New York, New York - not the city but the Adirondacks

29 Sept - Travel Day

     Original Plan for the next stop was to move a short distance to Burlington, Vermont - do laundry, clean up some gear, etc... and from there visit Fort Ticonderoga (about an hour away) - we wanted to stay in a campground with full hook-ups and hopefully some TV reception (that possibility improves near bigger cities).

     Burlington, being on Lake Champlain, we learned meant that we would end up having to take a ferry to get over to the New York side at that point so we re-figured. Instead we headed south towards Ticonderoga crossing Lake Champlain at that point on a bridge near Crown Point and headed to Ticonderoga, New York with the trailer in tow.

Lake Champlain Bridge

Champlain Memorial and Lighthouse

     Weather was beautiful - the drive through the Vermont countryside was really nice getting over to Ticonderoga and we spent a few hours there - lunch in a downtown café called Burleigh's that was a treat and then a couple hours at the fort. I'd been reading the book "1776" so many of the areas we've toured have historical significance mentioned in the book....especially Fort Ticonderoga.

Fort Ticonderoga

Fort Ticonderoga

Fort Ticonderoga

Fort Ticonderoga

     So, being already on the New York side of the big lake, we headed on up to Plattsburgh N.Y. and parked in an RV resort there. We had full hook ups AND several TV channels. When the TV finished searching for channels the UGA -vs- Tennessee game was on - PERFECT!

30 Sept - Maintenance Day

     This was a down/maintenance day where we got laundry done, washed the truck and camper and did some replenishing of supplies in preparation for our next move. We did manage to take time late in the day to drive around Plattsburgh to just look around the town. They have a beautiful waterfront on Lake Champlain .

1 Oct

     We headed out of Plattsburgh, New York which is on the eastern edge of the Adirondacks on Lake Champlain and headed on into the Lake Placid area with plans to spend three nights and two full days of touring that area. Again the weather is not looking favorable - the travel day was cloudy with off and on rain with more in the forecast over the next day.

     After checking into the North Pole RV park in Wilmington, New York (close to Lake Placid) we begin plotting our explorations of the area. As we drove in it was obvious that the color on the trees here was getting better so we're really enjoying the riding around. We have several things on our "to do" list so we plot the way to get the indoor things done on the heavier rain predicted time. For now - it was overcast and foggy but not raining so we head over to the Olympic Ski Jumping complex.

Ski Jump from top - Nervous Photographer

Ski Jump viewed from the bottom

     The winter Olympics were held here in 1932 and 1980 so a lot of the tourism industry here is centered around those events and venues. Seems as though much Olympic training is still being done in the area as well. Ski Jumping Complex - all I can say is I have a better respect for the athletes who compete in that sport after going to the top (or near the top). WOW - we went up via elevator to the equivalent of 26 stories (120 meters) and I was a bit uneasy on the elevator that had windows to the outside. It is amazing what they do!

     From that vantage point we were looking down on the tree tops and enjoying the beautiful colors that are really starting to pop. I wouldn't call it full peak but there are definitely some bright red, yellow and orange colors showing.

View of countryside from Ski Jump

     Back down at the bottom of the jumping complex they had a training venue set up for the extreme skiing guys (and gals) that jump and flip - only there is no snow so I am not sure what the ramp had on it to allow them to simulate the effect - but as they came down the ramp and jumped they landed in a pool of what I hope was warm water as the outside temp here was 47 degrees at that time. It was fun to watch for a bit - these kids are pretty amazing (or crazy)

     We get back to the campground with plans to make a roast with potatoes and carrots in our instant pot. We'd only tried this once before and it wasn't a good event but I was armed with different instructions this time. - another failure :-( After a couple hours of trying to get it to cook (should be a one hour event) we ended up abandoning the plans - put the roast into the slow cooker and had bacon and eggs for supper. Anyone want to buy an instant pot?

2 Oct

     Rain most of the night and predicted also for the day here so after a relaxing breakfast and enjoying our coffee and the news we head to one of our indoor scheduled points of interest - the Olympic Museum which is in Lake Placid Village. The museum is located in a building that also houses two Olympic ice skating rinks - the one used in 1932 Olympics AND the one used for the 1980 Olympics. I believe the latter is also still used for hockey competitions.

