Mont Megantic snowshoe adventure

Summit of Mont Megantic at 1100M
bikes are permitted on the road in summer

Winter is long and the bike season still a few weeks away so we went for some premium-package cross - training: We did a 17 km snowshoe-hike adventure at Parc Mont Megantic on Sunday.

Weather, trails and snow conditions were magnificent.


Snow the night before gave a fairy tale look to the place.

We climbed three of the peaks, from south to north, skipping Victoria for around 900 metres of ascent.

We started with Notre Dame from the south, and had untracked powder over the summit and down to the Pliades hut for lunch.


Warm and comfy Pliades Hut near Mont Notre Dame

From this hut we traversed the backside of Megantic on Andromeda trail to Andromeda hut, then up the backside of Megantic on the ruisseau fortier trail. THis trail criss-crossed a stream and was scenic, nicely packed, and a great experience.


Layers of snow along the Ruisseau Fortier trail.

From the summit of Megantic we went down the road (for the views) to the col, and climbed up untracked trail to the sentier des Cretes trail "Belvedere" (lookout).

Then it was along this ridge (all untracked foot deep powder) to the summit of Mont St-Joseph.

Descent back to Accueil (reception) was speedy due to good gravity-assist and perfectly packed-powder trail.


Breaking trail through fresh snow near Mont St-Joseph

So, a great day, amazing weather, scenery, a great snowshoe hike on a big mountain (1100 metres high) with three summits and no condos in sight!