Most of us were surprised to wake up on Sunday morning and be greeted by a blanket of snow on the ground. But it was only a thin layer and it served to add a cheerful wintery atmosphere to our hike at Mont St Bruno. The temp was about -2 C under overcast skies.

There were 24 of us who gathered at the chalet at 9:45 am. Two people opted to go running on the trails before meeting up with us later. After the group photo, we set out at 10:03 am to do a big counter-clockwise loop of the park. We took trail 1 to Lac du Moulin and then joined trail 5 for 1.5 km. Then we took trail 1 again, past Lac à la Tortue and then around Lac des Bouleaux to the only hut with bathrooms on the trail. After a pit stop there for a few minutes, we took trail 3 to Lac Seigneurial, before switching back to trail 1.
The hike had been promised to be about 2.5 hours long. As we got close to the parking lot, I realized that we were on track to arrive back after only 2 hours. Far be it from me to cheat two dozen eager hikers from their promised allotment of outdoor exercise. So we extended the hike by looping around trail 9. This trail, which is a skate-skiing trail when the snow arrives, was cut into soft grassy fields and it was actually more work to walk on than the dirt and gravel paths of the other trails. We arrived back at the chalet at 12:30 pm. We hiked 11 km in 2 hr 27 min. A nice, easy hike that everyone was able to enjoy!

It started to rain lightly as we turned into Rang St George, and much to our relief we remembered we were in a car and not on our bikes. However the light rain changed to light snow as we parked the car at Le Sucrerie de La Montagne, not a good omen. Still we were  not the first there, one person was in such a rush to get there he had forgotten to put his trousers on and was walking around in his underwear. A touch chilly for that.  Soon we had a good group assembled and as we waited for the last few stragglers a young guy drove up and said he was working on the trail erecting new signs with the trail marked in yellow but he had not yet changed the old trail signs colors. Clearly he was concerned about our well being and  offered us free maps. Our “volunteer” leaders Roy T and Robert L were completely un phased by these  multi colored signs and led the 22 walkers and  a  trouser less runner  off on the trail. As we walked along the snow slowly stopped and occasional sunshine broke through resulting in the traditional shedding Continue reading →

I dragged myself out to Mont St-Hilaire last Sunday to meet 9 other hikers.  It was a mostly cloudy day, abut 10 C.  Note that none of us were at the hike the previous day, so we had 19 members in total out on club hikes this weekend.
I say “dragged” because I was feeling a bit under the weather.  Fortunately, I had already arranged to delegate the hike-leading duties to the capable hands of Steve Bubnich.  After we reached the first lookout point of Burned Hill 1.5 km into the hike, I decided I had subjected the group to enough of my coughing and wheezing and I turned back.  But the remaining nine hikers continued on.  They conquered the main lookout of Pain de Sucre and then continued north on the trails that loop near Dieppe and Rocky.  It was another great outing at Mont St-Hilaire. 

Many thanks to Steve for leading the hike and ensuring that everyone had a good day.

 

Each year we have in mind to organize an Adirondacks hike, but we are often thwarted by bad weather or scheduling issues.  This year we finally succeeded, although much to my frustration I was unable to participate!
Monique Isler led a group of 9 hikers up to the summit of Noonmark Mountain, near Keene Vally in the Adirondacks.  The weather conditions were good with a temperature range of 10-13 C and no rain.  Indeed, it turned it to be warmest at the summit as the sun broke through as they stopped there to admire the view and have lunch.  It was a long hike, about 5 or so hours on the trail.  Several of the hikers said it was one of the best hikes they had done in a long time!

Thanks to Monique for making this hike happen.  We promise to try and schedule more hikes like this in the future.

 

Last Sunday turned out to be a nice day for a hike.  Apparently, many others agreed as we were 32 hikers (plus 4 dogs) at Prevost.  Indeed, the parking lot was unusually crowded as another walking club from St-Jerome with an even larger gang than ours were also setting out for a hike.  Fortunately, we took a different route than they did and we did not see them again until we returned.

