• We are no longer supporting TapaTalk as a mobile app for our sites. The TapaTalk App has many issues with speed on our server as well as security holes that leave us vulnerable to attacks and spammers.

2013-2014 TY Mileage Fun Contest "Trailhed1"

I don't like the xtx suspension they seem way too stiff. I am keeping my eyes open for a standard Apex 2012 hopefully with the mods that I want. 2011 Apex's coming up used for well under 10000$ low mileage.
 

I Put the Star Kit in 2000 miles ago along with both rear shocks re valved and new center spring. difference is night and day. rides like you are on a cloud now.

Perfect. Love It.
 
Just returned from an 7 day run.
We were down in the Chaudiere region of QC and ventured a bit further south as well. Was an are I have never ridden in as usually the snow there is not always super especially the southern areas. This week was super and we hit it just right. We made a big loop thru the area and then played what we like to call trail bingo where we take the map and ride every trail we can crossing them off as we go.
we stayed at.....
Night 1 in Valcourt QC 225 miles
Night 2 in Lac Megantic 185 miles
Night 3 in St. Georges 205 miles
Night 4 in Sainte Marie 240 miles
Night 5 in Montmagny 227 miles
Night 6 in Montmagny 200 miles
Night 7 in St. Gregoire 235 miles
half day ride today of 103 miles.

1620 for the week.

We had no sled issues and had pretty good weather except for Friday we had a bit of freezing rain which thankfully changed to snow in Montmagny.

A few pics...
 

Attachments

  • Chaudiere 2 '14 058.JPG
    Chaudiere 2 '14 058.JPG
    177.1 KB · Views: 334
  • Chaudiere 2 '14 038.JPG
    Chaudiere 2 '14 038.JPG
    179.8 KB · Views: 428
  • Chaudiere 2 '14 036.JPG
    Chaudiere 2 '14 036.JPG
    189.6 KB · Views: 338
  • Chaudiere 2 '14 033.JPG
    Chaudiere 2 '14 033.JPG
    189.1 KB · Views: 338
  • Chaudiere 2 '14 025.JPG
    Chaudiere 2 '14 025.JPG
    183.2 KB · Views: 335
  • Chaudiere 2 '14 024.JPG
    Chaudiere 2 '14 024.JPG
    186 KB · Views: 326
  • Chaudiere 2 '14 020.JPG
    Chaudiere 2 '14 020.JPG
    188.8 KB · Views: 335
  • Chaudiere 2 '14 015.JPG
    Chaudiere 2 '14 015.JPG
    186.6 KB · Views: 334
  • Chaudiere 2 '14 007.JPG
    Chaudiere 2 '14 007.JPG
    191.7 KB · Views: 361
  • Mileage Feb 2014 001.JPG
    Mileage Feb 2014 001.JPG
    139.6 KB · Views: 302
  • Mileage Feb 2014 002.JPG
    Mileage Feb 2014 002.JPG
    142.5 KB · Views: 313
Are you trying to wear this thing out in one season???

JK... If I had enough $$$ and a job/residence that allowed me to ride more than every other weekend I'd be putting on this many miles... Stay safe :)
 
Mileage Quest said:
Are you trying to wear this thing out in one season???

JK... If I had enough $$$ and a job/residence that allowed me to ride more than every other weekend I'd be putting on this many miles... Stay safe :)

I wait all year for snowmobile season. No better place to ride then QC. Alot of trails to choose from. I put 58k Km on my 08 Apex she will go a long long way.
 
Well its not exactly a snowmobile story but I wanted to share my recent experience from this past week. 
 
I drove to Chapais, QC Tues. to visit my buddy Danny and check out the winter road trucking from the Sawmill there the Barrette Mill. About a 6.5 hr drive from home to Chapais. 
 
The operation there takes place 24hrs a day 5 days a week.12-15 off road trucks run non stop hauling wood to the mill on the network of winter roads that stretch hundreds of miles from the mill. This week they were hauling from near Obedjiwan back to Chapais. These runs were about 8hrs round trip. Earlier they were hauling from the north and making runs of almost 15 hrs round trip.
 
These rigs are strictly for off-road as they are over 14 ft wide and about 18-20 ft tall when loaded and average about 350,000 lbs. Very impressive. 
 
Quite alot of skill is required to handle these massive rigs. You have got to be on top of your game all the time. there are other trucks coming at you and communication is key.They call out at intervals and announce themselves to be sure everyone knows they are coming. Loaded trucks have priority and do not stop for nothing. Along the road there are pull offs plowed out for the empty rigs to give way to the loaded ones. So besides using the two radios (they have a CB and a shortwave) CB to chat and Shortwave to announce their positions at what KM they are at and what direction they roll.
 
