Mont Saint-Hilaire in its Autumn Finery

There is nothing nicer in the Autumn, than to hike up to the top of Mont Saint-Hilaire, a place that holds so many childhood memories for me. Just before you hit the highest peak, called the Sugar Loaf, if you turn around at a certain point on the trail, then you get a great view of Lac Hertel.

At the top, if the day is clear, you get a perfect view of the region and the Richelieu River.

Once down again, you can take a side trail to the picturesque Lac Hertel.

On this particular day there was a group of about six artists painting the scene in watercolours and oils.

And who could blame them? No matter which way you turn, the scenery is a picture.

La Cabosse d'or

After a hike up Mont St. Hilaire, having worked up a little appetite, a great place to stop at the base of the mountain, is the chocolatier La Cabosse d'or, just down the street from Auclair's barn. Unfortunately for me, this wonderful chocolate wasn't around when I was young and living just a short distance away. Among the assortment of chocolates we purchased is a postcard of Mont St. Hilaire.

Along the Trail

Here are some more views along the walking trails of Mont St. Hilaire. Isn't it glorious? I spent many a morning or afternoon walking up the mountain as a child. Back then it was an easy thing. Now there's a charge to park your car and a further charge to gain access.

Apples Every Day

When I was a teenager, I read a junior fiction novel called Apples Every Day. The title was alluding to the fact that the school children in the story were served apples every day in the months that followed the October apple harvest. Something our family, with three apple trees in our garden, knew about first-hand. Those trees produced more apples than we could possibly use despite daily offerings of apple sauce, apple betty, apples in our school lunches... and despite my father giving box after box away to his city colleagues. Author Grace Richardson set the novel in St. Hilaire, where I grew up, and the action taking place in a private progressive school was modeled after an abandoned manor that we thought was haunted. Fast forward thirty-something years and the haunted manor house has been turned into a four-star hotel. Just look at it. Charming, and the gardens are scrumptious! I definitely want to stay there sometime!

The Manoir Rouville-Campbell, as it is now called, was built in 1832 by René-Hertel de Rouville. The house was remodeled in 1850 by Major Thomas Edmund Campbell, having purchased it from the bankrupt Rouville in 1844.

Mont Saint-Hilaire

With 600 species of “higher” (or seed) plants and an unknown quantity of other “lower” plants, 12 kinds of reptiles, 17 species of amphibians and 187 species of winged creatures, Mont Saint-Hilaire has been a sanctuary for migrating birds since 1960. Because of special biological and geological conditions it was declared a world-class preserve in 1978, the first of its kind in Canada.

Note: The first photo (Lac Hertel from above) and the second photo (Lac Hertel at ground view) were taken by my son, M.