BY BILL AND LINDA HEINZELMAN PHOTOS BY GREG BURTOFT
We were up relatively early on a comfortable winter morning in rural Quebec, starting a new snowmobiling adventure in the Lanaudière region, about 100 miles northwest of Montreal.
Following our guide up a relatively narrow and twisting feeder trail, we were climbing a round-topped mountain en route to a major trail. Glancing in the side mirror on the sled, I could see more distant mountains emerging into view as we gained altitude. And by the time we reached the top, we could see we were surrounded by steep, snow-covered peaks in all directions.
Right then, we knew we were in for something special.
Let’s Go!
A few days earlier, just minutes after sunrise, we headed out of our driveway in East Millinocket, Maine, with sleds in tow. Our destination? Sainte-Emelie-de-l’Energie, Quebec, for our annual Valentine’s week sled trip.
After 7.5 hours of windshield time, we arrived at “the Auberge” – Auberge du Vieux-Moulin – where we met up with our guide, Bruce Cody, of Snow
Tour Quebec.
Cody normally runs saddlebag tours around Quebec from January through March, but after being away from home (and his wife) for such extended periods of time, he decided to do a lodge-based couples’ trip during Valentine’s week, which also corresponds with his wife’s birthday. He created a full-week experience with six rides to different destinations, returning to the Auberge each evening for a group dinner.
Considering our own Valentine tradition of snowmobiling, it was an obvious one to join – and to repeat. This was our sixth year doing this trip and, so far, we have met some great people and made lifelong friends.
Once we arrived at the lodge, we unloaded our Ski-Doos, unpacked our luggage and gear and then settled in for a great week ahead.
The Auberge du Vieux-Moulin is a beautiful resort in the heart of Quebec’s Lanaudière region, about 2.5 hours (100 miles) north of Montreal and three hours (150 miles) west of Quebec City.
It is run by second-generation owner Kevin Fournier, his wife, DdAndree, and extended family. The lodge provides well-appointed rooms, a gourmet restaurant where we enjoyed breakfast and dinner each day, an indoor pool and a spa area including sauna, a steam room and outdoor and indoor hot tubs. It also rents snowmobiles and gear. The lodge offers ample parking for trailers and sleds. Fournier and his team made us feel very welcome (even though we don’t speak French) and did their best to accommodate our needs.
At dinner the first night, we met the six other couples with whom we’d be riding for the week. People shared where they were from, where they have ridden and what they were looking forward to in the coming week.
Lanaudière Warmup
The Lanaudière region of Quebec has approximately 2,900 miles of snowmobile trails that travel through mountains and forests with hundreds of frozen lakes and majestic vistas.
On Sunday, our first day of riding started with a breakfast buffet at 8 a.m. The normal plan is to be on the trail by 9:30. However, since it was the first day, we got on the trail at 10 a.m. after making sure everyone’s machines were ready and fueled up.
It was a chilly 15 degrees Fahrenheit in the morning and only crawled up to about 23 degrees later in the day.
When first leaving the Auberge, there was a trail out of the back of the property that took us a mile or so up a fairly steep hill to connect to Trail 63. Trail 63 leaving Auberge du Vieux-Moulin and heading north was a little rough, having not been groomed for a couple of days.
After about 13 miles on this trail, we hit Trail 350, which took us most of the way to our destination. This trail was groomed flat and in pristine condition. The trails in the area were mostly twisting paths through woodland. There were no sweeping vistas but lots of snow-covered pine trees making it a beautiful ride.
We rode to Relais Koubek, located at Centre du Pourvoyeur Mastigouche, a family-owned lodge on a lake located on Trail 345. The lodge has some accommodations available in the winter months, and the restaurant caters to snowmobilers. The lodge is very rustic and welcoming with a large wood burning fireplace to warm up by and offers the basics for food – sandwiches, burgers, soups and salads ordered at the counter and served to your table.
After a relaxing lunch we made our way back to the Auberge, taking the same route to return. It was a short day with only 73 miles round trip, but it was a good opportunity for our leader to judge everyone’s riding skills and preferred pace, which would help in planning for future days regarding distance and speed.
With the short ride on this first day, we got back to the Auberge and fueled up for the next day with plenty of time to spare. We used this free time to relax in the outdoor hot tubs before getting cleaned up for dinner, which was at 7 p.m. each night. After dinner we all went our separate ways and got prepared for the next day.
Exploration Underway
We woke Monday for our second day of riding and were greeted with 5-degree temperatures when we walked out the door. It would climb to 15 by midday.
Our plan was to ride 52 miles in the morning to Pourvoirie du Lac Blanc (White Lake) for lunch. This time, we took Trail 63 south out from the Auberge. The first 20 miles had just been groomed the night before, making the beautiful ride through the woods even better than normal.
We then headed down the mountain into the towns of Sainte-Emelie and Saint-Damien, where the trails ran mostly along the road and across fields. At this lower elevation, the snow is quite a bit thinner and we could feel the rocks beneath the skis at times. Then we plunged back into the woods on Trail 349, a narrow and winding path through patches of pines and hardwoods, before arriving at our destination.
When we pulled up to Lac Blanc, the entire lawn was full of snowmobiles. It is a large, beautiful lodge and resort with a bar and lounge downstairs and a restaurant upstairs as well as rooms and cabins to rent.
Before going inside, we took a walk to see the dog sled teams at the edge of the lake. Visitors can take a dog sled ride from here as well as a ski plane ride.
Cody made reservations for lunch, so our group of 12 sat at a long table upstairs. Lac Blanc has an extensive menu, including specialties like trout chowder served in a bread bowl, which quite a few folks in our group chose. Not being fans of chowders, we opted instead for club sandwiches and were very satisfied.
