Documented a rarely and elusive Northern Snow Turtle in the wild
Welcome back riders,
We find ourselves in the far northern town of Chibougamau, QC. Look it up on our tracking button to see just how far north we are. And it’s cold…-2 during the day cold, and -34 at night cold.
But lets get back to where we left off. We abandoned the notion of re-mounting Ski Doo’s crown, he wasn’t a real fan of the taste test of the JB Weld. We will continue to plot a strategy in that concern, and I will keep you updated accordingly.
We were last in La Tuque, and the morning after our sidewalk/parking lot party. We convened in the hotel dining room for the snowmobiler breakfast, and we were scheduled for a 9am departure. The best I recall, that went off without a hitch.
Dylan & Wingman resting in the warming hut, along the trail
Our path was trail #72, with a stop for lunch at one of our favorites of the trail, Relaise 22. Relaise 22 is quaint, for lack of a better term, “lodge” in the middle of no where. I believe it is powered by a generator, and it is definitely off the grid, Action Dan took Wingman Rob for a tour of the chambers, and came back to us with the news that they had done some upgrades to the rooms, they now have bed frames, instead of just a mattress on the floor!
Stick was able to get an 8 minute nap while the crew was finishing their lunch
Lunch was a simple menu to choose from, hamburgers all dressed, chicken sandwichs or chick a’la king. I opted for the chicken a’la king. They had unique twist on this entre, instead of chicken and a thin gravy with peas & corn over bisquits, like my mom used to make, it was simply diced chicken over a bed of pasta, with a thin gravy and few diced green onions thrown on top. Not what I was expecting, but it did the job.
After lunch I believe we had about 80 miles to go. The trail was smooth and fast, and we were headed for Roberval. Not really much excitement on the trail for the most part. Until there was. About 10 miles from the Hotel Roberval, I came around a corner, a group of about 6 sleds were stopped on the right side of the trail. They were all looking to the left side of the trail, where Rimel had gone off trail, and his sled on it’s side, and he was stuck in the thicket of small scrub brush/trees. Naturally, after I checked ot be sure he was not injured, I snapped the requisite photos for your viewing pleasure. Naturally, he cursed me the whole time. It was more difficult getting Rimel out of the ditch than his sled. His jacket had gotten poked, and stuck on one of the thickets and it took us a bit to get him detached.
Chip Nasty retrieved his snow bungee device so we could hook it to the front ski, and with Old Man Ron giving a couple of tugs on the bungee, and some throttle, we had the sled back on the trail. It wasn’t quite as easy to get Rimel back on the trail. As he was trying to climb up out of the deep, loose, snow filled ditch, he lost his balance and fell back in to the scrub brush. Naturally, more pictures were required, and more cursing spewed from Rimel’s mouth.
Onward we went, with no further issues on the trail. We checked into the large hotel, showered, and I saw some of the boys, including Hedge Hog, Craig, and Chip Nasty, headed thru the lobby in their swimsuits to the pool and hot tub. Quite a site for the locals, I am sure, as it was quite a sight to myself.
Ski Doo Matt, pointing out the dam we just rode across on the trail
I retired to the bar, with Ski Doo, Truck Driver Mark and a couple others to get busy on my nightly duties. Dinner was scheduled for 7:30pm, and we were ready when the dinner bell rang. For such a nice dining room and bar, the food is not much to write home about, so I won’t. Same goes for the buffet breakfast and the scrambled eggs out of a box, the next morning.
Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day. We have about 200 miles to traverse. And there is no fuel station or rest area, or warming hut, for about 140 miles. And it is going to get below zero as we head north.
We shall see…
Bye for now,
Stick