St-Laurence river south/north shores day loop photo/video report 5february2022

[towing]

We were due for a crazy day ride...



It's a 300+miles loop ride running on both side of the St-Laurence river via a ferry and bridge that get around the large Montreal city, this doable from the porch of my home. Having done it before we already knew it was an ambitious day ride, way more than doing a 300 miles in norther area. There are many roads and highways and rail road crossings+ the ferry and "the unexpected" that insure a very full day ride.

So we started from home at 8:00 am to catch the 9:00 ferry in St-Ignace de Loyola. Freshly groomed trail to warm up...



Arriving at the first river trail path, it was a bit scary



The St-Laurence river level got a bit higher in the night and cause water to rise on the ice on the sides. It is more scary than dangerous because the trail snow bank already cover the immediate side of the river where it can be dangerous and the small water pool we got is over the full river ice cover. It's been so cold since the beginning of the season that this ice is for sure thick enough to support the weight of a Yamaha so no worries we are on a BRP! 



We got at the ferry at 8:45



This ferry is one of the cheap option to cross the St-Laurence river: $7,60 for a sled and his driver and $11,35 in our case for an old married couple +sled



There is actually 2 ferries that offer crossings every 30 minutes on each sides during most of the day(see the web site for full schedule)



Our ferry had an hard time to accost because of the ice. It had to move back and forth many times to clear/crush all the ice along the dock and the 10 minutes crossing turn to over an half an hour one. We got back on the south shore trail at 9:45.

The first stretch along the river to get out of Sorel city was rough but we cross the groomer that was about to solve that

We quickly got on the #5 trail that we follow most of the path up the west of Montreal city. Not a lot snow but good conditions. We could feel few earth bumps in the skis on some very windy pass but the trails were overall very good  





You need to not be allergic to road crossing, especially highway crossings. I quickly counted and we cross the #30 highway 5 times, the #20 and #10 then the #15 2 times also the #640 and #25 and this on or under viaduct and even with a tunnel for the #640

We stopped there for a small break around 11:30



Here a first video(of three) that summarize this first part. you can always push the reader 4 arrows icon to pass in full screen

Continuing on the #5 trail we could saw St-Hilaire mountain that we usually view riding by car



Here after #20 highway crossing, good conditions



It began to get worse after the #15 highway crossing. Last Friday fluffy snow had been more generous there and with the very strong winds we had there was a lot snow blades/drifts in the trail. The visibility stayed good but the bumpy drifts slowed down us to keep in the safe and comfortable zone.



We even crossed a groomer that flatten our route for a few miles but the drifts were forming again quickly behind





We also had something I don't encounter often, a long train that gave us a 12 minutes break before clearing the way



We left the #5 trail in St-Michel area (west of Montreal) to cut toward St-Louis de Gonzague(bridge). We had few trail changes to make so I pointed my destination on the Gps to make it easy but a change between my map version and the real world trail glitched my gps that route us on the wrong side. I figured something was wrong by seeing directions for villages that we had already pass before. I got my cell phone out and made a check with Imotoneige that locate us and confirmed we were out of our route. We stepped back but it add some miles over an already busy ride.  

Here the 2nd video that summarize that part of the ride

 

We finally reached our ticket to the north shore at St-Louis de Gonzague around 4:00pm. It's a 3/4 miles long car bridge over Beauharnois canal were snowmobiles are allowed to cross for free. The bridge is also almost snow free so I did as usual and throw some dish wash soap on my track slides before starting the crossing to help our mule to move our 2 ass on the other side of the bridge without overheating too much. It went very well.



After crossing the Beauharnois canal we were needing next to cross the other half of the St-Laurence river that is done directly on ice. Even not groomed it ride nicely



We then continued to catch the #33 trail, The day was already well advanced



We got on the long Deux-Montages lake a bit past 5:30pm. A bit bumpy but it was ok and was riding good. We missed our target to cross it at daylight... here brief turn to admire the sky behind us 



We stopped for a real supper break at Île Bizard snowmobile relay around 6:00pm. We were near alone there but the people who operate the place told us they were crazy busy from the morning up to the end of afternoon and had depleted most of their food stocks. I took a good club sandwich with a cheese slice in place of the tomatoes and it was delicious! Nice authentic people there, I recommend it! 

