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| − | ==The philosophy of Climbing== | + | ==The philosophy of Climbing and Hiking== |
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| − | I see climbing as a challenge. It is a very straightforward goal that you set to yourself that requires very little thought or planning. A successful climb literally brings you at the top of something and brings a sense of achievement. And the feeling of achievement is what makes you hungry for more achievement, whatever form it may have. So in a sense it is a self-motivating experience that is both good for your health and good for you mind. | + | I see climbing as a challenge. It is a very straightforward goal that you set to yourself that requires very little thought or planning. A successful climb literally brings you at the top of something and brings a sense of achievement. And the feeling of achievement is what makes you hungry for more achievement, whatever form it may have. It is thus a very simple self-motivating experience that is both good for your health and good for you mind. |
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| − | In the past years, I have not had as many opportunities to hike, so I got into the habit of jogging to Mt. Royal during most of my working days. Then I eventually found that regularly jogging during the summer heat or winter cold is not fun. I thus then decided to jog up and down the stairs of my work building, jogging up and down 1000ft each time. I have done that since September 2012, on average 2.5 times per week, which makes me go up and down the entire altitude of the peak of Mt.Everest every semester, i.e. thrice a year. I had set my goal to have climbed ten times the height of Mt. Everest by May 2015, a goal that I have eventually attained on January 15th 2015. I now plan to continue on at the same pace and have climbed a total of one million stairs, which if everything goes well I should reach in August 2016.
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| − | ==Hiking==
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| | I like hiking for the spiritual and physical experience of it. I view hiking as being about following trails where one can observe and be confronted with the greatness of uncivilized nature. Most provincial and national parks have trails that are maintained, and many provide shelters or camping grounds along the way of longer trails. Going in the wilds outside of trails (often called "bushwacking"), even with a map and compass, can be dangerous in some places. I prefer to be in safer conditions, and don't put myself in situations where my safety is at risk. | | I like hiking for the spiritual and physical experience of it. I view hiking as being about following trails where one can observe and be confronted with the greatness of uncivilized nature. Most provincial and national parks have trails that are maintained, and many provide shelters or camping grounds along the way of longer trails. Going in the wilds outside of trails (often called "bushwacking"), even with a map and compass, can be dangerous in some places. I prefer to be in safer conditions, and don't put myself in situations where my safety is at risk. |
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| | Hiking also permits you to disconnect from whatever you do in your hectic life. The proximity of nature permits to think positively about anything. If you need to let off steam, you can go jogging. You also get to meet other hikers, most of them being friendly and smiling, contrasting with the majority of indifferent faces you typically run onto in metropolitan areas. | | Hiking also permits you to disconnect from whatever you do in your hectic life. The proximity of nature permits to think positively about anything. If you need to let off steam, you can go jogging. You also get to meet other hikers, most of them being friendly and smiling, contrasting with the majority of indifferent faces you typically run onto in metropolitan areas. |
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| − | ==Personal record== | + | ==Personal records== |
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| − | I have taken hiking in 2002, and more seriously in 2003. Since then, I used to do a 10km hike every two weeks, and many of my summer activities revolve around hiking and camping. When not on vacations, I prefer hiking in Mont Saint-Hilaire. It is about 30 minutes from Montreal, and offers different trails in terms of length and steepness and three different summits. I also usd to climb Mont Royal every week day, normally first thing in the morning, or after a lecture. So far, the highest I have climbed is 1268m (Mount Jacques-Cartier, second highest peak in the province of Quebec) and the longest non-stop mountain hike I have taken is 30km, both in the summer of 2007.
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| − | ==Hiking with small children==
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| − | Hiking along with children is a completely different experience. Children might be very excited in the beginning, they might stop you at every 10m for every reason ranging from wondering at squirrels and butterflies to the inevitable "are we there yet?". Before you go, you have to realize that it is only a matter of time before they get tired and discouraged, no matter how enthusiastic they might seem before they start. Once they start being discouraged, you are responsible for encouraging them. Note that children are not likely to understand if you explain to them that being tired is part of the experience, or that one can get used to being tired, or that it is fun to do difficult things just for the sake of being proud of doing it. Most children want to have fun ''now'', so you have to make it fun from ''their'' perspective. If the trail is physically too hard or too long, some kids will simply not want to continue. Of course they could continue, it is most often a question of mental breakdown rather than a case of real physical exhaustion, but most young children wont understand that. So keep in mind that if a child gets really tired and will not continue, you might have to carry him/her for some distance. Carrying a young kid on your shoulders or even in a sled in winter can be very demanding.
