Frost Bytes 2025... Day 12... And That's A Wrap

Day 12

Ok

Well, I was mislead again. It was not 60 miles in to the trucks and trailers today.

Last evening’s dinner was a treat. We started with a tasty mushroom soup, and the entre was your choice of chicken parmigiana or the tomahawk porkchop. And the requisite double doubles. I opted for the pork chop, it was breaded and seasoned and delicious, with the grilled vegetables and potatoes.

After dinner, the group retired to the lounge, again. There was another solo artist, playing his acoustic guitar, and taking Nickelback requests from The Wanderer. After we had our fill of the lounge, we grabbed a dozen or so cold ones’ to take back to Cabin 7, where we gathered around the community table, or layed out on the couches, with a roaring wood burning fire going. The resident golden retriever and his lab friend hung on the Darkside last night with us, as well. Good thing they don’t understand English.

This morning, we were gathered back in the dining room, at our same table as dinner the night before, ready for our snowmobiler breakfast.

It was COLD this morning, Connecticut Jim said it was -14 degrees. This is a good time to, once again, mention how a pair of heated socks can really change your disposition on the trail. I have had one of the most enjoyable Darkside Adventures trip in a long time, and I whole heartedly contribute it to the socks. It’s not a fad my friends.

After breakfast, Connecticut Jim, Wiki Rob and The Wanderer headed off as their own wolf pack, back to Auberge Le Cabanon, in St-Zenon, where we left our trucks 12 days ago.  They went nomad because they want to get loaded and head back to Vermont before the night is over. Handshakes, bro hugs and “be careful boys” were exchanged before they headed out on the snow dusty, and crunchy, trails.

The rest of the group was on the freshly groomed trail before 9am. A lot of snow dust was with us for the first part of the day, and our travel direction going east with helmet shields full of the morning sun, made some straight aways and turns a bit hairy. I kept thinking of the Days Of Thunder phrase, Drive thru it Cole, just drive thru it. And that’s what we did.

Around 11:30 we arrived at the only gas and food stop before St-Zenon. Even though we just had breakfast, we decided to take the time and have a cheeseburger all dressed and warm up a bit. If we had been 20 minutes later, it would not have been a choice, but to keep going. After our group of 12 were seated, the single gas pump in the parking lot, and the inside dining room, quickly filled up with other riders looking to do the same as us.  

After the fueling of ourselves and our sleds, we hit Trans Quebec Trail 63 for about 40 miles. A perfect trail today. Wide, groomed, and we were making time and enjoying the ride.

About 30 miles out from our ground zero, we ran across a group of 4 rental sleds. One was off the trail about 15 feet, stuck in the deep snow and thickets popping out of the snow drift. Our crew pulled to the side, Chip Nasty got his trusty saw out, started cutting the thickets, Ski Doo Matt got the Big Girl in position to latch his tow rope up to the rental, and within 10 minutes of our arrival, they were back on the trail, and ready to go blow the next turn. We’ve gotten pretty good at this. Ski Doo Matt even made sure the tow rope was attached to BOTH sleds before giving it the tug out!

We actually had about 160 miles for the ride today. Some how we cheated and brought it in under 140. I believe we are around 1800 total miles for the 12 days, I forgot to check the odometer when we got in, but I had about 1650 when we started this morning.

Naturally, I am in the bar with some cold rocky mountains, at a tall top table clicking away on this keyboard, Hedgie, Ski Doo Matt, Truck Driver Brian and Baby Boy are at the bar, politely sending me over another cold one when they think I’m low. Orange Helmet, Chip Nasty and Action Dan are having their afternoon in the hot tub. Robere’ is in the shower, going thru separation anxiety since The Wanderer went nomad, and he is now stuck with boring old me.

I mentioned to the NFGs’ Steve and Shawn, that in my opinion, they picked a good trip to go on the Darkside. I consider this ride the “high light reel”. We were able to go back to an area of Quebec I particulary love, and go to quite a few of my favorite places on the trail.

The trucks are de-iced, sleds loaded, and gear put away. IF the trails tomorrow are good, we plan on driving straight thru back to Michigan/Indiana. If the weather is not co-operative, we will find a place on the other side of Toronto to overnight.

I’d like to send an appreciative shout out to Sled Head Pete, Sleds Heads in Frederick MI.  Pete the Greek, also has First Impressions Sports Wear, and helps us out with each years’ logo work and fleece pullover/vest/zip ups’ order. We get some pretty cool swag if your’e on the ride.

Pete follows our escapades every year and shares it on his Facetube page and other social media. If you are going thru Frederick, bring Pete a couple coney dogs, he loves them, 2 at a time! Thanks Pete, see you soon.

As we wrap up this seasons’ edition of Frost Bytes, thanks to my 7 followers for keeping up with us. And while I enjoyed this ride every day, I am ready to get back to palm trees’ and my sleep number bed.

Thank you to our families back home, who just shake theirs heads when we tell them what we are doing each year.

And to my Darkside Team, thank you for the friendship, laughs and good times on the trail. I wouldn’t want do it with anybody else. Bro hug to you all.

P.S. I tried again to upload pictures, but the wifi is not co-operating, and I am DUN, done. Go to the Darkside Adventures Facebook page.

Bye for now,

Cheers and Double Double,

Stick

FROST BYTES 2025... Day 11... Ski Pooing' Thru Quebec

We had some nice trails, some poopy trails and some great trails and some really poopy trails today.

Well, dinner went from plan A to plan B pretty quickly last night. We had high expectations all day of going to the recommended Brew Pub next to the Quality Inn last evening. Dinner was planned for 7pm, and Stick finished the blog around 6:15pm. I told the Orange Helmet I was taking my work tools back to the room, and then I was heading over to the brew pub, I’m hungry. I would take care of making the table arrangements for our group of 16. I walked the concrete sidewalk next door, and on approach to parking lot, I start thinking to myself, “this doesn’t look very promising, there’s only 3 cars in the parking lot, on a Friday night”. How good can it be, with only 3 cars. As walked past the big picture windows on the front, I can see inside that the chairs are stacked on top of the tables, all shoved against the back wall. And the floor is tore up. Doesn’t take a genius to see there is a remodel going on. I laugh out loud to myself, and can’t wait to call Orange Helmet to give him the news.

I go back to the upstairs bar at the Quality Inn, where I had left all the other jokers. I walk up to the bar, and buy a round for our group, you know, kinda smooth over the news I am about to break. As news filters around the horseshoe bar, and conversation quickly turns to what are we doing for dinner now.

Someone had better vision than I, because someone pointed out there’s a Boston Pizza on the other side of the brew pub. Ok, Boston Pizza, again, it is.

We had some pretty good fire cracker shwimp (I know I spelled it wrong, inside joke) appetizers, as well as chicken quesidllas ’ and nachos before our sandwiches and pizzas main course made it to the table.

During dinner, snow showers had begun, and it was falling pretty good. The concrete sidewalks, on my walk home, had probably 3 inches of fresh snow on the sidewalks. Good news, the area could use it.

A few after dinner adult beverages were had, back above the Quality Inn, and I believe it was an early night for the group. I really wouldn’t know, I had a beer with Orange Helmet, went to my room and put my ear buds, eye patches and life support machine on, while Robere’ and The Wanderer entertained themselves in our room.

