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It is Indian Summer yet again, and thus the best time for hiking!
A group of 18 very international outdoor enthusiasts made their way from Montreal to the Sepaq close to Mont Orford.
We left the cars at the lake close to the park entry, and negotiated the rest of the way to Mont Orford on foot. It was one of the first truly chilly days of fall, and the ice on the trail persisting through the day would remind us that the temperatures never rose above freezing. During this first part of the Hike we were overtaken by people who were clearly in a hurry - there was a trail running race going on, and we had managed to get into the middle of it. But we shared the icy trail with polite mutual consideration - hey, we are in Canada, after all. After a strenuous scramble through the woods we arrived at the barren rocky summit of Urs Peak, and were treated to an amazing view of the park, and whatever remained of the colorful foliage (mostly on the ground rather than on the trees by this time of the year). The chilly wind bid us to hurry on soon.
At each peak we had a nice view of the yet-to-scale Mont Orford, whose wooded surface was scarred by ski slopes. And each vision of this goal renewed our strength, for we knew our lunch spot was in sight. However, our meal had to be earned by an extremely steep ascent up the ski slopes to reach the summit. Not a soul among us was not panting, no matter what sort of physical shape we were in. This section of trail felt more like a "black" rated hike, even though the overall trail was only a "blue" one.
After all of this toil we finally made it to the summit of Mont Orford, soaked in sweet. Dozens of hikers had made it here before, but we suspected foul play involving the gondola...
Three cheers to Sepaq - the wonderfully equipped Quebec provincial parks: there were heated jurts with picnic tables on top of the mountain, which allowed us to take our lunch protected from the chilly breeze!
Hurriedly we pushed several tables together to accommodate our large group, and unwrapped our sandwiches. Hmmm, food tastes so amazing on a cold hike! But all too soon we started to shiver - not even huddling close to the fire could amend this. There was nothing but to push forward.
The next bit of the trail started with a deceptively smooth road, but we soon departed into the woods again for the toughest part of trail yet: it was littered with boulders and extremely steep, so the ascend from Mont Orford took not only all our strength, but also much concentration, as every step had to be placed with care to prevent a fall. Close to the bottom of the mountain, our path was joined by a gurgling stream that accompanied our ascent by cascading down several water falls. Finally we made it to the trail head. Our legs were sore and the knees wobbly, but we were proud of our traverse of the entire mountain range!
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