May 23rd - 29th, 2017 Gaspe and Lower St. Lawrence

May 23rd, Driving to Quebec City and later Kamouraska

Late morning Gongyu and I drove to Quebec City to pick up Daniella at the airport. As it turned out Daniella's Air Canada plane left NYC late and she missed her connection to Quebec in Toronto. So Gongyu and I ended up with a few hours at hand to walk around downtown Quebec. About 25 years ago we walked more or less the same area, however in deep winter sometime between Christmas and New Year. It was my first walk through Quebec City during non-winter season. So far I had only seen the city when going skiing in winter.

Quebec City: Plains of Abraham park, a battlefield 250 years or so ago

Quebec City: View from the Governors Promenade across the St. Lawrence river

Quebec City: View of the St. Lawrence river from the Governors Promenade

Afterwards Gongyu and I picked up Daniella at the airport and drove to a motel in Kamouraska.

May 24th, Kamouraska to Le Bic and Point-au-Pere

The next morning we looked a little bit around in Kamouraska. Our intent being to have a breakfast there. However since we visited the little town out of season all such places were closed during the week and only open during the weekend. Kamouraska was the starting point of a whole string of picturesque little towns located at the south shore of the St. Lawrence River. Our motel was also nicely located and offered a good morning view over some pastures and the St. Lawrence River. The night before we arrived too late to be able to appreciate all of this.

Morning view from our Kamouraska motel

We had a decent outdoor breakfast on the deck of the Bis la Boulange bakery in Trois Riviere. Their danish and their bread were fresh, varied and very good.

Bis la Boulange Bakery: One of their danish or mini pies

Our breakfast place at Bis la Boulange bakery.

Afterwards we drove leisurely along the road closest to the river through a number of small picturesque villages and also hopped off the car at nice viewpoint places. At Fromagerie des Basque we bought plenty of cheese and also delicious smoked fish. Later during the trip lots more of delicious smoked fish became one of our staple foods. Our destination for the day was the Le Bic Provincial Park.

View over the St. Laurence somewhere after Riviere du Loup. It is low tide.

Picture taken from the car: A lot of South Shore St. Lawrence houses are very colorful

Every town has a smaller or larger church. Sometimes even two churches.

We arrived sometime early afternoon in Le Bic. The parks campgrounds were open. We pretty much had free choice were to camp and picked the best looking spot from the map also taking in the advice from the provincial park admin lady. Before building up the tent we had lunch. Afterwards we did 2 different easy hikes each starting from our campground.

Le Bic: Lunch at Ferme Rioux. Ferme Rioux is open during the day for Le Bic campers and offers Wifi, electric outlets and a common room with benches in case it rains.

Le Bic: Lunch view

Le Bic: View from Le Chemin du Nord

Le Bic: View from Le Chemin du Nord

Le Bic: Le Chemin du Nord. We stopped and turned around where the rock touches the water. The tide is currently on the high side.

Le Bic: Shale rock formation

Le Bic: View toward Cap Enrage

Le Bic Rioux campground: Building up our tent

View east from our campground

Le Bic: Bai du Ha! Ha! at high tide. About 200m walking distance from our campground.

Le Bic: Walking back to our campground through the Baie du Ha! Ha! parking lot

Since there was still some time left and we had done all our initial hikes and build up the tent we decided to drive to the Point-au-Pere maritime historical site. Unfortunately everything was closed and we could only admire the lighthouse from the outside. Nevertheless it was another starting point because afterwards we made an effort to visit more lighthouses along the coast. These buildings are all unique. Most of them are open for visitors during the main season.

For dinner we ended up in Rimouski. The Parfum de Coree was very good. To the point that we went there again the next night (because the restaurant of our choice in Le Bic happened to close already at 8pm) and also on the way back from Gaspe. The kimchi side dishes served were different every time. The content of their bento boxes also changed every time. And the various hot stone pots we ordered were delicious as well.

This evening we even made it back in time to watch sunset at Baie du Ha! Ha!.

