Jacques has about 20 horses and several cabins for guests looking to stay and ride in the area. I rode Tom, a 7-year-old Canadian mixed breed. Tom was wonderful and a good looking black horse. Jacques keeps his riding trails groomed in the winter and the horses have studs on their shoes, so that they can keep their traction on the snowy trails. We took off into the quiet woods, past an old sugar cabin and towards a large field, where we could try some faster trotting and cantering. Many of the trails ... ...

For dinner, Jacques’ wife cooked up a delicious pastry filled with buffalo meat, zucchini, broccoli, couscous, salad with smoked salmon, bred with fresh homemade pesto, and cake for dessert. Everything was made with organic ingredients, making me feel healthy after a day on the trails.

After a cozy night in my cabin, I awoke to another great meal. Breakfast consisted of eggs, pancakes, potatoes and ham and spinach, black tea, and toast. We toured around the town, seeing a covered bridge and other ... ...

After a big breakfast, I didn’t want to leave the warm fire, but meandered over to the barn with Josee to meet my horse for the ride and my riding partner, Daniel Locas. Daniel would be riding Yanni and I would be on Judy, a mixed breed. Judy loved to go fast, but also listened very well, making her a pleasure to ride. We headed out onto the snowy, well groomed trails around the ranch, past the frozen Black Banks River with views of the beautiful Laurentian mountains all around. We varied groomed ... ...

At one point, Emily, a local veterinarian who rode with us, said that we should take a few minutes to backtrack and ride along the shore. The mist had lifted, but the clear views probably would not last long. We picked up a trot and headed to the coast, past the cows and horses in the fields, who curiously followed us. It was low tide, but still pretty, as we were able to see the tree covered coast wrapping around in the distance.

I rode Sunny, a 10-year-old tan quarter horse and Danny was on Rocky, also 10 and a Quarter horse. The horses were great. We left the ranch and crossed two streams before getting to a long flat stretch, good for some cantering. Sunny was fast and fun.

There are tons of different rivers in this area, that is also known for its maple syrup production. Danny’a family, who have been leading riders here for over 15 years, have their own sugar shack and manufacture their own maple syrup. At a high spot ... ...

On the grounds of the ranch, there is also a large cross on the top of a hill. This cross was placed there by a priest in the 1950’s, who wanted to put the area on the map. At night, it is lit up by lights. When they were digging a hole in the ground to put the cross up, they found valuable metals, including lead and baratine, which spurred mining on the ranch grounds.

We had lunch on top of the hill, taking in the views, before heading to the shore of the St. Lawrence River and Bic NationalPark. ... ...

Thomas helped us all get on our harnesses and hard hats and taught us how to open the carabineer with one hand (we would need to do this later, so that we could use the other hand to hang on). We would be attached to a series of cables that run up the side of a mountain and climb up to see some gorgeous views.

Tonight we had dinner at the local landmark, the Fairmont in Charlevoix. The food was very good. I tried some of the locally produced cheeses, as well as a sweet strawberry tart. There aresome ... ...