The Friends of the Quesnel Library are hosting a free presentation with Michelle Arcand, a Quesnel local who hiked the Pyrenees Mountains in Europe last summer, on Thursday (May 31). Local outdoors groups, such as the Baker Creek Enhancement Society and the Quesnel Trail and Nature Club, The Friends of Barkerville and the Reason2Run running and hiking groups will also be represented at the event.
Arcand, who has long been involved in the Baker Creek Enhancement Society, will speak about her hike through the Pyrenees Mountains. The Pyrenees stretch along the border of Spain and France for approximately 430 km.
Arcand hiked the GR 10 trail, which spans more than 900 km and keeps mostly to the French side of the mountain range. It took her two months to hike from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean.
“The biggest challenge,” says Arcand, “is that it’s a lot of up and down, every day. The challenge isn’t so much the distance as it is the constant change in elevation.”
The chair of the Friends of Quesnel Library, Sally Hofmeier, says that what they wanted to do was “promote some of the different groups in the Quesnel area that do various hikes and outdoor activities in the summer,” though she adds that many of these groups get together in the winter as well.
Hofmeier says the groups that will be at the event have activities for everyone, regardless of their skill or fitness level.
The event is taking place in the meeting room at the Quesnel Library at 7 p.m.