     The museum, although fairly small, was pretty nice with a lot of memorabilia on display from both of the winter games held there. They even had some of the material on display that is used for the summer ski jumping that we saw the day before and wondered about - it is like a tile material with round knobs on top that the skis apparently just glide over. We also learned that the summer jumping is not just a training thing but a pretty big/popular thing here all summer long.

     The highlight of the museum for me was the section for the "miracle on ice" - if you recall when the underdog American hockey team defeated the Russians in the 1980 games to win gold in that sport. They had a corner of the museum set up with the game playing on a TV monitor - as the game ended and the Americans won the crowd that had gathered to watch cheered again! One local person commented that they have had the video of that game playing non-stop since 1980.

Hockey Rink - Miracle On Ice

     After the museum and an attempt to walk in the village a bit the rain forced us into a bar for lunch and a break from the weather. We gave up on the walking and got back in the truck and decided to just ride around the mountains in the rain - we saw some really pretty colors but no chance to take any photos.

3 Oct

     We've learned to appreciate a day without rain and that was the prediction for this day. We still had some pretty cloudy/foggy conditions and few spells of misty weather but at least no rain. We head out for a trip to the village of Tupper Lake to visit a place called the Wild Center of the Adirondacks.

View from the Wild Walk

     The town is about 40 miles away and pretty nice drive to get there with a stop in Saranac Lake to get our propane tank re-filled. The Wild Center is a cross between some hiking and an indoor educational museum that highlights the wildlife in the area. The best part of the day for us was the Otter exhibit and the ranger talk that took place there...it was fun and entertaining. We were also looking forward to the Wild Walk - it is a hiking area (although fairly short) that climbs up above the tree tops with the intention of giving you a different perspective of the forest. It was interesting but not as spectacular as either of us maybe had anticipated.

She couldn't resist :-)

     Leaving there and heading back the plan was to drive the Veterans Memorial Scenic route to the top of Whiteface Mountain which is located close to the campground. As we get closer it is obvious that the fog that is setting in will decrease visibility (especially up there) to the point that it wouldn't be worth the cost so instead we stop at a roadside hiking trail and take a short hike to a pond....very nice.

Roadside Stop

     The literature we'd acquired about the area mentioned a restaurant called the Hungry Trout as being probably the best in the area and as luck would have it, it was right near the campground and on our way back. We decided to stop in for a fine meal with views that overlooked the river and amazing colors in the woods. A great way to end the day and our visit to the Adirondacks.

   

Vermont

26 Sept - Travel Day

     Breaking down in the rain is one of the most dreaded chores of this kind of travel. I woke up early and listened to the rain on the camper (this makes for good sleeping) and it seemed to stop around 6:30 or so. I took advantage of this break in the rain to do the outside chores - breaking down equipment and getting it packed into the truck. I hate putting gear up wet but no choice at this point. We managed to get everything ready to go fairly early and still make some coffee and enjoy that and read another couple chapters in our books.

     We pulled out around 9:00, in no hurry to get to Vermont where we have reservations at a campground in Waterbury, Vermont called Little River State Park - we were only a few hours away but could not check in until 2:00.  Luckily it did not rain much on the travels (as predicted) but was also forecast that evening.

Stowe Vermont Chapel

     One of the things I was interested in seeing in this part of the country was how they harvest the maple syrup - just what that process entails. So we stopped (as usual) at the welcome center for Vermont and picked up a ton of brochures and maps and asked about one of the "sugar houses" that we could visit. There was one not far into our journey called "Maple Grove Farms of Vermont". It was an interesting stop and of course we ended up buying some of their products. The syrup is actually harvested in the spring so we could only watch videos to learn about it and see some of the equipment on display in their museum - still a good stop!

     The campground ended up being off the main road and three miles into the woods on a dirt road. We thought for sure there would be no cell service but to our surprise there was....and a pretty good signal at that. Still no TV reception, haven't had any TV in a very long time but that is good for the reading plan. With rain predicted we very hurriedly get set up before it starts....and luckily we got done just in time. Then the remainder of the evening was spent resting and enjoying the rain on the roof!

