Had a great ride last week on some rather rough trails for Quebec but they improved as the week went on and things cooled down. We rode from St Pamphile to Amqui the first day via 557 35 548 579 587 265 miles.

Got checked and the trail wardens had some fun with Snowmaster 2112 and Greg.

Rode Amqui to St Anne des Monts the second day. Short day as we could not get a room in Mont St Pierre due to the amount of traffic so we pulled in early and had some refreshments.

Next day we rode to Perce on the 5. Some good trails but mostly rough. 250 miles.

Some minor sled problems found us at the dealer in Chandler the next morning and we had to stay in New Richmond for the night. The Francis was completely full as was the smaller hotel near the gas station so we ended up at a new place for all of us called the Cascapedia Lodge in the western part of New Richmond. The owners name is Real and he can speak very good english and is a great host. It is a lodge that was built by a company for its employees but was sold a number of years ago. The rooms are very comfortable and it has a beautiful lounge area and the food was 5 star!!

Glen and Kevin enjoying the fire.

Packing up the next am.

We left New Richmond and rode to Albertville for lunch then on to Cabano and stayed at the Royal 300 mile day.

Up early the next morning and headed to the trucks in by 11:30 for a trip total of 1252 miles.

Overall a great trip meeting some new riders and an old friend as well.

Andy

Nice Trip.

Thanks for the tip on the hotel.

We were in the Gaspe last week. With the exception of the Amqui-Albertville area and perhaps a little of the 5 around Matane the trails were a complete embarassment. The ride from La Cache to St. Pauline was the worst I have ever seen the trails in Quebec. The highlight was the fantastic food and service outside LaCache at the logging camp. Just so you know we ride only Quebec and we are by no means newbies to riding in Quebec. The Gaspe just has terrible grooming overall with the exception of Amqui-Albertville which is Groomers area and to me my favorite place in Quebec to ride. So many great places to play and ride. I think the problem withthe Gaspe is money, they have such fantastic trails to ride but not enough money to keep the groomers on the trail to make sure they are nice pretty. The other issue is teh amount of traffic and lack of local or regional trails make it difficult.

Unfortunately, the Gaspe is probably the most scenic tour you can experience with a snowmobile. As a result, there are many tourist who want to see it by snowmobile. Since many come from France, tour groups can't risk booking trips in January and March because of the variable conditions. They all take TQ5 which is why it's so bad, and why the orange and green trails are good. My first two trips around the Gaspe were in mid-February, last year, I didn't go because of my past experiences. With the early snow this year, we rode it in January, and it was excellent. With all of the snow this year, we may ride it again late-March. January and March are the best times to ride the Gaspe, if the snow and weather are good, leave February to the tours...

Just to let you know the amount of traffic on the trails. Patsy at the club in Chandler told us they have been having 300 sleds per day go through their yard!!! For the most part the greatest percentage of riders we met were either Quebecois or Americans all having fun. I agree with the comments regarding the quality of the trails.

Andy