So, my first time riding in this part of Quebec and it was really pretty good. Reminds me more of Jackman / Rangeley / Moosehead area in Maine with a little bit of power line riding thrown in for good measure. We almost didn't make it up there on Wednesday evening because I came this close to crashing into a deer on the way up but somehow avoided the deer .... barely !!!!
Day 1 of Riding: Took the connector trail out of Lac Etchemin and headed East on the 55 through forested trails, old woods roads, powerlines and some fields to the 547 to Daaquam then up 551 and back on 55E to the Gaz in Paquet. Got some Chocolate Chaud for the wife, pitstop and get back on the trail 55 now headed West and stayed on the main trail all the way back to Lac Etchemin. The snow and the trails were very good east of Lac Etchemin and especially in the mountains near Saint Magliore.
Day 2 of Riding: Much much colder today! Talking about a 25 to 30 degree difference. Since the mountain region we passed through yesterday had a lot of snow we decided to head that way on day 2. Went up the 545N through Mont du Soleil to Bellachaise (Gaz here). This was very mountainous terrain and we didn't get to make up much time and it was slow going with snow blowing around all day. At the T intersection 547, I asked N or S and my wife said N so we climbed the mountain trail through the pine trees with LOTS OF SNOW to the top of the Mountain with great views of the countryside and the HUGE wind turbines but the snow was deep and had some issues going down the other side because again the snow was being blown off the trees and we couldn't see so didn't want to go off the trail and get stuck. That and it was getting colder and colder so we broke off the trip a bit and headed back to Lac Etchemin on the 55W.
Day 3 of Riding: Decided to head South on the 545 and perhaps go to the border and loop up through Notre Dame du Pins and Beauceville back to the 55 and head E to Lac Etchemin. BIG MISTAKE !!!! The ride down through to Saint Prosper was flat and fast but the snow and the trails got thinner and thinner so we broke off onto the 535 connector trail to 55N and that's when it started to get really bad. The further N we went and closer to Bauceville the worse it got and the traffic heavier and heavier. The last 20 miles on 55E back to Lac Etchemin were pretty beat.
All in all, I'd say this was a good trip using a Chalet in Lac Etchemin for a base camp (and it had a Hot Tub !!!) to go out in multiple directions for some decent loops was a great choice and I would go there again. We didn't do any hard riding as the weather was quite tricky with sticky wet snow and 35-36 degree temps on Day 1, Low single digits and a lot of wind on Day 2 and then Day 3 was a typical heavy traffic Saturday. I think anything Northeast and East of Lac Etchemin will be very good riding.
By
capril19 ·
