We weren't allowed to remain at the dock over night, so we backed off fifty feet and dropped the anchor. In the morning we hauled up the anchor and motored back to the same spot we had been in yesterday.
Here we left Eclipse for the day and walked into town to catch a bus, which had passed through ten minutes ago. So instead we walked five km to the trailhead, paid our entrance fee, and hiked the trails of Mount St. Hilaire. The trails here are very heavily used, even on a wednesday. They are wide and heavily compacted by millions of boots, with much evidence of erosion. And here we are a half hour drive from Montreal (it took us three days via water). But the views from the many summits we bagged were excellent. We also did some bushwhacking through very open forest to more easily link some of the trails.
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| From the summit of Mount Sainte Hilaire looking into Beloeil. We can easily see the downtown Montreal Skyline from up here |
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| Looking down on the town of Beloeil from the summit. Is that Eclipse docked out there on the river? Let's blow up the picture some more.... |
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| WOW! There's Eclipse as seen from the rocky summit of the mountain! |
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| Did I mention that there were precipitous cliffs on the mountain? Here I am sitting on the edge! |
On the way back we stopped at one of the many apple orchards selling jams and cider and apples. The first of this year's apples had just come in. We bought some hard cider. Back on the road we hitchiked and got a ride from a jeep, who's driver was Chilean and had been to many places in the world.
Twenty miles up the canal we stopped for the night below the next lock, which had closed for the day.
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