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I’ll covering the 3 Day ATV riding that I and father did in summer of 2022 with our Can-AM Defender Side by Sides. We had three routes planned out as my father just got delivery of his rig, so we wanted to go long easy trails. Luckily these three routes are about as easy as you can get.
Both of us were ATV permit holders, my Nova Scotia ATV pass is valid in New Brunswick.
Day 1 – Siegas Lake Ain’t That Great
We decided to take to the trails and head up towards Siegas Lake, deep in the backroads near Sainte-Anne-de-Madawaska
We start the ride by following Route 10 at Chemin Thibodeau which are old government roads, we take a right which will become Route 5401 and we follow the road until we hit Chemin Martin. We cross over to Chemin Clark. We crossed a number of logging operations, some work to the road was done in certain sections and we came up to an active logging section.
Along the way there was a turn off to go towards the Forest Experimentale and the Chutes de Quisibis.
As we approach the turn off to Siegas Lake, the trail becomes narrow and rocky where we had to cross a few water holes. Also from the QuadNB map, the trail past the lake entrance was marked closed during the summer. It is a short distance from the main trail to the lake.
On the return, we took Route 10 towards Siegas where we took Route 12 to finish our ride close to Exit 53 along the Trans-Canada Highway
Day 2 – The Long Haul to Veneer and Back
We are off on the trails with the Can-am defender side by sides and riding along ATV Route 10 in New Brunswick. This section we start is in the St-Leonard, Siegas area and will be along old CN rail bed.
We’ll be travelling in the area known as “Flemming” and get pretty close to Route 17 which is the main highway to get to St-Quentin.
Our goal was to get as far as Veneer and turn around. We had other plans which we will cover in another video, but we’ll focus on this segment of trail.
Cell phone coverage is spotty at best, so having a satellite communicator like a ZOLEO or inReach is recommended. Since you will be travelling along a rail bed, it is fairly easy to simply walk back to St-Leonard or up to Veneer. Veneer is the hard wood wood mill owned by Irving, which has been there for ages.
Veneer is also about half-way to St-Quentin and the trail gets in better shape around Black Brook so that you can make up any lost time. In winter, the locals will call trail conditions like a highway, very easy riding to make it up to St-Quentin.
Along the way we found a picnic site, a trailhead to the riverbed and junction to other ATV trails which gets us to Saint-André / Grand Falls area. You can make a loop but expect a full day of riding even though you are following rail bed, logging roads and potato fields.
This section we start at the Route 10 / 28 Junction where we are heading towards St-André and eventually to the Irving Big Stop along the Trans Canada highway in Grand Falls.
We’ll be crossing Highway 17 and following ATV trail 28 5301 25. Route 5301 is actually on pavement along Ennishone Road. It was a bit confusing but the Route 25 junction is right after the airport amongst the potato fields.
The trails are along Irving woodlot service roads and generally pretty good condition.
Day 3 – Easy Ride To The Big Stop
Last video in this series of rides along the ATV trails in Madawaska county in New Brunswick. Here we’re leaving from Exit 53 along the trans canada highway and follow the trails along Route 10 and Route 25 which is the main drag from St-Leonard all the way to Grand Falls running parallel to the highway.
This is an easy ride you can attempt on a ATV or side by side. The signage is very good and surprisingly a few spots where cell coverage was a bit tough.
The interesting to note when passing through St-Leonard are the various snowmobile signs that will come into play in the winter, you’ll run into trails to cross over into Maine into Van Buren and alternative routes to make it up towards Saint Quentin.
Our goal today was to make it to the Irving Big Stop in Grand Falls to fuel up (both in gas but food as well) Also you’ll find that the last km to the Big Stop you’ll end up on Route 5306 down to the old rail bridge but I don’t think you can cross it. Better to stay on Route 25 where you can cross the bridge on Broadway and cross town as that section of trail is on pavement and machines are allowed.