Explore Hill Country in Snowmobile Chaudiere Appalaches…
Snowmobile Chaudiere Appalaches – Click on photo to view tour article
Related: Chaudière-Appalaches Centre-du-Quebec Itinerary Planner
If you want to snowmobile Chaudière-Appalaches, head due south of The City of Quebec and the St Lawrence River. This takes you to a place where the rolling hill country and mountains of the Appalachian range provide some of Quebec’s best trail riding and fabulous scenery too…
Chaudiere Appalaches must be my lucky place for Quebec snowmobile tours or snowmobile vacations. We’d stopped at the lookout on top of Mont-Saint-Magloire (off Trail 549) in the park called Massif du Sud. Ready to saddle up, Marsha noticed coolant on the snow under her Ski-Doo Renegade. But it wasn’t a leak. The rad cap was missing! Unable to find it anywhere, we jerry-rigged a piece of plastic over the open neck. We held it in place with duck tape and a zip tie. I crossed my fingers, but didn’t like our odds given that a rad is pressurized and a baggie isn’t.
A thousand metres down the trail, two Quebec riders standing beside a lone Ski-Doo flagged us down. They’d been riding two-up on a one-person sled without adjusting the suspension. The extra weight had sagged the back end. So much so that a stud had holed the heat exchanger. Boy, talk about coolant on the snow!
They were looking for a tow to the nearest road. So I thought, let’s make a deal! Their sled wasn’t going to function again without a heat exchanger repair. Until then, it wouldn’t need a rad cap. So we’d tow their sled in exchange for their rad cap. What are the odds of any two sleds of the same make developing coolant problems at the same time and place. Or one’s cap fitting another’s sled? Or of my being able to cut that deal when I don’t speak French and they didn’t speak English?
Despite our good luck, Day Four was shorter than intended because we hightailed it direct to Performance G.P., the Ski-Doo dealer in Montmagny to double check that Marsha’s sled was okay.
Plenty of Snow to Snowmobile Chaudiere Appalaches Quebec
But Lady Luck has always been with me while doing saddlebag rides on Quebec snowmobile tours in Chaudière-Appalaches. This region is located due south of the City of Quebec and east of the Chaudière River. Meanwhile its partner-in-snowmobiling, the Centre-du-Quebec Region, is positioned south of the City of Trois Rivières and on the west side of the Chaudière.
These neighbouring regions are sandwiched between the St. Lawrence River and the U. S. border. Not where most sledders expect to find good snow and remarkable trails for their Quebec snowmobile tours. But they’d be surprised, as you may be when you read the rest of this article. Meanwhile. here’s where we stayed…
Snowmobile Chaudiere Appalaches Quebec Lodgings
Manoir du Lac William
Manoir du Lac William, Saint-Ferdinand
This outstanding lakeside resort in Centre du Quebec is really geared to winter and even has its own Zamboni for ice skating on the lake! Direct trail access by Trans Quebec 25, secure truck parking and heated sled garage, plus on site restaurant, hot tubs and indoor pool make the Manoir du Lac William a very snowmobile friendly – and classy – staging location for your tour of the region. 8-hour drive from the GTA; gas up sleds en route before arrival.
Manoir Lac Etchemin
Manoir Lac Etchemin, Lac Etchemin
Located near the snowiest mountain peaks in Chaudière-Appalaches, this lakeside hotel provides secure sled parking and on site restaurant, trail accessible by staked lake route via Trans Quebec 55 with gas available on trail before hotel.
Pourvoirie Daaquam
Pourvoirie Daaquam, Saint-Just-de-Bretenières
Accessible by Regional Trails 551 or 547, the Pourvoirie Daaquam is a uniquely Quebecoise outfitter with chalet accommodation and on site restaurant, hot tub and indoor pool in central lodge. Located on 1,000 private acres, Daaquam offers dog sled and horseback rides and a short back country snowmobile ride gets you to a remote sign that marks the Canada-U.S. border.
Econolodge
Econolodge, Montmagny
Definitely the easiest lodgings to get to by snowmobile in this town, the convenient Econolodge is located right on Trail 5, right across the road from a Ski-Doo dealer, beside a gas station/convenience store and has a St. Hubert Express on site, plus continental breakfast is included. Sled parking in front of rooms and a large parking lot for trucks and trailers.
Motel Invitation Inn
Motel Invitation Inn, Sainte-Marie
Located in town on the east side of the Chaudière River, this roadside motel provides direct trail access from Trans Quebec 35, with sled parking in front of rooms. Gas and convenience store across the road and La Barbaque Restaurant is next door.
Many snowmobilers who typically head north of the St. Lawrence for their Quebec sledding or trailer much farther east should take a serious look at the Chaudière-Appalaches and Centre du Quebec regions as a great alternative. We snowmobiled over 1,400 kilometres in 5 days of saddlebag touring and loved every minute.
For the rest of this Quebec snowmobile tour story + itinerary, read my Double Hitter article as published in Snow Goer Canada magazine. Meanwhile, if you’re looking for more great Quebec snowmobile tour destinations, check out the rest of my Quebec tours. #QuebecOriginal
Go to my Central Quebec Snowmobile Planner to get more info, contacts and links to organize your own ride!
Riders should reconfirm the routes and services mentioned in this Quebec snowmobile tour article as they may have changed since publication.
The tips and advice in this blog are the opinions of the author, may not work in every situation and are intended only for the convenience and interest of the reader, who has the personal responsibility to confirm the validity, accuracy and relevancy of this information prior to putting it to their own use.