Bonus Blog: Marti's Montreal Must See Memoir - Laurentians in the Fall - Post M2

Here is Marti’s account of our "must see" trip to Mont-Tremblant National Park

Laurentians in the Fall

"You HAVE to drive up to the Laurentians in the Fall!"  We've heard this since the first day we arrived in Montreal.  Now I know why....

The weather here this weekend was a glorious hit of Indian Summer - mid 70's and sunny. Time to get out of the city and see what was going in the oft-mentioned Laurentians, 135 km (85 miles) north of here. Our backyard trees have started turning, but the fall color is not quite peak in Montreal yet. The trees have announced football season: red maples saying, 'Go Big Red!' - green and gold birch chanting, 'Go Pack Go!' We figured it would be about the same at Mont Tremblant, the favored Laurentian Mountain place to color-gawk for 'Montrealais'.

The Saturday morning drive up was crazy busy - the drivers here are very courteous (Canada Nice compared to Denver Crazy) but the shear volume of cars on the lone highway headed north out of Montreal made for a very sloooow drive.  It seems everyone in Montreal had the same idea....but it was okay since that gave me (the driver) an opportunity to take in the spectacular views. It turns out that it was the PEAK color weekend in the mountains.

 

Once we got to 'Parc national du Mont Tremblant', we sat by a lake and ate part of our lunch while we planned our day. This Parc is Quebec's version of Glacier National Park - a gem in the province.....and very popular.  We found the trail we wanted to hike (along with a gazillion of our new best friends) and started the 3.5 km ascent to an observation look-out. It's a very well used trail - a hiking highway sporting all manner of footwear - hiking boots, hiking shoes, tennis shoes, sandals, fashion boots with heels (ouch), loafers, flip flops.....  "Bonjour...Bonjour....Bonjour".  The trail is a constant ascent with several resting spots/benches along the way.  Most benches had people taking a 'blow' - and some taking a smoke break, which we found ironic.....'if you didn't smoke, you might not need to stop to catch your breath!'  It was not a quiet walk in the woods - urban hikers like to chatter and make a lot of noise...but the beauty of the landscape won the day.

We were rewarded at the end of the trail with a view that was breathtaking - not from the ascent (or from smoking), but from the beauty. It is almost beyond words.....it looks like an exaggerated 'Bob Ross' oil painting; Alizarin crimson, Cadmium red, Viridian green, Indian yellow, dark Sienna.....

We spent time at the observation deck overlooking the lake and the surrounding mountains, taking pictures of the vistas and a few selfies..... and photo bombing other people's selfies.  When we'd soaked it in, we headed back down and took off on a much less traversed trail.  We only met a handful of people for the next 2 hours and it was wonderful...except we missed an unexpected turn. That could be why we only saw a few other people! We wanted to hike to Poisson Lac (Fish Lake) to see a waterfall but we missed the sign to turn left.  The hike was to be just over 2 km, but we walked and walked....and walked when finally Tom said, 'This is a lot longer than 2 km'.  We decided it was time to consult our $3 map and realized that there was a split in the trail (opps) and we were on the wrong side of the lake (opps) and we had hiked twice as far as we should have (all uphill - opps). So, we sat down on a moss covered stump and ate the 2nd half of our lunch in the waning sun before we turned around and headed back to the chatter.

We didn't get to the waterfall, but we saw a lot of other things we would have missed if we'd read the map: a huge rock wall covered with a variety of moss, trees growing out of rocks, the lowering sun shining on the striking colors of the hillside across the lake. We heard sounds we never would have heard if we'd been on the well traveled trail: a babbling brook (yes, brooks really do babble), birds announcing our presence, red squirrels on alert, water endlessly dripping off rock walls.... leaves falling.  It was a great day. And if you ever get to Montreal, you HAVE to drive up to the Laurentians in the Fall!