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| − | ==Winter hiking==
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| − | During the winter, I prefer hiking using spikes rather than using snowshoes, which are cumbersome and not very useful at Mont Saint-Hilaire, as the trails are much used and thus seldom covered with enough deep snow to benefit from snowshoes, unless you go out of the trails, which is prohibited, or you go right after or during a snowstorm, which I often had the pleasure to do. Once you get used to walk with spikes, on icy conditions you can actually climb uphill and also jog downhill much faster than you can during the summer, as the rocks are buried in ice. The use of poles (in summer or winter) helps avoid falling injuries, save energy, as well as going faster, by using your upper body as well as your legs. While jogging uphill or downhill, poles can actually be used in a similar fashion and effect as with poles while cross-country or downhill skiing.
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| − | ==Notable hiking spots==
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| − | ===Mont Saint-Hilaire===
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| − | Mont Saint-Hilaire is a very popular hiking destination for people in the Montreal area. It is one of the latest large wooded areas in the region. It offers about 10 different trails, and four summits to climb, the highest (called "pain de sucre") being about 420m high, which you can reach in about 45 minutes through the trail bearing the name of the summit. My current record for reaching this summit is 27 minutes. My prefered trail is "burned hill", which also leads you to the "pain de sucre" summit. Other longer trails add to the challenge of the site. It is possible to do a round-trip of three of the summits for a total of about 12km in about 3 hours. Note that Mont Saint-Hilaire is also open during the winter, where you can also do cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, spikes being seldom seen but allowed.
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| − | ===Ile Grande Basque===
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| − | I come from Sept-Iles, a medium-sized city (pop. ~30,000) on the north shore of the Saint-Laurence Gulf about 900km east of Montreal. The name of the city comes from the seven-island archipelago that lies in the Saint-Laurence Gulf within a kilometer off the shore in front of the city. All the islands are covered with forest and unhabited. The greatest (in term of size and height) of these islands is named "Grande Basque", after the Basque fishermen that used to do seasonal fishing there when Jacques Cartier visited this area on his voyages of discovery of the new continent in the 1530s. The Grande Basque island now hosts a series of trails, including one that goes to the summit of the island (150m), where one gets a good view of the bay of Sept-Iles, the city, the archipelago, and the open sea to the south. There are some camping sites available on the island, which can be reached using zodiac cruises. If you are fond of sea kayaking, note that the area is famous for its marine scenery and whale migration area. It is possible to reach the island on kayak, though you should be careful to check the weather, as the swell can easily get to 6ft or more between the islands even on apparently nice days.
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| − | ===Pentecôte River===
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| − | Pentecôte river, and the small village bearing the same name (Rivière Pentecôte), is situated about 100km west from Sept-Iles. The Pentecôte village and river are historical sites, having been the site of early settlements on the north shore of the Saint-Laurence river in the early 1900s for exploitation of the forest resources using the Pentecôte lake and its river for waterlogging, whose exploitation stopped in the 1950s. My father's family used to live there during this time, my father being born there in 1942. Some of the trails made during these days are still there and usable as hiking trails. The river is a common place for canoe-camping, and the shores of the Saint-Laurence river is lined with a beach of fine grained sand for several kilometers westward from the mouth of the river.
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| − | ===Manitou River===
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| − | Manitou river, about 100km east of Sept-Iles, is famous for its falls. Two short hiking trails (30-45 minutes) lead you to sightseeing spots to admire the cascade and the following fall, which is about 150ft high and very impressive. There is also another (private) trail (75 minutes) that leads you to the mouth of the river, whose fine sand beach is forming a point several hundred feet long, a magnificient sight at low tide. From the beach, looking towards the river, one can also see the spray of the fall forming a cloud in the forest about a kilometer upriver.
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| − | ===Mount Carleton provincial park===
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| − | The Mount Carleton provincial park provides a challenging and beautiful mix of Acadian woods and mountain peaks, it offers more than 17,000 hectares of wildlands that can be explored through 62km of hiking trails, most of them challenging both because of their steepness and also their length. It is located in northern New-Brunswick, around 700km from Montreal. At the center of the park stand four beautiful mountains: Mount Head (792m), Mount Bailey (564m), Mount Sagamook (777m), and Mount Carleton (820m), the latter being the highest peak in the Maritime provinces. An exceptional camping ground is provided in the park, on the shore of lake Nictau, with Mount Sagamook towering in the background on the other side of the lake. However, note that the park is 43km away from the nearest store or gas station, which poses slight logistics problem, but adds to the experience from my perspective.