Point-au-Pere Lighthouse

Point-au-Pere maritime historical site. There is also a complete submarine on the left outside the picture.

Parfum de Coree Restaurant: One of their hot stone pots

Parfum de Coree Restaurant: Bento Box. The content changed every night

Le Bic: Baie du Ha! Ha! close to sunset at low tide

Le Bic: Walking along the Baie du Ha! Ha! during sunset and low tide

Le Bic: Baie du Ha! Ha! sunset

Le Bic: Final look at Baie du Ha! Ha! this evening

 

May 25th, More Exploration of Le Bic

We had a relatively cool and moist (due to fog) night and morning. Post breakfast we headed for Point-aux-Epinettes to try our luck watching seals. No such thing. Afterwards we tried our luck with Anse Bouleaux Ouest and Est. And on the western side of the 2 baies we watched some seals with oue binocular. We also hiked a path called Les Anses. Later we also saw some seals from Ferme Rioux.

Le Bic: Tidal area at Pointe aux Epinettes

Le Bic: Tidal area from Pointe aux Epinettes looking west.

Le Bic Point-aux-Epinettes

Le Bic: View from Point-aux-Epinettes westward. Ferme Rioux is just visible above Gongyu's head

Le Bic: L'Anse Bouleaux Quest at low tide. We discovered seals laying on the stones close the water line and watched them with our binocular.

Le Bic: L'Anse Bouleaux Est. We later sea-kayaked in that area.

Le Bic: L'Anse Bouleaux Est view

Le Bic: Les Anses trail

Le Bic: Somewhere on the Les Anses trail

After our morning hikes Daniella and I went sea-kayaking. It was our first time to do this. While Daniella did very well my experience was mixed. My wet-suit was a very tight fit. And I did not enough to loosing it somewhat up around my bum and waist. And once I was sitting in the kayak the suit was super tight around my bum and constantly pulled my back back. So I paddled the whole 2 hours in a semi-reclining position. Always working with my stomach muscles to somehow get into an upright body position but never really achieving it. I also tried to adjust the steering pedals multiple times so I could support my upper body with my legs but to no avail. Hmmph. I felt really good when I could take this wet suit off. Aside from that the kayak experience was interesting and a good one. We saw a decent part of eastern water area of Le Bic and Michel our guide was knowledgeable and friendly. We paddled around several islands and explored a part of Cap Enrage from the sea side.

At the starting point of our sea kayak endeavour with Michel our guide

Michel giving us the rundown how to enter, exit and paddle a sea-kayak on dry land.

On the water. The picture shows clearly my sub-optimal sitting position with my back leaning backward because of the wet-suit pullback. I guess some people would suggest that a workout for my stomach muscles is only doing me good!

After the sea-kayaking experience Daniella and I went back to Chemin du Nord late evening around the lowest tide. Our goal was to continue where we turned on the first day and hike along the rocks to Cap a l'Original. This 75 minute hike turned out to be a mini-equivalent of the WCT Owen Point in some sense: Lots of rocks, some mini fissures that needed to be crossed or hopped over, a nice cap area jutting into the sea at the end and a necessary longer wait for the really really low tide to make it around a particular rock section. We walked back to the more normal section of Chemin du Nord via the La Greve trail through the forest.

Le Bic Le-Tour-Cap-a-l'Original: Heading towards the tidal crux point at the far end of the beach

Le Bic Cap-a-l'Original trail: Still waiting for the tide to further recede

Le Bic Cap-a-l'Original trail: Across the first obstacle of the trail after the tidal crux

Le Bic Cap-a-l'Original trail: A look down the first steep area and the tidal crux zone

Le Bic Cap-a-l'Original trail: A look back towards the beach area where we waited and the day before already turned around once

Le Bic Cap-a-l'Original trail: Somewhere up well above the tidal zone in a steep area.

