Fuse6

Biggest regret l have is not doing saddle bag trips sooner then we did. Busy raising kids in the 90s and early 2000. Got back into sledding in 2006. ln 2008 a group invited me to go to Quebec with them to Mont Laurier for a few days. Continued going to Quebec once a year to various spots always day tripping. ln 2017 we did our first saddle bag trip doing the Gaspe. Next year saddle bagged New Brunswick. Have been saddle bagging Quebec and NB ever since. Two trips a winter with two different groups of guys then a couples trip every March break. Trying to day tripping from one location seems the loops are either to long or to short. l like saddle bagging. Like heading out in the morning and having a destination as an objective. Saddle bagging will cover a lot of miles in a day so don’t get trapped in an area with poor grooming, broken down groomer, short of volunteers etc. Always enjoy planning the trips and exploring new areas never seen before.

New Shuttle Service for QuebecCity just appeared on FB.

The shuttle service from Colbri Hotel, Quebec City to Levi on the south side is no longer in service. You will have to find a local towing company to shuttle you over bridge. If you only ride trail 3 from Quebec City to Baie Comeau you will miss some of the most scenic trails. On my map: #2 beautiful outlook over the Saguenay River #4 the 330 trail is a must do trail, beautiful scenery #5,6,7 is the local orange trail north of Forestville, think it was 220 km total, beautiful scenery, feels like your in the Gaspe without the water. The local loop north of Baie Comeau is also some of the best scenery on that trip. The north shore will be the far better riding and scenery vs the south shore. Another option is skip the south shore and ride out to Sept iles and back. How many days of riding do you have? Can help with lodging suggestions if don’t have planned already. Steve

Gadgetman we will be a week ahead of you assuming there is snow by then for a Gaspe trip. Leaving home February 15 driving to Mont Joli. Will ride 6 days in the Gaspe. Not doing the loop would normally do with the trail closures but will make the best of it. When done the Gaspe week we are driving the two hours from Mont Joli to Edmunston to start a 6 day loop in NB. These are the same 2 trips we had planned then cancelled last year due to the poor snow conditions. Have you ridden the 595N trail? If not l would suggest running down the 595 from the north shore for about 20km. That will take you through the Chic Choc mountains and one of the most scenic trails in the Gaspe. Then turn around and ride back up to the north shore and carry on .

Here is one of the official announcements. Read someplace shuttle will carry 4 sleds at a time. Haven’t seen a phone number to call yet or details on how it’s going to executed. We will be a group of 6 so only concern is spending some time on side of the trail waiting for shuttle to get back for the second load. Or if shuttle drops first 4 sleds off and there is people waiting at drop off site they will likely get loaded for the return run. All this will take time. Sitting on the side of the trail on a beautiful day isn’t bad but if it -20C and a 40 km wind blowing off the St. Lawrence it won’t be very pleasant waiting. Have to give credit to the clubs and the MTQ for trying to provide a solution for this unfortunate situation. There is a bit more information on the FB group: Motoniege Gaspesie and FB group: Hotel Motel Grande-Valle.

Closed bridge is where l have the green and red balloons. Picture of the road bridge is Route 132 , a possible reroute alternative. As y can see the bridge is fairly narrow, curves in the road on both sides and quite a few feet of guard rail. Haven’t heard the official word but the speculation is the Quebec department of highways wouldn’t be very supportive of usng this bridge all winter as a reroute. Hopefully get a definite answer soon so can plan accordingly.

Had our reroute all figured out after the LaCache to Murdochville trail was officially closed again this winter. Now this possible closure of trail 5 complicates plans again including staying at Motel Grand Vallee. Have no desire to ride the south shore. Hope they decide soon if a reroute can be arranged or trail is closed so can make plans.

For anybody planning a Gaspe trip for this coming winter it appears the Chic Choc trail that runs between LaCache and Murdochville is going to be closed again this winter. The required repairs to a couple of bridges never happened this summer. Unfortunate as this is one of the iconic trails in the Gaspe and a key part in our preferred loop. We will still go this winter, just have to modify our route plans. The trail is marked in red on the attached map .

In Quebec right now doing the Cote Nord. This morning stopped into the Ski Doo dealer in Baie Comeau. There was 137 new sleds on site still in the crate. No idea how many the dealer would sell in a normal but that is a crazy amount of sleds to carry over

Here’s some more pics from the 595N in the Gaspe. These would be south of the pic 1049 posted, once you get into the Chic Chocs. Glad our Gaspe trip isn’t until mid February, very little snow there presently.

Was surprised to see it green there. That is hilly rugged country, not level rail beds.

Hit the Snowflake icon in top right corner. Then can select Trail Conditions to see what’s open. Also can select Grooming Map. Once they get grooming the map is updated at 6:00 AM and 1:00 PM daily.

If you’re on FB go to the Quebec Rider group. There is a good recent post there explaining how to do it. There is two different ways, the one they charge you a $23.00 service charge so you net $12.00. The other method you will get something like $37.00 back.

Yes we are still going. The map PLC posted is our reroute. Likely turn 5 day trip into 6 day. From what l’ve read there is no chance it will open anytime this winter. That trail is very remote, the number of volunteers that live in that 100 km stretch would be very limited. Haven’t seen any pictures of the two bridges that have issues. Riding through there don’t recall any bridge of any significance. It’s mountainous, hills and valleys so lm sure there is many small creeks and streams with small bridges you really don’t notice because the area normally gets so much snow. There still will be 1,500-1,800 km of beautiful riding to enjoy.