The question is frequently asked on social networks. Someone is looking for ideas for hikes to do in such and such a region, sometimes with a specific request: a beautiful summit, an area accessible to dogs. Suggestions abound, often the same, sometimes interesting, occasionally irrelevant.
There is a tool that specifically aims to answer these kinds of questions, the Balise Québec website. The Rando Québec federation has just brought it up to date, with new features.
“Websites, and everything that is online today, are changing so quickly that we had no choice but to follow the trend,” says Rando Québec’s director of operations, Olivier Bélanger.
The new version is notably more user-friendly on a mobile device.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, PRESS ARCHIVES
The Balise Québec site has filters to find a trail to your liking – with a waterfall, for example.
The Balise Québec site allows you to find a hiking trail to your liking by using a large number of filters: the region targeted, the length of the trail, its degree of difficulty or the possibility of hiking with your dog.
An interactive map of the entire province allows you to see what exists in the different regions. Each trail has a card that includes practical information such as a good description of the route and the route to get there. It includes an interactive map of the trail and a printable map in PDF format.
The interactive map is really handy for planning because it gives you an idea of the kind of hike you’re going to do. But in the field, what we will recommend is the paper map. This is really the minimum for the safety of hikers.
Olivier Bélanger, director of operations at Rando Québec
The trail manager
The sheet also provides a link to visit the site of the trail manager, whether it is a regional park, an NPO or a municipality. This collaboration with trail managers is the big difference between Balise Québec and route sharing applications, such as all trails.
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Québec Aventure Plein Air site allows you to search for a wide range of activities, such as canoe-camping.
“For us, it’s super important to be in direct contact with the trail managers to get official information,” says Mr. Bélanger. It allows us to display regional restrictions, such as thaw periods, hunting periods, temporary closures. »
This is an important issue: some trail managers have lost rights of way because people have not respected such restrictions on private land.
Balise Québec also makes a distinction between winter and other seasons: some hiking trails turn into cross-country ski trails in winter, so they should be avoided. This is particularly the case of a popular trail on the Montagne Noire.
It is important for us to create contact between hikers and trail managers. They are often volunteers who work hard without benefiting from a large budget envelope.
Olivier Bélanger, director of operations at Rando Québec
Balise Québec also provides hikers with more elaborate ready-to-go sheets for several trails. One can download the maps of these on a mobile phone with the application Avenza Mapsto orient yourself in the field even when offline.
Balise Québec presents another novelty, a space for users. “They can create an account, make a list of preferences, like the 10 destinations for my summer 2023, comments Olivier Bélanger. They can also leave opinions, add photos. We see it as a big community. »
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Québec Aventure Plein Air website provides access to the network of regional parks in Québec.
Quebec Outdoor Adventure
Fans of other outdoor sports, like canoeists, campers and rock climbers, shouldn’t be too jealous. Québec Aventure Plein Air has just revamped its website, which gives access to 230 companies accredited by Aventure Écotourisme Québec and some thirty regional parks in Québec.
Outdoor enthusiasts can consider a large number of activities, from mountain biking and via ferrata to mycotourism and caving. They can make a choice by applying various criteria, such as the possibility of taking their dog, renting equipment, connecting their vehicle to an electrical terminal or spending the night in unusual accommodation.
The Québec Aventure Plein Air site provides direct links to the websites of certified outdoor businesses and regional parks. It allows you to have all the information you need to plan an outing, without having to throw a question on the fly on social networks hoping for an accurate and useful answer.
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