Finding Balance and Community in Our New Remote Age

These days, you’re more likely to find friendly locals and day-trippers around town. Wander down the Rue Principale, or Main Street, to browse the storefronts and cafés. Be sure to stop by a particularly delightful antiques store called Antiquités Les 2 Continents. Digging through the treasures, you’ll likely find century-old china, estate jewelry, or vintage lawn decorations. It’s a fun hodgepodge to explore for a while and a nice way to get a feel for the town.

Hop back on the rural Route 117 toward Mont-Tremblant — the name of both the city and nearby national park. One of the most famous destinations in the Laurentian Mountains, the area includes the park, with its hundreds of lakes and streams, a mountain resort, and a village with several hotels and restaurants.

Of course, in the winter, the hundreds of miles of trails are perfect for downhill and cross-country skiing, snow-shoeing, and the newly popular “fat-biking,” which has adventurers racing through paths on mountain bikes with extra-wide wheels. In the warmer months, though, the mountain and the surrounding national park come alive with a whole different set of possibilities, thanks to well-maintained but uncrowded trails, where you can easily find an hour to yourself.

Take the Cabriolet, an open gondola, up from the Place des Voyageurs at the resort. It will bring you to most of the resort’s hotels, restaurants, and shops. From here, you can pick up many of the trails leading up the mountain. Ruisseaux is an easy trail near the base of the mountain that takes you past burbling streams and peaceful waterfalls, then deposits you back near the main gondola. For something a little more difficult, branch off Ruisseaux onto the Caps trail. Halfway up the mountain is a breathtaking viewpoint worth the hour or so of moderately strenuous hiking required to reach it.