We got back in saddle a bit before 7:00pm to do the remaining 90miles to get home

The sony flash was in strike

The trails in this area were pretty worn out and I adjusted the beat to go forward but safe given our day fatigue and the conditions. Our way home went well and we also got the chance to hit some freshly groomed trails on some sectors

Here the 3rd and last video that summarize this last stretch 

 

We finally got home at 10:15PM with 340miles in our butts for the day. The small 900 ace did it flawlessly even if my old venture/expert-x miss missed us in the rough sections. We didn't needed to get rocked to sleep that night!

Another nice good big ride for us !

Alain

 

Edited February 8, 2022 by towing

[mccaffrey]

Crazy ride, crazy day.   thank you

[PLAYHARD]

Big merci yo!

So many great bits n pieces!

In your pics & vids & writing!

My fave is the shadow in the 2nd video @ 1:20!

Great eye and capture!

Thanks again!

[snowmaster2112]

Alain, did I ever tell you that you are my "hero" ?

When I die I want to come back reincarnated as YOU !!

You and Kristine are true Canadian motoneige icons !!!!!

[Jackstraw]

Love reading your reports, especially since I can't be there!

[P Hardy]

Huge day, especially riding two up! Thanks for taking us along!

[grumpysanta]

Great video's and story  .guys.. I think you need a new set of carbides..enjoy ' love the ile biz. club house.

[Cobra]

They are the true ROCK STARS OF THE NORTH!!!!!!

Its literally POETRY IN MOTION!!!!!!

Alain my friend keep em coming!!!!!

[towing]

On 2/8/2022 at 12:21 AM, mccaffrey said:

Crazy ride, crazy day.   thank you

It's fun push a bit our limits sometimes!

On 2/8/2022 at 1:55 AM, PLAYHARD said:

Big merci yo!

So many great bits n pieces!

In your pics & vids & writing!

My fave is the shadow in the 2nd video @ 1:20!

Great eye and capture!

Thanks again!

The shadows are most of time fun to see on the videos. Sometimes very unexpected, I see them when checking back the video(like the one on St-Louis de Gonzague bridge 3rd video) but sometime impressive onsite like the one of the wind turbine you spot on the 2nd video. It was in the "bonus section" where I should not have been (wrong trail switching) when I saw it I immediately start the recording knowing it would be a great catch!

On 2/8/2022 at 5:22 AM, snowmaster2112 said:

Alain, did I ever tell you that you are my "hero" ?

When I die I want to come back reincarnated as YOU !!

You and Kristine are true Canadian motoneige icons !!!!!

Haha!!! I'm pretty sure that it is the clubhouse club sandwich that got you that much!!! Just be careful as what you wish, remember the film bedazzled with the beautiful Elizabeth Hurley!

We missed reading your Canadians aventures here, I begin to think at a gofundme to put you back on the snow faster!

On 2/8/2022 at 7:31 AM, Jackstraw said:

Love reading your reports, especially since I can't be there!

This forum with the many good ride reports is pretty much the best methadone available!  

On 2/8/2022 at 10:54 AM, P Hardy said:

Huge day, especially riding two up! Thanks for taking us along!

It's not so unusual for me as a driver to ride that much miles but for my best half behind she is a trooper! She calmed down a bit but when she was younger it was terrible how she was always trying to extend our rides at the end of the days, my partners and I were trashed and she was still asking for more miles!

On 2/8/2022 at 12:41 PM, grumpysanta said:

Great video's and story  .guys.. I think you need a new set of carbides..enjoy ' love the ile biz. club house.

Thanks Biron! haha yes the carbides got a beat, I gave them a short break with the roller skis on the St-Louis de Gonzague bridge.

We discovered the ile Bizard club house on this ride, we will returned for sure.

On 2/8/2022 at 7:35 PM, Cobra said:

They are the true ROCK STARS OF THE NORTH!!!!!!

Its literally POETRY IN MOTION!!!!!!

Alain my friend keep em coming!!!!!

loll! We had fun challenging ourselves on this ride. The video taken end up very nice, good stuff to share!

The weather have gone warmer in the last days and may stay mild for another couple days. We may delayed our next weekend ride on Sunday

Edited February 10, 2022 by towing

[vt_bluyamaha54]

Alain, your ride reports are always great to read and your pics + videos are excellent!

Thank you for posting