27 Sept

     After a restful  night we set out for some exploring in the Waterbury and Stowe areas of Vermont. First stop is a late breakfast out at a local restaurant called Maxi's - good way to start the day. From there we visited the Cabot (cheese fame) farm store....having just had breakfast we weren't even hungry enough to try any of the free samples - but we vowed to return on the way back as we had no way (with us) to keep anything we bought refrigerated all day.

     One interesting thing I learned there at the Cabot Farm Store - I asked the question "why is the Cabot cheddar cheese white and not orange like I am used to seeing"? They told me that the cheese that is orange has an additive specifically for making it that color...that begs the question why then - the lady told me that back in the revolutionary war period the American cheese had to look different than the British cheese to avoid being taxed by the British so they colored it orange to differentiate....that became the norm and many (most that I know of) cheese companies continue to do that.

     We pass by the Ben & Jerry's ice cream plant but decide that tour will either need to be later that day or possibly even the next depending on time.

     Next stop was in Stowe - not quite as big a town as I'd expected but pretty nice. We found public parking near a recreational trail where we decided to take a walk before looking around the town. We enjoyed a couple hours walk that wound it's way through a valley area next to a river - interestingly enough it was close enough to businesses that there were exit paths from the trail to restaurants, etc.... it was really nice and well maintained.

Recreational Trail Bridge

     After our walk on the trail we walked around the town - it is a quaint little ski town with all the typical tourist shops that sell all the little touristy stuff that we don't either want or need as downsizing and decluttering are on our minds lately. There were also plenty of people there as a tour bus or two had dropped off passengers to mill around. Didn't take us long to see all we needed to see there.

     From there we just drove north on highway 100 to the next town (Morristown) just looking at the pretty country side and also took a detour to one of many covered bridges - I haven't seen one yet that looks as well maintained as the ones in the pictures.

     We then plugged in the GPS for Smugglers Notch state park and headed that way - by the ski resorts and all the business that goes along with that. The park was not what we expected - it is "only" a campground but the attendant let us ride through and give it a look - pretty nice but very small campground.

Heading up the mountain - a little more color

     Leaving the  park we continued on up and through Smugglers Notch which proved to be a very interesting ride. The fall colors are not at peak here either but up near the notch they are beginning to show more. It was a really cool drive and we stopped at the top to look around and watch some young people doing some rock climbing.

Young person just thinking about rock climbing

      On our way back to camp we did stop again at the Cabot store to get some cheese, salami, crackers and, oh yeah, another bottle of wine. We are ready for an evening in the camp.

28 Sept

     We set out this day with it being our last day in the Stowe/Waterbury Vermont  area and expect it to be a pretty short touring day....that didn't turn out to be the case at all. We first headed to the Stowe Mountain Auto Road where for $33 we could drive up the mountain (Mount Mansfield) on a gravel road that is also a ski trail in the winter. It is only about 4.5 miles of pretty steep hair pin turns but offers some pretty good views.

     The weather for the day was perfect (for a change) and the colors in Vermont are starting to come in nicely, although in patches and not throughout the forest. Especially nice at some of the higher elevations.  A lady in the visitor center told me it would not be "peak" until the Columbus Day week-end and we will be gone by then. I somehow had it in my head that the colors would peak sooner in the northeast.

Stowe Mountain Road

     The drive up the mountain was nice but we didn't know that there was also some hiking trails at the top....from the top parking lot you could hike to the peak (called the "chin") on a trail called the long trail that offered some beautiful views. The chin is 4395 feet and the tallest point in Vermont. There was some pretty serious fog rolling in and out and the trail at times turned from hiking to climbing....we made it most of the way, but in the end, we decided to be safe and turn back - besides the view could not have been any better.

Long Trail View

Long Trail Hikers

Lead Hiker - long trail

     By the time we finished that we were pretty deep into our "short" touring day - on the way down we stopped for pizza and caught a little bit of the Ryder Cup news on TV (that was a treat) before heading off to the Moss Glenn Falls. It was a short hike to the falls but pretty steep and our knees were starting to scream from the long trail hike. For such a short hike, these falls were well worth the effort. We didn't spend much time there as we needed to get to Ben & Jerry's before the last tour.

