Trip Name: Mont St. Hilaire Day Hike
Number of People: 25
Number of Days: ½ day
Distance: 3 kilometers (hike)
Route Description:
After a morning spent at the Vergers Petits & Fils apple orchard in Mont St. Hilaire, our class decided to try out an introductory hike (NOTE: introductory). The majority of the class was out of shape and only a few students had ever been on a hike before. We were reading Into the Wild and I wanted the students to have at least a brief experience with spending time outside. Another class of students with special needs also joined us on the trip and were really excited to spend the day outside of a walled classroom and under fall leaves.
We decided to hike a very short 1.2 kilometers to one of the many lookout points in the park. Upon approaching the gates to the Réserve naturelle Gault, I soon realized that I was supposed to confirm our hike with park authorities. After what seemed to be a never-ending argument about the missing information on the park’s website, the gracious staff decided to let my students and I into the park. I was so thankful, as they really wanted to go on this hike. We parked our bus and a park employee gave us an introduction to the park’s history. The park is one of Quebec’s last remaining old-growth forests in southern Quebec, so the park staff really wanted to emphasize the importance of respecting the nature surrounding us.
The lesson of this brief day hike was “What a learning experience!” more for me than the students. After realizing the importance of calling ahead, I soon realized the importance of communicating properly with other staff. We began our hike at the welcome centre and were aiming for Burned Hill look-out. Unfortunately, my co-workers were unaware of this and I had to jog ahead of the group several times to different routes that my co-workers took.
In the end, we made it to Burned Hill. The tree foliage did block some of the view, but we were still able to enjoy the beautiful sights of fall colours around us. After a brief snack and group shot, half the group decided to continuing hiking towards Pain de Sucre before we needed to head back for the bus. The other half of the group decided that they had experienced enough hiking and headed back to the Welcome Centre to enjoy a rest.
In the end, the students all enjoyed the roughly 3 km hike. Some of them ended the hike with muddier-than-normal calves and bruised knees. Some of them realized that they actually like hiking! Others simply compared it to the sort of thing that their group homes forced them to do. Either way, we were happy to snack on our recently-picked apples from the morning and enjoy a quiet bus ride home.
Starting Point: Welcome Centre
Ending Point: Welcome Centre
Trip Highlights:
- Encouraging physically-challenging hike to beginner hikers
- Enjoying the fall views
- Strengthening class’ communication skills
- Realizing our lacking map-reading skills to further discuss importance of survival skills in classroom learning
Trip Lowlights:
- Lack of communication with park staff
- Lack of communication with co-workers
- Low motivation in a few students
- Minor (and possibly over-exaggerated) injury causing one student to leave hike early
Maps Used: Centre de la Nature Mont Saint-Hilaire Summer Trail Map
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