Exploring the Far Hills sector at Val-David-Val-Morin Regional Park in the Laurentians

Last winter, I really enjoyed my first visit to the Val-David – Val-Morin regional park in the Laurentians. I fell in love with this park with its varied trails and multiple lookouts. As my hike last year took me to the summits of Condor and King mountains in the Dufresne sector, this year I decided to explore the other sector of the park: Far Hills.

The nature reserve of the Val-David – Val-Morin Regional Park is a protected natural territory of more than 600 hectares, divided between these two municipalities of the Laurentians. In addition to protecting a diverse fauna and flora, the park also includes a few small mountains and more than fifty kilometres of trails.

The Far Hills sector can be accessed via the entrance located near Val-Morin. I paid my access fee there and after inquiring about the conditions of the trails at the visitor centre (icy, but accessible with crampons), I decided that I would first head towards McMaster Mountain. There was no best way to start that hike than heading towards another summit of the park!

McMaster Mountain

To get to McMaster Mountain from the Far Hills Visitor Centre, you must follow the Gélinotte (Grouse) Trail. From my first metres on the trail, I found again what I had loved so much about this park during my first visit: a pretty mixed forest, well-developed trails and several large erratic blocks (large rocks that were carried by the glaciers during the ice ages).

The climb was very gradual at first, then got a little steeper as I got closer to the summit. But it wasn’t too difficult. In fact, the main difficulty was that the trails were icy and the mild temperature made the snow even softer and slippery. The crampons were definitely useful. To think that when I came a year ago, the forest floor and fir trees were covered in a thick layer of snow!

After a good climb, I arrived at the top of the small mountain (at an elevation of 460 metres). The Gélinotte Trail makes a loop of approximately 1 kilometre around the summit and passes through the oak grove found on the south side of the mountain. It was when I was walking by the large bare red oaks that I realized at one point that I was being observed. A family of white-tailed deer quietly watched me walk down the icy trail.

After this lovely encounter in the forest, I reached my first lookout of the day. The summit of McMaster Mountain offers a beautiful view of Lake Raymond and of the small mountains of Val-Morin. And despite the gray sky, the Laurentian landscape remained magnificent!

From this location, it is possible to follow a trail that joins the old Val-Morin train station at the foot of the mountain, as well as the famous Le P’tit Train du Nord Trail (a 234-kilometre cycle path which connects Bois-des-Filion to Mont-Laurier). But for me, the P’tit Train du Nord will be a project for another time, and I continued my hike on the Gélinotte Trail.

After passing near a rocky cliff on which there was a beautiful and tall curtain of ice, I completed the loop at the summit of McMaster Mountain, and I came back down from the small mountain taking the same path that I had taken to go up there.

More lookouts and Lake Amigo

After McMaster Mountain, I wanted to keep on going, so I headed towards other lookouts in the regional park. From the Gélinotte Trail, I took the Pic Mineur (Downy Woodpecker) Trail, then the Grand Pic (Pileated Woodpecker) Trail, which took me down into a small valley, before taking me back up to the top of another hill.

This rocky massif does not have a name on the regional park maps, but it still offers an arduous and constant climb for a few metres. It is possible to do a long loop there which leads to several lookout points by combining the Grand Pic, Pierre Gariépy, Nyctale, Junco and Héron trails, but I decided to shorten this loop, by taking the Héron Trail to go directly towards the lookouts on the north side of the mountain.

As my legs were starting to get a little tired and the snow was getting stickier and slipperier, I found the climb a little difficult. But I really enjoyed passing near cliffs on which there was still a little ice, and between more large erratic blocks.

And finally, when I arrived at the first lookout on the mountain, I told myself that the climb had been worth it.

The other lookout is located just a few metres further, and overlooks Lake Amigo. The lake seemed very quiet under its ice cover, but it is an important ecosystem of the park, and apparently several great blue herons build their nests there in the summer.

I continued following the trail and came back down the mountain, passing near Lake Amigo. The trail leads to a shelter near the lake. A few families with young children enjoying a break by the shelter, where they were feeding the chickadees.

From the shelter, there are several other trail options. For my part, I decided that I would follow the GV Trail, which would take me back to the Far Hills Visitor Centre, about 1 kilometre further. The GV trail was not very difficult to follow, and I liked the large green fir trees along it.

I finally reached my starting point after a hike that totaled 6.7 kilometers, with an elevation gain of 323 metres. And although the day had been moody and gray, I am still happy to have finally been able to hike again on the winter trails of the Val-David – Val-Morin Regional Park. With the snow melting rapidly, this may be my last winter hike this year!