Moss Glen Falls

     The Ben & Jerry's factory in Waterbury runs their last tour at 6:00 and we managed to get on the 5:20 tour....time for the tour, a small sample and then purchase a small cone. That was a well executed plan - both for us and for Ben & Jerry and a good way to end our day.

New Hampshire

23 Sept

     After saying our good-byes to Ed and Kay we were ready to move on to our next destination. We have a National Forest Service campground in sight in the White Mountains called Blackberry Crossing - it is on the Kancamagus Highway which is a scenic route on our list of things to see/do while there.. We "think" we are getting close to prime "leaf looking" season in this area and not too certain how much trouble we will have finding a place to camp....especially on week-ends. Since we are moving there today on a Sunday I like our chances... we do get a good site for the three days planned in this area - National Forest campgrounds are almost always nice because they are usually heavily secluded, more beautiful in the forest and the price is always much better than any of the commercial parks - the trade off is that we do not have water, electricity or in this case, any cell service because of the remote location.

     After checking in and getting set up we decide to take a ride into town and confirm where the train station is as we have booked a ride on the Conway Scenic Railroad for the next day. When we moved over here we thought that Conway was the big town/attraction but we learned that it is North Conway. We are right on the eastern slope of the White Mountains and this area is a big tourist draw - now for the expected fall foliage and later for the skiing and other winter sports. We find the train station in pretty short order and then just start exploring other areas.

North Conway Train Station

     We drove on through town to the other side where there was a visitors center with a beautiful view of the sun setting over the mountains. After that and as it is getting pretty dark, we followed signs towards echo lake and ended up at a place (not at the lake) called Cathedral Ledge. It is high on a cliff that has a shear drop where it offers pretty nice views of the valley below and warning signs about not dropping or throwing anything off as there are rock climbers below. 

White Mountain Sunset

Cathedral Ledge

24 Sept - Trapped on a train

     Not really "trapped" but it was a pretty long train day - I guess since we had been on the one in Durango, Colorado (to Silverton) last year we were a little disappointed in this one. It was extremely slow - we took 5.5 hours to do a 16 mile (32 round trip) to nowhere. In that time we had a one hour layover at Crawford Notch - sounds cool but there was nothing there but some vending machines. In fairness, the scenery of the mountains was pretty good when we got to see it - there was heavy woods blocking the view for the majority of the ride with some occasional breaks to get a view. I suppose also, if the foliage had been in it's prime it may have been a bit more enjoyable.

Mount Washington Resort - seen from train ride

     Speaking of foliage - we had seen some signs of the leaves changing in our last stop in Maine and fully expected to see more of it here but that was not the case - there is some early color coming but I think we are a week or so early for this spot - hoping for better at the next couple of stops.

     With rain all day predicted for the 25th - this turns out to be our only good weather day in the White Mountains unless we extend our stay.

25 Sept

     With rain predicted all day we decide that it will just be a driving tour day. We had a leisurely morning and headed out going west on the Kancamagus Highway stopping at all of the points of interest in the National Forest. We really wanted to do some hiking and we did some short walks with an umbrella but not the exercise we'd hope for. Among the stops we visited was an old home built in 1831 that was set up with furnishings from that era and the interior of the home was original (hadn't needed restoring) while some of the outside had to have some work. There was a park volunteer there (with a nice welcoming fire in the fireplace) explaining things and describing life back then - we have it pretty good today! It was a very interesting stop.

Rocky Gorge

     We continued on and made our way into Lincoln, New Hampshire for lunch. After lunch we made a visit to Franconia Notch State Park where they had a flume through a gorge that cost $16 each to hike the two mile trek - it sounded interesting but the rain was even harder at that point. We continued north and made our way to where we connected with highway 302 which runs through the valley back to North Conway.

White Mountains

     After a day of rain and the same predicted for the next day - we begin weighing our options - we still had not been to Mount Washington (tallest peak east of the Mississippi) or to Lake Winnipesaukee that was a  recommended stop. We were prepared to extend our stay for another day but with rain predicted again we are biting the bullet and breaking down (and traveling) in rain tomorrow heading for Vermont with the promise of two clear days there.

Baxter State Park, Katahdin Woods and Waters Monument (Maine)

21 Sept

     We moved from Presque Isle, Maine (maintenance stop near Caribou) on down to Baxter State Park area and set up camp in Wilderness Edge Campground in Millinocket, Maine for a two night stay with plans to visit Baxter State park and also the Katahdin Woods and Waters monument wilderness areas.

