The Chic-Choc Mountains, also spelled Shick Shocks, form a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

in the central region of the Gaspe Peninsula in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. It is a part of the

Notre Dame Mountains The Notre Dame Mountains are a portion of the Appalachian Mountains, extending from the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec to the Green Mountains (Vermont), Green Mountains of Vermont. The range runs from northeast to southwest, forming the southern ed ...

, which are a subrange of the Appalachians.

History

The name ''Chic-Chocs'' comes from the

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

word ''sigsôg'', meaning "crags" or "rocky mountains." It has undergone many different spellings over time, including Chikchâks (1836), Shick-shock (1857), and Chick-Saws (1863).

Geography

The Chic-Chocs run parallel to the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...

and are located some 20 to 40 kilometers inland. They are a narrow band of mountains approximately long and wide. The Chic-Chocs are heavily

eroded Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is disti ...

, with rounded, flattened tops and steep sides. Over 32 mountains in the range have peaks higher than ; the highest is

Mount Jacques-Cartier Mount Jacques-Cartier (, ) is a mountain in the Chic-Choc Mountains range in eastern Quebec, Canada. At , it is the tallest mountain in southern Quebec, and the highest mountain in the Canadian Appalachians. The mountain is named after Jacques Ca ...

at .

Caribou The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only represe ...

can be found in the plateaus of this region.

Tourism

Although visited by just a few tourists, Chic-Choc Mountains became much more popular in the late 1990s as backcountry skiing gained popularity in Eastern Canada. Some of the most popular backcountry skiing areas in the region include Mont Hogs Back, Mont Albert, Champ Mars,

Mount Logan Mount Logan ( ) is the highest mountain in Canada and the second-highest peak in North America after Denali (McKinley). The mountain was named after Sir William Edmond Logan, a Canadian geologist and founder of the Geological Survey of Canada ...

, and Mines Madeleine. The mountains near Mont Saint Pierre are a destination for ice climbers. A network of trails, including the

International Appalachian Trail The International Appalachian Trail (IAT; , SIA) was originally a hiking trail which ran from Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, in Maine, through New Brunswick, to the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec, after which it followed a ferry route ...

, passes through these mountains. Quebec's Parc national de la Gaspésie protects most of the mountain range.

Gallery

Image:ChicChocfrommountxalibu.jpg, Chic-choc from Mont Xalibu Image:chicchoc1.jpg, View from Mont Jacques-Cartier Image:winterinchicchoc.jpg, Winter in the Chic Choc Mountains Image:ChicChoc.jpg, Near Sayabec Image:Gaspésie.jpg, Parc de la Gaspésie

References

External links