Swisha (Rapide des Joachims) to Kipawa Trail #43

[Froggy]

I went out Saturday with the Club president and four others to clear out the trail from Kipawa to Rapides des Joachims so that the groomer operator can make it through with out chain sawing his through. We left at 8a.m. when it was still -31 Celsius on the 200 km journey which has no road crossings, fuel stop or rest areas. First 40 km went well as some people including myself had gone on a preview ride to check out things and test machines. 30 km in the Poo guy riding his 800 had already lost his fuel can when we stopped at the 32 km bridge crossing. We decided to share all the fuel to avoid turning around for the lost can. Snow was roughly 14-18 inches deep in most places and was all fresh powder running from the 50 km mark all the way to 160 km mark. 4 out of five machines were 137 inchers and the Poo was a shorty which is why he was in back and no one saw him lose his gas. We chain sawed a bunch of fallen and broken trees and brushed out a pile of smaller branches and trees by hand. After the Dumoine river crossing at the 165 km mark it is another club that does the rest of the trail which is a junction for trail #386 Val'dor via the Reserve de la Verendrye. We drove into Swisha at 3 p.m.and spent the night at the Outfitter Dumoine de la Vallee. The next morning was a little tense as all the machines had spent the night outside in the -28 Celsius weather. My Viper rolled over very slowly but started on the first attempt even with the 2016 flash which was strange, The 2 cat 7000's started ok with one on the first shot and the 2018 taking 3 attempts, The 1200 doo was first shot and the Poo was first shot also. We left at 9 a.m. and I was sitting at home but 1:3o. I blew the inside layer of last years belt half way home and boy was I glad that I had bought the OSP belt adjuster when I went with the 8dn belt, It was a lot easier to change the belt than normal. Oh the gas can was found 500 feet away around the corner from were we had stopped on the way down along with one of the bungee cords. Groomer should be going down this week as his warm up trailer was installed on Saturday at the 125 km mark and his 200 gallon fuel supply for the heater was to be installed on Sunday after we passed back through on our way home. All in all was a good trip with no real problems and I can hardly wait for the trail to be groomed.
Perry