Chartierville, Quebec Camping & Hiking 9/22–9/25/2026

This year, our annual Quebec camping trip brought us to the small village of Chartierville.

 

On Tuesday, after getting groceries in La Patrie, we went for our first hike of the trip on the Sentiers Frontaliers network of trails. This short hike on Sentier principal vers le Mont Mégantic brought us to a massive old white pine. Along the way, we passed through a sugarbush and had to ford a small river. After reaching the tree, we had lunch beside the river, before heading back.

Starting our hike to the huge pine tree

The river that we forded

The massive white pine

We then drove to Camping du Ruisseau in Chartierville. This municipal campground has 8 RV sites and 6 tent sites, and when we arrived, none of them were occupied! We chose Site 3, the most secluded and private site tucked into the dense forest. After setting up camp, we played the municipal miniature golf course, located next to the campground, and walked around the village. We found it to be a picturesque Quebecoise village, and the near peak foliage made the mountain scenery especially stunning.

Sign for the campground

Frosty Wednesday morning

We awoke Wednesday morning to a heavy frost blanketing the landscape. Sierra opted to spend the day at the campsite, while Sampson and I went for a hike. We returned to the extensive Sentiers Frontaliers trail system to hike to two peaks on the Canada/United States border. We started our hike on Le sentier des 40 colons which brought us through a basin between the mountains. The trail was well built and marked, but seemed lightly trafficked and had a wild and remote feel to it—I loved it! After a short stretch on Le sentier du Mont Trumbell, we reached Sentier principal and a lean-to for backpackers.

Staionnment Mario Dostie

View ahead towards Mont Trumbell

Lean-to near the base of  Mont Trumbell

Past the lean-to, we started the steep ascent up Mont Trumbell (Snag Pond Peak). We reached the border swath shortly before making it to the summit. There were some good views near the summit from the swath. We then descended into the saddle between Mont Trumbell and Mont D'Urban, before climbing the latter. We reached the forest summit of Mont D'Urban on the swath, and then turned around, eating lunch at a good viewpoint towards Mont Trumbell a little while later.

View towards Mont Salmon from the border swath on Mont Trumbell

Border marker

Heading towards Mont D'Urban

After ascending much of the way back up Mont Trumbell, we turned right onto Le sentier du Mont Trumbell and made our way back to where we parked. The total hike distance was 10.7 miles and we didn't see anyone else the entire way.

View back towards Mont Trumbell from Mont D'Urban

View towards Chartierville from Mont D'Urban

At the summit of Mont D'Urban

After a second night of having the campground completely to ourselves, we awoke to another cold, frosty morning on Thursday. After breakfast in camp, we headed back to the Sentiers Frontaliers for another hike.

 

Starting again from Staionnment Mario Dostie, we began hiking on Sentier principal. At the first trail junction, Sampson and I continued up Mont Salmon, while Sierra turned onto Le sentier des 40 colons to head directly to Mont Trumbell (Snag Pond Peak). The ascent up Mont Salmon was gradual at first and then became moderately steep. After reaching the border swath, the trail followed the swath along the summit ridge of the mountain. Because the true summit is located in New Hampshire, we only went as high as the trail did.

On the border swath on Mont Salmon

Hiking along the swath

One of many hunting shacks along the border

After the highpoint on Mont Salmon, we descended to the backpacking shelter, before climbing Mont Trumbell for the second day in a row. On the climb, we met up with Sierra, shortly before reaching the border swath again. We also made a short detour off of the trail to the true summit of the mountain. We ate lunch at the viewpoint towards Mont Mégantic, enjoying the peak foliage, before heading back down Le sentier du Mont Trumbell and Le sentier des 40 colons back to the car. Yet again, we had the trails completely to ourselves!

At the summit of Mont Trumbell

Summit canister on Mont Trumbell (Snag Pond Peak in the US)

View of the Mégantic Massif from Mont Trumbell

After another, slightly warmer, night at the still empty campground, we packed up on Friday morning and headed south into New Hampshire. After a slightly delayed border crossing (One of the customs officers was late for work!), we went for a short hike at Garfield Falls on the East Branch of the Dead Diamond River. The waterfall was a beautiful spot to climb around and enjoy the scenery.

Viewpoint on the highway south of Chartierville

Garfield Falls

Garfield Falls

Further along, we went for another short hike up The Roost in Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge. This short hike provided excellent cliff-top views of the Magalloway River and to the Mahoosuc Mountains. After the hike, we ate lunch in Errol before driving back to Maine. We had an excellent trip, and we especially enjoyed the solitude in both the campground and on the Sentiers Frontaliers!

