Come Walk With Us on the Trans Canada Trail (TCT)

Trans-Canada Trail Duo Packs It in For Winter                                                                                                                                                     Kristine De Abreu Photo: Sonya Richmond Although Sonya Richmond and her partner Sean Morton no longer have a home to go home to — they sold their house to finance their thre...

Today was very cold, with a wind that blew the snow sideways with quite some force. Determined to explore at least a little bit of the city of Rivière-du-Loup, we set out along the Great Trail , heading for the ferry terminal. There is a small ferry that makes the 1.5 hour crossing to Saint-Siméon on the opposite bank of the Saint Lawrence River several times a day. Apparently whale watching and birding are possible during the crossing.   As we made our way along the bank of the river, the wind whipped the water into choppy waves which exploded into spray as they hit shore, and were hurled several meters inland. As we crossed the overpass above the Trans Canada Highway we had to hold onto the railing to keep from being blown into the road. On this hike we've witnessed the power of water and wind. Today we got to experience cold. We made it as far as the Nöel au Chateau . This unexpected find consisted of a colourful castle with a large Santa Claus outside, and a char...

The last 12 km of the Petit-Temis section of le Grand Sentier felt like a return to the noise, bustle, and speed of civilization. The trail followed a hydro corridor for much of the distance to Riviere-du-loup. The tree-lined open grassy ribbon could have been a good spot for owls or raptors to hunt, but we didn't see any. It was a sunny day, but the wind was strong and quite cold, causing the temperature to feel like -9°C. As we walked, the sounds of the Trans Canada highway grew louder and louder in our ears.       The sounds and smells of small manufacturing businesses were soon added. Eventually the trail deposited us at a busy intersection at the edge of town.         Rivière-du-Loup is a small city on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River, which was founded in 1673. The city got its current name from a nearby river, whose name translates as 'Wolf's River'. That river may have been named after an Aborigina...

Through the kindness of my grandmother and parents we were able to spend an extra day in our Yurt in the hills catching up, relaxing and enjoying what was supposed to be our final night on le Grand Sentier in 2019 before continuing on to Riviere du Loup.  However nature had other plans for two hikers equipped with only summer gear...       When we left the coziness and warmth of our yurt it was to enter a magical, snow covered world. The air was a cool, crisp -9°C. As we walked down the hill and made our way out of the Parc du Mont Citadelle the sky was filled with huge v's of migrating Canada Geese. Their calls carried across the otherwise muffled landscape, somehow seeming to call us to follow.           We walked out of the park and back to the trail, to find it covered in a thick layer of fluffy new snow. Right by the road it was completely untouched. The flakes lay thick on the conifers on either side of th...