The Perfect Storm (January 24-29, 2010)

First, I would like to thank all of the weather men and women in the US and Canada for keeping all of the honest, hard-working, snowmobilers off of the trail. Second, I'd like to thank Meteo-Media and the FCMQ for accurate forecasts and trail conditions. Now on to the details of the trip...

This was the first planned full week trip for the season. With a major warm-up and rain in the forecast for Day 2 of the trip, the question was, where to go? Only two places had enough snow for a 6-day ride, Monts Valin and Bas-St-Laurent. Monts Valin seemed the least risky, but was the sweet spot for rain, and the elavation wouldn't help, plus I've already ridden twice up there this year. Conditions for Quebec city all the way East to the end of Gaspe were all good [except the South side of Gaspe] and the forecast was for less rain the further East you go, so that's what we decided to do. One thing I've learned over the years, was if you cancel a trip due to the forecast, you wouldn't get much riding done. Worst case, we get a 2-3 day ride and go home. We decided to drive up Saturday, January 23, and start from outside Quebec City, at Hotel Bernieres, the shortest drive by truck to good conditions.

I drove up with John, and we met Don there. I had the 2009 Renegade 600-Etec for the trip [8060 miles at the start]. Still with the 1.75" ripsaw track [no studs], new simmons skis, new belt, extra set of wheels, and slightly worn hyfax.

Day 1: St-Nicolas to Rimouski

Conditions: +15/30F, Sunny, hard and flat trails

Details: TQ5, 297 miles, 14.1 mpg, 41.8 mph [avg], 7:11 travel time.

Today was the calm before the storm. So the plan was to head straight East to get ahead of the storm. A nice sunny day, with excellent conditions and little traffic. Here's a pic at every one's favorite van...

Don wasn't feeling well, so he decided to bail. Other than that, the day was uneventful. We decided to try the Hotel Rimouski, a great place, but a little difficult to get to through town.

After researching trail and weather updates, we decided to continue straight East, hopefully, ahead of the storm. The forecast was for much less rain toward the end of Gaspe.

Day 2: Rimouski to Mont St-Pierre

Conditions: +20/40F, cloudy, freezing rain, rain, loose and flat trails.

Details: TQ5, 261 miles, 16.0 mpg, 37.2 mph [avg], 7:06 travel time.

At 6am, it was still dry...so far so good, so let's try for Mont St-Pierre. At 7am, the freezing rain started, and was accumulating by the time we left...

Things were looking bleak for a while...
but that's what Gortex is for. Then we finally got out ahead of the storm, and things were dry all the way to Mont St-Pierre...

We got to see all of the scenic stops, and made the run up the Mountain to the sky-dive point, talk about wind, wow.

After researching that evening, it looked like any rain would luckily come overnight. However, we weren't expecting the 40-100 mph winds in the forecast, worse the farther East you go. The plan for the next day would be to loop out to Murdochville and end up around Matane.

Day3: Mont St-Pierre to Rimouski.

Conditions: +40/45F, Cloudy, mashed potato trails, very sticky.

Details: TQ5, 235 miles, 13.3 mpg, 36.0 mph [avg], 6:36 travel time.

Once again, the forecast was right on. During the middle of the night it sounded like a hurricane was coming through. I couldn't hear any rain, but the wind was incredible. Some time during the night we lost power, good thing it was +45 F when we got up. Since no electricity equals no gas, and there were probably a lot of trees down, we decided to head back West, and skip Murdochville. It was warm...and with no electricity, we skipped breakfast and hit the trails to see the damage. It didn't take long to find trees down...

Still a beautiful view...
all of the wind swept out all of the ice on the water. After turning out of the lookout, it became very clear how sticky the trails really were...

good to see there was still plenty of snow, and good to see the sun again...

These were unique trail conditions, for sure...