     Katahdin is the highest mountain in Maine at just over 5200 feet and the Baxter State Park is centered around that mountain.

Mount Katahdin

     We have high hopes for seeing and photographing some moose as they are supposed to be very active in this part of Maine and when Ed called the park in advance of our arrival they said you would likely see them in any part of the park at this time.

     After arrival and getting set up we headed out in some pretty nasty weather. It was raining, windy and foggy so conditions may have been favorable for moose but not for us. The park is all dirt/gravel roads and many of them are washboard conditions so traveling is slow. We visited every place the information center recommended for seeing them and came up empty. Weather was so bad that I didn't even take the camera out so just as well!

     We had discussed having dinner out on the last night together (22 Sept) but the weather sort of messed up our cook out plans - so we decided to do the farewell dinner out this evening. We had looked on trip advisor for a restaurant and went to the top rated one in Millinocket, Maine called River Driver - it did not disappoint.


22 Sept

     We decided to do a little off road four wheeling on our way into the national monument wilderness area. We could have taken a very long way around but instead, since Ed has four-wheel drive, we decide to take some recreational vehicle roads/trails to get there. They were marked as unmaintained gravel roads and after we did it we can vouch for that as being a true description.

Entering Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument

Unmaintained gravel road

     Once in the monument wilderness area there was a self guided driving loop that took us 16 miles around to several different stops with points of interest and scenic views. The weather this day was much nicer - sunny and probably in the upper 50's to lower 60's with a bit of a cool breeze blowing. We still did not see any moose on this outing but had a very nice day including a picnic lunch before returning to the camp.  

Katahdin Mountain

Moose Hunters

Viewing the mountain

     Once back at camp Ed & Kay began some preparations for their departure the next day and prepping for dinner. I decided to ride back into Baxter to give the moose another chance to appear while Kathy stayed back and did some things. Again, no moose to be seen.

     Time to say good-bye - we've had a great time traveling together but now Ed and Kay are heading east and we are heading west. They plan to make their way down the east coast of Maine with several stops planned and continue moving south - Kathy and I are heading to New Hampshire, Vermont and New York State for some more exploring. We will catch up with the Culpepper's again in Sun City!

Traveling Partners

 

Gaspe Peninsula (part two)

17 Sept

     Moving day today as we are planning to move from National Parc de la Gaspésie on over to the tip of the Gaspe Peninsula near the National Park Forillion which is located near the town of Gaspe. We are looking at some pretty cold and wet days for the next few and it began raining last night.

     We got up and, while enjoying coffee, Kathy decides to take a look out the door to see just how hard it is raining and low and behold, there stood a moose just outside of our camper door. She called me to look so I grabbed the camera and put on some shoes - by the time I got there the moose who was apparently startled by Kathy, had walked across the street from our campsite. I eased on over to see and there were actually two of them there - a cow (full grown female) and a younger one with her. They are huge animals.

Morning visitors

     I stood there trying to get photos and they didn't seem bothered by my presence at all but I wasn't getting too close just in case. Kathy managed to get Ed and Kay out of their camper to enjoy the pretty cool site with us. We watched for a good while as they chowed down on the vegetation they were surrounded by. I hoped for one to walk into the campsite nearest them so I could get a photo of one next to a picnic table or some point of reference to illustrate just how big they are. An exciting way to start our day.

I thought he would eat the tree!....but just the leaves

     Later that morning we hit the road in pretty bad driving conditions - it was rainy, cold (50 degrees) and very foggy. As we leave heading east on 132 again, we plan to stop at some of the many lighthouses that dot the coast along this route.

     As we leave the Sainte Anne des Monts area the scenery seems to change a bit - there are more mountainous cliffs overlooking the water and steep roads and rock outcroppings. Very pretty but not an easy drive in this weather.

     We did manage to get a couple of lighthouse stops in but by the time we got to the last one that we really wanted to see it was too foggy to even try and we were getting weary from the difficult driving conditions that day so we skipped it with hopes of returning.