Le Bic Cap-a-l'Original trail: A part of the trail runs through a natural rock step for a while

Le Bic Cap-a-l'Original trail:Daniella preparing to hop over a fissure

Le Bic Cap-a-l'Original trail

Le Bic Cap-a-l'Original trail: Using my knees to make it over a certain rock

Le Bic Cap-a-l'Original trail: A deep fissure we had to cross on its high narrow end

Le Bic Cap-a-l'Original trail: Another look down into the deep fissure

Le Bic Cap-a-l'Original trail: Coming out of the rock section in to the Cap a l'Original area.

Le Bic Cap-a-l'Original trail: View westward from Cap a l'Original towards St. Fabien sur Mer

Back at Chemin du Nord looking west at low tide.

May 26th, Drive from Le Bic to L'Anse of Griffon and Forillon National Park

This morning we had breakfast in Rimouski at La-Crepe-Chignon. The place was relatively full, nice and we had a very good crepes. A good start into the day. Our next intent was to visit the Jardin-des-Metis next some 50km east of Rimouski. However we were 1 week too early. The gardens were still closed. We drove through numerous nice little towns. The road was also very enjoyable and for the first two thirds often right along the St. Lawrence shoreline. On the way we shopped in several seafood shops for smoked fish (Borealis in Matane, Les Delicies de la Mer in Saint-Anne des Monts), went to a fromagerie (Fromagerie Litoral) for cheese and replenished everything else in a large grocery chain in Matane.

Breakfast at La-Crepe-Chignon in Rimouski

Driving along the St. Lawrence South Shore somewhere. Lots of such views on and off for several 100km.

Lunch at a picnic place near Cap Chat: Delicious smoked fish pieces, cheese and baguette

Lunch somewhere near Cap Chat

Daniella sitting on the big chair at the Cap Chat picnic place. Cap Chat with its lighthouse visible on the left.

Somewhere along the way. This time a bit further up and away from the river on a picnic stop.

As we arrived at Forillon National Park we experienced the first bummer of the day. The park was in non-operating mode and all its campgrounds were closed (their season only opened a week later). I simply had assumed that their campgrounds were open and hadn't made any efforts for a reservation because we were definitely outside the main season. Anyway someone from the National Park folks was still reachable via a phone number mentioned outside the northern visitor center and pointed us to the l'Anse au Griffon campground. And yes, they were open and we got a nice spot again. They even had a little house with a common room where one could sit inside in case of rain with some chairs and benches. The house also had electric heating, electric outlets to charge the cell phones, tables and offered wifi. Everything was good and we built up our tent.

L'Anse-au-Griffon: Our camp site right on top of a cliff with a view over the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Daniella even believed she spotted a whale from our campsite.

After we build up the tent and since it was still day for about 2 hours and we decided to do an initial exploration of Forillon Park.

Forillon National Park: Visiting a very large beaver pond

Forillon National Park: Boardwalk near the northern visitor center

Forillon National Park: Boardwalk view towards Cap-des-Rosiers

Cap-des-Rosiers Lighthouse: Its opening was also scheduled for a week later

View from Cap-des-Rosiers towards north facing shore of Forillon National Park

May 27th, Driving to Perce and visiting Ile Bonaventure

We had a look the prior night at the weather forecast and decided to head immediately for Perce and Ile Bonaventure this Saturday. The forecast was definitely good for Saturday and only so-so for Sunday and beyond.

Sunrise as seen from the little campground house

Breakfast in the little house on the campground with the benches inside

So after breakfast in the little house with a heated room at the campground (it was cold during the night), we drove to Perce. The section from Gaspe to Perce was quite nice along several bays and at the end through a mountainous portion. We arrived in Perce about 10:15am only to be told that we missed the boat to Ile Bonaventure by 15 minutes and that we had to wait until 1pm to pick up the next boat. It was definitely off-season in terms of number of boat rides. Anyway we had a nice picnic at the Perce picnic place and afterwards we explored Perce Rock by walking over to it at low tide. We also went up to the cross and explored several coastal sections of Perce. Some of their coastal sections were in significant disarray. As we learned later some wave action during the winter damaged some sections seriously. Also our intended dinner spot, Maison du Pecheur (recommended by a number of places, booklets) seemed to be affected by that past winter storm because they were still closed and major reconstruction underway around their building. Anyway, Perce is a very attractive destination.