Breakfast was get it when you get it, no hard schedule has been set. As I’ve said before, this group is generally on their sleds and ready to ski doo by 8:30/45am each day. We had about 8 inches of fresh snow overnight, and the sleds were covered, except for the guys that bring their trip overnight covers, that basically just cover the dash, handle bars and seat. It must be nice, I don’t have one, and I had to wipe my own sled off this morning.

I was feeling pretty good starting out this morning. Morning rituals were maintained, the fresh snow was going to make the ride much better than the ride in yesterday afternoon.

As we left the hotel parking lot, I was feeling a little gurgle, but thought, no, your fine. Until mile maker 6 came about, and I pulled over on the trail, told Robere’ to take the group ahead, I’ve got business right now. He understood, and the group passed by me, heads nodding as they passed by, many chuckling at my predicament as I was taking off my snow jacket and prepping for the task at hand.

Business complete, I quickly caught up with the stopped group a couple miles down the trail. Naturally wise cracks were made, but, hey, everybody has done it at some time on the trail.

The trails were fun and snow packed, and as our old bullet catcher Ole used to say, we were crushing snow.

We stopped at a warming station on the trail, and accross from the warming hut, where a few had gone in to check out, there was a good old fashioned outhouse. It wasn’t long before ole Hedgie was stripping off his snow jacket and making a walk of shame across the path.

The freshly covered trails were fun to ride, grooming wasn’t necessary when our group went thru breaking trail. At one point we passed a groomer, making them that much better.

Trails were great until we got about 15 miles out from Pourvoirie Meeko’s. They turned to crap pretty fast. Washboard rough.

Meekos is a snow lovers hot spot in the frozen tundra. A LOT of snowmobile activity here, with families of all ages, as well as immature adult males on a snow mobile saddlebag adventure.

Meekos is a favorite for many in the group. We got our usual overnight residence, the large bunk house with an open community room and kitchen, with a long corridor with bedrooms with either 2 twin beds in each or a single full bed. At the far end of the hall are the two bathrooms with shower facilities for the 14 overnight residents in our bunk house.

At the moment, we are gathered in the main lodge building where there is a bar and lounge areas on one side, and the main dining room on the back side. I’m clicking away on this tablet, that I kept encouraging Action Dan to lose on the trail, sitting at a table, fireside, with Connecticut Jim, Wiki Rob and NFG Steve with a cold thought provoker, anticipating another fine dinner tonight. Club Meeko’s has never disappointed us.

I have interjected myself into their conversation periodically, and the last interjection consisted of, while we are glad this is day 11 of 12 on the trail, in about a week we will be looking forward to next year’s Darkside Adventure. We are definitely enjoying being back in our old stomping grounds. Hint, hint Orange Helmet, come July when you start thinking/planning Quebec, our request is in…

Tomorrow is the last day on the trail, and rumor is it’s only about 60 miles away to our trucks and trailers. Of course we will take local trails to get us our day in. We shall see.

P.S. I again have some pretty good pictures but the wifi is taking too long for my patience, I’ll try and post them to the Darkside Facebook page.

Bye for now,

Cheers,

Stick

FROST BYTES 2025... DAY 10... Does A Bear Poo In The Woods?

Welcome back Riders, just another day on the Darkside. And what is a Darkside day if you don’t have issues.

After a medium length happy hour, last night’s dinner was, as expected, exceptional. The carrot soup was pheonominal. Or was it sweet potatoe soup. Or was it Squash soup. I have asked 3 different riders what the soup was, and those are the three different answers I got. Whatever it was, it was orange, and delicious. Followed up with a flank steak perfectly cooked with some grilled sweet peppers and thick potato spears. I’m pretty sure the desert was a blueberry cheesecake with chocolate mousse. It was a fine meal in the Bush.

Before dinner, Yamaha Kevin prepped the just out the dining room door, open fire pit, with a tee pee of kindling and firewood. During dinner, Robere’ got some newspaper from the front desk for some fuel, and got the fire going.

After dinner, a few riders gathered around the fire, with a beautiful lake and mountains hidden in the dark in front of us. There was a light rain mixed snow falling on us, as we gathered around the fire with some cold rocky mountains. Lots of conversation and laughs.

After the fire group got wet enough from the falling snow, the group in Cabin 1, Orange Helmet, Connecticut Jim, Wiki Rob, Action Dan, The Wanderer, Robere’ and Stick sporaticly gathered around the two 6 person tables for more lively conversation and such., with the wood burning stove cranking off the heat.

This morning’s call time was, well, there really wasn’t one. We only had about 80 miles, to Mont-Laurier QC. The morning started with NFG Shawn and his Arctic Cat with what Connecticut Jim often refers to as a “known problem”. Apparently, the starter relay switch under the hood froze and needed to be warmed up for the Arctic Cat/Yamacat to start up. Fortunately, most on this team know the problem, and they had his sled running in no time. Now we are waiting on Truck Driver Brian. He is still down at cabin 2 trying to get his heated helmet shield to work. After closer observation of the magnetic helmet cord, he found a dime had gotten stuck in the small space between the cord and helmet connection point. A dime richer and down the trail we went.

For about 3 miles. Then Orange Helmet starts throwing his left arm up in the air telling the group to pull over to the right side of the crusty frozen trail. Stick is third in line on this trip, directly behind Orange Helmet, and Craig walks back and informs me that he left his glasses, that he wears during all waking hours, back at the lodge. How do you get on your sled, go 3 miles, and not realize you can’t see? Anyway, the group kept moving forward, to catch up with the oblivious Action Dan, to let him know that the whole group was no longer behind him.

Action Dan finally got caught up with and pulled over, while we waited on the trail for Orange Helmet to catch back up. It wasn’t long, and we were back down the trail.

The next issue of the morning was Sticks ski doo was running warm. The frozen crusty trails were not providing much broken snow off the track to cool the heat exchanger above the track. Ski Doo Matt was requisitioned for consultation and his Unauthorized Factory Support response was, spin the track more. Ok, will do.

Hopefully you're realizing now that I was overdramatic on my opening line today. We had no big issues to deal with. We had a good ride, the sled cooled down, Orange Helmet had his glasses to read the intersection signs and we had a nice ride today.

Our ride took us to Montagne du Diable, or Devil’s Mountain, where we stopped at the Relaise at the top. We actually got lunch again today, a very good tomato soup, with a ham and cheese pressed sandwich, and I saw a couple Cesar salads go around. After a group picture, down the trail we went.

The next stop on our tour was to swing by a viewing point for a large water fall/rapids observation. Sorry, no pictures, I have been here before I stayed back at the sled with a few others, and watched Truck Driver Brian’s nature moment. He was very welcoming of the stop on the trail.

Today is, however, a special day on the trail. We celebrate both The Wanderer’s and Ski Doo Matt’s birthdays today! Dylan finally got phone service and can’t express enough how much he appreciates the many texts of “happy birthday” he is receiving. Make the boys feel special today!

We arrived into the Quality Inn Mont Laurier at round 2:30pm. The snow is thin here. The sidewalk across the bridge we have to travel to get here usually has 4 feet of snow on it. It was concrete today.