Oliver in front of La Matre Lighthouse

Cap des Rosiers Lighthouse

     We get checked into our campsite at the Griffon Campground and we have beautiful sites right on a cliff overlooking the ocean - but now the ocean is angry and churning with hard winds and rain so it is difficult to enjoy the outdoors. We decide to stay in and keep warm and dry in hopes of improving conditions.

18 Sept

     Still raining but we decide to take a drive and see and do all we can in the National Park (Forillion) knowing that it will most likely be a stay (mostly) in the vehicle kind of day. There are two main sections of the park and we plan to visit both. It seems that the park is mostly shut down  - we are arriving at the end of their season and not much going on, especially since we are unable to do any outdoor activities such as hiking.

Coastline in Gaspe region

     We booked three nights at this spot for camping but pretty quickly realize that two nights (one full day) of this weather is enough for us - we seemed to have found winter....cold, wet and very windy!

Beach area in Forillion National Park

     We did go to the different points of interest (sites) and overlooks to enjoy the beautiful scenery there and I tried to get some photos even in the nasty weather. The one part that was open was an old General Store that was set up like a museum that depicted life in that area during the early 1900's - that was pretty interesting.

Restored Home in the Park

     After we'd seen the park we decided to ride on down into the village of Gaspe and find a café for some lunch and scope out a place for dinner that night - it was a special dinner evening as this was Ed & Kay's 47th wedding anniversary and we had plans to celebrate.

     Leaving Gaspe with still some time available we decide to drive to Perce which is about 70km away to check out that village and the Perce Rock.....a famous landmark - a huge rock at the tip of the Gaspe peninsula that has an arch opening in it.  By the time we arrived there it was getting colder and the wind was howling. It didn't take long outside to see all we needed to see.

Perce Rock

Perce Rock

     By the time we came back through Gaspe it was approaching dinner time so we made our way to the restaurant to celebrate their anniversary with a fine meal and plenty of wine for the table. A great evening! Over dinner we decide to head out of this area in the morning - yes, a day early!

19 & 20 Sept

     The next two days were travel days with lots of pretty scenery to see but no stops for touring. On day one, we did manage to make it to Cambleton, New Brunswick Canada the first night where we stayed in the Sugarloaf Provincial park & that was a treat - probably one of the nicest provincial parks we'd seen. It is a ski resort (waiting for the snow at the moment) but had very nice camping facilities. They also allowed us to wash our very dirty trucks and trailers.

     Interesting note  - From my days of working in Canada I was aware that the folks in Quebec, on a couple different occasions, had a vote to break away from Canada and become an independent country on their own - the vote failed. It is still obvious that a lot of people there want to be separate. The language is French, and we noticed that the Canadian flag is not very visible in that area - instead the Quebec flag files. But, as we made our way back west of Perce we started seeing more and more Canadian flags and found more and more people speaking English.

     Day two (20 Sept) we made our way back into the USA and are now in a town near Caribou, Maine. This was a maintenance stop as we needed to do laundry, some maintenance on the trailers, get a haircut, etc.... It is just a one night stop and we head out for an area in Maine near Mt. Katahdin in the morning.

Route Map

Gaspe Peninsula (part one)

12 Sept (Leaving Quebec City)

     We head out of Quebec City headed east towards the Gaspe peninsula with a destination for the night unknown at this point. We start on the equivalent of our interstate highways but quickly exit that and get on route 132 east which travels along the seafront with magnificent views of the St Lawrence river and some really cool villages and coastal farms along the way.

Coastal Village Town

     It is interesting to find that each of these very small villages that don't seem to be heavily populated have their own very large and beautiful church....like some I'd seen in Europe. All of the towns are pretty and located right on the water (mostly) with nice looking farmland in the soil leading from the sea to the hilly terrain.

Scene along the route

    We have identified several "attractions" that we want to visit while on the peninsula but this drive is also a "highlight" of the area. The traffic is light and the driving is relatively easy on good roads and it looks like we will easily make the area of a town called Rimouski, Quebec for our next stop. There is a National Parc (National Parc du Bic) there and we decided that would be a good spot to put down for a couple nights - a couple nights is one full day in the area. The park is in a heavily forested area right on the shores of the river.

