Our second National Park of the summer is La Mauricie and like the last one, I just saw the words National Park and booked it, I have no idea what made this area so unique that it is worth protecting . You could sense what it was on the drive in. The forests kept getting thicker and wilder. This area, although near Montreal is actually much more reminiscent of the wilds of northern Canada. For the first time we have been on alert looking for Moose and Otters, the Beaver lodges and dams we have come across hiking are foreshadowing the canadian Beaver we will see eventually. We pulled up to the Visitor Center on the way to our campsite and got some hiking ideas from the ranger, we then set up camp and had lunch. Our campsite is a beautiful spacious forested private nook surrounded by a variety of pines and maple. Our hike begins nearly a mile away from our campsite so we decide to load up the bikes and ride to the start of the trail. The trail immediately reminded Amy and I of the trails in Maine, the wild roots constantly reaching up to trip you but then offering to help by creating stairs in the steep sections, also as in Maine when you reach the tops of mountains you can see entirely wild lakes that look untouched in the distance. We climbed a moderate trail to Lac Solitaire which was gorgeous. A recent prescribed burn in the area gave us extra long views in every direction. Amy took one look at that lake and knew what must be done. She completed our impromptu triathlon by swimming in the enticing water. The sun recharging us all after yesterday’s storms, I felt we could hike forever. After riding back to camp we cooked over the fire and played catch. At some point today I need to get the football out of the tree but it’s proving challenging. 

I will post some videos on my YouTube Channel.