Table Of ContentHiking Trails of Montréal and Beyond
Also by Michael Haynes
Hiking Trails of Mainland Nova Scotia, 9th edition
Hiking Trails of Cape Breton, 2nd edition
Trails of Halifax Regional Municipality, 2nd edition
Hiking Trails of Ottawa, the National Capital Region
and Beyond
Michael haynes
Hiking Trails of
MONTRÉ AL
and Beyond
Copyright © 2013 by Michael Haynes. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be Haynes, Michael, 1955-
reproduced or used in any form or by any means, Hiking trails of Montréal and beyond / Michael Haynes.
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording or any retrieval system, without the prior Includes bibliographical references and index.
written permission of the publisher or a licence ISBN 978-0-86492-687-6
from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency
(Access Copyright). To contact Access Copyright, 1. Hiking — Quebec (Province) — Guidebooks.
visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call 1-800-893- 2. Montreal Region (Quebec) — Guidebooks.
5777. 3. Eastern Townships (Quebec) — Guidebooks.
4. Laurentians (Quebec) — Guidebooks. I. Title.
Edited by Charles Stuart. GV199.44.C22Q8 2013 796.5109714’2 C2012-
Cover and interior photographs courtesy of 907162-5
Michael Haynes and Stock.xchng (www.sxc.hu)
Maps prepared by Digital Projections. Goose Lane Editions acknowledges the generous support of
Cover and page design by Julie Scriver. the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada
Printed in Canada. through the Canada Book Fund (CBF), and the Government of
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 New Brunswick through the Department of Tourism, Heritage,
and Culture.
Goose Lane Editions
500 Beaverbrook Court, Suite 330
Fredericton, New Brunswick
CANADA E3B 5X4
www.gooselane.com
contents
7 Preface
9 Introduction
20 Trails at a Glance
27 Montréal – Laval
91 Lanaudière
157 Laurentides (Laurentians)
219 Montérégie
283 Cantons de l’Est (Eastern Townships)
345 Acknowledgements
347 Glossary of French Hiking Terms
349 Web Pages
353 Index of User Tips and Sidebars
355 Index
4. Belvedère Kondiaronk, Parc du Mont-Royal
Preface
When I was working on Hiking Trails of Ottawa, I was pleased to discover
that there appeared to be a large number of hiking trails available in Québec
within or close to the National Capital Region. I had already decided that
any book about hiking in Ottawa needed to include Gatineau Park — because
that was where everybody in Ottawa went to walk — so it also seemed rea-
sonable that I include other routes in the Outaouais region within the same
radius of the capital city as trails that I would profile in eastern Ontario.
What first surprised me, as I began my research, was how little the
English-speaking hiking community knew about Québec trails. It seemed
that most anglophone hikers I knew did not venture too far outside of
Gatineau Park. They could tell me about Algonquin Park, Killarney, and
other trails in Ontario many hours of driving away from the city, but almost
nothing about the far banks of the Ottawa River.
Fortunately, I knew a few people in the Outaouais outdoor community,
particularly in Kino-Québec, and they provided a number of excellent
suggestions. And the more I hiked in Québec, the more I appreciated that
the trail resources in the province were far more extensive than I had real-
ized. Indeed, as I trekked into the Laurentides (Laurentian Mountains), the
Lanaudière region — which I had never even heard of until I hiked there —
and the Cantons de l’Est (Eastern Townships), my surprise and delight grew.
What also intensified was the desire to share my discoveries. It seemed as
if the many marvellous trails available in Québec were largely unknown to
the English-speaking community. They appeared to be a great secret, their
existence perhaps obscured by the shyness created by the language divide.
As almost all of the Web sites, printed material, and access information are
in French only, and most English-speaking Canadians are, like me, essen-
tially unilingual, maybe it is no surprise that we had never heard of them.
Collected in this book are fifty walking trails found in the province of
Québec on or within 150 km (90 mi) of the city of Montréal. They range
from municipal parks to wilderness treks to mountain summits overlooking
7
45. Parc national du Mont-Orford – Pic de l’Ours
the United States, and include some I am confident that you will find
truly wonderful hiking. Yet this Hiking Trails of Montréal and Beyond
volume provides only a sample of to be both interesting and informa-
what is available to an enthusiastic tive. I especially hope that it inspires
rambler. Hopefully, with the assist- you to be adventurous and investi-
ance of this work, you will discover gate the many marvellous trails in
how much great hiking is possible Québec that are little more than an
in Québec, and begin what will hour’s drive from Montréal.
be many years of exploration and
enjoyment.
8 Hiking Trails of Montréal and Beyond
introduction
Canada’s second-largest city, with a metropolitan population of nearly four
million, Montréal is also the second-largest French-speaking city in the
world after Paris. Because of its location at the union of the Ottawa and St.
Lawrence rivers, Montréal became early Canada’s principal commercial
centre, and the city has long been known as Canada’s cultural capital.
For most English-speaking Canadians I know, the province of Québec is
largely unexplored. Everyone appears to have visited Montréal, and many
have been to Québec City, but outside of the vibrant downtowns of these
two metropolises few have ventured far, except perhaps on the occasional
ski vacation.
Therefore, for almost everyone outside of the province, the hiking trails
of Québec are equally unfamiliar. As with travel outside of the major cit-
ies, the language difference creates a barrier that too few choose to sur-
mount. Consequently, most English-speakers have not investigated many
of Québec’s trails.
This, as it turns out, is an appalling oversight on our part, because
once I began my explorations I quickly discovered that the hiking trail
network in Québec is far more extensive than what may be found any-
where else in Eastern Canada. Moreover, because of the proximity of the
rugged Laurentian Mountains to the north, and the Montérégian hills and
Appalachians to the south, there are more mountainous hikes available
within a ninety-minute drive of Montréal than in any Canadian city east
of Calgary — excepting, perhaps, Québec City.
In addition, hikers in Québec are probably the most organized in Canada.
Their provincial association, the Fédération québécoise de la marche, has
been in existence since 1974, and has been developing a province-spanning
footpath that reached 1,000 km (625 mi) in 2012. They also produce excellent
reference material, including their book Répertoire des lieux de marche au
Québec. All their material, online and in print, is available in French only.
Further, trail development and maintenance in Québec is supported by
9
