Hiking in Parc des Hauts-Fonds: trails, map and practical info

Parc des Hauts-Fonds is the only public access to the river in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures. It offers the chance to discover a sample of the battures and riverside woodlands through a network of trails and interpretive panels, while providing an exceptional view of the river. Presented as a protected territory open to the public, the park combines a diversity of ecosystems and activities.

The eastern portion of the park was once devoted to agricultural activities. An important part of its land is now colonized by herbaceous fallow fields, with calamagrostide, verges d’or, sanguisorbe and ferns, and by shrubby fallow fields, with willows, aulne rugueux and cornouiller stolonifère. On better-drained ground, fallow fields of vinaigrier and aubépines can be found. A few old apple trees survive in isolation in the area.

Red ash dominates the forest landscape of the park. It often colonizes flat, less well-drained ground, alongside black ash and American elm. Closer to the river, the relief rises and favours sugar maple, while butternut is relatively abundant. A narrow raised terrace along the river hosts the maple grove, and better drainage there supports American basswood, American beech and red oak. Climbing bittersweet present in the area is a floristic feature of interest for the region.

A stream crosses the park from north to south. Along its wet banks, tall willows rise and give the site a pleasant atmosphere. Stands of balsam poplar also grow on land straddling the former railway right-of-way.

Nearly the entire park lies within a floodplain, and wetlands are therefore omnipresent across the territory. During the park development work (2001-2002), a pond was built in the eastern sector, in a natural wet depression almost entirely invaded by cattail beds.

The park acts as a buffer zone between the battures and the humanized environment. The Battures-de-Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures nature reserve, adjacent to the park, shelters some twenty species in precarious situations, including four threatened species. The park thus serves as a transition between the protected shoreline and the developed environment.

The activities offered are walking, snowshoeing, birdwatching, the interpretive trail and picnicking, with tables, garbage bins and a dry toilet during the summer season. Educational activities, a treasure hunt and bat watching are also available. Good conduct rules are to be followed, and visitors can observe wildlife, flora and the wetlands of the protected territory.

The park is open from 8:00 to 22:00, Monday to Sunday, and access is free of charge. The precise starting point is not published on the official website, and neither are parking, reservations or the general opening season of the park.