Île-des-Moulins, Terrebonne: Canada Geese and Fall Color Near Montreal

elsewheremostly · Laval and Terrebonne, Quebec · Day trip on October 9, 2026

Along the river of a thousand islands, from Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles to an island of old mills

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It was a Friday, and for once all three of us had the day off. The weather was already good when we left the house that morning.

The plan was to go canoeing. We’d once stopped by Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles in Laval just long enough to see that it rented canoes and kayaks, and our kid had wanted to go back ever since. We had lunch on the way and pulled into the park around 12:35.

We didn’t canoe. Instead, the day ended at Île-des-Moulins in Terrebonne, on a river covered with Canada geese, and that turned out to be the part we’ll remember.

The river of a thousand islands: Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles

Mille Îles means “a thousand islands” in French. Look at the park map and you see a long river with islands strung all along it. Don’t confuse it with the Thousand Islands near Kingston, Ontario. That’s a different place; we went there last summer, and I’ll write it up separately.

On the streets near the park, Halloween was starting to show. One house had a skeleton sitting on its front fence.

The color here was lovely too: red, yellow, orange and green leaves against a blue sky. The visitor building was covered in red ivy, and the shrubs in front were a pinkish red I’d never seen before. They looked like burning bush.

Turtles, a great blue heron and a day camp

Inside the exploration center there’s a spot where you can see turtles. The park’s logo is a great blue heron (héron). Downstairs are the day camp and group programs, the boat rental counter and an ecology lab, and there’s an activity called Animalier d’un jour (“zookeeper for a day”) where you help look after the lab’s turtles.

The park also runs a nature day camp.

At Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, canoes rent only on weekends

Once we got there, we found out boat rentals run only on Saturdays and Sundays, and the information desk confirmed it: weekends only. It was Friday, so no canoe. Looking at a sign listing the prices of six kinds of boats, from the canoe to the rabaska (a big canoe for a group), we decided we’d come back. If we had rented one, I suspect we’d have spent the whole day on the water.

Opening hours (official website, checked October 10, 2026)

Facility	Days	Hours
Museum and caféinside the exploration center building	Mon.–Sun.	10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Exploration center	Mon.–Fri.	10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Boat rental center	Sat.–Sun.	10 a.m.–5 p.m.

The sign on site on October 9 listed the exploration center and the Café de l’Archipel and museum as Mon.–Sun. 10 a.m.–5 p.m., and the boat rental center as Saturdays, Sundays and holidays 10 a.m.–5 p.m. The official website lists only the exploration center separately as Mon.–Fri., so if you want to see the exploration center’s programs on a weekend, check ahead.

Boat rental prices (C$, before tax)

Boat	3 hours	Full day
CanoeCanot	40.00	50.75
Solo kayak or paddleboard	37.00	48.50
Tandem kayak	54.00	69.00
Rabaskaa big canoe for a group	96.50	128.00

From the sign on site, October 9, 2026. Prices may change.

A fishing line in a quiet river

No boat, but the park was so calm that our kid, who loves fishing, cast a line from the dock while my wife and I took in the color. Even the leaves on the path were a mix of red, yellow and green.

Next to the dock there was a sign showing the fish caught in this river, and a fish-cleaning station.

We didn’t stay long, about an hour and a half, and around 2 p.m. we headed for Terrebonne.

Fall color on the way to Terrebonne

Terrebonne is about 26 km (16 mi) away by car. Along the way, the hillsides by the road had turned red and orange.

Terrebonne was our kid’s pick. A Quebec local’s fishing YouTube channel that our kid watches all the time had shown this as a fishing spot, and they wanted to see it for themselves. The place in those videos was Île-des-Moulins, an island right next to Old Terrebonne.

Rocks or birds? Canada geese across the river

The parking lot at Parc du Souvenir (roughly “Remembrance Park”), in front of the island, was free. Free parking is hard to find in Montreal, so it felt like a small luxury. The lot was full and we circled two or three times, but cars kept coming and going, so it wasn’t a real hassle. It must be a popular spot. By the time we left, it had emptied out a little.

As soon as we got out of the car, I saw the river was dotted with what looked like rocks. I asked our kid: rocks or birds?

“It might be rocks, or it might be birds. There are birds sitting on rocks, so I think it’s both.”

I thought so too. Then we got closer, and nearly all of them were birds. Some had their heads up, some had their heads underwater. They were all Canada geese. Seeing so many birds, our kid said, “Then there must be lots of fish,” and my wife said, “Maybe it’s because there are lots of fish.” Like mother, like son, I thought.

