In August we went on a hiking expedition to Quebec, Canada with Peg and Roger.  We arrived safely in Quebec City on August 16 after several days of anxiety related to the Air Canada strike/shutdown situation that was the big news at the time.  Our alternate transportation was on United via Newark.  Fortunately, no air traffic system problems getting through there, as Newark had also become famous for its air traffic control equipment failures in 2025.

Our first day in Quebec City before meeting up with our hiking group was great.  The center of Quebec City is very walkable and picturesque.  We did some due diligence on the MAGA USA’s proposed 2025 acquisition and, while everyone was very friendly, it was clear to us that there were going to be some obstacles.

We were also adapting to the different weather in those northern latitudes.

The next day we joined our Backroads hiking group of 15 hikers and three expedition leaders at La Gare du Palais train station in Quebec City.  We then drove north along the north shore of the St Lawrence River  to the Charlevoix region.  That region is a crater 54 km in diameter formed 400 million years ago when an asteroid 4.5 km in diameter struck earth at 20 km/sec.  The energy released during the impact was said to equal hundreds of millions of nuclear bombs.  The first day we did a 3.8 mile hike at Baie-Saint-Paul 1400 feet down the side of the crater, followed by a picnic and historical/horticultural lecture at a lavender farm.

That afternoon we arrived at our home for two nights at the historic Fairmont Manoir Richelieu in La Malbaie.  On Tuesday we shuttled to Tadoussac, as far north as one can get before the end of the road on the north side of the St. Lawrence.  At Tadoussac we hiked 6 km on the Colline de l’Anse a la Barque trail, which our leaders described as “a bit technical” due to the route over many tree routes and large boulders.  They were right. It was a challenging but beautiful hike to the top of a hill and back down.  In the afternoon we donned orange wet suits for whale watching in the St. Lawrence from a zodiac.  We saw some, too.

For the next several days we did morning and afternoon hikes through beautiful territory, most with a fair amount of elevation gain to great viewpoints.  The knees and other pieces and parts were aching but remained generally functional.

We had lots of food and snacks.  Our guide for the Quebec history tour the last day confirmed that the primary ingredient of Quebec food is calories, better to make it through the cold winters.  That, combined with the nickname “SnackRoads” given to our outfitter BackRoads, guaranteed that we did not lose weight that week.  We were also introduced to a couple of new dishes that are uniquely Québecois, including “poutine” (which is a preparation of french fries, cheese curds and savory gravy), lots of dishes that included maple syrup and the opportunity to toast our own bread for dinner.

The final day we stayed in the historic Chateau Frontenac hotel atop the bluff in the old city of Quebec and did lots of touring up and down the hills of the city.