For details about the upcoming book and information on pre-ordering from the publisher, click here.

Hiking Trails of Montreal is also now listed on Amazon.com, here, or Chapters/Indigo, here.

I am pleased to announce that work is progressing rapidly on Hiking Trails of Montréal and Beyond. A proposed cover has been designed (see picture), and a publication date of May 2013 has been established. Writing of the manuscript is taking place now.

Keep tuned for further updates!

Winter has arrived - break out the ski and snowshoes

The city of Montreal sits at the base of the St. Lawrence River Valley, but it is bordered to the south by the Monteregian Hills and to the north by the Laurentian Highlands. As a result, once winter arrives there are skiing and snowshoeing opportunities available only a short drive away, even if there is little snow present in the metropolitan area.

In the Cantons De L'Est, Mont Orford Park, Bromont, and other hills boast popular downhill ski runs. However, they also feature extensive cross-country ski and snowshoe routes. If you are like me, and never developed a taste for downhill, you can still spend time being active outdoors and meet with friends in the lodge afterwards.

To the north, the Laurentian highlands also house numerous ski hills. The number and variety of options speaks to the love of winter activity of the residents of Quebec. I particularly enjoy Mont Tremblant Park, with its many trails groomed for skiing and others available for snowshoeing. The Sentier du centenaire, in the Diable Sector, is a great snowshoeing trail. I did not include it in Hiking Trails of Montreal, but that is only because the park contains so many great routes that I was forced to make some tough choices about what to profile in the book.

So, once November arrives, expect that you may ski or snowshoe as much as you want, regardless of what the conditions are in downtown Montreal, if you are prepared to travel a short distance to the hills nearby.

Mont Orford - Pic de L'Ours

On September 20, I hiked several routes inside Mont Orford Provincial Park near Magog in the Eastern Townships. The first hike I undertook was Mont Chauvre, a 9km climbing trail to the top of a rocky peak. The view at the top was expansive and impressive.

But that paled in comparison to what I was to see later in the day, when I hiked the 10km (return) to the Pic de L'Ours on the Sentier des Cretes. There are numerous locations along the route that reveal great views, but at the peak, more than 400 demanding metres above the trailhead, a 360 degree vista presents itself as a reward to the weary climber.

It is definitely worth the climb.

Mont Saint-Hilaire

For decades, one of the highlights of driving to central Canada from my home in Nova Scotia occurred when I neared Montreal. There, in the overwhelmingly flat landscape of the St. Lawrence lowlands, rises a massive hill - mountain really - that appears to spring directly out of the soil as if by surprise. There are no foothills, the gradually hightening terrain that preceeds the Rocky Mountains, surrounding Mont Saint Hilaire. Instead it, and the other Monteregian Hills appear to thrust out of the fertile plains without warning or explanation.

So it was with genuine pleasure, and a great deal of anticipation, that I recently hiked the trails on Mont Saint-Hilaire maintained by the Gault Nature Reserve. This extensive network of walking paths, developed in order to celebrate and protect the distinctive natural qualities of this UNESCO Biosphere Reserve - Canada's first landscape so designated - enables hikers to climb to the peak of several hilltops, and to enjoy breath-taking views of the surrounding lowlands.

There are many wonderful trails that will be featured in the upcoming Hiking Trails of Montreal, but in my opinion, the route on Mont Saint-Hilaire will be one of the highlights.