usually our last is early April. We were still beaming because it was a great weekend be it short and will talk about it for some time.

A few pictures of the day. Just the good trails!  Will also see a picture I took a few weeks back locally around my place of a moose. He was on the trail and I just stopped and waited for him to mossy on.

Hoping for all of us that next winter brings us all back to the trails and back supporting the outfitters, mom & pop places we have come to love. Hopefully they will still be there for us next winter.

Stay well and support local.

1.jpg

2.jpg

3.jpg

4.jpg

5.jpg

6.jpg

7.jpg

8.jpg

9.jpg

10.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice season ender. Still looks 'wintry'.   Back in the '60's and 70's when slide rail suspensions were becoming popular, sticking the track to the sliders was fairly common. Big screw driver was a must have tool.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always add extra wheel kits and run a stainless steel wing on the inside of my skis to throw the ice and snow the carbides cut into the track windows, keeps things cool but a lot of dust following me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I likely met you at some point , we stayed in parent Friday night and back to Sainte Anne Du Lac on Sat . Was heading to Relais 22 but ran out of snow at Wemotaci and had to turn around.

Stayed in a cabin at Repos Thurs night , trails were all very good except about a mile of logging road near Manawan , in which we drove our sleds through thick reddish brown slop for nearly 10 mins .  Sure am happy I put deposit down on new 2022 last week .

Edited by sledfarmer
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, sledfarmer said:

I likely met you at some point , we stayed in parent Friday night and back to Sainte Anne Du Lac on Sat . Was heading to Relais 22 but ran out of snow at Wemotaci and had to turn around.

Stayed in a cabin at Repos Thurs night , trails were all very good except about a mile of logging road near Manawan , in which we drove our sleds through thick reddish brown slop for nearly 10 mins .  Sure am happy I put deposit down on new 2022 last week .

Likely did pass. Lots of folks out this weekend and lots of Ontario plates in the parking lot. We heard snow coverage was low most of the winter in that area of relais 22. I had wanted to go that route but was concerned about coverage.

What did you order for next season?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, mikerider said:

Nice season ender. Still looks 'wintry'.   Back in the '60's and 70's when slide rail suspensions were becoming popular, sticking the track to the sliders was fairly common. Big screw driver was a must have tool.

Like I said I only took the good pictures 🙂 Ya but overall in the bush and areas was still good. But this week is warm and sunny and late week a looooot of rain. Bye bye snow.

I was only born in the 60's and I don't recall having a problem with my 72 Polaris 

Did you get much riding in this season? It would be interesting to start a poll and see what people were able to get mileage wise this season and how they filled their time. I know my wife saw more of me that she wanted. I think in the end all I got was maybe a 1000 miles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sled is in storage but maybe around 3,000 plus for miles. I did a lot of 3 to 6 night trips instead of the two week trips I usually do to RDL each month.

I actually really enjoyed riding Maine,  A lot less driving to the destination and lots of really good lunch stops.  More sled traffic and less consistent smooth trails were the downside. But if I get stuck in Maine next winter I will still be happy. I really enjoyed renting the Polaris Matryx VR1 a couple times. And the hotel owner let us QuebecRiders use the old/closed bar/breakfast room for late afternoon QR happy hours. I may go back to Millinocket this summer with the kayak and fly rod and check out the new Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument.

So overall, I had a pretty good winter.

mike

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, doo4adoo said:

Likely did pass. Lots of folks out this weekend and lots of Ontario plates in the parking lot. We heard snow coverage was low most of the winter in that area of relais 22. I had wanted to go that route but was concerned about coverage.

What did you order for next season?

going to try the XRS this time

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...