Au début d’octobre, nous sommes partis explorer deux parcs situés au sud du fleuve Saint-Laurent. Notre intention était de faire de la randonnée tous les jours et de profiter des couleurs d’automne. Malheureusement, les couleurs n’étaient pas à leur summum car la météo en avait décidé autrement. Une tempête automnale a fait qu’une grande partie des feuilles étaient déjà tombées à notre arrivée au Parc régional du Massif-du-Sud. Toutefois, ce parc possède plusieurs sentiers intéressant et nous avons pu, malgré le temps maussade et pluvieux, faire 3 belles randonnées.
Dans ce billet, nous vous présentons les photos des 2 premières randonnées ainsi que deux photos qui furent prises non loin de la station de ski du Massif-du-Sud.
At the beginning of October, we set off to explore two parks located south of the St. Lawrence River. Our intention was to hike every day and enjoy the fall colours. Unfortunately, the colours weren’t at their peak because the weather had decided otherwise. A fall storm meant that many of the leaves had already fallen when we arrived at the Parc régional du Massif-du-Sud. However, this park has several interesting trails and we were able, despite the gloomy and rainy weather, to do 3 beautiful hikes.
In this post, we present the photos of the first 2 hikes as well as two photos that were taken not far from the Massif-du-Sud ski resort.
Massif du Sud
Sentier du Belvédère de la Vallée du Milieu: Ce sentier de 13,5 km longe un ruisseau et monte doucement vers le belvédère qui offre une belle vue sur la vallée située entre les différents sommets du parc. / This 13.5 km trail runs along a stream and climbs gently towards the belvedere which offers a beautiful view of the valley located between the various summits of the park.
Sentier des Ravages: Nous avons commencé cette randonnée de 9,1 km sous une pluie fine pour la terminer sous une pluie bien soutenue! Le sentier offrait de beaux détails mais il n’y avait qu’un endroit où l’on avait des vues de la vallée. Le sentier était très boueux donc il fallait faire attention où l’on posait les pieds. / We started this 9.1 km hike in light rain and ended it in pouring rain! The trail had some nice details but there was only one spot where we had views of the valley. The trail was very muddy so you had to be careful where you put your feet.
[Auteur/Author: Suzanne & Pierre]
Wonderful collection of autumn landscapes, very pretty!
Thanks Donna. Glad you enjoyed this series. It was a nice area and the hikes were wonderful.
fantastic photos 🙂
Thanks for your note. It was a very nice place and we really enjoyed the hikes.
Once again, great photos. I like the root pictures from the Sentier des Ravages trail. Seems you were looking down most of the time on that hike and for good reason! The picture that really caught my attention was the one from Sentier du Belvédère de la Vallée du Milieu and what looks like the beginning of the trail – a wide avenue guarded by trees. It reminded me of the start of the trails I loved to walk as a girl in Point Pleasant Park in Halifax.
Thanks Jacqui. You are right, we did look at feet more; first we had to be careful as the trails were quite difficult which meant that we looked down quite a bit. Also, the colours being past peak also meant that the pictures of details were more interesting. It was indeed the beginning of the trail and it was very nice. We quite enjoyed the discovery of this park we had never visited.
How far away from home is the park?
The Parc regional du Massif-du-Sud is about 4 hours drive from Montreal located about 1 hour south of Quebec City. This series of summits are part of the Appalachian chains of mountains. It also has a ski resort.
So are you staying in AirBnBs or hotels when you visit?
We rented an apartment for this park and a studio for the other one. We rented directly with the companies managing the resorts and not through Airbnb. We brought all of our food as restaurants were closed during our stay and even if they had been opened there isn’t many of them around those parks. We always rent apartments these days so we can cook as we are never certain restaurants will be opened.
I like being able to cook for myself when I am away as well. And these days as you say, you can never be certain what will be open.
Beautiful photos, esp. the mossy rocks and waterfalls. Too bad the weather wasn’t the best and the leaves were past peak. Our foliage peaked earlier this year, too. Maybe next year!
Thanks Eliza. We loved the moss; it was so beautiful. We did great hikes so it compensated for the lack of colours. The colours seems to peak earlier and faster. Always difficult to predict the colour season…
We are in California now, and the autumn colors are not as bright as in your area. I am delighted to see the changing leaves, such bright rusty orange, and familiar to me from time spent in northern New York. Your photos are excellent. Thank you!
Thanks for your note. The fall colours are indeed quite striking in Quebec though this year the colours came early and it was short-lived…we did manage to find a few interesting spots.
The colour may have been beyond peak, but they were stunning just the same.
The thing I find about fall hiking is that footing is just a bit more challenging. Roots and rocks lay hidden under leaves and the risk of tripping is so much higher.
… or I’m just clumsy 😏
Thanks Joanne. Good to hear from you. You are totally right that the trails get a bit tricky in the fall. We had to be very careful as it was indeed very slippery with so many leaves on the ground. Those trails were quite hard with lots of rocks and roots so it was difficult going…We managed to come out of all 3 hikes without having slipped but it was hard work.
You had me at ‘quite hard with lots of rocks and roots’ 🙂
I did a quick search for this park and saw that it’s ‘near’ Quebec City. Perhaps one day I’ll convince my husband to take a trip there 🙂
This regional park is indeed located about an hour south of Montreal. There are many trails and they are well maintained and sign-posted. There are a number of summits ranging from 900 to 1100m so there are some very good hikes (some short, some long) to do in this park. The surrounding area is also very nice; rolling farmland. We truly enjoyed discovering this area we had never visited before.
Beautiful colours (even if not as good as you had hoped). I hear you on muddy trails, having just slipped on one today! Fortunately nothing harmed except my dignity.
Thanks Anabel. Sorry to hear you slipped today though glad no harm came of it. It is really tricky hiking on muddy trails with lots of leaves, rocks and roots…Glad you enjoyed the colours. It seems that fall colours came earlier this year and were short-lived.
je me suis permise de regarder vos sublimes photos de ce parc du Massif ; l’automne y est bien avancé c’est grandiose voilà de quoi nous divertir par ces temps de confinement
merci et peut être à bientôt nicole de saint Malo
Merci Nicole et vous êtes la bienvenue sur notre blogue. Bien contente que cette série d’images d’automne ont su vous plaire. Avec les restrictions actuelles sur les voyages, nous ne sommes pas très actifs car nous n’avons pas beaucoup de photos à présenter et d’aventures à raconter. Nous espérons bien recommencer à voyager bientôt…