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...

xMas 2007 (Dec 27-31, 2007)

This was the first good xmas week ride in some time. It started xmas day with a ~90 mile ride at camp, with good conditions. The next day it was off to St Raymond for some real riding. I got to the Roquemont after lunch and headed out for some trail research to see how things held up after the rain. The crossing on 23 was still open, it made it through the rain. The larger crossing on 3 was also open, that was surprising, it usually isn't that early. On the way across 3, there was an open water bar, passable on the right. After crossing it, I passed a groomer with 2 18" drainage pipes. By the time I came back they were in and all was fixed. To end the day, i took a trip to the ice hotel, which was still under construction...

Thursday's plan was a solo ride to Lac Edouard. 73 was flat and hard, but not icy. I tried a loop thru Shawinigan, but the trails sucked and 318 was closed, so I returned to 73. The closer to Latuque, the thinner the snow. 355 could have used some more grooming, and since Lac Edouard wasn't passable, the alternate sucked. Plenty of open water bars along the way. Being alone and having seen issues with crossing washouts, I tried a new technique. Instead of easing into the water with the skis, and then gassing thru it [which often causes problems with the skis catching or the downward slope leading to track spin], I figured with my setup, I could stop before the washout, hit the gas to lift the front end, and continue across. It worked great and was very smooth...this technique would be valuable in a few days.

John and the snow arrived Thursday, then Friday we were off to the Holiday Inn. We headed up 23 which was excellent...

then to 368, out past La Baie and back to the HI, 263 miles. The next morning, we got up for a 6:30am breakfast only to find special xmas week hours of 7:30am, so we took off [and from now on, we may give up on package deals, and just get the rooms]. The plan was to head thru the mountains and get to Sacre Couer. The fields around Lac St Jean were just as we'd heard in wind and snow...

484 thru the mountains was poor, but at least open. As we got to Onatchiway, it got worse, but we broke most of it with ~6" of snow, so that softened the ride. The ride to Chappelle was better and quiet for a Saturday, thanks to the snow. The ride to Sacre Couer was fast and we were in early, 211 miles.

Sunday we were headed back to the HI via the Pelchat trail. This was our first time we saw the sun, and 3 to the Pelchat was in great shape, as was the Pelchat, for the start. After 5 miles or so the frech groom stopped at an Auberge. After that is was ok till marker #4, then it turned out to be 10-15" of fresh powder all the way to 252, ~35 miles. I'm not sure why it wasn't open, it was ok in November. It was a lot fun and a good experience...

till this...
This is after crossing, the picture doesn't do justice, john has a video of the crossing. We didn't have gas to turn around, and new there weren't any other serious washouts or problems [in November], so we had to cross. Here we are at the intersection of the Pelchat and 252...

We finished the day riding around the Saganuey, we hit a freshly groomed 482 with some interesting groomer ruts...

At the end of the day, -16c and 290 miles. The ride home was cold and fast, to L'Etape anyway. 83 from the HI was groomed all the way to 23, which had a warm-up shack I didn't recognize...

I wondered why John was in there so long, so I went in. Now I know why...

We tried 369 south from L'Etape, but it sucked, so we took 23 which was marginal. Overall, a good trip, no problems, and probably the earliest you should attempt a river-to-river ride. 1354 miles....and 2200+ miles before January 1. Good thing, because there's a big warmup coming next week...