Second Quebec weekend (more snowshoeing!)

I've run into a bit of a bind. Mumsy took nearly all of the photos on her birthday, since I spent the morning "ice canoeing." Mumsy hasn't shared her photos yet, so I'm going to break the time sequence of my posts and jump to the end of the week.

Two of my co-workers, who are about my age and started at our company about the same time as me, invited me to go snowshoeing with them after our week of training. Of course I said yes! So Friday, while most of my American teammates were flying home, LC and I loaded our gear into JD's car and headed down the St Lawrence. (After a quick stop at Tim Hortons, of course!)

Morning sun in Petite-Rivière-Saint-François

 We put on our layers and headed up the mountain mid-morning. Grands-Jardins National Park
 was clouded over from the time that we pulled on our layers at the parking area to the very top of the hill. Regardless, it was beautiful! It reminded me of Oyster Dome in its steady upward climb and length. The difference was the wind chill down to -10c and the extra effort required to navigate with snowshoes!

 There were a series of climbs, going up and down and up again. In two cases we trekked near lakes and stopped for a warm drink in iced-over picnic shelters. They were welcome breaks from the slicing wind and the sweat running down our backs under our packs.

We paused at the top of the first hill, then traversed along several rocky knolls until we reached the final peak. The clouds lifted long enough for us to see the swan-shaped lake below and out to the St Lawrence. Every time we passed a bare rock formation LC and JD mentioned that we should come back in the summer and go climbing!

My fearless guides

After a detour (I went off-trail while in the lead), we made it back to the car.  We stopped by butcher and cheese shops on our way to JD's brother's house, where we feasted in front of a cozy fire. It was the perfect end to a long day of adventure! My co-workers who were invited (but opted out) truly missed out this time!

Proof that JD is actually a Disney princess