2000

31.
Québec
Take Five
CIRCLING QUÉBEC’S FAMOUS GASPÉ PENINSULA
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Canada’s Best SNOWMOBILING
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We were snowmobiling the mountainous
northern shore of the Gaspé Peninsula in Québec.
Four of us had skidded and spun our way to the
top of an icy hill. By the time Barb Somerville
tried, the short slope had been polished like a bobsled run. She made it halfway, then slipped backwards to the bottom. Her husband, Eldon, slid
down on foot to help, leaving his sled parked up
top with its motor running.
Soon, both Barb and her machine reached the
summit. As we stood around chatting, Eldon
abruptly demanded: “Alright, what did you guys
do with my sled?” We looked at one another in surprise. Then, like children learning numbers, we
counted our five sleds — 1, 2, 3 ,4 . . . Eldon’s had
disappeared!
We three who had remained on top of the hill
with our snowmobiles eyed each other incredulously, as if one of us might be hiding that missing
machine under a helmet. “We didn’t do anything,”
we protested in unison, “because we were all busy
helping you!” Then we scanned the surrounding
bush suspiciously. Wasn’t it possible that a furtive
sled-knapper had struck in the blink of an eye? I
even glanced surreptitiously skyward: you never
know what the Big Guy might do!
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205
passenger to hurry up and get aboard.
Two-up on her machine and last in
line, Eldon and Barb arrived to be greeted by our almost hysterical merriment.
Imagine that snowmobile leaving on its
own and making the mile-long descent
unscathed! “It rides better without you,
Eldon!” we teased playfully. “Picture
their shock if other snowmobilers had
passed it on their way up! How often
does your machine put on more miles
than you do, Eldon? Lucky thing it didn’t
get hit by a logging truck as it sat here in
the road!”
Suddenly, our collective light bulb
went on. Like the Three Stooges, slowly
we turned, and step-by-step made our
way to the opposite side of the hill.
There, the winding trail descended
steeply into another valley. But no sign of
Eldon’s machine. Where could it have
gone? Maybe it had been repossessed.
With no other alternative, the five of
us mounted quickly on our four remaining sleds and started down that trail. I
peered over the steep edges, and
checked the upper limbs of hillside trees.
At each corner, I hunted for the telltale
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track of a lone slemaking the miled
careening off into oblivion. Steering was
tricky; I pumped my brakes frequently to
control acceleration. By the fourth bend,
more than half a mile down, there was
still no sled in sight. Eldon was beginning
to plan his bus trip home.
Finally, the trail leveled slightly, curving gently to the left. I could just make
out a road crossing ahead. Slowing to a
stop as the trail emerged from the bush,
I laughed with relief. That rider-less sled
sat in the middle of the road, idling
patiently, as if waiting for its erstwhile
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The previous Friday, we had parked our
trailers at the festively illuminated Hôtel
Universal in Rivière-du-Loup on the St.
Lawrence River. Then five of us
embarked on this tour — Marsha and I,
Jean Leroux, and Eldon and Barb
Somerville. Our mission was to circumnavigate Gaspésie on TQ (Trans
Québec) 5, a 1,800-kilometre journey,
doable in seven comfortable riding days,
even allowing for January’s shorter days.
I should have known from the outset
that it wouldn’t be simple. Marsha and I
were driving in tandem with Jean on
Highway 20 east of Montreal. We had
become separated, taking different
routes through that city, but were keeping in touch by cellular. Hungry, I called
to report passing St-Hyacinthe, and suggested a stop for lunch near
Drummondville. Jean seemed distracted,
but agreed to meet at Exit 173.
Several minutes later, he rang back,
sounding confused: “I’m only at Exit 55,
and I just saw a sign for Sherbrooke.” “I
have three pieces of news for you, Jean,”
I replied, barely containing my amusement. “One is that you’re on the wrong
highway, heading the wrong direction.
The second is that you’re going to miss
lunch. And the third is that you’re not
leading when we hit the trail!” He was
most upset about the not eating part.
At Rivière-du-Loup, things continued
to go awry. As we were parking our empty
trailers for the week, Jean noticed that
one of Eldon’s tires was wobbly.
Checking for a bent rim or loose nuts,
Jean gave the tire a shake. It came off in
his hands! The bearings must have burnt
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through, scoring the axle end. It was a
miracle that Eldon had made the trip
safely from Ontario. And that Jean
noticed the problem before we launched
on tour. Lucky thing he didn’t end up in
Sherbrooke after all!
