Went across the river from Ottawa to Quebec for a little winter riding this past weekend. I did buy a Quebec trail pass for $300 (ouch) but I think I’ll get my moneys worth out of it just for winter riding.

The trails we were on were groomed and very well marked. In some portions you shared the trail with snowmobiles, some you had to yourself where the snowmobiles branched off to follow power lines and some spots where it was wide enough to have side by side trails for each with a snow berm separating the ATV’s and snowmobiles. It was a great system.

We started off in Val-des-Bois leaving from the parking lot of the Grill 309 restaurant right to an access trail. The access trail had been groomed at some point but was a little rutted with soft snow. Lots of twists, off camber moments and some pretty decent full throttle hill climbs. Once on to the main trail you could really cruise as they had been groomed earlier in the day. We headed North to Notre-Dame-du-Laus. Again, great trails with soft snow, some flat sections where you could open it up as well as twists and pretty big hill climbs as you made your way through the mountains. In Notre-Dame-du-Laus I topped up with gas. From all the hard running in the snow I had used up almost half a tank.

We continued North and made the loop to the East to head back to the Val-des-Bois. We did end up doing some road running on this last green section. It wasn’t too bad as the roads were snow covered so you weren’t getting covered in salt and sand. In the end we did about 6.5hrs of riding and coverd 153km with out extra exploring and missing a turn at one point. I think we will be heading back in a week or so to start further North and keep checking out their trails. I’d recommend them to anyone that gets the chance to run them. I forgot my camera so I only took a few pictures with my phone. I’ll try to get some action shots next time out.

Deer everywhere we went. I stopped to take a leak on the trail and they wander right up to you.

Went across the river from Ottawa to Quebec for a little winter riding this past weekend. I did buy a Quebec trail pass for $300 (ouch) but I think I’ll get my moneys worth out of it just for winter riding.

The trails we were on were groomed and very well marked. In some portions you shared the trail with snowmobiles, some you had to yourself where the snowmobiles branched off to follow power lines and some spots where it was wide enough to have side by side trails for each with a snow berm separating the ATV’s and snowmobiles. It was a great system.

We started off in Val-des-Bois leaving from the parking lot of the Grill 309 restaurant right to an access trail. The access trail had been groomed at some point but was a little rutted with soft snow. Lots of twists, off camber moments and some pretty decent full throttle hill climbs. Once on to the main trail you could really cruise as they had been groomed earlier in the day. We headed North to Notre-Dame-du-Laus. Again, great trails with soft snow, some flat sections where you could open it up as well as twists and pretty big hill climbs as you made your way through the mountains. In Notre-Dame-du-Laus I topped up with gas. From all the hard running in the snow I had used up almost half a tank.

We continued North and made the loop to the East to head back to the Val-des-Bois. We did end up doing some road running on this last green section. It wasn’t too bad as the roads were snow covered so you weren’t getting covered in salt and sand. In the end we did about 6.5hrs of riding and coverd 153km with out extra exploring and missing a turn at one point. I think we will be heading back in a week or so to start further North and keep checking out their trails. I’d recommend them to anyone that gets the chance to run them. I forgot my camera so I only took a few pictures with my phone. I’ll try to get some action shots next time out.

Deer everywhere we went. I stopped to take a leak on the trail and they wander right up to you.