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| − | I hiked all the trails, except one, of this park in the summer of 2005, for a total of about 95km, and climbing total of about 5000m in 10 days. My favorite hike, climbing Mount Sagamook via the trail of the same name, is a very demanding experience. Upon reaching the summit you get an incredible scenery of forest that spread to eyesight in all directions. A side trail from the summit leads you to a breath taking view of lake Nictau directly some 500m below, with some rocky ledges where I sat for hours just looking at the scenery. Many trails are going alongside beautiful and ice-cold mountain streams that flow through moss-covered rock, often with spectacular waterfalls.
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| − | ===Monts Chic-Chocs, Parc national de la Gaspésie===
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| − | Gaspésie is visited each year by hundreds of thousands of people. Beautiful landscapes, a vast number of attractions and a warm welcome have made this region famous. Parc de la Gaspésie hosts 103km of trails will allow you to experience an unforgettable contact with forest and mountain. Along the trails, you get 10 refuges, and 4 camping grounds. This park hosts the highest peaks of the Chic-Choc mountain range: Mt Logan (1150m), Mt Albert (1150m), Mt Richardson (1158m), and Mt Jacques-Cartier (second highest peak in the province of Quebec, at 1268m).
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| − | I hiked at this location for six days in the summer of 2006, hiking for a total of about 60km, as well as climbing a total of about 3000m by climbing Mt. Albert, Richardson, and Pic du Brule. I was camping in the middle of the Parc at Lac Cascapedia, on which you can rent small boats and I canoed for 10km in a day. Note to long-distance hikers: the trail is part of the Apalachian Trail (starting in the Southeastern US), and finishing at "nearby" Gaspe. Camps are available at every walking-day distance along the trail in the park. Notable hikes and sights include Mt. Albert and its breath taking "canyon" (called "La cuve") carved in stone by "Le ruisseau du diable"; Mt. Richardson also offers a very "real mountainous" rocky windswept summit giving a nice view to the other mountains in the area.
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| − | I went there also in the summer of 2007, hiking a total of 55km in four days, hiking to Pic de l'Aube from Lac Cascapedia and back (a 30km ride, my longest hike ever, which was so hard that I had to rest a full day after), Mt Xalibu, Mt Albert for a second time, finishing with Mt Jacques-Cartier (the highest I have ever hiked, at 1268m).
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| − | ==Future hiking spots==
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| − | ===Bright Angel Trail, Grand Canyon===
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| − | Everybody heard about the Grand Canyon. I had the chance to visit it. That was an amazing experience. You can imagine what it is by seeing images of it, but it is nothing compared to the real experience of being there. The extent of it, reaching miles across, and to eyesight apparently in all directions. The depth of it, so deep that your eye cannot judge the distance to the bottom. Its colors, shades of red, green, grey. And the feeling of emptiness, silence, and total amazement.
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| − | There are some trails going into the canyon, the most famous being the Bright Angel trail, carved into the sandstone by prospectors in the 19th century. When I visited the Grand Canyon, I did not have the time to hike this trail. I have only seen it and took a 15 minutes walk in its start. It is said that it takes about 5 hours to reach the bottom of the canyon, and twice to climb back. In the bottom of the canyon are tens of kilometers of hiking trails. It is said that hiking there is dangerous and requires careful preparation. The sight of it made me promise myself that I would return and hike these trails some day.
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| − | ===Adirondack mountain range===
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| − | The Adirondack mountain range is located in the north eastern part of the state of New-York. They are often included by geographers in the Appalachian Mountains, but they pertain geologically to the Laurentian Mountains of Canada that span over the whole north shore of the Saint-Lawrence river.
| + | I have taken hiking in 2002, and more seriously in 2003. I used to do a 10km hike every two weeks, and many of my summer activities used to revolve around hiking and camping. When not on vacations, I prefer hiking in Mont Saint-Hilaire. It is about 30 minutes from Montreal, and offers different trails in terms of length and steepness and three different summits. I also used to climb Mont Royal every week day, normally first thing in the morning, or after a lecture. So far, the highest I have climbed is 1268m (Mount Jacques-Cartier, second highest peak in the province of Quebec) and the longest non-stop mountain hike I have taken is 30km, both in the summer of 2007. |
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| − | Forty-six of the tallest mountains are considered "the 46" peaks over 4000 ft. (1219 m), thanks to a survey done around the start of the 20th century. Since then, better surveys (and perhaps erosion) have shown that four of these peaks (Blake Peak, Cliff & Nye, and Couchsachraga) are in fact just under 4000 ft., and one peak just over 4000 ft. (MacNaughton) was overlooked. There are many fans of the Adirondak mountains who make an effort to climb all of the original 46 mountains (and most go on to climb MacNaughton as well), and there is a Forty Sixers club for those who have successfully reached each of these peaks [http://www.adk46r.org/]. Twenty of the 46 remain trailless, so climbing them requires bushwhacking or following herd paths to the top. I never hiked in the Adirondacks, though some of my friends did.
