arubenstein Posted December 30, 2008 Report Share Posted December 30, 2008 Just curious what happened with all the rain. Any news in for lac-st-jean or quebec or st. raymond or shawinigan or chibougamou... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpionbowl Posted December 30, 2008 Report Share Posted December 30, 2008 After riding for 4-days, I decided to head home after the rain. I'm sure Monts-Valin held up fine and the rain may have helped since the snow was so loose. The lower trails around LSJ and the Saguenay river were either fair, poor, or closed before the rain, so they must be poor at best now. There was little snow in the forecast... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dozer Posted January 1, 2009 Report Share Posted January 1, 2009 After riding for 4-days, I decided to head home after the rain. I'm sure Monts-Valin held up fine and the rain may have helped since the snow was so loose. The lower trails around LSJ and the Saguenay river were either fair, poor, or closed before the rain, so they must be poor at best now. There was little snow in the forecast... The entire region got hit and affected by the ice, even up in Mt Valin. Alot of trails are open, and groomers are smoothing things out as best as possible, but we are in need of a good foot of snow to make things comfortable. I sure wouldn't come looking to do any boondocking just yet...that could get expensive! Down in LSJ the trails are pretty rough as the groomers just don't have too much to work with. I ran 120kms yesterday, Home- Chicoutimi, and looped down to La Boulaniere and back. There was quite a bit of ice and I found myself searching for cooling snow on the edges as the trails were that hard packed. Happy Doo Year! Dozer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revct1 Posted January 3, 2009 Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 We just got back from Chicoutimi yesterday. We trailered up Sunday, Dec 28, 2008, and rode Monday thru Thursday then drove home Friday. The trip up Sunday was warm and with some rain. Monday cooled down to -10C. The trails in Chicoutimi were icy so we trailered to Valinouet and rode trail 93 to La Chapelle. The trail had been groomed recently and was good. A few riders at La Chapelle having an early lunch. We stayed on 93 and made a loop around Six Mile Lake, up trail C900 and then back to La Chapelle. Returning to the truck at Valinouet, we took Bras Louis. This too had recently been groomed. Even the connecting trail 267 from 93 had been groomed. A few sleds out but not many. Tuesday was cooler, -20C. We rode out of Chicoutimi and crossed the river at Shipshaw. The trail was still icy without much powder for cooling or lubrication. Once we crossed the river, the trails had some powder and were being groomed. It look like the clubs were out trying to get everything groomed before the New Year. We rode trail 367, 482 and 485 up to Scoobyraid. Only one other sled in the lot at 11:30 am. We had a nice lunch and headed down trail 367 / 484 to Lac Labrecque and picked up 328 to a local trail that brought us down to 93. We stopped at Relais Montognard. The groomer passed while we were in the relais. We rode 93 back to Shipshaw and then into Chicoutimi. Wednesday we decided to stay north of the Saguenay River since the trails were so good. We rode out of Chicoutimi again and then stayed on 93 west. We rode as far as Relais Erabliere in St Augustin. It was closed. It didn't look like it had been open yet this year? :sad: We rode back to Ste Monique and had lunch. We then rode back 93 to Chicoutimi. Again, north of the river was very good, even around Alma and St Henri had enough snow. South of the river was icy. Thursday we decided to ride to Relais Apica and maybe L'Etape. Not too much powder on 83 and 368. Still a lot of ice on the trail. We didn't take it but trail 383 that goes back up to Jonquiere that crosses the Barrage has been rerouted a few kilometers to the west of the old trail. It may have had something to do with the reconnstruction of route 175. Trail 368 got worse the further we rode it. It had just been groomed but it looked like it was the first pass by the groomer this year. Many sapplings and brush sticking up thru the trail. We were about 10 kilometers from the junction with 23 when one of the sleds took a sappling thru the grill. We decided to u-turn and head back to Chicoutimi. After all of the great riding north of the river, we shouldn't have tried heading south. Most areas north of the river had plenty of snow especially for this early in the season. Scoobyraid looked liked mid January. Mount Valin was