My wife and I talked about how much it reminded us of South Africa. On our Cape Town and Garden Route trip in South Africa, we went to De Kelders, a small town known for whale watching, and saw lots of dark rocks in the sea from the car window. When we got out, every one of them was a whale. That one will get its own post too.

A car in the river, and a notice from the city

In the middle of the river sat a car, stuck between the rocks. It had shown up in those fishing videos, and our kid remembered it. Seeing it in person felt a little surreal.

The city had put up a notice: please don’t call 911 or the police about this vehicle; the police already know it’s there and will remove it when conditions allow, once the current eases. I could picture people walking by, doing a double take and calling it in. There must have been plenty of calls.

Exploring Île-des-Moulins, the island of mills

Île-des-Moulins means “island of the mills.” These weren’t windmills: they were water mills, run by damming the river and using the force of the water. The first flour mill and dam went up here in 1721, and a sawmill came later. The old mills and the seigneurial office still stand, and the island is a historic site. At the entrance, a banner reading MON ÎLE DES MOULINS (“my island of the mills”) had a Canada goose on it, of course.

The wall and decorations by the entrance were less elegant than cheerful, painted in every color. Lamp-post banners along the street showed paintings by Claude Dubois, with his name on them. There was also a little book-sharing box.

Like the ones we’d seen at Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal, there was a mosaiculture figure, a person shaped out of flowers and plants. We took a family photo on the bench next to it. A recreated kitchen garden, the Jardin du Patrimoine (“Heritage Garden”), tells you what vegetables were grown here around 1850.

The sound of the dam, and a garden on a log

Beside the footbridge to the next island, water pours over the Moulin Neuf (“New Mill”) dam. The sound was wonderful: just strong, falling water and no other noise, and somehow it was calming. Koreans have a word for this, mul-meong, for zoning out while you watch water. This is a good place for it.

Below the dam, on a fallen log in the rapids, plants of several colors were growing and flowering. Water, light and one dead tree to root in, and life finds a way even there. I found that remarkable.

Fishing: closed April through June only

You can fish here. The park sign and the notice for the Rivière-des-Mille-Îles sanctuary (Sanctuaire de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles) both close fishing at this spot from April 1 to June 30; the rest of the year, Quebec’s zone 8 seasons and limits for each species still apply. A sign on the bridge helpfully shows which fish you may keep and which you must release. The copper redhorse (chevalier cuivré) lives only in Quebec and is endangered, so if you catch one, it goes straight back in the water.

If you catch one

Fish	Rule
Copper redhorsechevalier cuivré	Release right away
Carpcarpe	You may keep it

Our kid started fishing again here. That evening, our kid wrote about this moment in a diary:

“There, I put my bait under some branches. Suddenly, I felt immense tugging. However, the fish got away. Then, I kept on casting, but it was no use. I never felt the tugging again. It seemed like the fish from earlier had learnt its lesson to never bite a lure.”

No fish, but our kid was happy that the rod cast so well.

Fall woods, squirrels and a cottonwood

When the sun hit the trees along the river, the reds and light greens lit up. Farther onto the island, it was quiet and uncrowded, an easy place to enjoy the color. I couldn’t get over how tidy a park this close to Montreal could be. In the sunlight the leaves almost glowed.

Every bench had a panel showing an exercise you could do right there. We took plenty of family photos and hunted for acorns. The squirrels stared at us more than usual. Up in a tree, a black squirrel had an acorn in its mouth. Around Montreal at this time of year, squirrels up in the trees working on acorns are an everyday sight.

One tree’s leaves fluttered in the wind; it was a poplar, probably a cottonwood, which is native to North America. It reached Korea in the late 19th and early 20th century, as Western things were coming in, and because it grew fast it was planted along rivers, field edges and new roads, and its wood went into matchsticks, chopsticks and crates. Trees were cut down as land was developed, the white seed fluff was mistaken for pollen, and plastic replaced the wood, so today it is hardly planted any more, according to a Korean newspaper.

Hundreds of Canada geese facing the sun

Along with the fall color, the highlight here was the Canada geese resting at the water’s edge. Up close, they were all turned the same way, toward the sun. A single photo held roughly 200 or more. Flocks were scattered all over the river, so in total there must have been several hundred, maybe more than a thousand. Ducks and gulls were mixed in. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. If you can get here at this time of year, I’d recommend it.