Each truck also has a small unit on the dash (you will see in the pics) this has indicator lights on it. When its green then no trucks are nearby, then it will begin to flash yellow when a truck is a few KM's out(i think its 5KM) then it changes to red and that means the guy is close like less then a KM and you better watch it. Now with the radio the empty trucks are stopped usually before get to them and pulled off in a pull off. Between the Radio and the device with the blinking lights you got alot of warning to get out the way. Like I said the empty trucks must give way to the Loaded ones.
There is also a flashing blue light on the device to Indicate a sander or a grader is nearby. they also use the same radios and all communicate together. 
 
The wildcard in the MIx is the Natives in the Pickup trucks as they use this section I was on this week to access Obedjiwan. Most have CB but it gets a bit hairy cause they do not all announce their presence on the road.
 
I gave it a go and must say I have driven alot of stuff but this is quite a challenge. I have alot of respect for these winter warriors hauling day and night nonstop. Braking is all done with engine Brakes and special electro-magnetic brakes on the driveline to slow momentum. You hit the regular air brakes hard on these and it does nothing but make you slide and its game over.
 
Quite a puckering experience and while not as fun as sleds it was very cool to try it and learn what they got goin on up there. 
 
This operation will go on about three more weeks then when the Breakup begins the roads are too dangerous to haul on they shut down about 2 months then they will begin again to feed the mill. The difference being in Summer they run these giant trucks and they are GIANT with a second Trailer with another stack of logs. So Tandem trailers. WOW.
 
Right now they say there is enough wood stacked at the mill that if you laid it end to end it would stretch clear across to British Columbia on the west coast. I believe it.
 
You think you can drive? You need mad skills to wheel one of these beasts.
 
Each truck has 2 drivers. One works days one works nights for a week then they switch for the following week.
 
some pictures
 

Attachments

  • Chapais 003.JPG
    Chapais 003.JPG
    148 KB · Views: 332
  • Chapais 005.JPG
    Chapais 005.JPG
    141.7 KB · Views: 346
  • Chapais 004.JPG
    Chapais 004.JPG
    148.1 KB · Views: 337
  • Chapais 021.JPG
    Chapais 021.JPG
    147.8 KB · Views: 342
  • Chapais 058.JPG
    Chapais 058.JPG
    144.3 KB · Views: 338
  • Chapais 055.JPG
    Chapais 055.JPG
    136.8 KB · Views: 339
  • Chapais 057.JPG
    Chapais 057.JPG
    140.2 KB · Views: 364
Back from a 6 day ride in Gaspe in QC.
Great trip in a great area that any snowmobiler would dream of riding.

Left Rivere du Loup Sunday. Plan was to go to Sainte Anne. Tough tough going to say the least fierce wind and blowing white out snow made for a interesting go. Picked our way one pair of red sticks at a time(sometimes one stick) road crossings were the big thing. Could not see anything at times and just blind luck pulling out onto the road after coming down off the giant drifts at the roadside. Hairy. And stressfull. Just past Matane had an E-Tec go down. Had to re-group and head back to Matane.
After a trail meeting at Hotel we formed new plan.

Day 2 monday
Woke to still big gusting wind and crazy white out still. We found a rental Pickup truck and Scorpionbowl and I headed for RDL with the sick E-Tec. The rest of the guys made plans for what next and waited out the wind. Then they tried to go take a small ride out but 20 miles was like a war zone drifted and road crossings 4-5-6 feet tall at the snow banks. Unbroken hell. They came back.

Meanwhile in RDL we dropped the sickened E-Tec at Bombardier and headed to grab a spare bullet(sled) from the trailer. Thanks to Playhard the group will stay together and contnue on. Back in Matane now 6 strong. Wind is diminishing and hopes to make Murdochville are high for tues nght.

Conditions here snow wise are incredible like mid Feb. absolutely amazing the snow cover.
Weather wise, well it is the Gaspe and that is that. When is blows(wind) and snows it be tough to go anywhere.


Day 3 Tues
Matane to Murdochville.

The Team was like a well oiled machine today. Great ride blue skies groomed trails except first 20 miles leaving Matane. Beautiful day to be on the sled. Made great time to lunch in Mount St. Pierre, took time to visit with Pierre at Yamaha and just say hello. Quite an ambassador that man and really working hard as president of the Snowmobile club to move into the future. Great things happening here.

Cruised on the 5 then to the 597 and down to Murdochville. Got in early so we took a bonus ride toward La Cache for an hour then turned back. Met the groomer from Club in Murdochville. Nice guys working hard so we don't have to.

A fine day to be on Gaspe. Note to self(we need to ride here more often)

Day 4 Wed
Left Murdochville and backtracked to return to TQ5 est. Pure adrenaline and awesome blue sky again today. Made the run to Rivere Renard for gas then back on TQ5 and off to Perce to visit the Rock. Took lunch at Table Roland, (the homemade potato chips kick #*$&@) took care of business in Perce and off like a prom dress lickity split direction Chandler. TQ5 all the way and she was a runner.
Great day today and we are sitting pretty at Motel Fraser in Chandler.