Most of the group checked into the hotel, while The Wanderer, Action Dan and Robere’ headed to the Ski Doo dealer to try and get Robere’s cracked A Arm replaced. In a separate group, Ski Doo Matt and Hedgie also went to the Ski Doo dealer to try and get Hedgies’ heated helmet shield cord replaced. Apparently, the mechanic at the Ski Doo store goes off shift at 4pm, and they arrived at 3pm. So Robere’ has the A Arm, but not replaced and Hedgie got a part for his cord, and Ski Doo Matt repaired his cord. Ski Doo Matt has had some billable hours today.

The Quality Inn is a fond place of mine. Back in the day, we used to park the trucks/trailers here and launched from here. Special memories with special people for me.

We used to have dinner in the restaurant here, but apparently the restaurant is only open for breakfast at this time. Too bad, they had a top notch FRENCH onion soup back in the day. So dinner will be coming up soon at the Brew Pub next door.

Tomorrow, we have another scheduled 60-mile day to Club Meekos. We shall see.

Bye for now,

Cheers

Stick

Frost Bytes 2025... It's Not A Problem, Until It's A Problem

Days 8 & 9

Back on the grid.  And boy do we have some catching  up to do.  It never fails, if we are going to have issues on the trail, it’s going to be in the most desolate part of the trip, and farthest from civilization.

Picking up where we left back at the Hotel Forestel, dinner was at 7pm and I know I had the chopped steak dinner, and I saw a couple others of those going around.  Poor NFG Steve, he’s been stuck at the dinner table with The Wanderer, Robere’ and Stick.  He has been subject to our nonsensical conversations, conspiracy theory’s and other ramblings. He must be somewhat enjoying it, he keeps coming back for more.

Our old friend Gaf, from New York, met us at the Hotel Forestel. We met Gaff probably about 12 years ago on the trail, at a Relaise for lunch.  He/we have made a point to stay in touch with ole Gaff, as he comes to Quebec several times in the season, and our trips will usually coincide. He joined us for dinner and nice conversation, with his riding partner Steve.

Yesterday’s call time was 8:30am and we had about 190 miles to Clova. The first 40 miles or so were decent trails, some rough spots, nothing crazy. And that’s when the Darkside comes out. Action Dan, the point man in the train, always on the look out for danger, took us right into the beast.

Trying to find a smoother trail, he jumped down on the fresh powder access road that ran parallel with our snowmobile trail. But we had to cut across about 100 feet of snow covered log and rock infested natural area that was hidden by the deep snow.  Action made it thru, Orange Helmet, right behind, and with some hesitation before he followed, committed to the maneuver, so Stick and Robere’ followed them in. 

Orange Helmet exposed what I thought was a brown log, but the others tell me it was a big rock, that I then proceeded to hit with the left ski, almost got ejected, but recovered and, Robere’ hit it and got stuck. And bent his left A-Arm. Actually bent and cracked it. After a little help from his friends, they got him back on the access road with the other 3 sleds, while the smart ones stayed up on the marked trail. That’s when I noticed that my left ski was now positioned about 3 inches shorter than my right ski. My left A Arm was bent, but not as bad as Robere’s.

After some deliberation, self loathing, and a pep talk, down the trail we went.  Until Robere’ went off the trail, not used to the new handling dynamics of his ski doo, and was buried on the side of the trail. Ski Doo Matt, with his heavy duty tow rope that has been used more than once on this trip, got his Ski Doo Expedition, the Big Girl, in position to give him a tug out.  What he failed to observe was that the tow strap connected to Robere’s sled had come detached, and when he throttled up to tug, he then shot across the trail and got himself stuck on the other side of the trail.

I think I heard that Chip Nasty gave Ski Doo Matt a tug out of the snow, and somehow they got Robere’ unstuck, and down the trail they went to catch up with the 4 in the front that pulled over a mile or so up that trail, after we didn’t see headlights in our mirrors.

We had about 40 miles to get to Lac Fallon for fuel and a light lunch. Ski Doo Matt took the broken Robere’ sled, and put Robere’ on his Big Girl, and they took off down the trail to get ahead of the pack.

Lac Fallon is an old favorite for some of us. We have had a couple overnight stays here in the past and always enjoyed it.  It is now under different ownership, and a bit of a different set up for lunch. They now have a cooler with supposedly made fresh sandwiches and soups, that you make your selection, and go to one of the 6 microwaves along the dining room wall, and heat your food up. Then pay at the counter for your fuel and food.

After our fairly quick lunch, Ski Doo Matt and Robere’ headed out ahead of the pack again to get to Clova, or bust trying.

After about 18 miles outside of Lac Fallon, the trails smoothed out, and we had an epic ride thru the Bush of Quebec.  This area is desolate, middle of nothing, and you do not cross a road or railroad tracks for probably 40-50 miles. This is definitely the area you want to be trouble free.

We had a good ride the rest of the day, enjoying the trails, and making time. We arrived into Clova around 4:30pm and Ski Doo Matt and Robere’ beat us in by about 45 minutes. And our ole buddy Gaf was there too.

Apparently Gaf had an issue on the trail too.  He too tried to jump off a section of the rough trail for the fresh powder of an ORV trail.  Little did he know that the fresh powder was about 5 foot deep, and about 50 yards down the trail he was stuck. He had to belly crawl thru the deep snow back to the actual trail head where he had jumped off at.

He knew the Darkside Team was coming behind him, and he began talking to his maker to get him out of the situation he had gotten himself into. Fortunately, a couple young men on 154 inch tracks that are made for off trail and deep snow came along before us. They easily packed a snow trail to his sled, around his sled, and helped him unbury it. He was back on the trail thanks to their help, and he said he will be at church on Sunday.

Clova is a favorite of the Darkside, and our new riders really enjoy it as well.  There is no cell service nor wifi in the lodge. There are, I think 36 residents of Clova, and between our group and the other small groups of riders in town for the night, we doubled the population.

There is a rustic lodge, with a gas pump out front, and the railroad runs along the side. Clova is stop on the CN rail, and we got to see the train come thru and drop off provisions.

The sleeping arrangements are in the old wooden schoolhouse that has been converted into a lounge area within the basement, and a few bedrooms, or a couch, and bedrooms on the second floor.  Some rooms have their own bathroom facilities, and some don’t, some have bunk beds, some don’t, I don’t know where Truck Driver Brian ended up, but it’s definitely not the Holiday Inn. I do know Robere’ was delegated to the top bunk in our room that did have it’s own bathroom! There is wifi in the sleeping quarters, and when Orange Helmet heard that he looked at me, as if to suggest I could write the daily story there. Sorry Orange Helmet, I don’t work from home, I do my best work in the bar.

I heard from many that the dinner in Clova was the best on the trail so far. There were steaks with twice baked potatoes, chicken kabobs, and I don’t remember the other entre’s. For a starter there was the most delicious walleye chowder soup. And desert was a pineapple coconut cheesecake… I’m not normally a cheesecake person, but let me tell you something, I was pausing between bites to make it last. Great dinner and evening.

