Category: Sunday and Weekend Reports

22 Hikers at Val David

The drive up the Laurentian Autoroute on Sun morning was a sight to behold.  The bright sun was shining down on the snow-covered trees of the rolling hills.  Any camera shot would have made a great photo for a Christmas card.

The chalet in Val David for the Dufresne regional park is only a one hour drive from Dorval.  Within a few minutes of 10 a.m., 22 eager beavers (as well as determined dogs Chinook and Lulu) had arrived and were getting ready to take on the trails.  The skies were sunny and it was about 0 C.  It took a few minutes for everyone to get their trail tickets and then take the group photo.  Finally, at 10:40 a.m., we set off with our master navigator in the lead.

We took the D trail and then

After we cancelled the “official” hike to Giant for last Sat because of the weather conditions, we suggested that those how were still keen to go on Sun go to the Forum to express their interest.  In the end, 8 hikers made the drive down to Giant Mountain in the Adirondacks near Keane Valley, NY.  They were all experienced hikers who made sure to bring the gear they would need to be ready for anything.  And it turned out they did need all that gear because they encountered just about everything on the climb to the summit including sun, mud, rain, wind, ice, and foot-deep wet snow.  Oh, and let’s not forget the 70 km/h winds at the summit!  But as I mentioned, this was a hardy bunch and they revelled in these conditions.  There were also several great viewpoints along the way.  After six hours on the trail, they were wet and a bit tired, but they were glad they had gone for it!

Trail map of Oct 17 walk (pdf file)

Mont St Hilaire  Oct 17    Report by Keith
Mont St Hilaire is a great little hill sticking out boldly from the plain, unfortunately lots of folk think the same and as we arrived at 10 am the parking lots were already busy. Mind you when we left several hours later the line up to enter stretched way down the road and the external $4 parking lots were doing great business. Anyhow back to the beginning, a fine group of walkers, thought to be fourteen, assembled despite a certain degree of dampness. A quick check of who had maps, one person or perhaps two, it looked like another day of the blind leading the blind, still we have always found a way in the past.  So it was to be Burned Hill, Pain de Sucre, Dieppe and finally Rocky and back in time for tea.
Off we set, good old Mont St Hilaire, nothing like a brisk uphill climb to

13 Hikers Got Free Apples and Cheese at Oka

It was sunny and 9 C at 10 am on Sun morning as the 13 of us assembled in the parking lot at the base of the hill in the northern part of the park.  We were there to conquer the peaks of Oka park.  And what’s more, the word was out that there was free food to be had at the top of the trail, so we were on a mission! 

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, but we only saw a couple of bikes the whole time we were on it.  The first half of this trail has some steep ups and downs.  The skiers among us who

Sunday was a beautiful day with bright sunshine but a crispness in the air. Ideal I thought for a walk with a small intimate group on the old ski trails of Rigaud. These trails are not walked by many people because they are confusing and it’s easy to take a wrong turn. Never mind I thought, small intimate understanding group, no hassle. Wrong, unless you call 37 plus two dogs small and intimate, two more members arrived later, no names no back drill but these two are starting the new season where they left off  last year, late… Anyhow back to the eager 37 anxious to scoot round the trails and back in time for lunch. After the official group photo, thank goodness for wide angle lenses, we set of like the morning rush hour at the Metro. The first part is relatively easy although some of the lead group even missed the first turning, omens of things to come maybe. The trails were surprisingly good given the rain of late and no major water obstacle was encountered, soon we made

There were 14 people who turned out under threatening skies for our season’s first Sunday hike.  Indeed, as we assembled inside the chalet at Mont St-Bruno, it had started to rain and we were all checking our rain gear.  But when we went outside to take the group photo, the rain had stopped and did not return for the duration of our hike.  The temp was about 12 C.

In our group of 14, there were a