Day 5 thurs
From Chandler to visit Groomer in Casucal. Day started grey and snowy. Got much snowier as we went. Myself and Playhard were like the modern day version of "Lewis and Clark" the explorers taking turns searching for red sticks. When is all white it aint easy. But we got er done. Only buried the Apex once. Not bad considering the moonscape.

Day 6 fri
Capsucal to RDL. Direct on TQ5
Groomer paved the way out of town for us but not many of his fellow operators were out there. Did the exploration for sticks again pushing 8-10 inches where it was not drifted higher. We had doubts for sure but as we headed west we caught more tracks and made the going a whole different world. All in all a great day on the sled.

Awesome week of riding the Gaspe hard to believe how it looks here now being 21 march looks more like 21 feb but the parking lots and roads are still getting pretty bare. Trails are awesome when you can see them.

Probably sad to say but my last day riding this season. (small tear forming) maybe a little local action at home but bag trips are done.
Always great to be on the Trail with the Team. Anywhere Anytime.

Big season
12,895 KM
 
some pics
 

Attachments

  • GASPE 2014 053.JPG
    GASPE 2014 053.JPG
    141.2 KB · Views: 307
  • GASPE 2014 050.JPG
    GASPE 2014 050.JPG
    135.5 KB · Views: 325
  • GASPE 2014 046.JPG
    GASPE 2014 046.JPG
    123.2 KB · Views: 303
  • GASPE 2014 042.JPG
    GASPE 2014 042.JPG
    134 KB · Views: 323
  • GASPE 2014 040.JPG
    GASPE 2014 040.JPG
    149.3 KB · Views: 302
  • GASPE 2014 034.JPG
    GASPE 2014 034.JPG
    139 KB · Views: 319
  • GASPE 2014 029.JPG
    GASPE 2014 029.JPG
    145 KB · Views: 319
  • GASPE 2014 027.JPG
    GASPE 2014 027.JPG
    137.5 KB · Views: 314
  • GASPE 2014 024.JPG
    GASPE 2014 024.JPG
    130.1 KB · Views: 324
  • GASPE 2014 017.JPG
    GASPE 2014 017.JPG
    146.8 KB · Views: 312
  • GASPE 2014 016.JPG
    GASPE 2014 016.JPG
    137.9 KB · Views: 313
  • GASPE 2014 015.JPG
    GASPE 2014 015.JPG
    153.1 KB · Views: 310
  • GASPE 2014 013.JPG
    GASPE 2014 013.JPG
    134 KB · Views: 304
  • GASPE 2014 011.JPG
    GASPE 2014 011.JPG
    149.9 KB · Views: 316
  • GASPE 2014 012.JPG
    GASPE 2014 012.JPG
    137.1 KB · Views: 313
  • GASPE 2014 009.JPG
    GASPE 2014 009.JPG
    130.7 KB · Views: 307
  • Whiteout.JPG
    Whiteout.JPG
    265 KB · Views: 285
  • GASPE 2014 001.JPG
    GASPE 2014 001.JPG
    150.8 KB · Views: 296
  • Mileage Feb 2014 002.JPG
    Mileage Feb 2014 002.JPG
    142.5 KB · Views: 292
Mileage this year...so far (all in Quebec)

12,895 KM or In American that is 8012 miles.

More snow on the ground here now then at any time all season. Clubs are still grooming probably 2 more weeks or so.
Maybe a few local rides but bag trips are over for this season for me.
 
I just could not sit here. Just returned from another ride on the Gaspe here in QC. It just kept on snowing and if its snowing we are going.

Did a quick 3 day run
1309KM or 813 miles.

Season to date
14,204 KM
8826 miles(in American math)
Will post a trip report on this mon or tues.
 
Seeing the conditions were holding up and grooming was still going on on the Gaspe was enough to convince me to round up the troops and make another run to the Gaspe.

So last weekend I made some calls to see who was in and who was out. I ended up with one taker my buddy John from NH. So we decided on a short 3 or 4 day run just to scratch that itch one last time.

John drove to my house here in QC on Wed. night and we decided to head for Rivere du Loup to drop in thurs around noon. It is about 4 hrs to RDL from my house. Off we went thurs morning and about an 1.5 hours in we had a slight setback. Flat tire on trailer. No biggie we made quick work of changing the tire NASCAR pit crew like and we were off again.

Arrived in RDL at 12:30 PM it looked OK we decided to get another spare for the trailer even though we still had another better to be safe then sorry. So We went to Canadian Tire and got another tire had it mounted and now it was about 1:15 so we re-grouped and decided to drive further east to Rimouski to leave from there.