This morning’s snowmobiler breakfast of fried eggs, bacon or sausage, white or brown toast and diced potatoes was spot on, and we were seated at the long table that we were seated at last night.

The call time for ski’s up was 9am, but we were ready and on the trail by 8:40am. I made a point to ask Action Dan what his plan of destruction is today. The first 20 miles were freshly groomed, and after that we were on a graded logging road for about 50 miles. We were hopping on and off the graded road to get fresh powdered snow on the shoulders whenever we could to keep our machines cooled the best we could. I don’t believe anybody had overheating issues, but it was a quick ride.

At one point, on the trail, Hedgie came up with the idea to have Ski Doo Matt do a “toe adjustment” on Robere’s bent A Arm ski to help him stay a little more in control, while his head is in the clouds, going down the trail. It seemed to have some affect, he didn’t go off trail today, so kudos Hedgie on the thoughts.

In The Helmet With Stick, today we had a guest speaker. I wasn’t really thinking about much today, so at one of our breaks, Orange Helmet Craig was standing by me so I decided to see what he thinks about in his helmet. His response “well I’ve just been thinking, “Hope we are on the right trail” Note to self, don’t ask Orange Helmet what he’s thinking.

With only about 150 miles to our overnight destination of Club Notawissi, we were allowed by Orange Helmet to stop at Relaise Pensive for a lunch of all dressed cheeseburgers, onion rings and such. We also took advantage of some expensive fuel for our sleds. Fuel is usually about 2.5 times the price per liter more than when you are not in the Bush.

The friendly outgoing proprietor of the Relaise also had a note for Hedgie Phil. Our ole pal Gaf had already been in for fuel and a quick snack ahead of us, and left a sweet message, a phrase we use often on the trail, to let Hedgie know he was thinking of him.

After lunch we had a rider a bit under the weather, that needed to run at a slower pace in the back of the group. Orange Helmet, NFG Steve, Chip Nasty, Wiki Rob and I don’t recall who else, rode in a second pack at the rear, while Action Dan took off with the kids for a fun 50 mile ride to Notawissi. With the long straight aways, slight curves and extremely smooth trails, and the kids not having adult supervision, we made the best of it. I have the feeling Action Dan is going to get a lecture tonight, behind closed doors, from Dad in the Orange Helmet.

Club Notawissi is a beautiful resort with cabins for our overnight stay. We have cabins 1 & 2, eight riders per cabin. Each cabin has a nice sized community room, with kitchen, two 6 person tables, a couple couches and a wood burning stove. There are 4 rooms off the hallway, with 2 beds per room, and each room has it’s own shower and bathroom facilities. I am currently in the lodge/dining room/bar doing my best work, that overlooks the lake with a beautiful mountain backdrop in the distance.

I am anticipating a great dinner. A young man with an acoustic guitar is setting up shop, so it appears we may have some live music soon.

I apologize in advance for the blank spaces and lack of photos. The wifi is stifiling my ability to download/upload pictures, and i can’t figure out how to remove the image boxes, and I am getting a bit frustrated. This is what you get. And I’ve actually got a lot of good pictures I’d like to share with you. Sucks to be you.

Bye for now,

Cheers,

Stick

FROST BYTES... Days 6 & 7...Didn't Mean To Startle You, I Needed A Nap

Ok, we will just pick up like we never missed a beat. We ordered in dinner again at the Motel Du Lac. Another Italian dinner night. Spaghetti and Cesar salad for me, I don’t remember what else I saw flying around.

Yesterday’s breakfast we had to call an audible on. The Bistro on premises had a sign in the window saying “Not Open for Lunch Today”. That’s fine, looked like another continental breakfast of cereal, muffins and toast anyways. We found a nice little diner just a couple of klicks away and had a nice sit down, served at the table breakfast. Perfect.

We were on the trail at around 9:30am with only about 160 miles to knock down for the day. I got wrong intel on the trail conditions the night before. They were perfect trails, and no issues.

We kinda kept moving all day. There was heavy snow flurries all day, with strong winds. I’d estimate the winds at a steady 15-20mph and gusts upto 30-35mph. The only real issue I encountered was the snow melted so fast on my heated helmet shield, that I had to keep wiping my shield clean with my brake hand. I can deal with that.

We arrived at the Hotel Amosphere, in Amos QC, at around 2pm. At check in, the rooms were available, and they kept the dining room kitchen open an extra hour for us to order lunch. That was nice, I think it was our first actual lunch on this trip! A hot hamburger with frites, hot wings, and bowls of soup I saw going around.

While we were enjoying our lunch, Ski Doo Matt, Truck Driver Brian, Baby Boy, The Wanderer and Robere’ headed to the local Ski Doo shop for some needed maintenance. Baby Boy’s 850 2 stroke Ski Doo has had his dash lights lit up like a Christmas tree since day 1, and the dealers we have been to so far haven’t been able to remedy the situation. Robere’ has needed a tail/brake light since day 1. Cudos to the Ski Doo Dealer in Amos. Their service department did not hesitate to get the troubled sleds into the service bay and start work on them. If I understood it correctly, am engine temperature sensor was replaced on Baby Boy’s ski doo. Robere’s sled had a loose wire on this rear light harness, and they quickly remedied his ailments. They were able to get back to the hotel to eat the wings we ordered for them, before they got cold.

Oh yea, Yamaha Kevin had his issues. On his way to the neighboring gas station to retrieve his nightly dose of cold rocky mountains, he decided to take a “short cut” thru the ditch of the gas station and his cold beer was even colder in the 4 foot of snow he was now buried in. Fortunately for him, Ski Doo Matt and Baby Boy were passing by on the way back from the ski doo shop, and helped him unbury his buried Yamaha.

For all you followers, all 7 of you, that were so concerned that there was not an effing blog yesterday, I’ll tell you what happened. Robere’ was gone to the ski doo shop, I had the room to myself, and I really felt a nap was needed. It happens folks, sometimes I take a day off. Keep your britches on, things are fine, I’ll catch you up when I catch you up (we do appreciate the concerns)!

Dinner last night was pretty basic, Texas Hamburgers (I know that sounds weird to hear to me as well) Cesar salads with chicken, hot chicken sandwiches and such was the fare. Looked like a pretty good cream of chicken soup was ordered by some as well.

Dinner was at 7pm, and I think with all the idle time during the day, the misfits were ready for an early bed time because everyone pretty much retired afterwards.

This morning’s ski’s up time was the usual 9am, and we were all ready by the usual 8:30am Today’s destination was technically only 60 miles or so away, on the direct route. We spent the day riding loops on the awesome local trail network and took quite a few breaks, The trails were spectacular, and I have to believe everyone enjoyed the ride as much as I did. It was nice being able to just ride, knowing that we couldn’t get into too much trouble today. We even got to have lunch on the trail again. What a treat. I was beginning to think this was a Weight Watchers tour.

But they day was not complete without at least one mishap. The Wanderer, while crossing a road and trying to use the snow bank on the opposite of the road to turn, instead of just bumping the snow bank and turning, his big Ski Doo Expedition decided to just try and climb the snow bank, and ejected him down on to the hard shoulder. He knocked his GoPro off his helmet when he went head first into ground. I naturally gave him a quick concussion test by asking him if he knew his name, what year it is, who is the President. When he couldn’t answer one correct question, we deemed him fine, and put him back on his sled. We don’t have time for this. (He was fine, I am taking artistic freedom and dramatization for you at home). According to the Wanderer, due to equipment failures, we will not have as many pictures today.

