Mont Ouareau with mom and dad

I usually don’t like hiking in Québec because I find the mountains to be pretty flat and I’m not a huge fan of zigzag trails that go up and down, although it gives you a chance to catch your breath. I like direct trails that go up only; it gives me a greater challenge and the views are just so much better as well.

Last weekend, I went hiking with my mom and dad. My mom always complains about how Mont-Royal isn’t enough for her so I wanted to bring her somewhere that is a little more difficult but not too difficult. On the other hand, my dad isn’t exactly the active type. I warned him that he shouldn’t come if he can’t even do Mont-Royal. He insisted to come and that he’ll wait for us somewhere on the trail if he can’t make it.

I decided to take them to Mont Ouareau, which is an hour and a half away from Montreal. It is a small mountain situated at 680m above sea level with only 240m ascent. I think they can handle this one. My dad had difficulties going up and talked about how he didn’t understand why people say it’s harder to go down than up. “You will understand soon,” I said.

That picture was taken at the beginning of the trail.

My mom was still energetic and all smiles, but it was another story for my dad...

We made it to the top of Mont Ouareau!

I lent them my Nike backpack that I had since high school, don’t they look cute with it?



We made it to the top without knowing it because it was not well indicated. So we continued to hike towards Lake Lemieux which is 5,6km further. I started to think that this seemed longer than expected, so I asked the first person we came across…and she said it’s behind us. We probably walked an hour past that “summit”.

On the way down, my dad was really struggling because his knees were hurting. Me and my mom just went down to wait for him in the car. It took him half an hour after we reached the car to come down, but I think he did really well, considering his age. Hiking is obviously not his thing; most Asians don’t hike, and it’s not in our culture to appreciate nature. Asians like to eat in restaurants, go karaoke, shopping, high tea, etc. I know that’s a stereotype, but I think it accurately describes 90% of my Asians friends.

It didn’t matter to my parents where the destination was, they just wanted to enjoy the process of hiking with their daughter. My dad said he brought me to Mont-Tremblant when I was young, and now it’s my turn to take them out when they are old.