Mont-Laurier sits on the banks of the Rivière du Lièvre — the Hare River — a tributary of the Ottawa that drains a vast territory of boreal lakes and wetlands to the north. The river runs through town at a width and speed that make it both pleasant to walk beside and navigable by canoe. In summer, short canoe trips on the Lièvre are available from town; the river is gentle enough for beginners for the lower sections and more challenging upstream.
The riverbanks support a small linear park with walking paths and benches. Fishing is popular — the river holds walleye, pike, and bass — and the banks attract great blue herons and other wetland birds year-round. In late autumn and early winter, before the freeze-up, the river runs dark and quiet under bare birch trees.