The nights are getting longer, and the leaves will soon turn red in Quebec; with the cool autumn breeze fast approaching, we’re in the mood for a little mystery. The region is starting to look more and more like an episode of TWIN PEAKS, and with its blue-and-orange hues, we’re craving legends, folklore, and a little bit of fantasy.
We’re going on a day hike—a beautiful fall day, neither too hot nor too cold—to Mont Saint-Hilaire to scan its tall trees and rocky face for fairies and signs of an alien invasion.
MOUNT SAINT-HILAIRE
We know Mont-Saint-Hilaire (the village) for itslegendary drive-inand its highly recognizable silhouette. The mountain is one of the 10 hills of the Montérégie region and rises like a monolith amid the region’s flat farmland.
The Abenaki, the region’s indigenous people, call the mountainWigwômaden, “longhouse,” because of its elongated shape.
Mont Saint-Hilaire is about a 55-minute drive from downtown Montreal, or a 1 hour and 11-minute ride on the EXO train (Line 13, departing from Gare Centrale—at the Bonaventure metro station).
The mountain is protected and studied by scientists from McGill University: it’s the Gault Nature Reserve. Its geological richness is at the heart of several scientific discoveries, and a mineral—hilairite—is named after the mountain.
Mont Saint-Hilaire was formed by magmatic upwellings, encased in rock pierced by the rise of this substance from the Earth’s core. According to the university, it’s called a “pluton.” After the Ice Age, erosion revealed Mont Saint-Hilaire as we see it today.
It’s said that on the mountain, because of this mineral diversity, compasses lose their bearing. This has created a rich and varied geological monument—a millennia-old mountain, somewhat prehistoric, and definitely mysterious to both locals and scientists from around the world.
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LEGENDS AND RUMORS OF MONT SAINT-HILAIRE
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A CAVE INHABITED BY THREE FAIRIES
A local legend tells of a cave that can be seen from the hiking trail if you look up, on the edge of the Mont Saint-Hilaire cliff. Its entrance is surrounded by three massive boulders, and locals interpreted this mystical entrance as a sign of fairies.
The three fairies said to inhabit this cave were, much like witches, each endowed with a special power. One bestowed beauty and health, another success and wealth, and the third, “with a sinister gaze,” cast evil spells on “the ungrateful and the reckless.”
Today, the cave—which is part of the Gault Nature Reserve—is no longer open to visitors, following numerous accidents and deaths, including that of a young Boy Scout in 1941.
Watch out! They also say that fairies disguise themselves as small animals to come down from the mountain into the forest and the village…
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A BOTTOMLESS LAKE
Lake Hertel, which you can visit by hiking through the nature reserve today, is located at the very top of Mont Saint-Hilaire.
You can’t fish there anymore, but back in the day, locals used to pull gigantic sturgeons (1.60 meters long—a fish that averages less than 1 meter) out of this little lake, and this phenomenon led people to believe it was a bottomless lake, connected to the great rivers by underground passages.
McGill University, which has studied the lake, says that Lake Hertel has a bottom (and isn’t even very deep), but the mystery remains unsolved.
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ALIENS ON THE MOUNTAIN
In the 1970s and 1980s, ufology fever (the study of UFOs—unidentified flying objects) swept through Quebec. Richard Glenn’s TV series, *Esotericism Experimental*, reigned supreme on the region’s airwaves from 1976 to 1997.
We’d scan the sky, hoping to spot the next Roswell; we thought “intraterrestrials” lived beneath Mont Saint-Hilaire and that aliens joined them at night on the mountain, having even built a secret base near Lake Hertel.
Today, Gault Nature Park closes no later than 7:30 p.m. Anyway, we don’t really want to spend the night in the mountains. Just in case.
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THE GATE TO HELL
Several legends also speak of the mountain as a gateway to Hell. The entrance itself is said to be hidden within the rock—a well-kept secret of fairies and witches.
Above all, you can go on some truly beautiful hikes there, because the Gault Nature Reserve has 25 km of trails that are extremely well-maintained and very charming, especially in the fall.
All we’re asked to do is not stray from the trail—under any circumstances.
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PRACTICAL INFO
Where? Gault Nature Reserve, 422 Chemin des Moulins, Mont Saint-Hilaire
When? The reserve is open every day of the year.
November through March, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. /
March through November, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. /
How? Online reservations only; $8.78 for adults and free for children