After lunch we visited the gift shop and took some pictures and then headed back to the Auberge. On this return trip, we took the northern route, which was slightly longer but not as narrow and winding. It also had more snow than the morning route.
Trail 345 led us to Trail 350, which eventually brought us to Trail 63, which pointed us south back toward our destination. This portion of Trail 63 was the same 13 miles we had started out on the day before. However, now it had been groomed and was beautiful. A freshly groomed trail is a great way to end the day’s ride. Total miles for the day were 110. The day ended the same as the day before with fueling up, hot tubs, cocktails and dinner.
On Tuesday morning it was again 5 degrees in the morning with a high of about 15 degrees in the afternoon. Our destination for the day was Barrage du Lac Taureau, the dam at the top of the Taureau Reservoir. The reservoir was formed in 1931 by damming the Matawin River.
We started off once again heading north on Trail 63, this time for about 35 miles to Auberge Le Cabanon, a popular lodging location and gas and meal stop for snowmobilers. This was our morning stop and restroom break.
From there we headed north for another 34 miles on Trail 23 which goes through the Mastigouche Wildlife Reserve and took us to the dam.
It snowed lightly all morning, resulting in a visually appealing white coating on the pine tree branches. The trail from Le Cabanon up was a mix of open roads groomed to perfection and then in and out of the woods on winding trails. At the top we crossed the dam and then the trail opened up to a magnificent view of the reservoir.
We shut down the machines, taking a break to soak in dramatic scenery and take group photos with the dam and reservoir as the backdrop. One rider in our party launched a drone and took overhead shots of the group.
After our break we headed back down to Le Cabanon for lunch and then back to the Auberge. The total for the day was 138 miles.
On Wednesday morning, we woke up to a crisp temperature of minus 10 degrees, with the temperature forecast to go up to maybe 10 degrees above. This day’s planned ride was a little different than other days. It would be a 200-plus mile adventure – longer and faster than usual. The tour gave women the option to stay at the lodge for a spa day with massages.
All but one of the women chose the rest day: They got their massages, went to the indoor pool and spas, visited the animals they have at the lodge, tried out some snowshoes and enjoyed a quiet day socializing.
The smaller riding group left the Auberge once again heading south on Trail 63 and using Trail 343 to cut over to Trail 33. North on 33, we hooked back up to 63 which then took us west through Mont-Tremblant National Park and over to Riviere-Rouge.
The trail going through the park was in very good condition, scenic, varying between big wide, fast trails and small winding trails through the woods. We passed many seasonal camps and cottages on the lakes, leading us to believe this area was most likely very beautiful and very busy in the summer months.
Lunch was at the Airport Relais near the Mont-Tremblant Airport, which offered the basics – burgers, sandwiches, poutine and pizza. After lunch we retraced our route back to the Auberge and once again hit the hot tubs before getting ready for dinner.
Fresh Snow for Festival Day
On Thursday morning we woke up to 12 degrees, snow and a bit of wind. When we headed out, there was about 6 inches of new snow on the ground, and it continued to fall all day. The plan for the day was to first head down to Saint-Come to see the ice sculptures.
We headed south on Trail 63 to Trail 343, which took us into Saint-Come. With the new snow, the edges of the trail were at times difficult to see, and we had one mishap where one sled cut the corner too close and ended up in a ditch. Unfortunately, the sled following did the same.
We had to spend some time clearing around the sleds before Cody could pull them out with his Ski-Doo Expedition. He is well prepared with tools, tow ropes and whatever else he needs to handle these and many other situations. Once all were back on the trail, we continued to our destination with no further issues.
The annual Saint-Come Ice Festival invites local and international artists to carve beautiful ice sculptures, and we were lucky enough to time our visit to see it.
We parked the sleds at a gas station and walked around town to view the sculptures. The fresh snow covered several of them, but crews were out with leaf blowers cleaning them off. It’s a magical feeling walking around this quaint little town with the snow falling.
After spending some time in town, we headed back the way we came and went to La Barriere, which is just a few miles up the hill from where we were staying, for a late lunch. La Barriere is on a lake and has cabins for rent, a lodge with a nice restaurant and gas.
For specials, they had trout burgers and trout lasagna, which were not our thing but some in the group said they were delicious. They also had burgers, poutine and pizza with french fries. We found that in Quebec they like to serve french fries with almost everything.
While waiting for our meal, we looked around the lodge at the many furs, jewelry and furniture pieces they had for sale and watched the ice fishermen out on the lake. It was a short day, covering only about 80 miles because of the time spent walking around town.
Friday was our last day of riding. There was about a foot of new snow on the ground, but the groomers were out in force overnight getting the trails ready to ride. We headed south out of the Auberge on Trail 63 and hooked up with Trail 33 to head west to Saint-Donat.
This area has a lot of steep, hilly trails with great views of the surrounding mountains and the lakes down below. Lunch was at Aux 3 Copains, a little restaurant in town featuring everything from club sandwiches, salads and burgers to seafood, pasta and steak entrees.
On the way back after lunch, we stopped at Pourvoirie Coin Lavigne, an outfitter and lodge in Saint-Come, for a break and some refreshments. After that was the last 20 miles or so back to our home base to end a great week of trail riding. Our total miles for the day were about 120.
Back at the Auberge we started loading up the sleds and packing our gear to leave in the morning. In the hot tub that night, as well as at dinner, we talked about the week we had, shared contact information and discussed next year. Many from the group reserved their spot for 2026 Valentine’s week.
In the morning, the couples with the longest drives headed out early before breakfast while the rest of us stayed to savor one last meal at this wonderful resort. We headed home to our normal everyday lives. But we carried with us memories of the time we had of a beautiful resort location, great trails to ride with excellent destinations and new friends.