Riding Early in the Season – Be Cautious
With the early arrival of snow on most of Quebec’s territory, many snowmobilers are tempted to go for their first ride of the season. Having the opportunity to do your first kilometers in November is something that is hard to resist.
Preparations for the departure for a day of adventure.
Our collaborators Steve and Denis and three of their friends answered the call of the snow last weekend on the territory of the ZEC of Bas-Saint-Laurent. After registering at the Les Hauteurs-de-Rimouski reception station, our small group of enthusiasts took the forest trails.
When you want to travel on territory not managed by a snowmobile club, you must ensure that you can do so legally. We are then looking for public land, and even in these places, there may be rules to follow. For example, our five friends took care to check in before driving on the territory of a ZEC (Controlled Operating Area).
Winter landscape in November? Why not!
If you ride a snowmobile this early in the season, you must be very careful. The light snow cover frequently hides rocks, sticks, roots or other obstacles that could cause a loss of control, breakage, injury or even death. It is prudent to avoid riding on the edges of the road. These do not go well with the driving and even suspension components of snowmobiles.
A small lunch in the forest always has its charm especially with feet in the snow.
Now back to our group… The plan for their day was simple: Have fun! To achieve this, they opted for a very flexible itinerary…” If it doesn’t pass in one place, we’ll show up somewhere else. The territory of the ZEC is very large. It includes countless trails of all sizes. So, when the option of going to Moose Valley Lodge became unthinkable because of an open road, everyone took it well.
Forest companies often use the months of November and December to take out the wood. It should, therefore, come as no surprise to find an open trail like this.
In this type of fall adventure, flexibility is required when our original plan no longer works. Then we move on to plan B as we say.
Our friends drove for most of the day choosing the snowiest trails and avoiding those that were open. When they returned to their trailers, a beautiful 167 km was displayed on their snowmobile’s daily counter.