We departed Saturday morning on TQ5e
after making arrangements at the front
desk for trailer repair. As usual, we left
our vehicle keys in case of emergency or
if they needed to be moved for plowing
while we were away. It was snowing lightly, but in the early afternoon, freezing
rain enveloped us near Rimouski. It’s not
as bad as it sounds. Freezing rain doesn’t
soak in like ordinary rain or wet snow
does. It simply coated us in icy cocoons
that crackled like stiff tissue paper with
every movement.
The greatest annoyance was our
frozen face shields. Visibility was constantly impaired. I often steered onearmed, using my left hand to scrape or
melt ice build up. Finally I used an old
hotel keycard as an ice scraper. As the
day progressed, trails crusted over. I
could hear my skis carving through the
layer, scattering ice chips in their wake.
Despite deteriorating conditions, we
reached the exceptional hospitality of
Riôtel Matane on schedule. Being true
snowmobilers, we were prepared to ride
next day in the rain. But a slippery coating of overnight ice made even walking
to our sleds perilous.
down into the valley was spectacular!).
The trails were groomed to perfection,
but icy hard, with slippery corners. We
snowmobiled cautiously. The going was
tough on sliders due to lack of lubrication, and some sleds overheated periodically. There weren’t many other riders in
evidence, but we did play leapfrog with
one couple from Lévis.
By mid-afternoon, we had traveled
So we stayed put one more day.
Fortunately, we’d planned to snowmobile Saturday to Friday, leaving the following weekend for the ten-hour drive
home, and recuperation before going
back to work. Now we would need that
extra time for snowmobiling, since we
would return to Rivière-du-Loup a day
later than planned — a good argument
for building an emergency buffer into
any touring schedule.
about 240 klicks on the magnificent
TQ5. It swept over hill and dale, where
the Chic-Choc Mountains meet the Gulf
of the St. Lawrence River. Near the village of Mont-St-Pierre, the trail climbed
steeply up yet another mountain. On our
right, its sheer side rose straight up from
the trail. To the left, a steep drop off into
a valley. Although the groomed surface
was almost twenty feet wide, there was no
reassuring snow bank as an edge barrier.
In the lead, I spied an anomaly. About
200 feet up on the left of the trail, a sled
and two bodies were strangely positioned. The messages flashed to my brain
fast and furious as it recognized the
Under cloudy Monday skies, we left for
Pourvoirie Beauséjour at Petite-Valée,
350 kilometres away (Try to arrive in daylight, because the view from the trail
Canada’s Best SNOWMOBILING
207
unlikely scenario. That machine was
perched on the edge of the precipice!
The couple we’d been leapfrogging was
desperately hanging on to it…
I slammed to a stop and raced up the
incline to help. Race is an overstatement.
As soon as my feet hit the trail, I realized
how icy it had suddenly become.
Slipping and sliding with Jean on my
heels, I scrambled onto a narrow strip of
untracked snow at the trail’s edge.
Reaching that precarious machine, we
maneuvered it back onto the trail.
Between gasps for breath, I asked what
had happened.
The woman had been leading when
her track spun out on ice. She started to
backslide, out of control. She must have
locked it up, because her machine
turned sideways and rolled over her several times. Her husband reacted quickly,
jumping off his own Ski-Doo to wrestle
her snowmobile to a stop at the very
brink. “Where’s your sled?” I inquired.
Painfully, he pointed over the edge.
Sure enough, his sled was wedged
against a tree about thirty feet down the
side of the mountain. Not realizing how
slippery it was, he’d abandoned ship to
help his wife without turning off the
motor or setting the parking brake. As he
rushed ahead on foot, his machine slid
backwards off the trail.
It was almost dark before we backtracked to reach the bottom and sent
the couple off to hospital. Later, we
learned that his wife had broken her
collarbone and fractured several ribs.
To bypass that mountain, we decided to
run the edge of a nearby highway into
Mont-St-Pierre to stay overnight.
Another group of snowmobilers arrived
later, having damaged one sled on that
same incline. They reported that two
other machines had also gone over the
edge. After the trail was officially closed
that night, the local club sent their
groomer to rescue all the sleds and
bring them down for repairs. (Update:
this trail has since been rerouted.)
Our Tour Itinerary (1,800 km)
Note: Unless otherwise stated, all riding takes place on TQ5
TRAVEL DAY: Trailer to Rivière-du-Loup (11 hours from Torornto)
Where We Stayed: Hotel Universel, 1-800-265-0072, (418) 862-9520 or
www.hoteluniverselrdl.com
DAY ONE: (8 3/4 hrs, 315 km) Rivière-du-Loup to Matane via RT526e to TQ5e.