Got into Rimouski at 3;30 and after a short conversation with the Arctic Cat dealer right next to the trail he said no problem we could park the truck in his lot and head off from there. We unloaded and off we went at 4pm headed for Amqui about 100 miles to Hotel.

Trails were a little soft near town but quickly got better in the hills and was really outstanding for being April 3. Super run and arrived at Hotel just before 7pm. Great start to our ride.

Day 2 Left Amqui and headed off on TQ5 finding fresh groomed trail to greet us this AM. At the club house in Albertville we left perfect trail for another tabletop groom on 587 south. Super trail one of the best I have ridden all season. Back to TQ5 and we were not surprised it was mint. It was super blue sky day a bit warm but its April. Arrived near Carleton on the south shore of Gaspe and went to play on some local trails that were no less super then the main trails. Back off the hills into Carleton and it was too early and too nice to park it so off on TQ 5 east to New Richmond for the night super all the way. Arrived at 6:30pm. 337 miles for the day

Day 3 New Richmond then up the 595 trail in the falling snow. the higher up the more new snow there was, breaking fresh snow in April just really great. 4-5" fresh snow and no one but us out on trail. great conditions and we continued on headed north to return to the North shore and back to TQ5. Stopped for lunch at the Clubhouse in St. Paulin there were some other sleds here but not many. Trails were mint but there was much more wind now and typical Gaspe North Shore greatness. We decided to head further east to Mont St. Pierre to climb the awesome hills there and then we returned back the way we came to St. Anne. 229 miles today.

Day 4 a half day back to the truck. TQ5 was freshly dusted with 1-2 inches of goodness. About 20 minutes into the day there was a Police checkpoint checking registrations and trail passes. We were the only customers, all good we spent a little time to chat with the police 2 nice guys. Off we went really really nice with the new snow and life is good all the way back to the truck. Saw maybe 6 sleds all day. 147 miles

Super season ender fresh snow and perfect trails. Saw almost as many deer and squirrels as sleds in four days.

The XTX is a runner and with the STAR kit is just what the doctor ordered. No issues at all. Changed one Carbide on right ski. and replaced the half dupont slides that came on it with the real deal after my second trip.

will post some pictures soon.
 
Pictures
 

Attachments

  • Gaspe April 2014 023.JPG
    Gaspe April 2014 023.JPG
    142.8 KB · Views: 300
  • rsz_1gaspe_ender_april_2014_073.jpg
    rsz_1gaspe_ender_april_2014_073.jpg
    362.7 KB · Views: 273
  • rsz_1gaspe_ender_april_2014_072.jpg
    rsz_1gaspe_ender_april_2014_072.jpg
    249 KB · Views: 269
  • rsz_gaspe_ender_april_2014_071.jpg
    rsz_gaspe_ender_april_2014_071.jpg
    261.5 KB · Views: 260
  • Gaspe April 2014 022.JPG
    Gaspe April 2014 022.JPG
    144.1 KB · Views: 297
  • rsz_gaspe_ender_april_2014_063.jpg
    rsz_gaspe_ender_april_2014_063.jpg
    262.1 KB · Views: 274
  • rsz_gaspe_ender_april_2014_062.jpg
    rsz_gaspe_ender_april_2014_062.jpg
    280.9 KB · Views: 270
  • rsz_1gaspe_ender_april_2014_055.jpg
    rsz_1gaspe_ender_april_2014_055.jpg
    286 KB · Views: 269
  • rsz_1gaspe_ender_april_2014_049.jpg
    rsz_1gaspe_ender_april_2014_049.jpg
    355.3 KB · Views: 263
  • rsz_1gaspe_ender_april_2014_029.jpg
    rsz_1gaspe_ender_april_2014_029.jpg
    261.2 KB · Views: 264
  • Gaspe April 2014 016.JPG
    Gaspe April 2014 016.JPG
    138.8 KB · Views: 292
  • rsz_1gaspe_ender_april_2014_023.jpg
    rsz_1gaspe_ender_april_2014_023.jpg
    237.8 KB · Views: 262
  • rsz_1gaspe_ender_april_2014_019.jpg
    rsz_1gaspe_ender_april_2014_019.jpg
    296 KB · Views: 269
  • rsz_1gaspe_ender_april_2014_016.jpg
    rsz_1gaspe_ender_april_2014_016.jpg
    155.4 KB · Views: 258
  • rsz_1gaspe_ender_april_2014_014.jpg
    rsz_1gaspe_ender_april_2014_014.jpg
    166 KB · Views: 259
  • Gaspe April 2014 003.JPG
    Gaspe April 2014 003.JPG
    148.6 KB · Views: 293
  • GASPE 2014 053.JPG
    GASPE 2014 053.JPG
    141.2 KB · Views: 279
Trading your sled? I will buy it lol Nice pictures Can't believe that you have been riding last week.
 


Back
Top