Saturday was such a pleasant, sunny, albeit cold and windy day that it was my intention to begin in earnest deconstructing the garden in preparation for winter. Thank heavens my husband had a far better idea; to make the most of the weather, dress against the cold and the wind and make off for a hike in Gatineau Park. Our previous attempted foray had ended in frustrated inability to access the trail we wanted, since access had been cut off for roadwork.

This time, we consulted the NCC website and our maps and worked out an alternate route that took us to where we wanted to go. An access available evidently only on the weekend, since those routes too were blocked off for roadwork, and the main artery would be closed down before long for the winter months.

The amount of traffic in bicyclists, and cars headed for the nearby trails or just to coast along the major road quite surprised us by its volume. People were parking on the side of the parkway and just walking alongside inside the park, leading us to the conclusion they had no idea of the many trails available that would take them away from traffic and into the park interior. as difficult to believe as that was.

When we passed Pink Lake we saw that the parking lots had been closed because they were jammed full. We weren't headed for Pink Lake, in any event, too piddling a hike for our tastes. And when we arrived finally at the parking lot for the Larriault Trail, we found to our relief that the place had a mere handful of vehicles parked there; ours was only the fourth, so off we set with Jack and Jill. The parking lot across from the one we use, however, had far more vehicles parked there, and we soon assumed that the far larger parking lot right at the MacKenzie King Estate was full, given the number of trekkers we came across throughout the hour-or-so length of our hike. Fact is, we had never in all our years of experience there had come across as many hikers as we did on Saturday.

But it's a large area, the trail is wide and accommodating, and one simply makes the most of such situations. True to form, French Quebecers rarely acknowledge a greeting on passing, while Anglophones always respond with courtesy. My husband attributes that to 'national' insecurity, while I attribute it to gross ethnic-language hostility.

The landscape surrounding us was uniformly green. It seems that fall colours are late this year. Instead a green vibrancy under a mostly sunny sky made for a pleasant appearance as we hiked along, Jack and Jill eager to make the acquaintance of most of the many dogs we passed on our perambulation. Likely because of the appearance of so many people we came across no wildlife, and heard few birds, but the atmosphere was pleasant and so was the scenery.

The final scene, at Mulvihill lake before departing was of a slightly choppy lake with clouds gathering overhead. The lake's interior was too dark to make out the sights we usually enjoy of small turtles, of frogs and schools of tiny fish. And, by the time we were on the parkway driving back home heavy dark clouds had netted the sun and embraced the sky; a picture in and of itself dramatic and quite beautiful.