We arrived at the Hotel Forestel in Val Dor QC around 3:30/4pm, I’m not exact on the time. I was just so happy to be in early so I could write this blog. Most of the violators are gathered in the bar, and dinner is at 7pm.

Oh, and the shower here is a solid 4.25, Truck Driver Brian has got to be happy.

Today’s In The Helmet With Stick: So, after my shower, I did my obligatory phone call to Mrs. Stick. She shared with me her concerns about whether we were safe or not because I didn’t write the Frost Bytes yesterday. I explained, I don’t know why you think that I spoke with you on the phone yesterday when we got in. She proceeded to tell me “Well I didn’t know if Sasquatch got you or something” I laughed out loud and said I cannot believe you brought up that reference! After lunch, going down the forest trail, I started thinking in my helmet “why don’t we hear about Big Foot anymore the way we did in the 70’s?” I mean Leonard Nimoy and his In Search Of tv show was always trying to find Big Foot. Did Big Foot decide to shave one day and join the general population. Is Big Foot today that crazy uncle Bob with hairy arms and always needs a shave, that creeps out the kids at the family gatherings? I need closure on this.

Anyway, I believe we are headed to Clova QC tomorrow. If that is the case, don’t expect a blog tomorrow either. The last time I was there, about 15 years ago, there was no cellular service and no wifi. The small village, if that’s what you call it, runs on a generator. Things may have changed, but I don’t know. Do what I do, close your eyes and hope for the best.

Bye for now,

Cheers,

Stick

FROST BYTES 2025... DAY 5... The Ship Did Not Go Down

It’s a cold day in the Bush of Quebec.  I am very happy I added electric heated socks to my gear this year. We just landed in Lebel-sur-Quevillon at the Motel Du Lac.  It’s the kinda place I love on the trail, a drive up facility, where the door opens right into the parking lot, and your sled is right there.  Truck Driver Brian will not be as thrilled as I am, but at least he has his own bathroom and shower in his room!

Last night, at the Nordic Hotel/Motel, we had to order pizza’s and lasagna from the local pizza joint, to be delivered to us in the Mid Evil Bar.  It was actually pretty good, and I had a lasagna with a cesar salad. I was content.

Wish I could tell you more about last night, but the bartender kinda upset us with her antics, and we didn’t socialize very long into the evening.   She acted like she didn’t understand ANY English, but was quick enough to charge us $6.00 for a Coors Light, but not give us the change for $10, just keep it as a tip, or just raise the price from $6 to $6.50 on a whim, or take $20 for 2 beers but not bring any change.  And don’t get me wrong, NO ONE here has a problem with being generous with tips and payments for services, it would just be nice if we were given the opportunity, and not just feel taken advantage of.  Enough of that, moving on.

Breakfast was the continental special, with bagels, toast, yogurt, and your choice of 2 cereals. I had a toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Call time for ski’s up this morning was 9am.  The overachieving Darkside Team was loaded for bear, and on the trail by 8:40am.  It was cold, but not as cold as it got during the day, on the ride, but about 9 degrees at it’s lowest. While we have rode in colder temps, today’s ride was on mostly straight trails, that were well groomed.  It’s hard to stay warm when you are not twisting and turning thru trails. Electric heated socks, gentlemen, it’s the new fad.

We made the obligatory stop at the gas station 8 miles from the hotel to top off our tanks, as we are not exactly positive what the mileage is, or where, the first on trail gas stop may be.  Top off those auxiliary gas cans we carry on the sleds, boys.

While the trails were straight, with soft curves, the scenery was quite beautiful. Mostly tree lined trails, with snow hanging on the drooping branches. These riders are not giving me much to write about lately. The Wanderer Dylan isn’t wandering as much, and Robere’ isn’t acting like a college freshman on his first spring break this year. I try to meander thru the pack at each break, to gleen some conversation, but everyone is pretty well behaved.

So, I guess we will have another In The Helmet With Stick conversation.  The rabbit hole I went down today, as we were passing the beautiful scenery, was “I wonder, in the last 15 years of riding thru Quebec, how many trees’ have I passed on the trail?”

 At the next on trail rest stop, I wandered back to the Wanderer, and posed that question to him. He replied, “Huh, what do you think…” I replied, maybe a billion? He replied, I don’t know, a billion? That’s a wicked big number.  Then we went down his rabbit hole, that the Moon is not really made of Moon rock and such, but it is actually a large plasma particle that the earth is reflecting off.  It’s time to get back on the trail.

So now, I’m trying to grasp his alternative reality, and I decide to try and do my own math.  I start trying to count the trees on one side of the trail in a 1/10 mile span, then I will multiply it by 2, and then do an approximate mileage count, and see what I come up with. As I start counting trees’, and starting over again several times, cus, you know I’ve got to still pay attention to the Orange Helmet in front of me because he gets REAL upset when the snow flap on the back of his Yamaha gets pushed in, I finally abandon my math project after about 3 miles, and just settle on a billion trees have been passed.

We finally found the fuel on the trail around the 105 mile mark.  It was a one man shop with a 500 gallon fuel tank.  It took about 40 minutes for him to fill all 16 sleds, and he made us wait outside his small market, until he finished our fueling and let us in the warmth of his little market. We lingered around inside, taking our turns paying for fuel, buying chips and candy bars to snack on while we loitered in the warmth of his store.  Once we were sufficiently warmed for the final 60 miles in to our accommodations for the evening, we were back on the trail

Again, the trails were flat, straight and smooth. We carried the mail pretty good with only one stop. We arrived around 2:30 pm, fueled our sleds for the next morning’s departure, and checked into our rooms for hot showers and refreshments. I will give the showers here a solid 2.5. That’s not bad, I mean you get 2 stars on the trail just for having hot water and good pressure. This shower even had the mounted on the wall, push the button dispensers for Body Wash, Shampoo AND conditioner!

We are now gathered in the un-attached office, bar/restaurant watching NASCAR on the TV, while the kind lady proprietor is doing some of the rider’s laundry for $5 per load, but I see every one giving her a twenty.  We have to order dinner in again this evening. Apparently, if you let them know at the time of reservation you would like to have dinner with your overnight, they will prepare it for you.  Another group of snowmobilers, from Wisconsin, that we passed and chatted with a couple times on the way here got the memo and is having Fondu for dinner. We will chalk this up to “Lost In Translation”.  Wink wink.

Rumor is, tomorrow may be another “Closed Trail” situation. We shall see.

Bye for now

Cheers,

Stick

FROST BYTES 2025... DAY 4... Pork Chop

Well, the trail to Chibougamau was closed. But is that rule…or a suggestion?