  

Three Montreal Must Sees: Mount Royal, Garden of Lights, Laurentian Mountains Fall Color - Post 5

Well, folks, you had to wait as long for this next blog post as I did to complete my trifecta of Montreal Must Sees. Ever since we arrived here, the top three “must see” experiences we were told about were:

        1. Viewing Montreal from atop Mount Royal, the highest peak in the city located virtually in the city center

     2. The Garden of Lights in the Chinese Garden at the Botanical Garden 
     3. The autumn colors in the Laurentian Mountains north of Montreal

 It was only last weekend I finally hiked to the top of Mount Royal – completing my triple. Marti’s been up top three or four times, including a hike up with our good friends, Jay and Patt Niebur, who visited us for a week in September. They also toured the Chinese Garden of Lights with us the week it opened in September. Two out of three ain’t bad. Lucky for me, Marti and I had a perfect day to day-hike in Mont-Tremblant National Park, when the autumn colors were at their peak. 
 Below is some of our photos, and borrowed information from various websites about the Garden of Lights, including Moon Cakes, which we had a taste of washed down with Jasmine Tea, and Mount Royal City Park, with a connection to Central Park in New York City. The story of our visit to Mont-Tremblant National Park will follow in a Bonus Blog. Two out of three ain’t bad. Enjoy, we did.

Garden of Lights

The Montreal Botanical Garden's annual Gardens of Light event coincides with one of China's favorite fests, the Moon Festival, a harvest season celebration that features lotus seed paste filled cakes otherwise known as Moon Cakes AND...lanterns. Hundreds of intricately constructed lanterns, some in the shape of animals, vehicles and even people are part and parcel of the Moon Festival.

Chinese Treasure Boat Lanterns

The lanterns in the Montreal Chinese Garden are constructed in Shanghai based on the theme and designs of Montreal artistic designer My Quynh Duong. (This year’s theme was the voyage of the Chinese Treasure Fleet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_treasure_ship) Once built in Shanghai, they're shipped to Canada where it takes a team of local assemblers about three months to mount anywhere from 900 to 1,000 lanterns on garden grounds. Roughly 200 of those lanterns are newly crafted every year.

Snow Lantern in Japanese Garden

Light on trees in Japanese Garden

For 19 years, the annual attraction was called Magic of Lanterns or La Magie des lanternes. But in 2012, the name changed to Gardens of Light, ostensibly marking the addition of the Japanese Garden to the fold. Previously, only the Chinese Garden and its brigade of lanterns were featured. Ever since that debut, the Japanese Garden has stayed true to original form, proposing a multicolored lighting scheme that brings the darkened garden to life after the sun sets. It's a different concept and more subtle and subdued setup from the lanterns, adding a touch of Zen to the overall experience.

Tom, Marti, Patti, Jay

Chinese Garden pond in daylight.

Mount Royal City Park

The jewel of Montreal’s city parks is, without question, Mount Royal. This 200-hectare park occupies part of the mountain that lies in the midst of Montreal Island, and includes the highest spot in the city (234m). 

In the 1860s, mass cutting of trees on the mountain for firewood outraged the populace and led to the area’s designation as a park in 1876. It was originally landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted, perhaps best known for New York City’s Central Park, although not all his proposed plans for Mount Royal were carried out.

The lookout facing over downtown towards the river was first built in 1906 and is now officially known as the Belvédère Kondiaronk, named for the Huron Chief who signed a major peace accord with the French regime in 1701. A second lookout, a famous trysting spot, faces eastward toward the Olympic Stadium.

 Could this be famous trysting spot?

Fall color in Mount Royal Park beautifies engineering project...yes, Dave S., I am working here.

Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the city's founder, erected the first cross on Mount Royal in 1643, thereby fulfilling his vow to the Virgin Mary in his prayers to end a disastrous flood.  The modern cross has been illuminated since 1924. The current cross stands 31.4 m (103 ft) tall. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Royal_Cross 

Bonne Journee,
Tom