Trip #1: Dec 8-9, 2010. Monts Valin. 248 miles
This was more like a thanksgiving trip. Since conditions were marginal and Monts Valin was the only place to ride, I had to go it alone. Of course when I left, there was no snow on the ground...
There wasn't any snow on the ground till I crossed the border. Drummondville had more snow than I thought and it was starting to snow good. The drive to Chicoutimi took some time, but I finally arrived at the Hotel Sagueneenne around 6pm. Snow in the city was very thin.
After the drive to valineout, it didn't take long to find paradise...
It was a little thin near the ski area, but improved quickly. Traffic was thin and trails were good. After gas at Chapelle, it was off to the school bus. The orange trail got worse to the Pelchat turn. There wasn't any traffic or grooming on the Pelchat, but someone had been through this year. It was a great ride to the bus and good trail overall...
At lunch back at Chapelle, I met the new owner and grabbed a burger. Next was the loop over bras-louis and back to the truck. Bras-louis had its usual washout, then at the turn to Onatchiway, I was lucky to see the groomer coming from there, perfect for tomorrow.
After waking up to a fresh 1/2" of snow, it was time to head back up to the mountain. Once there, the new snow was about 10". It didn't take long on bras-louis to see about 18" of new snow. Once at the 477 turn, there was only about 4" of new snow. On the way to Onatchiway, the new snow kept getting deeper, so much so, I got stuck, then ran into two locals stuck, so I decided to turn around and loop back to Chapelle and then the Hotel.
For the drive home it was clear and cold. On the approach to L'Etape I encountered the most amazing sundog I've seen...
Overall a good trip with no problems.
Trip #2: Dec 21-22, 2010. St Raymond. 371 miles
Once again, not much riding anywhere, and Monts Valin wasn't worth the trip, so Don and I headed to the Roquemont for a couple days worth of riding. Always a great stop, and not much of crowd for this time of year. Day 1 we headed out the green fence trail and headed toward LaTuque. Conditions weren't too bad for this time of year. Once we got to Relais Jeanotte, we took the local trail to Trappeur. First time for me, and that trail was perfect. From there, we headed North to Lac Edouard, but the trail only got worse, so we turned around and headed down the 355. Here's a pic at TQ73...
of course 73 to Lac Wayagamac was perfect. Once at the intersection with 355 south, it was clear nothing was open, but the road trail into LaTuque was and it was groomed. After gas in LaTuque, we back-tracked to the Roquemont. A quick check verified the river north wasn't frozen, so we got directions to drive the trucks to Relais Lessage for tomorrows trip to L'Etape.
After unloading at Lessage, the trail was freshly groomed all the way to L'Etape. Conditions were very good, and of course the network of logging roads are some of the best...
We checked in at Auberge le Relais which really doesn't seem like it's been open for a few years, yet people say it is. We continued toward Apica, trails weren' too bad, but the Internet said it wasn't open. We met some sleds coming south, so it must be ok, but we didn't know if the gas was open at Apica, so we headed to L'Etape for gas and lunch. There were a fair number of sleds for mid-week, early season. The trip back was uneventful. Not a bad trip overall, we rode what mother nature gave us.
Trip #3: Dec 28-30, 2010. NH/Chaudiere, 538 miles
After a big storm down south at home, it looked like Northern NH and Chaudiere were the only place with decent riding, other than Monts Valin [Chicoutimi had little]. Bob offered up his place to start and was familiar with the area, certainly no place I've been before.
Day 1. We left Bob's camp with about 10" of fresh snow. There was still little in the woods, and nothing was really marked, but Bob got us through it to the Pittsburgh area, where everything was excellent. TQ65 to Lac Magentic was ok, but once through the swamp [which wasn't bad], 580 was perfect...
Conditions were excellent till 10 miles outside St Georges, which was thin and junk. Thin conditions continued on 55 till Lac Etchemin. We stayed at Le Manoir on the Lac. To get there, you have to go across the Lac, which wasn't staked, but had plenty of local traffic, so we took it anyway. Le Manoir was a nice place with a fancy restaurant [pricey] and opened late for breakfast. No local store either.
Day 2. We continued northeast to the better conditions and a ride up Massif...
TQ55 was marginal to poor so we continued northeast to grab the 547/545 green trails back south, which were mostly excellent, one sectioned just opened up by the grooomer, we saw him on the return run. We stayed at Lac Megantic to give us a short run home the next day. We stayed in the city, Motel Le Quiet, nice location, seemed expensive, but ok.
Day 3. We headed back to Bob's after a stop in Pittsburgh for breakfast. Trails all sucked getting in/out of town, and things near Bob's camp were still poor. Overall though, it was a great trip given the once again poor conditions everywhere. In a good snow year, this could be a good start for the Gaspe.
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