Perce picnic area

Perce picnic area: View to Bonaventure Island

Perce: Close to the cross adjacent Perce Rock

Perce Rock from the cross area

Perce Rock with Daniella

Walking down the cross hill with a view towards Point-Sainte-Pierre across the bay

Perce Rock and the adjacent hill with the cross from the beach

Perce Rock from the tidal plane close to it

Heading back along another beach to the picnic area

Coming around the cliff bottom at low tide

After our hikes to Perce Rock we waited on the pier for the ship to Ile Bonaventure. The ships route went around a good chunk of Perce Rock and then around Bonaventure Island before it dropped us on the island itself.

Waiting on the Perce pier for the ship

The ship is coming

On our cruise to Perce Rock and Bonaventure Island

Perce Rock from the ship

Another section of Perce Rock from the ship

The ship is rounding Perce Rock

The other side of Perce Rock

Approaching the bird rocks of Ile Bonaventure

Ile Bonaventure bird rocks

Lot of birds in the air

Even more birds sitting on rocks

And even more rocks with birds ahead of us

Lots of birds sitting in and on rock fissures

And lots of birds in the air

Now the bird numbers are winding down

Perce Rock: From here it looks like a "horse drinking water"

Once on the island there are several hiking path options. But in our case only the direct hike through the middle of the island was open. The park folks wanted to ensure that all people were shepherded in time for the 4pm last passage to the main land. I was told the people taking the 10am ship to the island could also walk the ring trail around the island. I would have very much liked that. Nevertheless seeing the birds close-up was a highlight of the trip. I have never seen such a large bird colony. According to the Perce advert booklets this is one of the largest bird colonies in the world.

On Ile Bonaventure. Tons of bushes with red branches. We saw the same bushes later in Forillon as well.

The season here is definitely later compared to Ottawa. The needles are fresh

And the fiddle heads were just forming.

Ile Bonaventure: View from the top of the cliff after making the trail through the island

Ile Bonaventure: Walking down towards the bird lookout and the birds. It is an experience.

Ile Bonaventure: Highly interesting to see so many birds in one place. The noise level is intense.

Reading the informative info panels at the bird lookout. They answered all the questions I had when watching the birds behavior.

Tons and tons of bird activities.

Another closeup with the birds.

Ile Bonaventure: Arriving back from the trail at the pier.

Ile Bonaventure: One last look back

Perce: Family picture at the pier

Camping Surprise Perce: Tent building at our next camp site with a beautiful view in the back. We had a dry common room again with benches and wifi and electrical outlets.

Perce Restaurant Surcouf: We all had decent fish and chips.

Before sunset we even drove over to see the Cap-d'Espoir lighthouse. We were under the impression that it maybe could be visited inside. If so, we would have shown up again in the morning. But the lighthouse was definitely closed and not operational at that time. Nevertheless nice views on the drive to and from there

At least during this off-season Perce turned out to be a cash society. With a few exceptions I had to pay everywhere with cash to the point that I ended up having to go to a local ATM and get more cash. And this little bank there charged me 4$ to get the cash. And a longer while later I also noticed that my bank charged me an additional 2$. I also looked up later where the next BMO ATM machine was and it turned out to be Rimouski which was about 500km away. Next time I visit the area I definitely bring more cash with me, no question.

May 28th, Driving back to Gaspe and visiting Forillon National Park again

The weather on Sunday was pleasantly good. After our breakfast in the common room of the Surprise campground we drove back to Gaspe and beyond to Forillon National Park. We parked at the very end of the southern coastal road at L'Anse-Aux-Amerindiens. From there we happily hiked a very scenic coastal trail to Cap Gaspe and its lighthouse and back. The trail varied nicely between beach sections, walking through meadows and open sections on top of cliffs with a view to the sea and also for a while up through the forest and along the mountain ridge down again to Cap Gaspe with its lighthouse.

