“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.”
― Lauren DeStefano, Wither
It’s here! One thing we can count on, Pandammit or not! Walkober is what I’m talking about. Thank goodness for peeps like Robin who keep the good things happening, don’t you think?
Mother Nature decided to be most generous last weekend and I went out both days with my bestie, Julie. First time I am accompanied during Walktober and it was lovely. The result? Over 500 photos. No, don’t worry, I won’t post them all here! But oh… how to choose…
On Saturday we met up around 2:00 pm at the St. Bruno National Park. There are miles of trails and there were quite a few people so we kept trying to take the paths less travelled, so to speak. We “done good”, I think.
Getting up close and personal
We decided to search out some fungi, figuring there must surely be some, somewhere! There were, indeed. Do not ask me to name a single one. I’ve zero clue.
I did not realise there are five lakes in this beautiful park. We knew we wanted to make our way to the main one (in our minds, the only one) and tried to find a trail less populated without getting lost. I’m assuming this lake was the main Seigneurial one! So beautiful and did not disappoint.
Such a pretty dock
The colours are already muted
Through the reeds
Hallelujah!
We found a lovely Salon de Thé that was open and were pretty sure would also have coffee, but if they didn’t, a nice hot tea would do. They had the machinery necessary for us to each have a latte – would have been nice if it was hot and had more flavour but hey, it was something. I do know that I would love to return post-pandemic to be able to sit for a spell.
Tea house
Latte in teh making
Quarantined
Path to the tea house
Coffee in hand, we continued our walk. We both wished we hadn’t missed the reds of the season. It’s amazing what one week does in terms of autumn colour. The oranges were beautiful and we could see the yellows were truly taking over but when we saw red? How could we not stop? Though bright green and white also got our attention.
We headed back, passing by someone’s property, marvelling how people who lived in these areas were never outside to enjoy their own views. Then again, when you have all sorts of people traipsing around your backyard, would you? Once upon a time, those who lived here had found tranquillity. Now, they were smack-dab in the middle of a national park. I might wait for after-hours myself, now that I think of it.
Sit on your porch, you see this
the wall surrounding the property
A small view of the house
Have I lost you yet? No? Oh my goodness. You are all so kind. That was day one. Now, onto day two and the Parc National des Îles de Boucherville…
“The magic of autumn has seized the countryside; now that the sun isn’t ripening anything it shines for the sake of the golden age; for the sake of Eden; to please the moon for all I know.”
― Elizabeth Coatsworth, Personal Geography: Almost an Autobiography
This time, we decided to get an earlier start. We didn’t stay long enough for the sunset the previous day and we couldn’t get to this park by sunrise, but still. We didn’t want the same time frame. We should have packed ourselves a lunch but that would have required either of us to be organised and honestly? It was Sunday. We have to be organised all week, let the weekend be more relaxed, eh?
We met, this time, at around 11:00? Five little islands with 21 km (13 or so miles) or trails form this national park, it’s also a great place for kayaking, paddle boarding, picnicking, and you can even camp there – when life is normal, that is. Again, there were quite a few people. This is when I appreciate my time working on shifts. I could visit these areas during the week. Alas, those days are over. For now. We set off, grabbing a map of the area. We did take it out once to make sure we were going in the right direction and according to Jules, we were (I suck at reading maps.) It was another spectacular day of golds and oranges with a few pops of red. We were so hoping to see some wildlife – there are deers galore, but other than a frog, ducks, geese, a snake that slithered too fast to capture, and a few caterpillars – nuthin’. Sigh. But I have to say, it was pretty cool looking at my hometown from across the river. We had a perfect view of the old Ste. Famille Church.
Still flashy
Paddle boarding on the St-Lawrence River
Not the red we were seeking
Paroisse Ste-Famille
It’s amazing how two areas, a mere twenty-minute-drive apart, felt so very different. There were so many textures to enjoy.
Wispy
As we walked along, Julie reminisced about late summers spent working on her friend’s farm. (Actually, I also went to high school with Marielle – just didn’t hang around her!) They were expropriated some time just after we graduated from high school and are now settled up the road from my childhood house. Julie was trying to visualise where it was exactly but we could not find any “remains”. So we kept walking until we spotted an old barn and, without having to discuss it, started towards it, through a field that has been ploughed. How weird. Of course, once we crossed the uneven terrain to arrive at the said barn, we saw there was a sort of road that we could have taken. What’s the adventure in that? And what is so intriguing about old barns?
Once we were done exploring this old barn, we followed the “road” and it led us to three more abandoned buildings. One looked like a storage shed for, I’m not sure, grain for animals? It was very low to the ground. One looked like an atelier (workshop) of some sort and the main one might have been a stall for horses – I didn’t venture inside but there was a structure that looked like it might have been a well once, right beside it.
Storage for feed?
Barn/stall
Well?
Inside the atelier
Atelier
After taking a bazillion pictures, we slowly made our way back. We ended up at a lookout point and found that as we watched the grasses sway like waves, and the few trees in the middle, it gave us a sort of African Serengeti Steppe vibe (okay, maybe we were both weird but you be the judge!
Why such ugly bridges in such beautiful surroundings
Trio
Standing out
African Serengeti Steppe Vibe
There is a golf course on one of the islands and the only way to get there is by ferry. How cool is that?
Ferry to the golf course
Beaver dam – no beaver
Floating
Aligned
Our feet were feeling the two days’ worth of walking and we were glad to see the parking lot. Such great company and we are planning on making this a regular thing.
I wasn’t planning on going on and on but it’s all Robin’s fault. She said go big for this year. So I did! Hope it wasn’t overkill. 🙂
Heck, I’m plumb tuckered out from creating this ramble, so I’ll be taking a week off starting tomorrow – completely unplugging. Please note, if I don’t get to any comments right away, don’t think I’m dissing you, I’ll take care of them upon my return.
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