Once they all dried out from the hot tub, last night, we had a nice dinner at around 7pm. Choices were steak, ribs and I don’t recall the other options. I do remember that The Wanderer Dylan, Robere’ and I teamed up and shared our appetizers… The Wanderer ordered the Fondu, I ordered the turkey & Ham egg rolls, and Robere’ ordered the escargot and the three of us had our own smorgasbord for appetizers. AND Robere’ also ordered the FRENCH Onion Soup, which had a very nice presentation with a slice of homemade bread splayed across the crock and the provolone cheese was melted over the top! I couldn’t really give a fair tasting as the bread had some sort of seeds on the crust and my seed allergy would have either ended my trip or it would have ended me, but I did sample the broth and it was right up there.

This morning’s ski’s up time was set for 8:30 am. We had our snowmobilers breakfast buffet (what is up with the buffets on this trip?) and were ready for the trail by 8:15! This group is really overachieving on their start times.

As I stated yesterday, the guys were putting a plan together for today’s route. Trail 93 is essentially closed according to the FCMQ website says the trail is closed, the Tourism Board says it is closed, but the local club says it is passable but has not been groomed since February 12! Thats an interesting proposition to this group of violators. Craig and I definitely had our trepidation about still heading to Hotel Nordic in Chibougamau, we have been on week old, wind blown, drifted trails, and they are not as fun as this group thinks if it’s anything like we have had to do a time or two prior. But the Team was ready, so maintain the plan. My morning pep talk this morning for the group consisted of the following “ I believe I now know how the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald felt on the morning of November 10, 1975… the lake is calm and we think it’s just another day”. Buckle up boys, this could get interesting.

The trails were freshly groomed for the first 25 miles. Too bad we were going in the wrong direction. Back towards Relaise 22. Fortunately, The Wandered jumped up thru the pack to bring the directionally challenged Action Dan to a halt on the trail. Connecticut Jim, The Wanderer and Craig put a makeshift plan together to use some local trails to get us back on the 93 North trail that we need. This was just adding to the running thoughts in my mind about how our day was going to be.

My wife doesn’t understand my brain waves most of the time, and this just may be another example of why. I don’t listen to music all day like the rest of these clowns, it’s just me and my brain in my helmet all day, and boy do we get carried away. I start thinking, well, if the trail is bad, and we break trail all afternoon, it is going to be LATE getting in. Then the thinking goes to , we could end up being the Donner Clan. Ok, so we get messed up and have to hunker in on the trail, someone isn’t going to make it. Ok, so now let’s think about who we need… We need Action Dan and Orange Helmet to guide us, we need The Wanderer and his GPS, we need Connecticut Jim and Yamaha Kevin for our medical, we need Ski Doo Matt, for his unauthorized ski doo repair, Wiki Rob is safe, and we are obviously going to need ME, because we need this stupid effing blog. We don’t really need a drywaller, so Old Man Ron is going to be the one we eat.

The reason the trail is closed about 100 miles out of Chibougamau is, as I said yesterday, there is a bridge that is not suitable to some agency. At around the 55 mile mark, which was supposed to have been the 25 mile mark, we topped off our sleds at the last fuel opportunity for 153 miles, and I know this to be an accurate number. After we fuel, and grab a gas station sandwich for lunch, as we are standing around I mention to The Wanderer, Orange Helmet and Action Dan my latest thought process, as mentioned above, and I tell them I now can’t look at Ron without seeing a flame grilled pork chop standing by his sled.

And down the trail we went. The next 50 miles were still groomed, and type of trail that has spoiled us in Quebec. We made periodic stops every 35-40 miles for a quick rest, smoke em if you got em, and short banter. The Pork Chop reference started filtering thru the group, and more ideas were hatched. At one point, Pork Chops wingman, Chip Nasty, was privy to our conversation, and the Wanderer suggested, that he may be the better choice if things get awry.

Down the trail we went. The next stop’s conversation went back to our eat or be eaten choice, and it was tossed out that Old Man Ron may be the better choice, he is already seasoned with all the Tabasco sauce he uses.

Down the trail we went. We finally crossed the out of order bridge, that was marked with orange ribbons and skull and cross bones signs. No problem. The trail was now not groomed. But not nearly as bad as Craig and I were prepared for. Fluffy snow, and we were able to maintain our speed and momentum. This day isn’t going to be as bad as I prepared for.

At the next rest stop, Stick wandered back to the end of the sled pack to conversate with Ski Doo Matt, who rides right behind Old Man Ron/PorkChop. I asked how things were going, and Ski Doo responded, just keeping dinner safe.

As the miles on the odometers started nearing 175 for the day, at the next rest break the Yamaha riders used their fuel cans on their sleds to get some extra juice, because they knew they would not make it to the 206 mile mark where the fueling station is.

As the miles clicked upward nearing 200, all the sleds were slowing falling out of the pack, out of fuel, to use our spare fuel to get in. Baby Boy, Truck Driver Brian and Stick found out our sleds can go 150 miles even, and they are D-U-N, out of fuel.

We got fuel at the 206 mile mark, and only had 8 miles to go. And it was only 4:50pm! We are going to be in, no camping on the trail, and no pork chops.

Apparently, Chip Nasty had another tumble on his new ski doo. Coming into town, we have to criss cross the main road coming in to town, run along side the road for a couple hundred yards and hop back on the trail. Sometimes we have to go across both road lanes to ride the “trail” and cross back over. On one of the road crossings, the skis dont turn on the asphalt to begin, with so you usually go in a diagnol line to the snow bank across the road, hit it, gently, and turn from there. Well, apparently, Nasty hit the snow embankment with a little too much gusto, and rolled it over. They were too busy getting the sled upright before any traffic came along to get a picture.

It was a great day, and from my perspective, everyone is having a great time. We are now all gathered in the Mid Evil themed bar of the Hotel Nordic, and dinner should be soon.

Bye for now,

Cheers

Stick

FROST BYTES 2025... DAY 3... " You Can't Replace This" - Action Dan

Relaise 22 did not disappoint. A great time was had last evening watching the American vs Canadian Hockey exhibition, after dinner. There was a group of Canadiens overnighting, and between them and us rude Americans, we enjoyed a friendly viewing of the game. No arguments broke out amongst us spectators and both sides cheered when either team scored. It was a good, fun, night. Hedgie Phil was the social butterfly, spreading Darkside cheer to anybody that would listen to him, as he bounced from table to table chatting up the other visitors.

Dinner was much improved as well. Our choices were pork, chicken, salmon or shrimp. Dylan and I chose the chicken, which was actually a chicken kabob, with rice, big spears of potato and some grilled vegetables. While it was very good, we both had second thoughts when we saw Robere’s pork meal come out with a side of pasta. Dylan made a feeble attempt at trying to convince the server that he had actually ordered the pork plate, but the designated table mate that was still waiting on their pork plate to be served, quickly interjected and put a block on that.

This morning’s ski’s up call time was 9am, and we were trail ready by 8:45am. This Darkside Team is running pretty tight these days. They aren’t giving me much blog material either. But there’s always one that can contribute each day.