Where We Stayed: Riôtel Matane, 1-877-566-2651, (418) 566-2651 or www.riotel.com
DAY TWO: Lay over at Riôtel Matane due to ice storm.
DAY THREE: (10 hrs, 237 km) Matane to Mont-St-Pierre
Where We Stayed: Hôtel-Motel Mont-St-Pierre, 1-800-797-2202 or www.multimania.com/hotelmtstpierre/home.htm
DAY FOUR: (6 1/2 hrs, 135 km) Mont-St-Pierre to Petite Vallée
Where We Stayed: Pourvoirie Beauséjour, 1-800-795-2347, (418) 393-2347 or www.pourvoiriebeausejour.com
DAY FIVE: (7 1/4 hrs, 275 km) Petite Vallée to Percé (TQ5e changes to TQ5w)
Where We Stayed: Auberge La Table à Roland & Motel L’Églantier, 1-866-782-2606,
(418) 782-2606 or www.aubergelatablearoland.com
DAY SIX: (8 hrs, 279 km) Percé to New Richmond
Where We Stayed: Hôtel Motel Francis, 1-800-906-4485, (418) 392-4485 or www.hotelfrancis.qc.ca
DAY SEVEN: (8 hrs, 266 km) New Richmond to Amqui
Where We Stayed: Sélectôtel Amqui, 1-800-463-0831, (418) 629-2241 or
www.selectotelamqui.com
DAY EIGHT: (7 hrs, 285 km by sled, then 3 hours drive to lodging) Amqui to Rivière-du-Loup
Where We Stayed: Hôtel Bernières, Saint Nicolas, 1-800-749-3119, (418) 831-3119 or
www.hotelbernieres.qc.ca
“I began to feel like tumbleweed being blown
madly about in an old western ghost town.”
Pettite-Vallée
Gaspé
Mont-Saint-Pièrre
Sainte-Anne-des-Monts
Matane
Rimouski
Rivière-Du-Loup
Murdochville
Percé
Chandler
New Richmond
Amqui
From Matane eastbound, TQ5 parallels
the north shore through some of the
most spectacular and breathtaking vistas
imaginable. The mountains drop sud208
Canada’s Best SNOWMOBILING
YOUR ULTIMATE RIDE GUIDE
denly to the St. Lawrence, leaving only
narrow strips of land for the highway and
fishing villages that cling to the coast.
The terrain is an extension of the
Appalachian chain that runs northeast
from Tennessee and Kentucky through
New England and New Brunswick into
the Gaspésie. The trail meanders
through this high country, with frequent
forays down to the coast to access services. In places, it winds and twists to conform to the topography, but in others,
there are wide, hilly straight-aways where
we could see miles ahead.
Gaspésie trails are characterized by
numerous one-lane suspension bridges
reminiscent of old Tarzan movies, except
without the obligatory broken planking
and pursuing natives. Like most trails in
La Belle Province, stakes frequently
delineate the trail on both sides. The
Québec rule — and its a good one —
seems to be that if the trail is not defined
by trees on both sides, it must be staked
thoroughly and frequently. This makes
Gaspé trails less difficult for snowmobilers and groomer operators to follow in
poor visibility or after a snowfall. For us,
the stakes provided an added measure of
security on unfamiliar terrain.
One prevalent memory of my Gaspé tour
is gale force winds. As we rode the north
shore, they blasted off the Gulf like cannon shots. Often, I emerged from a
woods trail into an unprotected meadow
— and felt my snowmobile shudder as if
taking direct hits. I’d never had my sled
moved sideways, but I swear it happened
here — I began to feel like tumbleweed
being blown madly about in an old western ghost town. I was grateful that my
windproof suit protected my tender flesh
from those piercing gusts.
At one gas stop, the prevailing
onslaught was so fierce, it was all we
could do to stand upright. I finished filling up, and was moving to put the nozzle
back into the pump, when a force
thumped my back, staggering me
momentarily. As I fought to regain my
balance, my hand involuntarily closed on
the nozzle handle, releasing a spray of
gas. It blew instantly across everything
within ten feet, including a very startled
Eldon and Barb. No extra charge for that
fuel spritz!