Coastal Road

    Some of the attractions in the park are harbor seals that climb on the rocks near the shore to rest and sun on the rocks....in addition they talked about a place for beautiful sunsets, biking and hiking trails and just overall beautiful coastal scenery. We are excited about the park and the surrounding area.

     Maintenance Problem - As we've mentioned before the nights are getting cooler and wouldn't you know it, our heater decided to quit! We do not have a back up heater (but will next time) so I spend some time at this stop trying to fix it. After the first cold night here I think (fingers crossed) that the heat situation is resolved.

13 Sept - National Parc du Bic

     After checking in and a quick look around we realized that the park itself deserves a day and then we had some attractions in the area to see so this morning we get to the ranger station to see about adding a day....preferably without having to move from one site to the another. We were able to get a third night but Kathy and I will need to move.

Evening view from the campsite

     We also dedicate some more time this morning to other admin/planning activities - we've identified our next two stops after this one and some of the things to do at or near them. This planning takes a good bit (most) of the morning so we have the remainder of the day to enjoy this park.

Park shoreline

     A day in the National Park is spent looking at seals, riding bikes, hiking and enjoying the scenery it has to offer.

Morning fog on the water

Harbor seals resting on the rocks

     As the tides go out, it exposes rocks in the shallow waters near the shoreline and the harbor seals climb on the rocks to sun and rest....the park rangers told us when and where we could expect them to make an appearance based on the tide charts...pretty cool!

     Later in the day we make a run into the town of Rimouski to just have a look around and get some groceries in their local market. We've found trips to the grocery store interesting also - different products, lots of seafood, and fresh baked goods.

14 Sept

     For the touring attractions in the Rimouski area we had identified two stops - Pointe au Pere and Le Canyon des Portes de l'Enfer both of which turned out to be good stops.

     First we head to Pointe au Pere which is where the second tallest lighthouse in Canada is and this area also has two other attractions that we enjoyed. We bought tickets to do all three - the lighthouse, a museum dedicated to the "Empress of Ireland", and a Canadian Submarine called the Onondaga.

Pointe au Pere Lighthouse

First mate in the crow's nest

     We did the museum first - The Empress of Ireland was a passenger ship that sank in 1914 (only a couple years after Titantic) where 1012 lives were lost. It is located only 14km from the lighthouse in about 130 feet of water. The museum was very interesting as it included a movie about the accident along with many artifacts that have been recovered since the wreck was located. Interesting to learn that the ship had a million dollars worth of silver (cargo) and when the public got word that divers were trying to blast the ship open to recover the treasure the government of Quebec stepped in and declared the site a national historic site and nothing can be removed from the site.

     Also of interest to us - as they normally highlight a passenger or two to tell the story on a more personal level, the little girl they chose to tell about was Dorothy Brooks a 9 year old who shares the name of Kathy's mom who we lost earlier this year....quite a coincidence.

     Next we climb the lighthouse and hear of the importance it has for navigating the rocky/foggy waters of the St Lawrence. We got to climb to the top of the lighthouse and see the nice view and hear about how it worked and some of the duties the lighthouse keeper had to perform to keep it operational.

Coastal view from lighthouse

     Then we get to the Submarine and do an audio self- guided tour. The sub was manufactured in England and built to the plans very similar to the German U-boats. Just stepping onboard, the smell reminded me of my shipyard days. The tour was well done with several different stations where we listened to audio descriptions of what we were seeing and what life was like onboard.

Canadian Submarine - Onondaga

     We leave Point au Pere headed for Le Canyon des Portes de l'Enfer which loosely translates into Hells Gate Canyon. There, because of time getting away, we have time to do two relatively short hikes. The first takes us to a suspension bridge overlooking the canyon for some nice views. This bridge is larger and more stable than most we've encountered so not a lot of movement.

Suspension Bridge

     The second hike was to a really nice waterfall areas called the Grand Saut for nice views and an area at the bottom along the river bank where the many tourist have enjoyed stacking stones - a common practice near rocky river areas we've found.

     From there we are heading to dinner out - we've been talking about it and planning for two days. We'd identified a restaurant in Rimouski called Restaurant de la Marina - a seafood restaurant on the water featuring seafood that rated high on trip advisor. We arrive pretty hungry only to discover that they are closed for a private party. The owner said there were no other seafood restaurants in town (we were amazed) but she referred us to another town not far away for a different restaurant.

