A quad loop in the Saint-Victor en Beauce area

A one-day quad outing in the Saint-Victor en Beauce area. A 160 km outing that includes many interesting discoveries along the way, as well as a few dams.

This region is bursting with landscapes and points of interest that are well worth a visit. I’ve affectionately dubbed it “Quebec’s little Montana”. With mountains and valleys filled with cattle farms reminiscent of the popular American state.

We set off from Saint-Victor along the trails towards our first point of interest, Domaine du Radar. Along the way, we come across the village of Tring-Jonction, where you’ll find a number of services, such as gas and food. Saint-Victor and Domaine du Radar are only 25 km apart.

When you arrive at the Domaine du Radar gate, you’ll need to go to the gatehouse to pay your access fee of $5.95 per vehicle (in 2023), which will allow you to go up and down the mountain. The 2225-foot ascent will take you about ten minutes at low speed, as this is a shared trail with hikers, so caution is advised. At the top, the view is breathtaking! On one side, we can see Quebec City, and on the other, the mountains bordering the U.S. border.

A bunker perches atop this mountain, and not just any bunker. It’s a radar station built jointly in the 1950s by the federal governments of Canada and the United States out of fear of a Russian invasion from the north. After four years of construction employing up to 1,500 workers and an investment of over five million dollars, the six-hundred-acre military base opened its doors on September 15, 1953. In 1955, three towers were built to provide aerial surveillance of the region. Today, only the structure of the Top Secret tower remains at the summit. You can examine it from the outside. After taking several shots of this historic site, we head back down the mountain to join the trails to Saint-Clotilde-de-Beauce.

The trails to Saint-Clotilde-de-Beauce are mountainous, wide and wooded. Along the way, you’ll come across some beautiful maple syrup facilities, easily spotted by the many blue pipes that wind through their wooded grounds. Along the way, you’ll come across the village of East Broughton, where you’ll have access to gas and a restaurant. Be careful when arriving in East Broughton at the corner of Route 112, as you’ll have to cross this busy road to reach the trails on the other side.

The trail to the dam is exclusively on gravel roads shared with road vehicles, of which there are few in this region. The straight route takes you through rolling landscapes dotted with beautiful valleys filled with grazing animals.

Once at the dam, the view is superb! You’ll have access to a large parking lot and facilities for enjoying a good lunch in nature. You can read about the structure, built in 1938. It overlooks the Rivière Prévost-Gilbert, which flows southeast for 31 km towards the Bras Victor, one of the major tributaries of the Rivière Chaudière.