You Should Travel to Gasp, Eh? A trip report for Gaspé, Quebec

 

Canada is full of breath-taking places, and Gaspé, Quebec is one of them. Forillon National Park is a popular place for tourists to cruise past dizzying heights and ravines, hike, explore museums, and camp. My group did some of each, including camping for four nights.

              Rain is the bane of campers. You can’t do anything about it except prepare. As we pulled into our campground, it was late and dark with threatening skies. Most of the rain kindly waited until our group had set up two tents and slipped into them. I’m usually a night owl, up late creating, writing, painting, or video bingeing. Here, it was easy to sleep at first dark, though.

              At morning light we ate pre-packed food. Lighting up the firewood purchased at the entrance gate could wait until evening. We had our first good look at our site. Small, but our two vehicles and two tents fit. There were sites with more services available, but ours was a dot of wilderness. There was a picnic table provided, a view of hills and walls of trees through which we could see neighbouring set-ups. Not ideal, but not unusual for a rented camp site in Canada.

Camping is a bit of a misnomer. A minute’s walk brought us to a building with flush toilets, hot showers, large sinks for dish washing, and outlets to charge devices. There was also a room with tables, where some campers played cards. A handicapped/family rest room with its own shower, toilet, and change table made the camp accessible. The building at the park entrance was staffed with tour advisors, maps, info on local plants and animals, and sold firewood and ice. Pretty civilized for “camping.”

The first morning (I was really up in the morning, not my usual), we loaded backpacks with water and essentials and drove the two and a half kilometers (about one and a half miles) to the starting point for the hike to the high point of a large hill. Essentials somehow didn’t include sunscreen that first day, which we regretted later. The morning hike through a forest path stretched over the afternoon, and had dappled light and sunny lookouts.

The hike to the point was beautiful. There were twisty trees, the way they naturally grow, starting to reach impressive width for this area. No trunks rivalled the trees out west that one can walk through, but a child would have trouble touching fingers in a hug. Different textures of moss, and low growing berries lay undisturbed by the path. There were occasional views of rocky coast, especially at the look-outs. Parts of the path were steep, some stretches very rocky. Often there was an option of taking a staircase. I found sometimes I preferred the worn slope beside the man-made steps. The path up the hill almost reached the roughness of the road up to Volcan Baru in Panama at times, but not quite. (I’m still planning to write a report on Panama adventures.)

Normally I cook with a lot of vegetables and not much meat, but in this trip it was reversed. For dinner, we lit up the fire I laid in the metal fireplace. I do recommend paying the small fee for the fire-starting blocks offered with the firewood, unless you want to pack your own paraffin-soaked cardboard or dried orange peels. Sometimes the well-seasoned wood gets rain-wet, and there isn’t much tinder available. I did pick up a few dry leaves and twigs, which helped. I cheated and heated up pre-cooked steak strips on the available flat metal top and a roasting cage I had brought, then we ate them with wraps and lettuce.

The next day we did a day trip to Bonaventure Island - Wikipedia, to visit the bird sanctuary. From our Forillon Park campsite in the northern portion of the park, it was close to a scenic two hour drive with waterscapes on one side and the renowned hills and dips on the other for much of the way to the dock where we caught the excursion boat in a touristy town called Percé.

The cruise was a wonder to the eyes as we sailed past rock cliffs with fascinating features and perches for many, many birds. It was very windy in the outside areas, but there was the option to sit under cover by a plastic window that could be unzipped and rolled up. My favourite bird was the “petit penguin,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razorbill, which is related to the waddling creature we all know. This tiny bird can fly, however. A very cute cousin, so to speak.

A guide advised us on the various hiking paths, so we chose a route from the far side of the island to where the bird colony is. We had a pleasant enough one-hour hike to the colony, though there was no view of the water along that route. It was the shortest path, allowing us to spend more time at the colony and on the way back. Reportedly, if you miss the last boat off the island you’re stuck there overnight, with no hotels or running water!

The colony was full of gannets. Very full. There were more birds than ground showing in the heart of the vast, roped-off colony. The gannets carried on a continual cacophony of calls, a unique concert from nature. It was amazing to see them so close; they weren’t shy of the nearby humans walking the barrier and pointing cameras. They preened, they sat proud, they took to the skies in quite a good show. We had a packed snack, then snapped many photos, then headed back. For timing reasons, we took a shorter path than the ninety-minute one that follows the coast. Our path was a different sixty minute one than we had taken to reach the colony. The path started with a steep uphill area, some stairs, and no coastal view. If you have time, I don’t recommend it. Luckily, it eventually joined up with the coastal path we had preferred. The coastal path was beautiful, with historic houses along the way. There were info signs about families who had lived in them. As a bonus, I got some good photos of a fox who seemingly lived under one of them, or nearby. The trip back was a straight fifteen-minute ferry ride instead of a full tour circling the island, which made for a restful end to the day’s journey. Even if you’re not super excited about studying birds, it’s fascinating to see the cliffs and coastal views.

After a gas-fired meal made by one of the group, we managed to get settled by dark. It is easier to find toothbrushes and tents before sundown, as we had learned. We had flashlights, but still, it’s awkward doing much without major overhead lighting. Camping is definitely a way to turn around your sleeping rhythms if you’re a night owl. By the time you’ve hike all day, you sleep.

For our final day of adventure, we hiked to a waterfall on the “La Chute trail. “ You can see info on trails at 5 Hiking Trails in Forillon | Tourisme Gaspésie. The Hike is short with local flora views, then you find the mossy cliff spraying and trickling, and seemingly drooling over an open mouthed mini-cave. Later, we explored a fort that had housed soldiers defending against UBoats in the war.

We roasted hot dogs and s’mores just before an evening rain. We rushed to pack up so we could head out very early. My worst injury from all our adventures was a burning on the back of my right hand. I think I brushed against a cow parsnip leaf. Combined with sunshine, that’s not good. There is a sign at the beginning of the hiking trails with information on this invasive plant that causes skin irritation. So I had a handful of blisters and a whole lot of wonderful photos and memories.

At daylight, we headed East down the coastal highway, which was interesting in a totally different way. We passed a series of tiny towns that mostly consisted of buildings facing the main road. Each town had a small “Dépanneur” (variety story with groceries), a small Canada Post office, and an obvious church with a large spire. Some of the towns were barely separated from each other by a stretch of road with few buildings. Other towns along that route were visually distinguishable only by the presence of the predictable trio of buildings. It was a fascinating end to a trip to a unique, awe-inspiring region of Canada.