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I recently returned from an absolutely epic 30-day film shoot in the beautiful province of Québec, Canada. I hiked, and backpacked, and mountain biked, and climbed, and ran, and star gazed, and ate, and paddled, and Via Ferrata ’ed my way through six diverse regions in Québec all showcasing mind-blowing fall colors. The Epic Trails episodes that will come out of this adventure will air next year, however I’m excited to share a glimpse into my time in “la belle province” by way of this blog.

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The Canadian Shield, or the Laurentian Mountains in Québec, is the coolest sounding mountain range I’ve ever heard of.

The bones of the ancient Appalachians, a mountain range believed to have once been over 30,000 feet tall, still lingers in les Laurentides. And while the mountains may be sliiiiiightly mellower than the Himalayas, there is still a heavy dose of beauty here. Amongst the granite domes are glacier-carved basins that are now gorgeous blue lakes.

The Laurentian region (or ‘les Laurentides’) is an outdoor playground just north of Montréal, and is where I had the pleasure of meeting up with Audrey Leclerc, of D-Tour. To get a visual on what the area has to offer we headed for the summit of Green Mountain for a commanding view of the Laurentians. It was a relatively easy hike, but one with quite the payoff. The colors were astoundingly good. Even after weeks of great fall color, I was still amazed by the whole countryside ablaze with autumn hues. The fall colors just never got old.

As the sun went down, I headed to my ‘perch’ at Refuges Perchés. Getting to sleep in a treehouse was a treat!

I’ve done a fair bit of mountain biking inmy life. But never-have-I-ever put a motor on a mountain bike. So, thefollowing day, when Audrey and I headed for the trailhead to do some e-fatbiking,I was a little nervous. I have enough trouble on regular mountain bikes beforeyou throw in a mechanism that magnifies your peddle power by 250 percent!

I was instantly hooked. It’s pure fun. Nolonger must you do that pesky peddling all on your own and it was surprisinglyintuitive. The most fun part was turning an uphill grind into a new technicalchallenge. The point of this ingenious invention isn’t to just make us lazierat one more thing in life, but to make fat biking more accessible. The outcome?It is basically a whole new sport—and a hell of a fun one at that.

My time in the Laurentians also gave me a moment to head off the trodden path to meet up with Luca Larouche at Aventures Kiamika. Near a remote spit of land lies a beautiful lake that, thanks to the team at Aventures Kiamika, is now a cool landing spot for campers and adventurers. Luca and I headed out for a kayaking and hiking adventure. We kayaked many miles until we arrived at one of the significant islands. From there, we set off on foot to cross the island and explore the nature reserve.

Due to its setting (in a lake) and ruggedterrain, this area of Québec was never logged. Rare as it is, here the oldgrowth forest remains still and is now (thankfully) protected. As we hikedacross the island, an assortment of birds flew high above in the canopy of theancient birch, maple, fir, pine and spruce trees.  

Reunited with our kayaks on the other side (thanks to a helpful Aventures Kiamika boat shuttle driver), we then paddled down to meet up with a man from Canada’s Indigenous Innu nation. We were greeted with smiles, jokes, a fire to warm ourselves by, and a traditional meal of smoked salmon.

Here I learnt about the Innu culture and some of the Indigenous history of Québec. It was a fascinating, eye opening, and fun experience.

When it was finally time for sleep, Icrawled inside a teepee outfitted with central heating (a fire) and fir boughsmaking a surprisingly comfortable floor to sleep upon.