The town of Gaspé is at the end of the
peninsula. Here, TQ5 itself transforms
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209
us before the day would be done. Now
we were stopped in our tracks within
sight of our vehicles, all because we were
running 24 hours later than planned!
At first, it looked like we would be
denied access. Maybe it was our baggageladen sleds or our trail-worn
demeanours, but we finally convinced an
organizer that we weren’t gatecrashers.
He led us by a circuitous route to our
parking lot, where Eldon’s trailer was
nowhere in sight! I suggested that maybe
it had left without him too. Fortunately, a
quick check with the front desk confirmed that it was ready for pick up at a
nearby repair shop, so we were able to hit
the road together at about 4 PM — a
weary and satiated group of happy snowmobilers.
— into Trans Québec #5 west (TQ5w). It
was disorienting at first, having followed
#5 eastbound for several days, so I had to
keep reminding myself of the change.
Coming into lands’ end at Percé, we
discovered a trail up the mountain
behind the church to view its famous
rock (you can’t ride out to it anymore on
the ice). Further up, huge icicles frozen
on the side of a rock cleft formed an
amazing ice cave. We had another good
view of the rock and the Percé harbour
just west of town, near a blue, traditional
Cape Cod style house.
From Percé, all along the south coast,
the hills are interspersed with the fields
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and farms of a gentler flood plain alongside Chaleur Bay. The rolling foothills
also provide incredible riding through
New Richmond and Pointe-à-la-Croix,
where we turned north to Amqui.
On Saturday, we grabbed an early
start, pulling into the Hotel Universal by
mid-afternoon, ready to load up our trailers. Assuming that Eldon’s was repaired.
And that we could get into the hotel
parking lot — it was crammed with vehicles, trailers, and sleds as hundreds of
spectators gathered to watch snowmobile
races. Snow fences and barriers blocked
every entrance. Great — 1,800 kilometres behind us and a long drive ahead of
Canada’s Best SNOWMOBILING
For flatlanders who have never experienced high country snowmobiling, the
mountains of Gaspésie are impressive.
The icy conditions we encountered for a
day or two are not the norm. Typically,
Gaspésie trails are inundated with snow
into March, and as we discovered, are
immaculately groomed. With its breathtaking scenery, TQ5 made our Gaspé
adventure as close to heaven as a snowmobiler will ever find on earth.
One final tour tip: in retrospect, I
would travel counter-clockwise, doing
the south shore first. This way, the mountains grow progressively more rugged
and spectacular as the journey progresses. So each day, when you think you’ve
already seen the best there is, an even
more impressive sight will be waiting just
over the next peak. Who knows, you
●
might even see a rider-less sled!
Who To Contact
Québec Tourism, 1-800-363-7777
(English),1-877-266-5687 (French), or
www.bonjourquebec.com
Région de Québec, (418) 641-6654
or www.quebecregion.com
Québec Federation of Snowmobile Clubs,
(514) 252-3076 or
www.fcmq.qc.ca
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Communicating in
Québec
The presence of so many Americans in the Québec snowbelt is
proof that snowmobilers can get by without speaking French.
However, knowing a few words a good idea.
On the trail (le sentier), the key words to know include:
■ Chocolate ice cream, please (De la crême glacée au chocolat,
s’il-vous-plait.)
■ I’d like to reserve a room. (Je désire réserver une chambre.)
■ Do you speak English? (Parlez-vous anglais?)
■ Where can I get this *!#!#* sled fixed? (Où est-ce que je peux
faire réparer cette *!#!#* motoneige?)
■ Arrêt (Stop)
■ Lentement (Slow)
■ Ralentissez (Slow)
■ Ouest (West)
■ Est (East)
■ Nord (North)
■ Sud (South)
■ Hommes au Travail (Men at Work)
■ Chevaux au Travail (Horses at Work)
■ Droit (right)
■ Gauche (left)
■ Motoneige (snowmobile)
■ VTT (ATV)
■ Traineau a Chiens (dog sled)
■ Detour (detour)
■ Danger (Danger)
■ Caution (caution)
Useful Phrases:
■ Do you have sugar pie? (Avez-vous de la tarte au sucre?)
■ Where is the washroom? (Où est la salle de toilettes?)
■ How far to gas? (Quelle est la distance pour acheter de
l’essence?)
■ You have a whirlpool? (Avez-vous un bain tourbillon?)
■ Where am I? (Où est-ce que je suis?)
■ Where is the nearest bridge? (Où est le pont le plus près?)
If all else fails, say “Je ne parle pas Francais.” and look as helpless as possible.