On this morning, the second day of my trip, the sun shines on the mountains and it is 35 °C. My riding companion and photographer Jacques Turgeon is ready for another adventure in the Appalaches.
Today, our destination is the city of Thetford Mines, a circuit of about 150 km. Not too many, will you say, but I want to take time to stop and to enjoy the panoramas, and to immortalize them with my camera. Well, now, our engines are warm. Please follow us for the continuation of our trip.
Let’s go
When we leave the Manoir Lac Etchemin, we ride on the Etchemin lake surrounded by many cottages that are very nice and well set around this wonderful lake of 5 km. I stopped right in the middle of the lake to take photos and to enjoy the panorama.
Etchemin lake and village of Lac-Etchemin
Lake with markers
Trail
The trail had been groomed during the night and we were riding on a white smooth carpet under the sun that warmed up our machines. At that precise moment, I thought how blessed we were to live this adventure is such a beautiful region.
After a few kilometers, we arrived in the small village of Notre-Dame-des-Pins. To my greatest surprise, we saw a covered bridge over a river on which we can ride on our snowmobiles. As we rode into the bridge, we saw that a carpet was protecting the structure of the bridge.
Covered bridge
Once in the middle of the bridge, I stopped my snowmobile to take a few minutes and look at this historic structure. I admired the huge work that the carpenters of that time had to accomplish during the construction. The bridge is open in winter to snowmobilers and in summer, to cyclists and pedestrians.
Inside the bridge
History of the bridge
At one exit of the bridge, its history is displayed on a plaque. The bridge is 154,5 m long, the longest in the Province of Québec and the 2nd in Canada.
Breathtaking scenery
After taking photos of the covered bridge, we head for our final destination of today. The route gets more mountainous and we ride across wide plains surrounded by these majestic mountains. As we were crossing these plains, we stopped a few times to relax on our machines and just to enjoy this nature that gives us such a feeling of freedom. What a wonderful region that contains a jewel of landscape well worth a visit by snowmobilers.
View of the trail
Thetford sector
Here, we enter the Asbestos Country. Mine residues overhang the snowmobile trail. We are very small against these mountains of impressive height. This is how this wonderful day full of fun and satisfaction ends up. I hope you liked travelling with me on this second day full of discoveries.
Mountains made of mine residues
Come back next week to read the continuation and the end of my trip in the beautiful region of Chaudière-Appalaches.
