Alright here we are back in QC!

We drove to RDL on Friday and kicked things off on the trail Saturday morning.

Stayed at the Universal - a lot of upgrades there since we had bee last in 2017. Food at Boreal was top notch.

anyway to the trail. -22 c but felt like -30 something due to the wind. We got out in decent time and off towards Rimouski via 5. Trails were good, some icy sections in the trees, some low snow on a couple fields and lots of drifts due to the high winds but that was to be expected. Two of us were using new helmets, after some modifications all was good considering the cold

stopped for a warm up and gas in Rimouski. Then onwards to matane. Rolled through by 2 pm which would have been an early day if we stayed there. Gas at Harnois in St Luc de Matane. Good spot since it is on the trail and they have 91.

After gas started to get cold again. Stopped at Relais St Adelme for poutine. Then hit the last 100 kms to St Anne des Mounts in the dark. Which was great since then you could see the drifts rather than just hitting them. Stayed at hotel and cie nice place and again top notch food. Gas across the highway (although a cop told we weren’t allowed to cross - lucky by then we were already across!).

Pictures were lacking yesterday since it was so cold and windy but try again today.

And can’t seem to upload any due to the size. I’ll try to resize later. Onwards to La Cache.

Edited January 25Jan 25 by willb

Elk stew at hotel and cie

A preview of today’s ride - story to come!

Hotel and cie incudes quality breakfast sandwich options and they deliver them to your room (since they are not open for breakfast).

late start today as planned. Then even later after the recoil busted. Hoped it wasn’t fully shredded as the rope wouldn’t go back only but after inspection it was. No one had any parts that we could find since it was a Sunday (I’ll carry spare parts from now on). So we started it off the clutch and used shot the rest of the day.

left the hotel after 12 noon and to murdohville. Hotel and cie was great! People good, service good and everything clean.

was another cold one on the trail but a bit of sun so we could at least see some views.

Made it into murdochville by 4, trails were perfect and very little traffic. I guess due to the cold? No food for the public at hotel copper but the ski church: Chic Chac was open for apres ski and was a nice spot. Seems like they are expanding with skiing and the copper mine drilling again. Not sure the hours but they had finger foods beforehand and full on dinner starting at 5. Was great to warm up

Left murdohville in a rush to hit La cache as we didn’t want them to wait too long. Blasted the 595 in the dark and was great running. Nice trail too. Some bumps as we got closer to La cache but nothing a fresh groom wouldn’t fix (I think I saw the groomer was broken last week but now it’s back so maybe that’s why - was groomed ~36-72 hours ago).

Made it to La cache: gassed and unpacked, and in our room by 7. They had dinner for us which was quality and homemade. The team here was awesome and offered the garage and was helpful. They have a full bar and high test fuel. Rooms were good, clean and new, and there is your own split hvac and a drying rack. Nice spot surprised we were the only ones here. They only saw 40 sleds for gas on a Sunday.

Edited January 26Jan 26 by willb

14 minutes ago, willb said:

They only saw 40 sleds for gas on a Sunday.

There may not be as many riders this season as trails are the best we have seen in many years in Ontario and other areas so riders are exploring areas that they haven't been able to for sometime. Also, personally I wouldn't do Gaspe in January because of the cold. It is more comfortable when you hit the mid February timeframe.

6 hours ago, willb said:

Made it into murdochville by 4, trails were perfect and very little traffic. I guess due to the cold? No food for the public at hotel copper but the ski church: Chic Chac was open for apres ski and was a nice spot. Seems like they are expanding with skiing and the copper mine drilling again. Not sure the hours but they had finger foods beforehand and full on dinner starting at 5. Was great to warm up

So the Copper is only feeding overnight guests in the restaurant?

Correct. Well at least on Sunday. I didn’t ask too many questions as they didn’t seem like they wanted to talk at the hotel.

He can be a cranky independent guy. LOL

Chic chac I would recommend though! Just check their hours.

Day 3 - La Cache to Amqui

The folks at La Cache were top notch and after breakfast we headed towards Matane . 595 was great and the groomer was out and about.

Saw a few more sleds on the trails today but nothing too busy. Got back on the 5 and headed west and then South. Dumped our Jerry cans in and made it to Amqui . Went to Andre Halle’s for some recoil parts (they had what we needed and they were very helpful). Top notch there. We decided to deal with the recoil at home but at least we have the parts.

Plan was to loop down to Albertville and Causapscal then back to Amqui for the night. The clubhouse in Albertvill closes at 4 pm on Mondays and we arrived at 350 so decided to go to Auberge La Coulee Douce at the recommendation of the folks at the dealer.

wow was not disappointed - best meal yet and they even had homemade sugar pie (best I have ever had). Going back there in the future for sure!

blasted the last 40 kms back to Amqui and Selectohotel for the night.

We even got a tour of the battery room at La Cache (sorry no pictures)

More to come

Please tell me about staying at La Cache. Is it still the rooms upstairs? How many do they have? Still shared bathroom?

Always friendly there.

willb, many thanks for your report and pics and glad you guys are having a nice ride and trip.

FYI.......I will be adding that "elk stew" pic into the "food porn" hall of fame as it certainly looks worthy !!!!

Yes all rooms are upstairs. My understanding is the rooms on the ground floor are for the employees who stay there. I forgot to ask how may rooms they have as was focused on the solar system haha. But we stayed in the suite room, which was not too much bigger but that gave us our own bathroom . I think they said they have two of those type of rooms but I could be mistaken. They even gave us a cot to use in there. Room had TV, fridge, drying rack and was clean. Nothing fancy but good for $200. Booking process was seamless as well, all done through email. They said in Feb they have a lot of bookings.

seems like the bar would stay open if you had a group as well. They close to the public at 6 pm and then serve dinner when you want it (the did it for us at 730 or so), dinner was good, and homemade and seemed to change but no choice (well we didn’t ask either).

16 hours ago, iceman said:

Please tell me about staying at La Cache. Is it still the rooms upstairs? How many do they have? Still shared bathroom?

Always friendly there.

14 hours ago, snowmaster2112 said:

willb, many thanks for your report and pics and glad you guys are having a nice ride and trip.

FYI.......I will be adding that "elk stew" pic into the "food porn" hall of fame as it certainly looks worthy !!!!

Sounds good! I’ll get you a couple more pictures on today’s report!

Looking forward to seeing your upcoming ride reports, always enjoying reading them.

Thank you was just what i was looking for

Well back to day 3

Trails were perfect all day and we started to see some wildlife. saw a moose and a calf on the trail coming into La Cache at night, that was lucky as we got between her calf and the mother but she got off the trail and all was good. Lots of animal tracks in and around the trail.

Then we saw a number of deer on and near the trail. This picture was from the matapedia valley on day 3.

And the groomer at La cache

The best sugar pie in QC hands down - Coulee Douce

Crusted cod with rice and vegetables maybe the tartar sauce as well

pesto pasta with chicken, again the best of the best

Night ride back to Amqui.

Edited January 28Jan 28 by willb