2008 Season Opener (January 19-25, 2008)

This is the time of year when the big miles accumulate. The first 7-day trip of the year. The sled just came out of the shop with an all new crank, bearings, and brakes...ready to go. Conditions were still recouperating from the big washout, and just before leaving, all of the important river crossings were open. Once again, we decided to start from the Montagnard since it's the safest, condition-wise. As usual, the food was horrible.

This trip was the usual crew, John, Marty, Tom, and I. Since conditions were ify, we had no formal plan except the first day, to St-Felicien, a nice easy ride. Marty left late and didn't arrive till 4am. A bad breakfast was also late, so we ended up with a late start. The trail around the Montagnard [355 or 360] was rerouted quite a bit. Once on the pipeline Tom's Apex acted up and was reporting an error code. A quick call on the Sat-phone revealed a problem with the 4th coil, he was able to ride it to L'Tuque before closing at noon. Turned out to be a broken coil wire, a result of a preventative plug change before the season. That got Tom and I discussing whether certain preventative maintance was worth it [hmmm]. It must have been arounf 1:30pm before we were back on the road, with a ways to go. Next stop, lunch at relais 22. We left there at sunset with a final stretch to Hotel du Jardin [~80 miles]. About half way, we missed a turned and continued on a fast wide road/trail, after seeing the 83 sign and Roberval sign [which ended up having a small green right arrow on it.] This trail was very similar to Bras Louis which goes forever, but has a sharp right turn that's easy to miss. After a long full throttle run i noticed from the gps we weren't on the trail, yet we kept seeing La Dore signs with decreasing mileage. It was getting late [~8pm] and gas was going to be an issue, so I convinced the guys to go back to where the gps said we should have turned, and sure enough, we missed the right turn. This got us in at 10pm, after 307 miles.

Day 2, we hoped to get to Sacre-Couer. It was about -20F and my crap-box wouldn't start [at least last time it was -35F when it wouldn't start]. After a warmup in the garage at du Jardin, we got things running...

after 75 miles, my fully rebuilt engine melted down. Luckily, just 1/4 mile from a gas stop in Sainte Jean D'Arc. From there, it was the black trail to Dolbeau [picture not available]. Since it was Sunday, the dealer wasn't open, so I chained it to the gate and met the guys at Auberge Dilegence in time for the playoffs. The next day it was off to the dealer who said it needed a new crank [which was replaced the week before] which wasn't available till tuesday. The boys went for a ride and I found the bowling alley across the street...

Tuesday afternoon, we were ready to go. The dealer said a crank seal ring was put in wrong and let the air in. Another $1600 and off we went. Everything seemed to run great, and it was another short day to Chicoutimi, 115 miles. Since the HI was full, we tried the Hotel Sagueneenne...a good idea. What a great place...now rated better than the HI. Indoor [sheltered] sled parking, easy trail access, and should be easier to get to by truck.

Day 5 we continued thru the mountains [noticing the new gas stop atValineout]

across the river, to the Manoir Richilieu. A perfect, cold day, 270 miles, with a ~4pm arrival to luxury.

Day 6 was a fast, cold, nice ride to Shawinigan. We tried to get to the Governeur, but couldn't find the bridge trail and the Comfort inn was right there. The inn didn't have food, so we took a cab to Pub57, always great.

Day 7, Tom and Marty took the short ride and left. John and I rode through the park to Le Cabanon on perfect, freshly groomed trails...

On the way back, we decided to take the local trail, M20, off of 345. The last several years, there has been logging here, but not this year, and it may be one of my top 5 trails now. We've always wondered where the local trail M21 went, since the map shows it dead-ending after ~10 miles. It's always freshly groomed, but there's no gas within 60 miles, but with jerry's we decided to take it. It was a beautiful trail that ended at what is probably a dirty road in the summer. The pic at that intersection shows a sign, 90km to the Montagnard, and a sign behind me showed 160km to Casey.

Overall, this wasn't the best ride. Temps were very cold, no new snow, and trails were ok, but not ideal. 7-days, 1300 miles, very expensive. A look at Marty's xp [oil hog, belts at 700 miles, cheap design] and the typical skidoo problems, may mean the end of skidoo for me...