Hiking Mont-Orford Park
Some of the most spectacular views can be found in Mont-Orford Park, located in the region of the Eastern Townships. The best way to explore all the sights that the park has to offer is by hiking the various trails within the park. Visiting the park any time of year is great, but if you plan on making a special trip to see the park, plan on visiting the park during the fall months. You will not be disappointed to see the entire park blanketed in the bright colors of fall lent to it by the dense covering of sugar maple trees. Any time of year that you decide to visit the park you will be sure to find an abundant amount of wildlife such as white-tailed deer and great blue herons, observable in their natural habitat. It also has a great diversity of birds, amphibians and reptiles. Keep your eyes out for frogs and salamanders, tortoises, snakes, Canada goose, owls and peregrine falcons.
Mont-Orford Park is one park that is hard to visit just once because of the many things that it has to offer. The park is bordered by the Appalachian Mountains, which lends more terrain for hiking. There are also many different water sources within the park to help break up a hiking trip and provide a constant supply of water for the wildlife living in the area. You might want to hover around these areas (not too close and preferably with your binoculars) if you specifically want to observe some of the wildlife. There is a specific trail within the park called the Etang-Fer-de-Lance Self-Guided Trail that is worth checking out. The trail leads through a forest of sugar maple trees and winds around inside the park until you reach the end where there is a beautiful look out view of the area. Of course there are many other trails to go on, there are actually over 80 km of trails in the park itself. When choosing the trails that you will be hiking for the day take a look at the information provided, there is a helpful guide that will tell the average travel time and the difficulty level.
There are plenty of other activities offered by the park. In the summer, there are lots of guided tours, canoeing, kayaking and biking. The winter provides opportunities for cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing. Whatever it is that you are interested in, there will be plenty to do once you get there.
Aside from self-led activities, there are also many different group activities offered by the park. On any given day there is at least one group activity offered by the park staff. Take advantage of these opportunities to learn a little bit more about the park, its wildlife and maybe make some acquaintances.
Whatever reason you decide to go to the park you are sure to have a great time exploring everything that Mont-Orford has to offer. Be sure to at least take advantage of the hiking, viewing the wildlife and one or two group activities to help get the fullest experience while you are there.
Besides two beaches, summer vacationers have a wide range of fun-filled activities to choose from. Come fall, colorful sugar maples treat hikers to a blazing show. Come winter, the park is a destination of choice for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing fans.
