SledMagazine.com attended the official opening of the Eastman-Magog section of 15 kilometers that now connects the cities of Eastman and Magog along Highway 10.
On early 2000’s, the Government has decided to implement a regulation of 1977 that closed all snowmobile trails settled on Québec national parks because they were incompatible with the mission of the parks, which is protection of nature.
This decision has put an end to a section of 1,4 km that was crossing the park between lakes Bowker and Stukely and maintained by the snowmobile club Les Sans Peur de Bonsecours. This closing down penalized snowmobilers who wanted to ride from one town to the other and at the same time, took from the club a trail of 23 kilometers between Bonsecours and Magog.
Mr Raymond Bourbonnais, initiator of the project
This is when Mr Raymond Bourbonnais started a project in 2006. With the help of many partners, such as the ministère des Transports, de la Mobilité durable et de l'Électrification, the Fédération des clubs de motoneiges du Québec, the local snowmobile clubs, the regional business owners and many others, the bypass has been achieved. This has required lots of efforts, meetings and feasibility studies in matter of environment and planning of the territory in order to settle everything before the ground-breaking ceremony.
To make sure their club would survive, Les Sans Peur de Bonsecours have decided to merge with the clubs Les Pionniers de Valcourt and Les Motoneigistes du Memphrémagog. At the moment of this merger, some money was available and the clubs have unanimously decided to keep it available for the realization of this project because they also believed in a permanent corridor to connect Eastman and Magog and this way, to keep snowmobiling alive in the region.
Even if he was sick, Mr Raymond Bourbonnais, the initiator of this new trail, wanted to be present to inaugurate it. The project managers were very happy to name this trail after him, “Sentier Raymond Bourbonnais”. So, on your next visit in Eastern Townships, you are invited to ride on this new trail Trans-Québec 45.
This project represents the perseverance of the managers, volunteers, organizations and partners. Congratulations to all of you for your devotion towards our wonderful sport.