     By now it is after 7:00 and looking like this may be "one of those nights", Kay started talking about the fish sandwiches at McDonald's and how good they were <smile> but we decide to give this one restaurant a try before we cave into something less desirable.

     We arrive in the village of St. Luce at the restaurant called L'Anse aux Coques (don't ask me) and the place was packed. This restaurant was also right on the water and had a nice ambience to it. When the hostess asked if we had reservations I was worried but she seated us right away. We had a great waiter who spoke pretty good English  - his English was much better than my trying to interpret the menu with the app on my phone! and we enjoyed a fine meal to end the day. 

15 Sept - National Parc de la Gaspésie

     We find it interesting here that the check-out time for campers in the park is 3:00 P.M. - very much different than the 10:00 or 11:00 A.M. that we are used to. We decide to take advantage of this and wait until noon to leave since we are not traveling too far to the next park. As such we spent the morning working on photos,  reading books, updating the blog notes and going for a long walk while Ed and Kay did some bike riding in the park.

     The National Parc de la Gaspésie is about three hours drive away and we take it slowly, enjoying the ride. We pass by a little village called Cap-Chat on the way in that has a "point of interest" that we plan to come back to but no time on the way in - we want to get in and set up well before dark and we've found the well-forested National Parks to be difficult to navigate sometimes.

     We arrive and get the information we need for this park and directions to our camp sites. We are here for two nights with no hook-ups, but no problem, especially for such a short stop. This park is about 25 miles inland from the coast and in a mountainous region just south of a village called Sainte Anne des Monts....lots of rivers, waterfalls and hiking trails - no bike trails but in these hills we decide that is just fine with us! We have an easy evening with plans to hit it hard the next day - our only full day here.

16 Sept

     The night before we devised a plan to go for a nice hike in the morning and in the afternoon we would take the drive back to Cap-Chat. The morning hike we decided to do the 7km hike called the La Chute (waterfall) du Diable trail which looks to us like a loop trail on the map - remember, nothing much in English here and the ranger desk was too crowded to get confirmation....besides between Ed and I (expert map reader) what could go wrong?

Sainte Anne River

Friend from hiking trail

     We head out early enough to get back for lunch and execute our afternoon plans. When we arrived at the Chute du Diable falls we were taking photos and just admiring the view when a young man from Quebec City came upon us - he was very friendly and spoke good English so, just for reassurance, we confirmed with him that it was a loop trail. Thank goodness we did - we were about to head off on an 18km hike that would have taken us to the top of Mont Albert....we felt like we dodged a bullet there. With his advice, we did return back to camp on time.

River du Diable

Hikers extraordinaire in front of Cute du Diable

     Ed had read about (or maybe heard about) a place in the little village of Cap-Chat where there was a wind-turbine (electricity producing) farm that allowed visitors and offered tours. We had seen the hillside covered with the wind turbines on the way by there and we were all interested in getting a closer look. That was the after lunch destination for the day.

     The wind farm was interesting - they had an old (not in use anymore) vertical axis wind turbine....looking at it you would not have guessed that's what it was (see photo). Along with that piece of history (a failed experiment) there was also 76 turbines in production producing energy they sell to Hydro Canada. The tour focused more on the older failed experiment than the newer stuff but it was all still pretty interesting - probably more so to Ed and I than the girls. They also offered (for an extra $10 fee) the opportunity to climb the 300ft tower of the one no longer in commission. It was all ladders and straight up - no thanks!   

Vertical axis wind turbine - who knew?

Cap-Chat Wind Farm - from Highway 132

     (Note on tides): you can see in the photo above that at low tide it goes out forever - the tides are great and since this shore line is gently sloping (versus steep drop) there is a rocky shoreline exposed for what looks like almost a quarter mile in some places/times.

     After the wind farm tour at Cap-Chat we make a stop at the grocery store in Sainte Anne des Monts for a few things and then back to camp for the night and planning for a morning departure.

     Weather  - the weather is getting steadily cooler with daytime temps in the 60's to low 70's and the nights are dipping into the low 50's but that is nothing compared to the forecasted weather for our next stop! 

BTW - the heater is still working (keeping fingers crossed)