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- My name's Ken Whiting.
I'm a World Champion Whitewater Paddler,
and I've led trips and taught kayaking around the world.
As an athlete and explorer,
my life long passion has been to challenge myself,
meet interesting new people, discover beautiful places,
and share these experiences with others.
This is the story of these adventures.
This is Paddle Tales.
Hey everyone, Ken Whiting here
with another episode of Paddle Tales.
It's a series that explores
some of the most amazing places in the world,
and goes on cool paddling adventures along the way.
Now, in this episode, we're going to a region
that prides itself on living the good life,
and we're gonna explore it by stand up paddle board.
But before we do,
please subscribe to Paddle TV if you haven't already,
so that you get notified the next time an episode goes live.
Now in this episode, we're heading to a part of Québec
that's known for its charming small villages,
incredible food and beautiful waterways.
With four national parks in the region,
it's a place that prides itself
on maintaining a strong connection with the outdoors
while at the same time,
providing all the benefits of an urban environment.
In this episode of Paddle Tales,
we're exploring Québec's Eastern Townships.
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Bordering the states of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine,
Québec's Eastern Townships,
know by the French as Cantons-de-l'Est
is found only a few hours from the nation's capital,
Québec's capital,
as well as the second biggest city in Canada, Montréal.
But despite being so close to such a large number of people,
the region's small towns and villages
have maintained their charm,
which is why they're a popular destination for vacationers.
The rolling hills, winding rivers, clear lakes,
and four national parks in the region
also make it an adventure traveler's dream,
with endless outdoor activities
to choose from during the day,
and a smorgasbord of dining options afterwards.
Not to mention 19 micro breweries.
That's right, 19.
Unfortunately for me, I'm not there to enjoy them.
Instead, stand up paddler Alex Keller
is exploring the region
and her adventures get underway in Frontenac National Park,
which sits on the shores of Lake Saint-François.
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Known for its rich biodiversity,
Frontenac Park has over 200 bird species,
30 mammals, and 1,000 year old peat bog,
which according to the locals, we have to check out.
And so Alex is meeting up with Stephane Poulin
who's gonna show her around.
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- Stephane took me through
what almost looks like a rainforest.
It was so lush and so green,
the ground was covered in this beautiful moss,
there were orchids and flowers
and just this amazing place to adventure.
And then the landscape changed drastically
as he took me into the peat lands.
- We are really close to the peat land
and because of the peat that grow here,
there's a lot of humidity still in the ground
and this humidity will affect the vegetation around us.
So why we have a lot of tree dead over here
is because probably there's too much water on the ground
so they die, and other younger tree will take their place.
That's why there are so many dead trees over here.
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- Because of the wetness of the peat,
they had this really nice walkway that we were able to go to
and in the middle of the peat lands,
they had this big tower
that we could view the entire landscape from.
And from the view we got to see the peat lands
and these really unique water ways
that are specific to this region.
Stephane was able to explain to me the reason
why the water in the lake and in the rivers is so pristine.
When it rains, or from ice melt,
the water is filtered through the peat moss
that's there in the land,
and it then goes into the rivers and the streams,
but it acts as a filtration system,
keeping the waters pristine and perfect
for the fish and the other wildlife that live there.
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- [Ken] Having seen the park from land,
Alex is excited to check it out from the water,
and so the two of them head to Lake Saint-François
to continue exploring by stand up paddle board.
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- [Stephane] Lake Saint-François is a lake,
one of the big lake in the southern Québec,
51 kilometers square,
and here is one of the two big bay
we have in the Frontenac National Park.
This bay is the Moss Bradley.
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- [Alex] All of this where we're paddling now is protected.
- Protected, in this bay,
the maximum speed is 10 kilometers an hour,
so it's usually really quiet to paddle, kayaking, canoeing.
And people are really great to respect it
and share their lake.
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- [Ken] Leaving Frontenac National Park,
Alex heads south towards the mountains
found near the Vermont border.
She's on her way to Au Diable Vert, a unique outdoor center
that sits high in the Sutton Mountain range,
and provides incredible views of the area.
But the best way to see the countryside
is from the Velovolant or Flying Bicycles,
which provide a unique perspective of the forest's canopy.
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- Super excited to be here today at Au Diable Vert
at Velovolant or the Canopy Cycle Tours
where today, I get to cycle through the treetops.
Okay. - Okay?
You're good to go. - Thank you,
I'm good to go.
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- [Ken] The Velovolant
is the first of its kind in Canada,
and topping out at 100 vertical feet off the ground
makes it the highest in the world.
Although it's not intended for the faint of heart,
unlike zip lines or other canopy tours,
the Velovolant is not designed
to be a challenging course,
but a relaxing way to see the forest and get stunning views
of the surrounding mountains and countryside.
- [Alex] Woo!
The sights, the sounds, the environment is so calming.
It's so beautiful.
I'm seeing mountains, I'm seeing waterfalls,
I'm seeing the trees and all of the animals that live there.
This is just a view that's unlike anything else
that I've experienced.
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- [Ken] Having got a bird's eye view of Eastern Townships,
it's time for Alex to explore more
of the incredible waterways that the region has to offer,
and so she's meeting up with William Hogg,
a local guide who's gonna show her down
a beautiful section of the Saint-Francois River
that passes right through the center
of the biggest town in the region,
Sherbrooke.
- [Alex] Well, we sure lucked out in the weather.
- [William] I know.
This is late September almost.
Most the time, you'd be in a sweater and...
- [Alex] Yeah. (laughing)
No, it's perfect.
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The paddle on the Saint-François River was really unique
in that we got to start in nature.
We actually started in this beautiful park,
and as we paddle through,
we got to see all of the trees and nature,
and the water is actually really, really calm
and really placid.
You could see the reflection of the blue sky
and the trees on the river.
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- [William] The area itself was first settled
back in the 1600s, mainly by the English,
and then after the War of Independence in the states,
a lot of the loyalists who were pro Britain
moved up and settled in the area.
- [Alex] Okay, hence Sherbrooke?
- [William] Yeah, exactly, hence Sherbrooke,
and many of the towns in the area you'll find
are called English names as well.
And it was only until sort of the mid 1800s
that more French settlers started moving into the area,
but today, it's majority French,
but there's a very strong history
of English and French relations in the Eastern Townships.
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- Alex and William soon find themselves
passing through the heart of the city of Sherbrooke.
Although it's always interesting to transition
from the wilderness to an urban environment,
in Sherbrooke, it doesn't feel unnatural,
because here, like the rest of the Eastern Townships,
the town feels like a natural extension of the landscape,
a place where you can enjoy fantastic urban amenities
but still feel connected with the land around you.
Well, that does it for this episode of Paddle Tales.
Thanks for watching.
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Make sure you subscribe to Paddle TV if you haven't already,
and feel free to leave a comment down below.
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