| + | In the past years, I have not had as many opportunities to hike, so I got into the habit of jogging to Mt. Royal during most of my working days. I did that for two years until I eventually found that regularly jogging during the summer heat or winter cold is not fun. I thus then decided to jog up and down the stairs of my work building, jogging up and down 100 stories (1352 ft) each time. I have done that since September 2012, on average 2 to 2.5 times per week during the fall and winter semesters. At this pace, I go up and down the entire altitude of the peak of Mt. Everest every semester. After I realized that after a few months, I set my goal to have climbed ten times the height of Mt. Everest by May 2015, a goal that I have eventually attained on January 15th 2015. I then set my next goal to continue on at the same pace and have climbed a total of one million stairs. I have attained this goal on October 11th, 2016. In more recent years, I have slowed down the pace but I still continue this exercise routine. Between September 3rd 2012 and September 24th 2019, I have done it 526 times. That is equivalent to having climbed this building 3,682 times i.e. 526,000 building levels, 1,219,268 steps, 711,152 ft, or 217 vertical kilometers, or 24.5 times the full elevation of Mt. Everest. |
I see climbing as a challenge. It is a very straightforward goal that you set to yourself that requires very little thought or planning. A successful climb literally brings you at the top of something and brings a sense of achievement. And the feeling of achievement is what makes you hungry for more achievement, whatever form it may have. It is thus a very simple self-motivating experience that is both good for your health and good for you mind.
I like hiking for the spiritual and physical experience of it. I view hiking as being about following trails where one can observe and be confronted with the greatness of uncivilized nature. Most provincial and national parks have trails that are maintained, and many provide shelters or camping grounds along the way of longer trails. Going in the wilds outside of trails (often called "bushwacking"), even with a map and compass, can be dangerous in some places. I prefer to be in safer conditions, and don't put myself in situations where my safety is at risk.
You can go hiking in different manners: You can just go for a light walk, or admire nature, or explore new trails; you can go alone, with friends, with kids; you can walk, jog, run, whichever you feel like on this day.
I especially like mountain hiking because you have to learn to manage your energy well, and be aware of what are your limits and capacities. Walking or jogging to the summit of a mountain can be a very demanding and rewarding experience. You have to be in tune with the signs that your body gives you in order to be able to reach for your goal. You have to fight with yourself and let down this voice that asks you why you are doing that, and remind you that the final reward (reaching the summit) is worth it even though you know that it is perfectly futile. In some way, I find that it helps me every day to endure all mental and physical obstacles that my life puts me into. It helps me realize that no matter what I undertake, all that matters is to think of the final goal, while being constantly aware of my limits in order to reach for my goal, and also that appreciating the ride is equally important as reaching the goal.
Hiking also permits you to disconnect from whatever you do in your hectic life. The proximity of nature permits to think positively about anything. If you need to let off steam, you can go jogging. You also get to meet other hikers, most of them being friendly and smiling, contrasting with the majority of indifferent faces you typically run onto in metropolitan areas.
I have taken hiking in 2002, and more seriously in 2003. I used to do a 10km hike every two weeks, and many of my summer activities used to revolve around hiking and camping. When not on vacations, I prefer hiking in Mont Saint-Hilaire. It is about 30 minutes from Montreal, and offers different trails in terms of length and steepness and three different summits. I also used to climb Mont Royal every week day, normally first thing in the morning, or after a lecture. So far, the highest I have climbed is 1268m (Mount Jacques-Cartier, second highest peak in the province of Quebec) and the longest non-stop mountain hike I have taken is 30km, both in the summer of 2007.
In the past years, I have not had as many opportunities to hike, so I got into the habit of jogging to Mt. Royal during most of my working days. I did that for two years until I eventually found that regularly jogging during the summer heat or winter cold is not fun. I thus then decided to jog up and down the stairs of my work building, jogging up and down 100 stories (1352 ft) each time. I have done that since September 2012, on average 2 to 2.5 times per week during the fall and winter semesters. At this pace, I go up and down the entire altitude of the peak of Mt. Everest every semester. After I realized that after a few months, I set my goal to have climbed ten times the height of Mt. Everest by May 2015, a goal that I have eventually attained on January 15th 2015. I then set my next goal to continue on at the same pace and have climbed a total of one million stairs. I have attained this goal on October 11th, 2016. In more recent years, I have slowed down the pace but I still continue this exercise routine. Between September 3rd 2012 and September 24th 2019, I have done it 526 times. That is equivalent to having climbed this building 3,682 times i.e. 526,000 building levels, 1,219,268 steps, 711,152 ft, or 217 vertical kilometers, or 24.5 times the full elevation of Mt. Everest.
