After leaving St Donat, we let our French-speaking, Australian voiced GPS lead us along the maze of  smaller roads that crossed forest and farmland from Mont Tremblant National Park to La Mauricie National Park. Back home, I have a good friend and former colleague who is Quebecquoise and she recommended this park, having spent time here in her youth on walking and canoe-camping trips.

We had the good fortune of finding a small condo at St Jean des Piles, near the park entrance on the shore of the incredibly wide St Maurice River and, after stocking up on groceries at the quaintly named town of Grand-Mère, we installed ourselves there for the next three nights. Hopefully the weather would permit us to do a couple of walks here. We'd given up on using the forecasts to plan our time and were just winging it day by day.

La Mauricie National Park is blessed with several well-marked walking trails that take you through the different park landscapes.  We opted to do a day-hike based on the Lac-du-Pimbina Circuit, which passes several of the 150 lakes scattered throughout the national park. The Laurentians are a fascinating region – more steep hills than mountains, ground down by the ice of eons ago into a wrinkled mantle of rounded ridges, troughs and hollows, where any low point that can hold water does.  Coming from a water-deprived part of the world, this and the deciduous forests that cover it are the aspects of the Laurentians that fascinated us the most.

The day began cloudy but fine, with the odd patch of blue sky, as we set out from the trailhead at Rivière-à-la-Pêche. We headed straight into the forest, following a narrow earthern footpath and the  crimson “15” markers that designated the Pimbina track, through the humps and hollows of the forest. The day may have been grey, but the foliage above glowed yellow and lime-green, as summer colours faded from the leaves of birch and beech.

We had to move on, heading inland to the spongy track around the edge of the lake across a steeply sloping hillside. At the end of the lake, we followed a canoe portage track away to the west, before leaving it to climb steeply up through the mixed conifer-broadleaf forest. It was curious how quiet the forest was, just the occasional call of a bird, tap of a woodpecker or chatter of a squirrel as we passed. On a track that was soft and lined with fallen leaves of yellow, red and orange, even our footsteps made no sound.

At the crest of the climb, we found ourselves on the edge of a rock cliff-face, looking down over the dark waters of Lac Benoit. A cold wind had sprung up, hurrying the clouds on and allowing patches of sunlight to move across the surrounding forest, creating a mosaic of light and colour – the tree-crowns that had already turned to scarlet and orange standing out from the background green.

We followed the track as it descended along the cliff edge through the conifers to rejoin the canoe portage at small marshy inlet. We did not follow it down to the lake, but headed off back into the forest, climbing again to pass high above an un-named and unseen lake, hidden by the dense vegetation.

Hunger pangs were starting to set in, so we hurried around the edge of Lac du Pimbina to the shelter of the same name, and enjoyed a long lunch in its pleasant setting under a sun now winning the sky, piquing the curiosity of a resident chipmunk.

Near a narrow inlet in the lake, lined on one side by a row of impressive rock cliffs, we took the first variant to our walk. Leaving Route 15 at the junction there, we instead followed the orange “14” markers up and along the cliff-edge, offering beautiful views over the lake now bathed in sunlight.

It was time for the second variant – we now headed north-east following the green “13” marker. It took us over a rocky knoll beneath glowing yellow birches and out along a narrow ridge. As the track meandered from side to side on the ridge, it offered views both eastward across an orange-tinted canopy towards the St Maurice River and westward, across a forest speckled red and scarlet to the mountains of the park interior – a beautiful ridge to walk on.

At ridge-end, we descended into the “flat” to follow the path through a dense undergrowth that was itself turning to gold, before finally emerging at the trail head and completing the circuit. The Lac du Pimbina circuit is a beautiful day-walk and I suspect that our variants to take in the cliffs above Lac aux Chevaux and the ridgeline of spectacular views made it even more so.

If you only have one day at La Mauricie, this is the walk that you should do.

After a day of rain, during which we caught up with washing and other chores, the fine weather returned. When I looked out the window first thing in the morning a curious long narrow band of fog hung over the St Maurice River. By the time we left for our hike, it had risen and dispersed, although low grey cloud still covered the hills of the park.

We only had a morning free before heading off to Quebec City, so opted to do the Mekinac Trail which offered a different perspective on La Mauricie to the Lake Pimbina Circuit. We set out again from Rivière-à-la-Pêche, but headed in the opposite direction to Lake Pimbina, crossing the main road and following a wide even track through the flatland forest. A short section of single file footpath alongside a creek connected this to to an even wider and smoother section of track.

This leaf-strewn walkers' highway led us parallel to the St Maurice River beneath an arbour of translucent yellow foliage, as the birch and beech branches intersected above it.  The track split and we took the high road, climbing up on to the long steep bank between the river and the swampy lowlands and disturbing a ruffed grouse in the process. Out to our right we could get glimpses of the St Maurice through the tree trunks, while the occasional gap gave a better view of this broad and impressive tributary of the St Lawrence.

The Rivière St Maurice through the trees

At the end of the bank, a set of wooden steps led us down to a floating pontoon bridge that crossed an inlet of the river. The dark waters of the inlet reflected the colour of leaves and here, alongside the river, if it wasn't green it was yellow. The brighter reds and oranges seemed reserved  for the interior.

Once across the inlet, we began our one big climb of the day. At first a series of wooden steps led us up a narrow and steep-sided spur away from the river. Then, after crossing a small plateau, we climbed up to a track junction. Here we made a detour from the main circuit, climbing further to the top of a tree-covered rocky knoll with several viewing spots around it.

The track led us first to a point where we could sit and look northwards over the waters of Lac Rosoy, framed by a patchwork forest - the green, orange, yellow, red and scarlet quilt of broad-leafs pierced by the darker green of evergreen fir, pine and spruce. Even under a grey sky, it shone.

Around the corner, we stopped to take in the southwards views of the now distant St Maurice River, winding its way through the Laurentian landscape. We spent some quiet time at both spots just enjoying the visual feast, before completing the knoll-top loop and retracing our steps down to the track junction.

Here we continued on the Mekinac Circuit, heading southwards across the steep sides of the hill beneath a rich gold-infused canopy. There were lots of small ups and downs, but we essentially kept to the contour. Crossing a stream above a small beaver-built pondage, full of flooded trees, we found ourselves on a high plateau, thick with regenerating broad-leaf saplings.

We headed on along the last stretch, with Nello wearing a big smile at her good fortune, passing a sparkling little waterfall and then leaving the creek system via a set of wooden steps that took us up another narrow spur. All that was left was a last stroll across the forested flats to rejoin our outward path just near Rivière-à-la-Pêche and our car. And so ended our time in La Mauricie, a beautiful part of The Laurentian Mountains that we enjoyed greatly. Nature was satiated and it was probably time for a bit of culture, so we hopped in the car and headed to Quebec City.

Merci d'avoir suggéré que l'on visite la Mauricie, Louise. Le pays de ta jeunesse était tellement beau!