2008 Season Ender (March 13-16, 2008)

This was a mixed-up season ender. Between work and the Flu, the trip was delayed then split up. John and Tom went for a 4-day ride on March 8, and Marty and I went up for 4 days on March 13. Fortunately, our trip went fairly well. Here are the details...

We drove to the Governeur on Wednesday night. The forecast looked good, with a chance of showers Sunday down south. Day 1 we headed to La Malbaie and the Fairmont Richelieu. The trails were all perfect, except for the section of TQ3 on the power-lines near Quebec city. Marty noticed he was losing brakes, so we stopped into his favorite doo-dealer in Claremont. They said they could look at it first thing in the morning, so it was off to the casino...

The next day, we started out at the dealer. As Marty guessed, the brake pads needed to be replaced [at 2500 miles]. An hour later we were on the trail. Since Marty likes to play off-trail [well, he used too], I had a plan. On the mid-season trip, we found the road to the gorges, which has been off limits to sleds for years but, no locals had even ventured down there and with a yammie, we weren't going to chance it. Over 3-weeks later, Marty and I gave it a shot, with more snow and still no signs of tracks. The trail starts with a small incline, and with my 1.5"x136"track, full throttle, i was barely moving. I figured since we were heading to a gorge, most of it would be down hill, so we wouldn't have any steep hills. There must have been 2' of powder over a few inches of harder packed snow, over probably several more feet of snow. Things were going well for a miles or so, then, pointing down a steep hill, I stopped to get Marty's opinion as to whether we'd be able to make it back up, but he was no where in sight. Here's a picture heading to the gorges...
I stopped, waited, and listened for a sled, but heard nothing. The last time I saw him, he was about a 1/2 mile back. I wasn't stuck, but I was pointed down-hill, in many feet of virgin powder. With no choice, I unloaded my gear, and pulled out my trusty shovel. After about 20 minutes or-so, I shoveled enough so I could turn my sled around [by hand], then I dug-out the snow in front of the sled so it wasn't pointing up-hill as much, so I'd at least have a chance of moving, since I was still on several feet of powder. Everything went as planned, and the sled popped out fairly easily. Here's the spot...
After reloading the sled, I again shoveled out in front of the sled since I was still pointing up-hill. Once again, that track just hooked-up and I was out...heading back a 1/2 mile or so, I saw the result of Marty's tree climb... He'd been shoveling with his hands for an hour so, and now will be buying a shovel soon. Maybe this picture gives a better perspective on the snow depth [and we never were close to the ground]... The rest of the day was a perfectly groomed ride to Lamarche. With few places to stay in the Mountains, I had heard good things about the chalets at Scoobyraid. Here's a colorful picture of the chalet... The people were very friendly, but spoke no english. They even opened up, when we wanted, to serve us breakfast. From there, you're near trail 484 that heads north into the mountains. Trails were perfect to Onatchiway where we decided to try the ZEC. It's $35 for a 3-day pass. I didn't have the trails loaded on my gps, so we stayed right and ended up on a side trail, so I loaded up my gps and saw we had to turn around. Marty took the lazy route and almost ended up at the bottom of a lake... he had further problems on the ice, but I wasn't around with the camera. We continued on the Northern most leg of the trail system. Trails were smooth and wide. The further north we went, the less traveled the trails. The were freshly groomed, but with so much snow, and little traffic, the trails were very loose, but the scenery was amazing... and after 100 miles, we gased up and headed south. It would be nice to have another day in the ZEC and head out to Bra Louis and down to La Chappelle...maybe next year. After a quick stop at the cave...we continued on to the Sagueneenne. For the final day, we headed back to Shawinigan. The forcast was for some showers, but we never saw any. TQ83 was perfect till Lac Kenogami, then they were junk till 23. Unfortunatly, the warmup hut at TQ23/83 no longer has porn on the walls. The trails from TQ23/83 to St Raymond were perfect. Groomed double-wide with some fresh powder. About 15 miles from St Raymond, Marty had electrical problems, and had to be towed to Performance Voyer. I continued on to Shawinigan while Marty arranged for a trip on the black trail. Trails from there were mixed, and the temperature rose to 46, party cloudy, with no rain. Both of us got to the Governeur at the same time. While I was loading my sled, Marty and his help were moving his sled from one truck to another. As a result, they put the bumper of his sled through the back window of his truck...why I didn't get a picture is beyond me? He duct taped a bunch of card-board over it and off he went.

Overall, 972 miles in some of the best conditions possible. Once again, the season ending ride is the best of the year, by far.