It's hard to remember how many trees we ran into, maybe a dozen or so. We thought this one would be a problem, but it wasn't...
and good trail conditions were still everywhere... Even with all of the trail work, we still made it to Rimouski at a reasonable hour. Very wet snow was coming down at a good pace. This time we decided to try Hotel L'Empress since it was easier to get to. It was starting to cool down quickly. Research showed some more cool down and flurries overnight and the freeze up at Mont Valin was big, and with no backside snow, led to cooling and hyfax problems...something we were worried about, especially with the 1.75" track. However, the forecast here was still no deep freeze in sight till Friday, and some snow every day.

Day 4: Rimouski to Amqui

Conditions: +15/30 F, sunny then cloudy, perfect trails, 2-4" new snow.

Details: TQ5/587, 262 miles, 13.3 mpg, 39.5 mph [avg], 6:43 travel time.

A beautiful, chilly morning, with perfect riding conditions...

50 miles in, still no sleds in sight, and perfect...Ater gassing up, we stopped off at Groomer's club to drop off a package. Still no sleds in sight, so we decided to take the 587 loop toward Pointe-a-la-Croix and then TQ5 North, and stay at Amqui. The 587 was awesome...
Under the snow was still an unfrozen base from the rain, so we weren't able to run flat out in the corners, so we did have to use the brake. After the 85 miles or so alone on the 587, we intersected TQ5, near PLC, still no traffic...
Almost to hard to believe, so it was time for bumper-cam...
Still no traffic when we entered Groomer's territory...

Ater a great day on the trails we ended up at the Ambassador for the night. They lied, and don't have Internet access there, so we had dinner at the Selectotel to use the wireless there. The forecast looked good and trail conditions looked good, except for near the truck, so we decided to head back West in case the rain had really done a number on things. It was 400 miles or so back to the truck, which we could split up into two days if things were really bad.

Day 5: Amqui to Montmagny

Conditions: +25/32F, cloudy. Hard, flat trails, with 2-4" fresh snow.

Details: 587/579/TQ5/548/569/TQ85/544/TQ35/551/TQ5, 371 miles, 17.1 mpg, 39.5 mph [avg], 9:21 travel time.

The forecast was great and fcmq upgraded the trails near the truck, so we thought maybe stay at Pohenegamook. Another perfect day, with perfect trails...

till we got past Squatec. The 548 to Cabano was closed. It looked like there was a reroute, freshly groomed and signed, till we met the guys installing the signs. They verified the Cabano trail was closed since xmas, and we were on a new trail, 3-days old, that loops over the lake to TQ85. We followed it for a while, but lost the trail at two logging roads. We decided not to risk it, since there was active logging and no signs. We went back to Squatec and took the 569 under the lake. TQ85 was ice with loose snow. The 548 and TQ35 were fine to Pohenegamook. Since we were there by 2pm, we decided to go straight for Montmagny and have a half day ride for Friday.

Lac Pohenegamook was closed, so we found the alternate route around it. Then it was almost a hundred miles of rail bed [where's the cruise control]...
After a total of 370 miles, it was into the Hotel at 6pm, another new stop, L'Oiseliere. Everything looked good for the short trip back to the truck.

Day 6: Montmagny to St. Nicolas

Conditions: 0/+5F, cloudy, windy, light snow.

Details: TQ5/551/TQ35/TQ75, 120 miles, 13.9 mpg, 36.6 mph [avg], 3:13 travel time.

A cold and very windy day, with some snow. Drifting all over, a few big-ones. Everything was still good, back at the railroad bed...Everything was fine on TQ35, then it was down-hill after that...

Trails were very hard, and bumps were frozen in. There were some good patches on the last stretch of TQ75 towards the end. At 11:30am, we were at the truck and packing up for home, still very cold and windy.

Overall, a great trip, especially given the circumstances. This is a great time of year to ride, since trails will be packed in February. The sled held up well, and it's good to see that the extra set of wheels really helped the hyfax wear, especially in these conditions. Statistics for the trip were...1538 miles, 14.6 mpg, 171 mpq [of oil], gas was about $1.12 [ca] per liter [mostly super], $1.07 [ca] exchange rate, fuel cost was $445 [us], using 105 gallons of gas, and 9 quarts of oil