As it dots 275 acres of wild forest in the northern mountain ranges and dense forests of the Hautes-Laurentides, Refuge du Lièvre Rouge asks that you slow down. The domain unfolds around the quiet waters of Lac Saguay and threads through boreal terrain with a handful of off-grid micro-chalets, yurts, and camping sites scattered across the property at varying degrees of remove from the world.

Former construction project manager-turned-proprietor Mathieu Cléroux hit a wall after two decades in his industry. He found land for sale in a municipality of about 500 people north of Mont-Tremblant, and made the move in 2021. He spent his first winter just learning the land: clearing trails, building one cabin after another, letting the project find its own shape.

In 2024, his partner Mathieu Roy-Chabot joined the operation. A hospitality veteran who'd worked at the Shangri-La and Four Seasons in Montreal and Toronto before co-founding his own bath products company, Roy-Chabot is resolutely urban by nature. Moving into the forest wasn't exactly in his five-year plan, but a look at the properties today give some inkling as to why he’s still part of the operation.

Where Cléroux tends to the land, the cabins, and the trails, Roy-Chabot runs the Sous-Bois, a warm common space at the heart of the property that serves as café in the morning and buvette come evening. Thursday through Sunday, he tends bar behind a counter stocked with natural wines, local craft beers, and cocktails made with house syrups drawn from the forest around him.

As it dots 275 acres of wild forest in the northern mountain ranges and dense forests of the Hautes-Laurentides, Refuge du Lièvre Rouge asks that you slow down. The domain unfolds around the quiet waters of Lac Saguay and threads through boreal terrain with a handful of off-grid micro-chalets, yurts, and camping sites scattered across the property at varying degrees of remove from the world.

Former construction project manager-turned-proprietor Mathieu Cléroux hit a wall after two decades in his industry. He found land for sale in a municipality of about 500 people north of Mont-Tremblant, and made the move in 2021. He spent his first winter just learning the land: clearing trails, building one cabin after another, letting the project find its own shape.

In 2024, his partner Mathieu Roy-Chabot joined the operation. A hospitality veteran who'd worked at the Shangri-La and Four Seasons in Montreal and Toronto before co-founding his own bath products company, Roy-Chabot is resolutely urban by nature. Moving into the forest wasn't exactly in his five-year plan, but a look at the properties today give some inkling as to why he’s still part of the operation.

Where Cléroux tends to the land, the cabins, and the trails, Roy-Chabot runs the Sous-Bois, a warm common space at the heart of the property that serves as café in the morning and buvette come evening. Thursday through Sunday, he tends bar behind a counter stocked with natural wines, local craft beers, and cocktails made with house syrups drawn from the forest around him.