Today it is Old Man Ron Nicks. When leaving the lodge this morning, there was another small group of ski-doo’ers that pulled out behind us, the way I understand it. And after a short amount of time on the trail, they begin passing our riders one by one, and as the merged groups continued down the trail, a fork in the road arrived. Old Man just followed the sled in front of him, and the next thing to you know 3 or 4 other sleds in our group followed him. Problem is, the ski doo’er Old Man followed, was NOT in our group. Apparently the other group was doing a quick stop on the side of the trail, for whatever reason, and NFG Steve quickly recognized the situation, and franticly flagged for Ski Doo Matt to come up beside him to explain the situation. Ski Doo, still trying to figure out what the hell is going on, walks up to the sled in front of Old Man and realizes that “You're not with us!” and Ski Doo Matt got our splintered group conjoined and back on trail. Just another day.

The first 25 miles of our trail ride today was superb. We watched the groomer return last night after dinner. We were confident we would have good trails today. And they were, until mile mark 26, and we ran about 45 miles in wash board trail. Those 45 miles felt like 90 miles, but the last 20 miles coming into Roberval QC were properly groomed and made a nice ending to our day. Sometimes snowmobiling is like golf. You start the day with a great attitude, play a couple good holes, then put one in the water, then take an 8 on a hole, then finish out your round with a good drive, and that makes you want to come back the next day to give it another swing.

We landed at the Chateau Roberval around 1:30pm today, we only had about 85 miles to do. We were here last in 2023, and it is a big hotel with plenty of amenities, a good shower and beds that are not 4 inches off the floor. Each room also has it own shower and facilities; Truck Driver Brian is pleased again.

Tomorrow’s scheduled destination is Motel Nordic in Chibougamau QC, approximately 150/180 miles, and no gas stations on route. We last went this path in 2023 and most of us can make it on a tank of fuel, coming in on fumes. Some may not. We shall see. Another thing we shall see, is if we even go to Chibougamau, as the Orange Helmet Craig, Ski Doo Matt, Hedgie Phil and NFG Steve are working on an alternative plan. Rumour on the trail is that there is a bridge on our route that has been condemned by either the local government agency or a Provincial agency, and the bridge is closed. There’s another rumor that the local club said to hell with said Agency, and they are maintaining the trail. As Action Dan likes to say… “You can’t replace this!” We shall see.

The current situation is Craig, Matt, Baby Boy and Hedgie Phil are in the hot tub, Connecticut Jim is sitting on a couch in the lobby, in full gear, patiently waiting for his room to be prepared, and Action Dan and Wiki Rob are at a small table in the lobby chewing on wings and cole slaw from the neighboring IGA. The hotel bar is not yet open, which is to be viewed as either a positive or negative. Usually when we get in this early the bar tab is mucho grande, compared to a normal arrival time. Fortunately for me, someone had the foresight to grab a cold case of Rocky Mountains so I would have the lubrication necessary to write this stupid effing blog everybody insists upon.

Bye for now,

Cheers,

Stick

FROST BYTES 2025...Welcome BACK, Into The Bush of Northern Quebec We Return

Well, after a one year hiatus, Stick, your biographer of this band of snowmobiling degenerates and violators is back in the writing chair. Not without much protest I might add. I was really hoping to just be like the rest of the crew and enjoy my evenings in the bar/lounge with a cold adult beverage, but after much brow beating, peer pressure and threats, here we are.

We have the usual group of banditos, with a couple NFG’s in the group as well. Most of us left MIchigan on Monday the 17th of February for the approximate 650 mile ride to Auberge Le Cabanon in St-Zenon Quebec. We did our usual 1/2 way lay over in Kingston Ontario, and evening at the Boston’s Pizza to get reacquainted.

The Truck Ride on Monday was mostly uneventful, for most of us anyway. For the majority of the ride we had good roads and decent weather. Except when we didn’t. There was about a 30 mile stretch on the 401 where we encountered white out conditions. The truck with the NFG’s (new effing guys) were behind a semi truck and trailer when it jack knifed in front of them, and they had to do a quick 2 lane maneuver to avoid disaster. They made it thru unscathed, and had a story to share.

We arrived at the Auberge Le Cabanon at a decent hour on Tuesday the 18th of February, probably around 2:30pm if I recall correctly. We unloaded the trucks and gear close to the lodge, then had to park the trucks and trailers out in the back 40 parking for such vehicles. To make the trip from the trucks more expedient in the cold northern temps, we had a couple guys on sleds giving rides back and forth to the lodge.

We enjoyed a few hours of quality time in the lodge lounge, waiting for the Vermont Crew of Connecticut Jim, Dylan, Rob and Chip Nasty to make their arrival. Not having much to eat on the road that day, one of our NFG’s Brandon, now referred to on the trail as Baby Boy, son of Truck Driver Brian from Indiana, ordered us some appetizers to tide us over. He went a bit overboard, as we soon had two pizzas, 3 orders of Mozzarella cheese sticks and 3 orders of potato skins in front of us. With dinner in about 30 minutes.

Probably just as well. While our old launching facility, the Bon Air with the best FRENCH Onion Soup I have found in Quebec has been sold and demolished, we have now found, unaminously the UNbest FRENCH Onion soup (1.75 stars) in Quebec ( I am supposed to be positive with my writings in this blog, and that is the best I can do). The spaghetti was not my flavor as well, reminded me of the Ohio chili with cinnamon and some other spice I don’t know how to identify in it. I’m sure many like it, I don’t.

Launch time was set for 9am Wednesday February 19, 2025. After a buffet snowmobiler’s breakfast, eggs bacon, sausage and toast, we were ready for the trail. It was cold, but not bone numbing, probably about -7 degrees. I don’t recall any issues with our take off, so we will just move along.

The only real trouble we had on Day 1 was Ski Doo Matt’s Expedition had an air leak on his adjustable air ride suspension. When the rest of the group stopped for lunch around 1:30pm, the Indiana crew stayed on the trail and hustled into the Ski Doo dealer in St Raymond, our overnight stay. Apparently, the dealer back home that had provided some maintenance before our departure, forgot to reinstall one of the aluminum wrapped rubber hose into the correct housing and was left free to rub against the muffler and melted the end of the connector. The dealer in St Raymond, was able to make a quick fix to get him back on the trail, but he will try and find a dealer to do the proper repair somewhere along the trail, hopefully. We shall see.

Wednesday night’s stay was at the Hotel Roquemont, in Saint-Raymond. We actually have a bit of history at this place. Long time readers may recall a visit back in 2016 to this area. We had reservations for our large group of misfits, and when Craig went in to check us in, they did not have a reservation for us. Thru the english/french translation, it was finally determined that Orange Helmet Craig made an incorrect reservation and we were due to arrive the NEXT night! ON that occasions, we left our sleds there, and took taxi’s to the downtown district to a much older hotel that had vacancy for 1/2 our group, and the other 1/2 stayed in a literal rent by the hour facility. Stories about that place still comes up every trip! Well, he did it right this time, and it was quite a nice place with what I rated a 4.4 star shower. And dinner was excellent as well. There was calamari and escargot appetizers and I had the duck entree and I saw quite a few steaks come out, as well as a hamburger all dressed for Yamaha Kevin.

