Journal Entries

Armed with Quebec National Park passes for the year, and a summer where we aren't travelling out of the province, we are finally getting the opportunity to explore the parks and trails of Quebec. There is so much to do around this province, if only we had a personal Star Trek transporter to get us around...

Today we decided to check out the Le Centenaire trail at Parc National du Mont-Tremblant, a large park 1.5 hours drive from Montreal. We were aiming for around a 14km hike, the map said it was going to be 14.5, but the GPS said it was 13.8... so somewhere in the middle.

Day 2 Parc de la rivière Jacques-Cartier - La Scotora

Sentier les Loups Parc de la rivière Jacques Cartier

Ok. Last photo of the Winds. Square too Mountain across Green River Lake. The obligatory northern winds photo. The night before this, it rained HEAVILY on us for many hours, and as we were sitting in a torrential downpour eating Mac and cheese (again) I found myself reflecting on the way that no matter how wet and cold you get, you always seem to be able to get wetter and colder. Luckily the next morning dawned bright and clear, and we enjoyed sunrise as we hiked along the Green River, on identifiable trail, whilst we spotted lots big moose. It was a good morning.

A good photo showing the excellent, easy to find trail coming out of the Winds north of Knapsack Col. i.e. we repeatedly couldn't find the trail and we're scrambling on loose rock above super cold lakes. But it was still fun and still worth it. You win some you lose some.

Knapsack Col. The views were spectacular. The climb was the hardest/scariest I have ever done. If we hadn't had Ripple and Clouds with us that day, I don't know that we would have done it (we might have hiked back down Titcombe basin and gone around. I am not too proud to admit that). Ripple and Clouds were there though, and helped us to do the climb. Ripple even kicked steps for us the whole way through! (Total badass that he is). Anyway, I'm glad we did it and glad I didn't chicken out.

This is Island lake, our first night back on the trail after Pinedale. A storm blew through on our way up there, but man the clouds made for some dramatic skies. If you squint a bit, you can see knapsack col, the alternate we took the next day. One of the scariest traverses I have done but also one of the most rewarding.

Ok, now I'm just sharing photos so I can float about how beautiful it was.

But seriously. Look at that.

Some of my hiking friends LOVE waterfalls so had to include this shot! This waterfall was feeding the stream flowing under "the bridge" @hammerhead constructed!