Our Story
The story of LeTerrain Wilderness Park, La Pêche, Québec
LeTerrain began as one person's move off the grid in 2015, onto 465 acres of hardwood ridge, wetland and stone at La Pêche, Québec. What it became is a private wilderness park, kept whole, and open to the people who help keep it that way.
“In the wilderness, there are no politics. Just harmony and chaos.” Ranger Steve
It was never about the house
In August 2015 Steve was living in upstate New York, twenty years into a career in music, and he came north for a two day camping visit with no intention of leaving any of it behind. He hiked, he paddled a raft through the Quyon valley, and on the second day he stood on top of the peak he now calls Mount Bald, surrounded by the ancient structures, and knew the place had to be protected.
A month later he was living in the log house the Burkes built in the late 1800s. No water, no electricity, and nobody in it since the 1960s. Friends and family thought it was a strange thing to do, and by any ordinary reading of it, it was.
That house is still standing, and it is still in use. It is the Burke House now, and you can book a stay in it.
LeTerrain Village
It seemed impossible to be the only one who wanted to live closer to nature, and it turned out to be exactly that: impossible.
With 465 acres there was land enough to offer a few small parcels. The first 10 acres went in 2016 to a friend from university days, and three more have followed since, all of them to close friends. Nothing is listed and nothing is advertised, but the village was never finished on purpose. If the right person came along, there may be one more small parcel.
That is the off-grid LeTerrain Village: four households at the edge of the 400 acres of wilderness park, with no communal resources and zero expectations of each other. Just neighbours connected by the land, who come together when they come together, and who all have a stake in what is next door.
Become part of the story
The park is protected by the people who feel responsible for it. Membership is how that circle grows: the trails, the cabins and the dark sky preserve, from CA$20 a month. Cancel any time.