Forillon: Going down to the beach at L'Anse aux Amerindiens

Forillon: Daniella at the end of a beach cove

Forillon: Going upwards again

Forillon: Looking down a cliff to the water

Forillon: View from the cliff to the beach and water and more cliffs

Forillon: Same view as before. About 2.2km away from the lighthouse

Forillon: Enjoying the view

Forillon: Yet another cove

Forillon: We encountered several porcupines. The next day we noticed them also sitting in the top sections of various trees

Forillon: Beach view

Forillon: Several nice locations had benches

Forillon: On our way up again

Forillon: View from higher up

Forillon: Going further up

Forillon: Still going further up and entering the forest

Forillon: Going along the forest ridge line about 1km away or less from the lighthouse

Cap Gaspe with its beautiful lighthouse

Cap Gaspe offers superb viewing. But it was very windy on the northern side of the cap

Cap Gaspe: View towards the northern section of the cap

Cap Gaspe: Reading through the whale information. While we kept our eyes open and had the binocular with us we were not lucky that day. But things changed the next day.

Cap Gaspe: Enjoying the Adirondack despite the strong blowing wind

Forillon: On our way back from Cap Gaspe

Forillon: View down a cliff across Baie de Gaspe

Forillon: Another nce view across Baie du Gaspe from higher up

And back at the picnic starting place at L'Anse aux Amerindiens

Afterwards we stopped at the still closed visitor center on the south side of the park and walked the trails on Presqu'ile de Penouille (peninsula). There is a longer boardwalk, then a flat and wide walk/drive-way and one can circle back via a coastal trail or via a forest trail. In our case the coastal trail was cordoned off because of construction.

Forillon: View east from the Penouille boardwalk

Forillon: View west from the Penouille boardwalk

Gongyu with a boardwalk section

I am standing on a patch of snow in the Penouille peninsula. Clearly the season is about 4 to 6 weeks behind Ottawa.

However this is not snow. It is a rare and very large patch of tundra moss!

Forillon: The tundra moss close up.

Forillon Penouille peninsula: Bigger picture with the rare tundra moss.

Forillon Penouille peninsula

And back at the boardwalk again

The vista from our Camping Gaspe campsite into the Riviere St. Jean delta

We finished the night with a good dinner at Brise Brise in Gaspe. I can recommend the place.

May 29th, Forillon National Park and various Lighthouses on the way back

On Monday morning the weather was still very good. To the point that Daniella and I wanted to do more of the coastal hikes in Forillon park. While there wasn't enough time left to do all of them we figured we were able to squeeze at least one or two more coastal sections in and Gongyu offered to drop us at a starting point and wait at the parking lot of the corresponding end point. We managed to do 2 more coastal trail sections. We started off at the 2km trail from L'Anse Saint-Georges eastward towards L'Anse aux Amerindiens.

Forillon: Picnic at L'Anse Saint Georges. Daniella already looking for whales

Forillon: Picnic at L'Anse Saint Georges. View towards Baie de Gaspe.

On our way towards L'Anse aux Amerindiens: A porcupine up in the tree

On our way towards L'Anse aux Amerindiens

On our way towards L'Anse aux Amerindiens: Beach view

On our way towards L'Anse aux Amerindiens: A final look at the Perce Mountains and Ile Bonaventure in the distance

And afterwards we did not have enough and did the 1.5km trail from L'Anse Saint-George westward toward Grande-Grave via L'Anse Blanchette. The only draw back was that at the last 200m I slipped on a very muddy downward trail section to a beach and afterwards my shorts were wet and dirty from the mud. Daniella said "Daddy, can you go ahead. It looks a bit boggy and I wan't to see how it goes" and I confidently walked into my doom and slipped 3 steps further .... On this trail we saw one or several whales in the Baie of Gaspe. They were not super close but visible.