It was cool, about 7 C, but mostly sunny as we set out shortly after 10 am.  We followed the usual route along the MOC (McGill Outing Club) trail and first went to summit of Mount Shaw.  While there is a view from the lookout, it is a bit of an exaggeration to label this a mountain!  We took a sharp descent down the other side, past the long-abandoned building foundation.  We then made our way over to Lac Paradis.  While many of the leaves had fallen, there were still enough red-tinged trees to make for some lovely scenery.  The water of the lake was too enticing for two of our dogs to resist and they went in for a dip.  Continue reading →

Report by Tom V

The weather was sunny and about 15 C for our first Sunday hike of the season.　 The 27 hikers (and 3 dogs) set out from the Sanctuary shortly after 10 am, led by our expert guide, Christine Bouckley-Moore.　 There are many poorly marked trails on this hike, so we need someone like Christine who has years of experience on these trails.　 Some of the sections were rocky and leaf-covered so we had to step carefully.　 We took a roundabout route to the cross at the summit, with some hikers doing an extra 1 km extension via the top of the ski hill just before the cross.　 The total hike was 8 km or 9 km, depending on if one did the extra bit.　 We were on the trails for 3 hr 9 min.　 It was a great first hike!

We had proposed Oka as the ski destination for Sun. But on Sat, one BT member talked to the people at Oka and they recommended that skiers would be better off going north of the city, which was much more pessimistic than the comments on their web site. So we changed the Sun destination to the P’tit Train du Nord at 10:30 am instead. I updated the info on the @skibeavertails twitter feed and informed those people who had e-mailed me about skiing on Sun.

It was a sunny and cool morning last Sun, a really nice day to get in a rare April ski outing. I really wanted to go go go, but my nagging head cold said no no no! So for the first time this ski season, and much to my regret, I wimped out and stayed home. Mickey and Sharon were out at the PTdN and reported that the skiing was just lovely. Here is Mickey’s outing summary:

P’tit Train du Nord: Mt Roland – Val David – Mt Roland (34 km)
Weather: Glorious
Temp: 2C – 7C
Snow conditions: PERFECT – no bare spots at all
Wax: Aqua klister (+2C to +12C)

Mickey had tried out the Aqua Klister the previous Wed afternoon at Bois de Liesse. He reported that, “For the first lap I used red wax, and it was very slow. The second lap I used Aqua Klister — it was as fast as green wax.” Now I know that some people have a fear of klister, but it is really not justified. Yes, it is sticky stuff, but the trick is to have the solvent and rags to clean it off the skis when you get back to the car. It is worth the effort!

While Mickey and Sharon were claiming “last skiers standing” status at the PTdN, Dave Inglis was doing the same at Cap St Jacques. Although they had stopped grooming there a week earlier, the trails were still skiable. In addition to sharing “last skier standing status” with Mickey and Sharon, Dave has also made a credible bid for “most distance skied” at 620 km. When he reached the 600 km milestone a couple of days earlier, Dave took a commemorative photo in which he holds up all six of his fingers (look for that next time you shake hands with him)!

It really was a perfect day for a last ski outing. Congratulations to Mickey, Sharon and Dave as our last three skiers standing for 2014!

It was quite something to wake up last Sun and see all the blowing snow outside. Many people had — shall we say — mixed emotions about this turn of meteorological events. But as cross-country skiing enthusiasts, us Beaver Tailers had only one reaction — Whoo Hoo!

 

OK, maybe not all of us. But six of us made our way through the sloppy, but quite manageable, road conditions to get to Mont St Bruno last Sun. We all arrived late and did not get started skiing until after 10:30 am. The six of us this day were me, Monique I, Winnie, Jacques, John and Vivian.

They had not traced the trails that morning, they said because the snow was falling too fast when they arrived at 7 am. As a consequence, they did not charge a trail fee. The temp was steady at -1 C and violet wax was the way to go. Although they had not groomed, our late start meant that other skiers had gone ahead of us and established very nice tracks. There was a bit of clumping of snow under the skis, but the skiing was otherwise just great. It was windy that morning, but the thing with cross-country skiing in the woods is that you rarely feel it. The couple of times we skied along the lake’s edge and got the full breeze, it did not feel so bad due to the mild temp.

 

We all did trail #1 with a few extensions, so we covered about 10 kms.  Not a lot, but not bad for Mar 30! Everyone was very happy they had made the effort to make it out.

Sharon posted a note on the forum that she went to Mount Royal that day and had a great ski. I later heard similar reports from two other BTers who went there. So there was still plenty of great skiing to be had on our doorstep last Sun.

It was a nice day at Montagne Coupée, especially for those of us who have come to appreciate the center over the years and had missed not going for so long.  I sure hope it won’t take another three years before our next visit!