Wyman Pond Racing

Pres · Tag Hgugr

RE: 2012 Annual WPR trip

Caboose · Bitch Rider

Go ahead and check it out. We need a few contingencies in case there's no snow in the Cote' Nord region.

I believe there is some sort of insurance requirement to ride in VT. Check that out as well.

I'll ride anywhere the surviving members of WPR decide to go.

#7

Johnny Rotten · WPR God

Also keep in mind you would be missing the leg with the big bridge if you ferry directly to Baie-Comeau and head north. I seem to remember this was a big draw for you to do this trip.

The only other point I'd like to make is this should be a riding trip, not a driving trip. I don't the like the idea of taking days away where we do more driving than riding.

Here's a tickler, what about a trip to Vermont this year. Minimal driving, 2-3 days of riding, one registration, brand new area no one in the club has ever ridden, accomodations should be nice, English spoken, US currency used, I could go on.

Island Pond is the snowmobiling mecca of VT located in the heart of the Northeast Kingdom. I am happy to do some research in Essex County if I can get a second to the motion now on the floor..

#5

Caboose · Bitch Rider

Leominster to Matane is 642 miles - 11 hour 44 minute drive

Matane to Baie Comeau by ferry is 2 hours 20 minutes plus time waiting to get on and off. It is limited to one ride per day at 2 pm. Weather could very well be an issue with the ferry service.

http://www.traversiers.gouv.qc.ca/ferries/matanebaie-comeaugodbout_19.php

I propose a shorter drive in the trucks and taking the shorter river cross ferry at Sacre Coeur.

#7

Pres · Tag Hgugr

what if we drive to matane and take the ferry across to Baie Comeau, this way we could make it to natashquan.

# 2

Caboose · Bitch Rider

Has there been any discussion about dates?

Johnny Rotten · WPR God

Using the map in the link provided by #10 (nice work! transferred below for convenience) along with the distances in the article, I am starting a trip discussion in a new post with a title that won't be difficult to remember as we have additional meetings etc.

http://www.quebecmaritime.ca/en/plan-your-trip/self-guided-tours/snowmobiling-the-white-trail

Sacre-Coeur to Les Escoumins = 41 mi.

Les Escoumins to Baie-Comeau = 177 mi.

Baie-Comeau to Sept-Iles = 195 mi.

Sept Iles to Havre Saint-Pierre = 170 mi.

Havre Saint-Pierre to Natashquan = 117 mi.

I'm going to stop there as the last leg to Blanc-Sablon is 323 miles and has no facilities/road lets be honest, this club is not going there. In truth, given the time limits of our riding days, I am projecting that we will realistically only make it to Baie-Comeau. Here's the breakdown:

Day 1: Trailer to Casino. Estimated drive 7-8 hours.

Day 2 (Day 1 of Ride): Ride Casino to Seguanay River/Ferry/Sacre-Coeur/Les Escoumins. Estimating the Casino to Sacre-Coeur at 100 miles, plus the time of the ferry and the distance needed for the next leg, this will end the first day of riding. Est. 141 miles. Everyone should have full tanks before we arrive at the Casino to start the trip, so we wont need to fill in Tadoussac.

Day 3 (Day 2 of Ride): Ride Les Escoumins to Baie-Comeau. This is the section with the largest snowmobile bridge in North America. At 300 feet long and 170 feet high, there will be lots of opportunities for pictures and sightseeing. It appears to be a single lane bridge so this may take some time to get all of us across. Distance 177 miles.

Day 4 (Day 3 of Ride): Ride Baie-Comeau to Les Escoumins or Sacre-Coeur for a change of scenery. (I can't recall if there was only one place to stay in Sacre-Coeur? Was this where we parked our sleds in the machine/fab shop across the street? Or was this where we decided to just eat snacks and head up 93 to Mont Valin/Relay Chapel/Passion? If so, we will need to make reservations in advance here.) Distance 177 or 218 miles.

Day 5 (Day 4 of Ride): Ride back to Casino. Easy day of riding. Large dinner. Enthusiastic drinking. Responsible gambling. Luxurious accommodations. Warm dry safe comfortable loading of gear and machines into truck(s).

Day 6: Stunning breakfast overlooking the St. Lawrence Seaway. Drive home.

A perceived draw-back to this plan, is that there will only be 2 days of riding new trail for the club. And those 2 days will be the same stretch of trail in two directions.

A possible alternative is to drive to Sacre-Coeur, using the ferry. This would increase our outermost destination by one town, Sept-Iles. Still only a little more than halfway up the White Trail not counting Blanc-Sablon (which we will probably never do anyway), but this would at least put us on new trail the club has never ridden before all 4 days of riding. We could estimate the additional driving to be about 2-3 hours (including ferry crossing) making a total of 9-11 hours drive.

I might suggest we begin an alternate conversation about the Caribou/Ft. Kent Maine area at this point. This would be a good discussion regarding snow conditions, as it is a far enough distance away from the Canadian ride all along the sea shore which may be susceptible to warm currents.

#5