fine. No big storms in the forecast for the near future though. We will be back up Martin Luther King weekend. Not sure where we are riding. Depends on how much time we can get off. Hope to see everyone soon. Jack & Sandi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viper2 Posted January 3, 2009 Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 We just got back from Chicoutimi yesterday. We trailered up Sunday, Dec 28, 2008, and rode Monday thru Thursday then drove home Friday.The trip up Sunday was warm and with some rain. Monday cooled down to -10C. The trails in Chicoutimi were icy so we trailered to Valinouet and rode trail 93 to La Chapelle. The trail had been groomed recently and was good. A few riders at La Chapelle having an early lunch. We stayed on 93 and made a loop around Six Mile Lake, up trail C900 and then back to La Chapelle. Returning to the truck at Valinouet, we took Bras Louis. This too had recently been groomed. Even the connecting trail 267 from 93 had been groomed. A few sleds out but not many. Tuesday was cooler, -20C. We rode out of Chicoutimi and crossed the river at Shipshaw. The trail was still icy without much powder for cooling or lubrication. Once we crossed the river, the trails had some powder and were being groomed. It look like the clubs were out trying to get everything groomed before the New Year. We rode trail 367, 482 and 485 up to Scoobyraid. Only one other sled in the lot at 11:30 am. We had a nice lunch and headed down trail 367 / 484 to Lac Labrecque and picked up 328 to a local trail that brought us down to 93. We stopped at Relais Montognard. The groomer passed while we were in the relais. We rode 93 back to Shipshaw and then into Chicoutimi. Wednesday we decided to stay north of the Saguenay River since the trails were so good. We rode out of Chicoutimi again and then stayed on 93 west. We rode as far as Relais Erabliere in St Augustin. It was closed. It didn't look like it had been open yet this year? :sad: We rode back to Ste Monique and had lunch. We then rode back 93 to Chicoutimi. Again, north of the river was very good, even around Alma and St Henri had enough snow. South of the river was icy. Thursday we decided to ride to Relais Apica and maybe L'Etape. Not too much powder on 83 and 368. Still a lot of ice on the trail. We didn't take it but trail 383 that goes back up to Jonquiere that crosses the Barrage has been rerouted a few kilometers to the west of the old trail. It may have had something to do with the reconnstruction of route 175. Trail 368 got worse the further we rode it. It had just been groomed but it looked like it was the first pass by the groomer this year. Many sapplings and brush sticking up thru the trail. We were about 10 kilometers from the junction with 23 when one of the sleds took a sappling thru the grill. We decided to u-turn and head back to Chicoutimi. After all of the great riding north of the river, we shouldn't have tried heading south. Most areas north of the river had plenty of snow especially for this early in the season. Scoobyraid looked liked mid January. Mount Valin was fine. No big storms in the forecast for the near future though. We will be back up Martin Luther King weekend. Not sure where we are riding. Depends on how much time we can get off. Hope to see everyone soon. Jack & Sandi Great report,been to the scoobyraid that is a nice place for lunch also stayed one night at Valinouet,had left Baie St. Paul that morning with the ladies and hit a downpour of rain while on the little ferry in Tadoussac. I usually will not ride in the rain but i didn't know how long it would last and i wanted to get out of the "hole".We headed up the trail and stopped at a gas station and called ahead to Valinouet as the # was on the trail map.This was my first time riding Mt. Valin so i didn't know there was a couple nice lodges on the way.I wish i could remember that one auberge we passed on the hill a real nice place,anyway we get to the gas station at Valinouet and get our apartment and the guy tells us to go to the ski lodge if we want dinner.We go up there and they had closed so we come back and get frozen pizza and tv dinners to make ourselves.we look over at the gas station 5 min. later and they are closed,we almost went hungry that night.I'll never forget that night that is what makes snowmobiling esp. a saddlebag trip so fun.You can go through a place like that even 10 years later and remember that whole trip in your mind like it was yesturday.Nothing relaxes my mind like sledding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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