Start of the trail up The Roost

View from The Roost

The Mahoosuc Range

Bald & Speckled Mountains Loop 9/15/2026

Having previously hiked a loop over Bald & Speckled Mountains from the Little Concord Pond State Park trailhead, today we hiked the loop from the Speckled Mountain Pasture Trailhead. Heading up the lower part of the Speckled Mountain Pasture Trail, there wasn't anything particularly new to note, except for some ribbons and signage put there to keep ATVs on the designated ATV trail. We hiked the loop counterclockwise, so we split off from the Speckled Mountain Pasture Trail and continued around the base of the mountain on logging roads and the faint trail crossing a low saddle to Little Concord Pond.

Speckled Mountain Pasture Trailhead

A waterfall along the Speckled Mountain Pasture Trail

Little Concord Pond

After hiking along the north shore of the pond, we ascended Bald Mountain, where we started to see multiple groups of other hikers. After a short snack break on top of Bald, we continued on to Speckled. At the summit of Speckled, we had lunch and enjoyed the beautiful views on this early fall day.

View from Bald Mountain

Trail junction near the summit of Bald Mountain

Speckled Mountain summit Geodetic Survey marker

After lunch, we descended back to the car on the Speckled Mountain Pasture Trail. The first part of the descent along the ridge with alternating forests and open ledge is always a very enjoyable part of the trail. It's always fun finding new variations on mountains which you've hiked many times!

View northwest from the summit of Speckled Mountain

Sampson at the summit

View east while descending on the Speckled Mountain Pasture Trail

AllTrails Activity

Androscoggin River Paddling 9/9/2026

Today, we continued our exploration of the Androscoggin River Trail on the section of river in Jay between Riley Dam and Pine Island. We put-in our canoe at the Snoopy Site launch, so named after the Snoopy cartoon which used to be painted on a water tank at the launch. From the launch, we started by paddling downstream a short distance to Pine Island, before turning around and making our way upstream.

Snoopy Site Launch

On the river

We paddled upstream which wasn't difficult on this part of the river, due to the downstream dam. The current only became noticeable as we approached Riley Dam. We paddled to the south bank of the river next to the dam and then ferried across the river under the dam to the opposite bank. The strong currents coming off of the dam made this especially challenging and fun!

At Riley Dam

Riley Dam

As we made our way back downstream, we stopped at a small sandy island to eat lunch. We also paddled down narrower channels to river left of a couple of larger islands. This was a great section of river to paddle in both directions, and we only saw one other boat out on the river today.

This inscription was apparently made by workers as a joke about their boss when the dam's concrete was rehabilitated.

We ate lunch on this small sandy island.

Moxie Mountain 9/8/2026

Yesterday, we hiked one of the most unique mountains in the state, Moxie Mountain in Caratunk. I had previously hiked both trails up the mountain, but our goal yesterday was to connect the two trailheads to make a loop. The road in to the West Trailhead was in good shape, except for a bridge about 100 yards before the trailhead. Instead of taking the longer ATV trail which connects the two trailheads, we opted for a bushwhack route along the east side of Deer Bog which was about 2 miles shorter. The bushwhack was quite easy, except for the last 100 yards or so through thick brush to get to the logging road that we were aiming for.

A view of Deer Bog from our bushwhack

View of the South Cliffs from the logging road walk

After reaching the road, we followed it east along the base of the mountain. It was easy road walking, and there were some great views up towards the South Cliffs on the mountain. We reached the South Trailhead, and began ascending. The first part of the trail passes through a red pine plantation which had been recently harvested. The trail becomes quite steep and has some fun sections with optional scrambling. After a short detour on the viewpoint spur, we continued to the summit, where we saw the only other group of people that we ran into during the day.

Sampson at a viewpoint on the way up

Summit marker

We enjoyed the views near the summit for a bit, before returning to the junction with the trail from the west trailhead. We took this trail to the South Cliffs, where we had lunch and spent well over an hour relaxing. The views from the South Cliffs are spectacular, and the gravelly composition of the lunar-like surface is unlike anywhere else that I've seen in the state.

View from near the summit

Lunar-like landscape on the South Cliffs

After our break at the South Cliffs, we continued descending back to the West Trailhead. It was great to revisit Moxie Mountain, and it was great to be able to make a loop using both trails on the same hike!

View from the South Cliffs

On the South Cliffs

AllTrails Activity