On a drizzly Sunday, 12 BTNSCer’s and a greyish poodle congregated in the chalet on rue Condor, Val David, to embark upon a hike of an indeterminate distance. This was not a normal hike in the traditional BTNSC sense for it was decided that two newbie leaders, (one who confuses right with left, and the other who is topographically disoriented,) would lead the group through the woods and hills of Val David, and back.

The first glance at the trail map revealed a jumbled-looking selection of differently-coloured lines and non-linear numbers. Our objective was to somewhat follow Keith’s red dots on a GPS plot from last year’s hike. So we identified the POI’s for the day, and tentatively sketched a route across the page and back, when the kind lady at the chalet not only indicated that our maps were somewhat outdated, but also reminded us that the chalet closed @ 4:30 p.m.

After a rocky start a mere 15 m into the hike, we reassessed the trail and finally made our way across the hills and towards Continue reading →