Now the last thing a free spirited walk leader wants to be asked before a walk is where are we going and how far is it, because he doesn’t know for certain himself , even more so when arriving at the Chalet Anne Piché we find that there is a running race on some of the major trails. Never mind, at the worse we can take out pants off and join in with the runners in our under wear, no one will know. So on a frosty bright sunny morning 23 of us and a dog started our walk with the intention of visiting several viewpoints. At least that was my intention , the rest of the group had no idea where we were going and didn’t seem to care as long as it was uphill. Soon we were on the snow shoe trails heading for Mont Condor, no problems with mud here the path was frozen. Past the first viewpoint a smaller path was tried which came a little too close to the edge of the crag for comfort, so a retreat was the order of the day to a safer broader path . Second viewpoint reached and the troops started asking about lunch, no way we had hardly started, however a pee break was sanctioned. On Continue reading →

Tom’s advice about the bridges was still fresh in our minds as we left Dorval, however the people with whom I share a car always seem to have difficulties with advice, and the car behind us was just following so with Champlain showing green on the web page we took the Champlain exit. However as we approached the Atwater exit the traffic slowed due to road works and our nerve cracked so off we got and headed to the Victoria. One tiny problem no one was quite sure how to get there and the diversion signs down town really threw us a curve ball. How hard can it be to find a bridge after all its not exactly a small structure, still finally we found the bridge and we were on track again. ( We later found out from Ray M that although the traffic slowed there was no problem crossing the Champlain, grrr.)

Arrival at St Hilaire was uneventful except we were late and there was a line up at the gate to get in, probably more people trying to get in than crossing Chaplain Bridge, ( Note for Tom for the future), still our friends had Continue reading →

The weather looked a little dubious as the three of us left to meet the multitude at Dorval, multitude did I say , well at least one person showed up, so of we set thinking about a short walk and early coffee. Arriving at the trail head three other walkers were already there, soon 6 other brave souls arrived and we were 13. Short walk and early coffee looked less likely now. Given the weather was still a little dubious I proposed going towards Lake Côté instead of Le Summet, secretly knowing we really did not have to decide for a least 3kms. Funnily enough no one else seemed to have any form of mapso Continue reading →

We had no less than 20 hikers turn out at Oka on this beautiful Thanksgiving weekend.  And we had much to be thankful for.  The weather was unseasonably warm and pleasant.   It was already 18 C as we gathered just before 10 am and was up to 22 C when we finished at around noon.  Plus, as has been a Thanksgiving tradition the last few years at Oka, there were free apples, chocolate and Oka cheese awaiting people at the summit.  So we had an objective! Most visitors to the park take the Sentier du Calvaire d’Oka.  That is the more direct route to the “three chapels” lookout, where the food was supposed to be.  But that would have been too easy for our hardy band of hikers, so we walked to the east end of the parking lot and set out on the Sentier du Sommet trail.  This trail is actually designated as a mountain bike trail, and we did have to occasionally call out “bikes up!” to warn of oncoming riders. The first 2 km of this trail has some steep ups and downs.  After a few of these, several in our group challenged my description of this hike in last week’s update message as “easy to moderate”.  I tried to explain that these hills constituted the “moderate” part!   We soon completed this “moderate” section and reached a lookout point.  There used to be a warming hut, but it has disappeared and has been replaced by a couple of picnic tables.  On the map that Oka park hands out, it labels this point as the official summit, as opposed to the three chapels lookout. But there are trees surrounding this vantage point and there is not much of a view to be had. We kept following the quiet trail towards the three chapels summit where the free food was to be found.  Unlike the past couple of years, we did not take any wrong turns and we soon joined up with the last bit of the Sentier du Calvaire.  A few minutes later we reached the three chapels lookout.  There was indeed food being handed out by park workers to all comers.  And there many comers — the lookout was quite crowded!  We lined up at the food table and were handed apples, Oka cheese, and chocolate covered cranberries. After about 20 minutes of enjoying the treats and the view, we started down on the Sentier du Calvaire.  This trail has seven mini-chapels along it, each of which contains a painted wooden bas relief carving depicting a religious scene.  Since this was the main trail there were many more people on it, compared to the longer trail we had taken to the summit.  Half an hour later we were back at the cars.  The whole hike had taken just over two hours and we covered 8.15 km.   What a great way to celebrate the Thanksgiving weekend!

 

Well it did look a bit grey and the forecast talked of showers, even reports of rain at Rigaud that very morning were received, but the old faithful McGill radar looked clear so we ran out of excuses and the call of Rigaud trails tempted us once again. Not only us but 20 other walkers were present at the Sucrerie, all anxious to test their mettle in the woods. Having had the occasional difficulties on the trails in the past we prevailed on one of our club members, Christine Buckley Moore, commonly known as “Gps” to lead us safely along the way. Now as everyone knows expertise like Christine’s doesn’t come cheap however my Continue reading →

We had 16 hikers turn out on a unseasonably warm and sunny morning at Mont St-Bruno.  We assembled the troops, took the group photo (then re-took it a couple of times as stragglers arrived), and then set off at just before 10 am.

The first part of the hike took Continue reading →

Saturday a few of us walked in Bois De Liesse and this time we actually kept to the walking trails which turned out to be quite pleasant, but where to go Sunday morning. Well strange as it may sound, I have lived on the West Island for over twenty years and I had never been on the trails at Bois de Ile Bizard so I talked our little gang to give it a try. The first problem was where to park , I identified a parking lot, emailed a map to people and Continue reading →

The storm on Monday did not amount to much and the snow continues to disappear, although that has slowed down this week with the colder temperatures.  Some centres still have some trails open but are no longer grooming them.  Conditions vary between icy and wet.

So who will be the last skier of the season?  Right now, Mickey and Sharon are the leading contenders.  But at the party, Steve Ostroff confidently declared that he would ski at least three more times at Morin Heights this year.  So the competition for who Continue reading →

You may not have ben able to see Linda’s presentation at the party or you may not have been at the party, either way you can enjoy it below. Click on the Quicktime arrow head to start the presentation.

Note received from Egon

You may have thought that the ski season is over, but not quiet. I did the 10 km Oka ski-skating loppet today, with snow conditions being surprisingly good, unfortunately I wasn’t. If it wasn’t for some 12 year old kids I would actually have been last. This race is basically for kids, I was in the over 20’s group. The longer races have groups for older guys. Anyway – something to keep in mind for next year.

Photos shows myself with one of the little kids I beat