This morning, the call time was 8:30am for ski’s up.  We had about 25 miles to go back up the trail to fuel the sleds, and get back on track heading north on trail 73 to Relaise 22. But first, I’d be amiss if I didn’t bring up the rookie error of Yamaha Kevin… Apparently last evening when putting his riding gear up for the night, so, you know, it would be dry and warm for the next day, he placed his boots under the table where his helmet and gear was resting, the accumulated snow on the gear melted, and dripped/ran into one of his boots.  This morning he woke up to about an inch of warm water in his boot.  You can’t make this stuff up, folks. He did his best to dry out his boot, but the clock was ticking. When I gently asked him mid day how his wet foot was, he just replied “it’s about 4 degrees colder than the other one”.

Around the 35 mile mark, we came upon a trail groomer, and Action Dan, our bullet catcher, point man, made it past on the side of the groomed trail without incident.  Orange Helmet Craig, not so much.  The groomer was stopped on the trail to let our group of 16 sleds go by, and where he parked, there was a 8” log sticking into the edge of the trail on our right.  As Craig was attempting to navigate the tight quarters, not hitting the grooming device on the left, and the protruding log on the right, he got sucked into the unpacked 4 foot of snow off the trail and was stuck on his side.  After the obligatory photo op, the team unstuck him from his predicament, and onward we rolled.

We made a stop for lunch in La Tuque, a place we have an overnight stay in the past.  The last time we overnight stayed here, we ordered in pizzas, got a few cases of adult beverages, and proceeded to have an outdoor picnic on the side walk in front of our rooms!  After Ski Doo Matt slammed down a quick lunch, he and Truck Driver Brian, and Baby Boy headed down the road to the local Ski Doo dealer to see if they could get the booger rigged air suspension line repaired correctly.  They called before lunch was over and said, go ahead on down the trail, in about an hour his repair will be complete, and they will catch up.  On we rolled.

Around the 120 mile mark, the group got backed up when Robere’, with his head in the clouds, veered off trail, requiring a rescue.  I should mention that Robere’ has been alcohol free for about the last 6 months, but I don’t see how he his benefiting from it. We shall see.

We arrived at the Relaise 22 around 4:45pm and about 170 ski doo miles. Relaise 22 is a favorite of mine.  It’s been about 10 years since our last overnight stay here, and it’s the kinda place I love!  No cellular service, a horse shoe bar in the main lodge/building with an open  dining room wing off to the side.  The best seat in the house is the old velour rocking recliner next to the wood burning stove, near the bar! The real treat, however,  is the room set up, an L shaped building with rooms on each side of the corridor.  While there is pedestal sink in each room, the bathrooms and showers are communal. At the beginning of each hallway, there is mens room on one side, and women’s across the hall.  Each communal rest room has I think 3 toilet stalls, and across from those are the 2 shower stalls with public restroom doors for privacy!  I love this place, Truck Driver Brian, not so much, he’s a Holiday Inn Express type. Maybe tomorrow Brian, but I wouldn’t count on it.

Ok, we are in for the evening, I’m needing refreshments and relaxation.  Like I thought I was going to enjoy each evening.  I was dead set on not doing this stupid effing blog, but again, I was threatened with bodily harm if I didn’t  comply. Not to mention, Orange Helmet Craig called me the “D” word if I didn’t comply, and I can assure you, it’s not the D word you may first think, but if you know, you know. So while I started this trip happy go lucky, without a care in the world, they will now get the familiar, grumpy, bitching up a storm Stick that they must really adore. There’s just no other explanation for it.

Bye for now,

Cheers,

Stick

Frost Bytes Day 12, 02/27/2023... We Dropped 3 And Picked One Up

Ski Doo Matt loaded Rimel’s sled, we didn’t want Rimel to make Snowmobile Fails video

Welcome back riders,

We had a fabulous dinner last evening, exquisite actually. The best meal on the trail yet. Dinner was over by about 9pm, and a few convened back at the corner bar, afterwards, and your writer retired early. The scheduled mileage for today was between 180 and 200, and usually when that’s the range, it’s going on the over not the under.

Your writer forgot to pack his power cord to his tablet, so hopefully there’s enough charge to finish out this blog. Speaking of being charged up, the glimmer twins, The Wanderer Dylan and Wingman Rob, had no place to run wild at last night, and were stuck within the confines of the lodge.

This morning’s call time was the standard 9am, and we fueled up on site with the most expensive gas in the Bush. We didn’t get on the trail until around 9:30 however. Rimel has a swollen leg, and lucked out and paid for a ride from the Lodge to Pont Rouge, with his sled. The Ontarians Cousin Bill’s Yamaha wouldn’t stay running, probably water in the fuel, we suspect. The decision was made that they would stay behind, again, and try to resolve their problems so the pack could advance forward.

With the smaller pack and the type of trails we had, wide, smooth, and soft bends that didn’t’ slow us down, we were able to make good time. By noon we had close to 90 miles down. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy.

The only hicup we had, was the fuel stop. There was a detour on the trail and we had to go 10 miles out of our way to fuel, and back track those 10 miles to stay on course. There wasn’t a restaurant open in town, so we grabbed snacks and more of the plastic wrapped ham & cheese sandwiches, and had a picnic in the parking lot, on the sleds. The weather and temps have been very nice today, I don’t have a specific number, but nobody was cold today.

The pack ran hot today, we were not spread out, and we busted thru the heavy snow dust on the trail like a well oiled machine.

About 40 miles out, a lone snowmobiler on a Yamaha waved at us as we were crossing a major road. Action Dan quickly realized it was Connecticut Jim! He had landed at the Bon Air early this afternoon, and had rode out in our direction to catch us on the trail. We pulled over on the trail on exchanged high fives, and Ski Doo said “Ok, lets go, we can talk at the motel with a beer in our hand!”. And down the trail we went. The horses were headed to the barn.

Connecticut Jim, The Wanderer Dylan and Yamaha Rob are continuing their ride in Quebec thru Thursday this week.

The rest of us are headed back to Michigan and Indiana in the morning. The weather forcast looks favorable for a straight ride in, and that’s what we are planning at the current time.

Today’s ride was about 208 Ski Doo miles, and for the trip Craig says he has about 1525 miles.

There’s not really a lot to write about today, we carried the mail and got in by 4:30, had our sleds loaded in the trailers by 5pm and they opened the bar for us at 5:30pm, and here we sit, again.

Even with all the “issues” we had with the “Virus” and other “mishaps”, it was another excellent adventure. We have a great group of friends that enjoys our outdoor activities and the company we keep. While we are not shy about busting somebody up when they give us the opportunity, we are also there for each other when a situation arises. Great friends and great times, thank you my brothers!

Thank you to Fearless Craig for taking the time to plot us out a course, and contact the lodges for our reservations. It is a thankless job, I am making a motion to double his pay next year… What is 2 x 0? Oh well, we both are compensated the same, memories of a lifetime.

It was also great for us to be able to get back to our stomping grounds in Quebec. The country offers over 20,000 miles of groomed trails, and a variety of casual to rustic, to exclusive accommodations on the trail, that we have missed since our last ride here in February 2020, Pre-Rona.

Our UN-Authorized Ski Doo Tech on the Trail

And that’s a wrap for the Darkside 2023 Ride thru Quebec. To my seven followers, if you’re still there, thanks for following along. While I complain loudly and often about writing this blog in the evenings, I am happy to have the digital memories archived for future look back.

Bye for now,

Stick