Our kid wrote this about the scene:

“Nevertheless, I was still satisfied because I was able to see a goose ritual. There were dozens of geese standing on rocks and they all honked at each other. It was so breathtaking that it felt as if I had become one of them when I watched the scene from on top of a rock!”

Migrating Canada geese pass through southern Quebec from late March into April, and again from late September until the water freezes. Some stay around Laval all year, because city shorelines have plenty of food and few predators (Environment and Climate Change Canada; Courrier Laval). Come in fall color season and you get both the geese and the leaves.

A library built around a sawmill gear

On the way out, we stopped at the library we’d spotted coming in. It’s small but a lovely place to read. Inside, a huge wooden gear and an iron shaft sit right where they are. The sign explains that the building was a sawmill (moulin à scie) in the time of the Masson seigneury (1832–1883), the years when the family of merchant Joseph Masson owned the Terrebonne seigneury and its mills, and that the parts date from then. Lumber cut here was sold across Quebec, Ontario and the US. Instead of removing the gear, the library uses it as a divider between desks. That stuck with me.

The site map shows the Moulin Neuf, the kitchen garden, the seigneurial office garden and the library all close together on the island, with a theater in the old town next door. Fall show posters lined the walls, and around Halloween the old town hosts events like Terrebonne Mystérieuse (“mysterious Terrebonne”). It was a livelier, more fun town than I expected.

Fall shows in Terrebonne, this time or next

Shows at Île-des-Moulins and the Théâtre du Vieux-Terrebonne are put on by La Nouvelle Société, the cultural organization that runs them. These are the October shows listed on its site as of October 9.

October 2026 shows · La Nouvelle Société (Terrebonne)

Date	Show	Type
Oct. 16	Dumas	Music
Oct. 17	Qualité Motel	Music
Oct. 18	Alain Lefèvre	Piano
Oct. 22	Evelyne Roy-Molgat	Comedy
Oct. 24	Basia Bulat	Music

From the La Nouvelle Société website and the posters on the island. Tickets are sold on that site.

Mr. Pretzels in the Magasin Général, Old Terrebonne

Old Terrebonne has lots of cafés, bakeries and dessert shops, and we headed for one of them. The street out front had marked parking spaces and none of the complicated Montreal-style signs listing times and days, which made life easy.

The place was the Magasin Général (“general store”). Inside are a gourmet grocery, a community notice board, flyers with local house prices, and posters for shows and events, plus more tables upstairs. It was full of Halloween decorations and pleasantly quiet. They also sell sandwiches, pizza and croissants. My wife had been torn between this and another dessert shop nearby. “Glad we came here,” she said. The other one can wait for next time.

At the Mr. Pretzels counter inside, we got a sausage pretzel and ice cream. It was our first time there. As soon as we ordered, the clerk stretched out a rope of dough and wrapped it around a long sausage. “They make it right now?” I thought. It was fun to watch. After baking, I think they cut it into bite-size pieces. Mr. Pretzels is a pretzel chain whose first Canadian store opened in Montreal, at Place Vertu, in 2013, and its official site says the dough is freshly prepared throughout the day and hand-rolled on site.

We ate the pistachio ice cream, one cup, right there. The pistachio flavor was intense and not too sweet, and all three of us loved it. The pretzel we ate on the way home. It was still warm, the fresh bread was delicious, and the sausage inside was hot and juicy. My wife and I said it at the same time:

“The best food is always the kind made right in front of you.”

What we had at Mr. Pretzels (C$, before tax)

Item	Price
Pretzel dog bitesBouchées Pretzel Dog	10.29
Ice cream, one scooppistachio	4.49

As of October 9, 2026, before tax

We’ve heard the cinnamon pretzel and the sandwiches are good too, so that’s next time.

The drive home: a toll bridge and a goose keychain

Between Montreal and Laval there’s a toll bridge, the Olivier-Charbonneau Bridge on Highway 25 (A25). There are no booths: a camera reads your plate and the bill comes by mail. When we passed, the sign said a car pays C$4.20 with a transponder (an electronic toll tag) and C$10.70 without one. Those are the weekday rush-hour rates; other times cost a little less.

On the way up, the navigation told us to take that bridge, but the time difference was small, so we went around on a free bridge, and we came home the same way. There are hardly any toll roads around here, but bridges like this one are the exception.

Going the long way meant we stopped for gas. Petro-Canada had a promotion where, if you bought at least 25 liters (6.6 gallons), you could get a Canada goose keychain for C$1 (in Quebec the promotion is called “Faites un quack”). I had seen this promotion before and forgotten about it; it probably came back to mind because we had just seen so many Canada geese. The first gas station had none left, but the next one nearby still had some, so we bought one for C$1. A nice souvenir. I think it will always remind us of this day. And then we drove home.