At L'Anse Saint Georges again going the other way

View from L'Anse Saint Georges towards the section we hiked before

On our way from L'Anse Saint Georges to Grand-Grave: View across Baie de Gaspe

On our way to Grand-Grave: Always looking out for whales.

Cliff section on the way to Grand-Grave

L'Anse Blanchette halfway between L'Anse Saint Georges and Grande-Grave

Forillon: Another view

And watching for whales again with the binoculars. 

We were still somewhat undecided how far we would drive back today. I was proposing to stay overnight again at Le Bic while Gongyu definitely preferred a motel and was leaning to stay for the night in Quebec City. However any discussion became mood after Gongyu got a phone call from Ottawa that her father had some health troubles. We ended up driving all the way to Ottawa that day and arrived Tuesday morning around 3am at home. We did have another very good dinner in Rimouski at Parfume de Coree. We also managed to visit a number of lighthouses before we got the phone call. And one of the lighthouses had a keeper running a shop nearby and Daniella was the first Lighthouse visitor in the 2017 season!

Point-a-la-Renomee Lighthouse: This lighthouse is in the middle of nowhere at the end of a 10km gravel road and very scenic. Definitely worth a visit. Unfortunately it is closed during off season.

Point-a-la-Renomee with Daniella and Gongyu

Cap Madeleine lighthouse with Daniella up there! She was its first 2017 visitor!

Done with the lighthouse visit and happy!

A picture to memorize the lighthouse visit and the name of the lighthouse.

Daniella returning the lighthouse key to its keeper who also operates the shop

Picnic near the Cap Madelaine lighthouse. It was a bit windy but we still managed.

Matre: Lighthouse. This one was closed.

Daniella with the Matre lighthouse in the background

View westward from the Matre lighthouse place. The main street is close to sea level and follows the shore contour.

Final Thoughts:

Surprisingly Gaspe and the St. Lawrence South Shore were quite a bit behind Ottawa in terms of the yearly season. And a number of places only started their tourist season with the first weekend in June.

The trip route went through numerous picturesque little villages with plenty of picnic places inviting to stay. The river views are superb (prime bicycle riding opportunities as well). Le Bic is little enchanting gem I had never heard off and I might stupidly have ignored it if not for the thumbs up from Steve Marsh. It won't be my last visit with regards to Le Bic. I also liked Forillon. If I make it there again I will do more trails and also walk the same ones again. Ile Bonaventure is a super place as well with its birds. But it can only be accessed during the day. Perce felt good but might be a bit on the touristy side during main season. I want to see the Metis garden sometime in the future. Visiting the various lighthouses was fun too.

The food was good. Shopping for smoked fish in the various poisonneries and shopping for cheese in the various fromageries on the way was fun. We had very good meals at most of the restaurants we visited. We ordered mostly fish. The Atkins shop in Mont-Louis gets my thumbs up for the best smoked fish. But others were not far behind.

Our nights were relatively cold and Gongyu was not such a happy camper because of this. She would have preferred to stay more often in motels.

I relied on tripadvisor for most of our restaurants. Le Bic and Farillon have the usual booklet guides that provided the information were to hike and what to do. I did not exactly plan ahead what to do in the parks. We also used some local pamphlets we picked up at the tourist offices of the various towns.

Quebec maritime was a very helpful site and gave me a general idea of where to go and what to see. Their site suggests a number of car routes and provides overview descriptions and pictures of each route. For a long while I tried to pencil in also a visit of the St. Lawrence North Shore (Saguenay area) but Gongyu's schedule demanded a hard time boundary. Extending the trip to PEI or into New Brunswick was also out of the question because of the hard time boundary. Quebec maritime gave me the idea of visiting the lighthouses and they also pointed me to a very good pamphlet with all the info Lighthouse map.

So far so good. I am surprised I have not met more people in the past who visited this area.