Terrifyingly Vast

[u/christopherbonis]

So I live in Massachusetts. And from my point of view, Maine is huge. And indeed, it’s larger than the rest of New England combined.

And I also think of Maine as super rural. And indeed, it’s the only state on the eastern seaboard with unorganized territory.

…and then I look northward at the Quebec. And it just fills me a sort of terrified, existential awe at its incomprehensible vastness, intensified by the realization that it’s just one portion of Canada—and not even the largest province/territory.

What on Earth goes on up there in the interior of Quebec? How many lakes have humans never even laid eyes on before—much less fished or explored? What does the topography look like? It’s just so massive, so vast, so remote that it’s hard for me even to wrap my head around.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Dingo39]

I've lived in Montreal almost all my life, and yes, i've pretty much given up on trying to understand all this vastness, let alone seeing it one day. It just feels like it's a completely different universe out there.

[u/drizzt-dourden → u/Puzzleheaded-Dingo39]

I have an invitation from my family in Montreal. And I started wondering if there is a national/educational park or some hiking trails to catch a glimpse of the wilderness? I don't feel reckless enough to go straight into the wild.

[u/smurf123_123 → u/drizzt-dourden]

The area around Mt. Tremblant can give you a pretty good idea of what it's like. If you can take a lift to the top of Tremblant you can get a pretty amazing view of what lays north of there. It's vast and beautiful.

On my way back from Europe this summer we flew over northern Labrador and Quebec. It was mostly clear skies and the views from the plane were unreal. The only thing I kept thinking at the time was "how bad are the mosquitoes there right now?".

[u/yanni99 → u/smurf123_123]

I flew from Gatineau to Alma and the only thing you can differentiate from afar was Mont-Tremblant. All the rest is the exact same 150m hill surrounded by lakes.

[u/Goderfer → u/smurf123_123]

they're pretty bad but pretty much only in late spring / beginning of summer. I don't even feel the need to use repellant in late summer / beginning of fall since the amount of mosquitos drops significantly.

[u/FastSquirrel → u/drizzt-dourden]

Depends how far you're ready to go. Lots of nature hiking trails, but not in the city (for obvious reasons).

[u/drizzt-dourden → u/FastSquirrel]

Yeah I expect that it will require several hours in a car. I think up to 4 hours one way is good.

[u/FastSquirrel → u/drizzt-dourden]

Also depends what you mean by "wilderness". If you're talking tundra, then forget that, you're not driving there. If you just mean trees as far as the eye can see and few people, then you don't need anywhere near four hours. I've called out Parc Régional des Sept Chute (just under two hours north of the city) to a few, and it's always a hit. And even that is much farther than necessary.

[u/Legitimate_Leave_987 → u/FastSquirrel]

I have to approuve the parc régional des 7 chutes!

[u/stoned_kitty → u/drizzt-dourden]

There’s plenty.

As others said, Mont Tremblant is nice, and SEPAQ run very nice parks. They are the Quebec provincial park system.

La Mauricie is very nice as well and run by Parks Canada.

A bit further away is Haute Gorges de la Malbaie (think 4-5 hour drive from MTL). There’s a hike there that provides some of the best views I’ve seen in Quebec.

[u/v4nguardian → u/drizzt-dourden]

There are tons! I recommend going to the mont tremblant national park for hiking, but the laurentides from st-jerome to tremblant are filled with hiking trails. You probably still have some until mont laurier but that’s quite far away.

Best hiking in quebec is in Charlevoix, past Quebec city

[u/drizzt-dourden → u/v4nguardian]

Thanks, these all look very nice. And to be honest 2-3 hours by car seems very close to me. I assume there will be no problem with finding a hotel nearby if I want to stay a bit longer.

[u/[deleted] → u/drizzt-dourden]

There is a lot of hiking trail, but of course there is no point in going that far lol. You can go to Lac Saint-Jean or something like that. You can look on the website of the SÉPAQ : https://www.sepaq.com/home/index.dot?language_id=1 where you will find the multiple parks we have in the province.

If you want to see the Tundra or go up north, you will need to fly and it will cost you a shit load lol.

[u/Successful-Mine-5967 → u/drizzt-dourden]

Hiking trails not so much, but lots and lots of dirt roads

[u/Stalvanus → u/drizzt-dourden]

Parc Atto-Beaver maybe