Quick answers

Are the Canada geese there all year?

Some do. Migrating Canada geese pass through southern Quebec from late March into April and again from late September until the water freezes, and some stay around Laval all year because city shorelines have food and few predators (Environment and Climate Change Canada; Courrier Laval). We saw hundreds at Île-des-Moulins on October 9, in fall color season.

Is the Rivière des Mille Îles the same as the Thousand Islands?

No. The Rivière des Mille Îles runs along the north side of Laval, north of the island of Montreal. The Thousand Islands are a group of islands in the St. Lawrence River near Kingston, Ontario.

Can you rent a canoe at Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles on a weekday?

No. Boat rentals run only on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the information desk also told us it is weekends only.

Can you fish at Île-des-Moulins?

Yes, except from April 1 to June 30; the rest of the year, Quebec’s zone 8 seasons and limits for each species apply. Copper redhorse must be released. Adults need a Quebec sport-fishing license. Children under 18 can fish without one when they’re with a license holder, and the fish they keep count toward that adult’s limit.

Do you have to take the toll bridge to get from the island of Montreal to Île-des-Moulins?

No. When we went, taking a free bridge instead didn’t add much time.

Is it worth the drive?

The moment the “rocks” on the river all turned out to be Canada geese, and the sight of all of them sitting there facing the sun, will stay with me for a long time. We’ll come back in fall color season, and this time we’ll get the canoe.

The diary ends like this:

“Though I had not caught fish today, I was satisfied. It was the excitement and the flock of geese that mattered. If someone asked me if they should go there, the answer would definitely be ‘Yes!’”

Another fall day outFall foliage day trip from Montreal: how far north to goFall color on a lakeshore in Val-Morin, in the Laurentians, where our kid went fishing.Read the post → Five days earlierMont-Orford Fall Foliage: A Chairlift Day Trip From MontrealThe chairlift to the summit in the Eastern Townships, and a pond in the national park.Read the post →

Getting there and map

Both places are on the Rivière des Mille Îles, just north of Montreal, and we drove. From Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles to Île-des-Moulins is about 26 km (16 mi), usually around 25 minutes by car according to Google Maps; we left around 2 p.m. and reached the island around 2:30. From downtown Montreal, the park is about 30 km (19 mi), a little over 30 minutes without traffic, and Île-des-Moulins about 32 km (20 mi), around 35 minutes.

Coming from the US or elsewhere in Canada

• Flying in. The usual gateway is Montréal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL). Routes and schedules change with the season, so compare dates before you book. Both places are just north of Montreal; we drove.
• Entry documents. US citizens don’t need an eTA (electronic travel authorization) to enter Canada; bring a valid passport. US green card holders have also been exempt from the eTA since 2022, but should carry their green card and passport. Travelers of other nationalities should check the Government of Canada eTA page.
• Driving. A car is the easiest way to do this trip. As a visitor, you can drive in Quebec on a valid license from your home state or province; the SAAQ, Quebec’s auto insurance and licensing agency, has the details. Road signs are in French, and distances and speed limits are in kilometers.
• Taxes. Prices in Quebec are usually posted before tax, like the ones in this post; GST and QST add about 15% at the register.

Sources

• Signs at Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles (hours, boat rental prices, floor directory, Animalier d’un jour poster), parc-mille-iles.qc.ca
• City of Terrebonne and police notice “Véhicule dans la rivière des Mille Îles,” park signs, the Rivière-des-Mille-Îles sanctuary fishing notice, the “Le combat du chevalier cuivré” sign, the sawmill sign in the library, and the Île-des-Moulins site map
• L’Île-des-Moulins, Historic Places Days
• Courrier Laval: Laval and Canada geese
• Mr. Pretzels official site; Retail Insider, 2023
• La Nouvelle Société show schedule (checked October 9, 2026)
• CAA-Québec: toll roads; the toll sign on Highway 25
• Maeil Shinmun (Korean daily), July 23, 2024, on poplars in Korea
• Government of Canada: eTA; SAAQ: licenses issued outside Quebec
• Weather: Open-Meteo estimate for Terrebonne (checked October 10, 2026). Environment and Climate Change Canada station data had not been posted yet.
• Environment and Climate Change Canada: Canada goose handbook (migration timing in southern Canada)
• Quebec sport-fishing regulations, zone 8 (peche.faune.gouv.qc.ca)