I first noticed a change in the trees' colours a couple of weeks ago in my street, and remember thinking "Aww, that's really cute.", thinking of my autumns spent in Canberra, and even my trip to Orange - great destinations for autumnal beauty in Australia.
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| My street in September |
Well, gradually and gradually the trees began to turn deeper and deeper vibrant shades of red, orange and yellow and I couldn't believe my eyes. Walking down my street I began to get hit by the ever-falling leaves on the way to class and the simple autumnal beauty was stunning.
But absolutely nothing compares to the landscape that I experienced on my trip to Mont Tremblant this weekend!
My group of friends (from uni and their roommates) caught the bus at the Gare d'autocars in Montreal at the crisp hour of 7:30am, raring to go on our mountain adventure!
To give you some background, Mont Tremblant is a ski village during the winter, but an awesome autumn holiday destination to experience the full flair of the colours in season. The village is situated quite close to Mont Tremblant National Park, a beautiful (and huge) park with a spectrum of outdoor activities to try.
We started off our trip by dropping our bags at the hostel, then taking the bus into the National Park itself to do some hiking! On the way, we ran into a picket line of strikers protesting the salaries of park workers in the area.
Arriving at the park, we were met by the incredible view of an enormous, glass-like lake (to be honest, I have no idea what it was called - there were so many lakes around that it was hard to keep track!). They had set up some wooden chairs in front of it, so people could admire every part of the landscape, so we started out our day in relaxing fashion, watching the activity and peacefulness of the lake. We were all starting to wish we'd brought our swimmers!
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| View of a lake at the National Park |
After relaxing, and almost drowsing off in front of the lake, we decided it was about time to get out into that nature and do some hiking! We took the nearest trail up to the (La Roche?) lookout point, and stepping into the woods was like something from a dream. The shadows of the forest, the colours, the crunching of the leaves and the trickling of a creek...nothing could be more perfect!
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| Beginning the hike |
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| Seriously...does it get more perfect than this? |
At the top of the view point, we got a great look at the lake from the beginning from above! There were a whole heap of fellow tourists up there, and even a wooden wall of graffiti with the original countries of past visitors etched into place. Whilst the sheer beauty of the forest was incredible, I was quite surprised at the lack of wildlife we spotted in the lush forests. I imagine the sounds of tourist families drove them away!
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| Definitely worthy of an Instagram |
After walking and exploring for a couple more hours, we headed back to the village and grabbed some take away pasta for dinner (the prices were so expensive around the place!). Then it was back to the hostel for some great chill times and a Boréale beer at the pub.
The hostel was fantastic - love sticking with my HI hostels!! There was a pool table and I was pretty rusty, but challenged some Belgian guys who we had met earlier that day to a game. My team member and I ended up smashing the team of the other guy and a pool champion at the hostel! We were pretty stoked (there may have been a lot of distraction tactics involved). After this, I went and ate S'mores by the fire with the girls, then all of us headed down to the lake behind the hostel and watched the beautiful blanket of stars (I can't believe how different the constellations are here!). We even saw some shooting stars! I have to say, I definitely do not regret the decision to stay overnight.
The next day, we went to the lake behind the hostel for a morning canoe! Whilst the lake was quite small compared to the other ones we'd seen, it was such a relaxing and picturesque nook to canoe with a great bunch of people!
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| Gorgeous canoeing spot behind the hostel! |
Walking back to the hostel, I finally managed to catch a chipmunk I'd been chasing around on camera. He was a sneaky little fella!
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| Gotcha! |
In the afternoon, we took a walk along Chemin du village and stumbled across a road full of lakeside properties....we may have trespassed to have our picnic for lunch, we weren't really sure! I couldn't believe that all the land along the lake's edge was private - places that looked like public parks even were all private! (Thanks unknown strangers who hosted us in your backyard...)
Then it was back to the village for a Beavertail (I got a nutella/banana flavoured one this time!) and we walked up the main mountain at the back of the village to see the view of Tremblant Lake and the village. The village had a very European influence to the architecture - it almost looked like little doll's houses in real life size.
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| View of Lake Tremblant and the Village |
Overall, a great weekend spent amongst the beautiful scenery and a very Canadian way to spend autumn! I slept so well that night...
Can't wait for the next adventure - better get started on those assignments now!
Erin xo
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| Feeling relaxed after a great weekend away |
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