Teen Treks

WE MADE IT!! The Montreal skyline finally peaked over the horizon today and from there we took the scenic route along the St. Lawrence River as we peddled the final stretch into the city. As we got closer and closer to the city itself, we found ourselves surrounded by increasingly many cyclists. One of them told us that Montreal has a few powerful groups of bicycle activists and that the city has become arguably the most bicycle friendly city in Canada over the course of the last decade (move over Vancouver). On our way into the city we also rode on the Montreal Formula 1 racetrack for a bit alongside many other bikers that were either taking a nice late afternoon ride or making a statement and asserting themselves as the true dominant form of transportation (Ay take your 870 horsepower engine and toss it in the river, WE’RE BIKIN HERE). From there we rode by one of Montreal’s oddest landmark pieces of architecture, Habitat 67. An apartment complex with a uniquely brutalist/modern/lego-land-ish feel. These buildings are some strange ones and served well as a stark contrast to the architecture that is currently surrounding our hostel in the Old Port.

Bonjour from Quebec. We are now officially an international group of trekkers! Today’s ride was an easy one and passing over the border was a breeze. We wanted the first stop of our Canadian excursion to be somewhere that we could only visit in Canada, so we biked straight to the closest Tim Hortons for a completely immersive experience. Fun fact: asking a French Canadian Tim Hortons employee for vegetable cream cheese will likely produce more confused looks and French banter between coworkers than cream cheese. Also, not knowing any French whatsoever has turned guessing the purpose of many of these buildings into quite the activity. Is it a dentists office? Are there lawyers in there? Who knows! Our final stop of the day was our campsite for the evening where we’ve been able to go for a nice swim and relax before our final push into Montreal tomorrow morning. The trip seemed like quite the uphill battle at points, pun intended, but now that we’re so close it feels like we just started riding a few days ago. Time flies. Well, ciao ciao for now.

Learn more about Teen Treks’ New York – Montreal Trek.

Today’s theme was scenic waterfront vistas. The bike trail running out of Burlington took us straight up the shore of, and eventually straight out into, Lake Champlain. When I say straight out into the lake I guess I more so mean straight out over the lake. The Island Line Trail eventually sort of veers out over the water and turns into this isthmus/land bridge-thing that connects the eastern shore of the lake with an island in the middle called Grand Isle. We had the lake, and all of the views that come with it, to both our left and our right all the way up to the loading dock for the bicycle ferry. We hopped on for our first boat ride of the trip and made landfall again after a surprisingly quick journey that really only takes you past a gap in the trail that is meant to allow boats to pass through. From there we rode up into Grand Isle and straight to Allenholm Farms for some maple creamees, apple cider slushees, and quality time with Willy the friendly donkey.