The Gaspe’ Peninsula; Forillon National Park

The weather wasn’t too auspicious for our arrival in Quebec on Wednesday. Matey and I discovered the beach just off the campground but this is about all we could see of it.

This morning the beach was a lot more picturesque.

Yesterday we weren’t totally socked in with fog, but it was still cloudy so we decided to take in a few historic sites within this huge park. First we visited Fort Penninsule which was built during WWII to protect allied ships sheltering in Gaspe’ Bay from German U-boats.

Beneath the gloom you can see Gaspe’ to the right and Douglastown towards the left. The guns commanded the entire bay from where they were dug in.

Next we visited a couple of places that have been preserved from when this land became a park. This is the homestead of the Blanchette family.

Besides the house there was the barn and several outbuildings. Unfortunately nothing was open this late in the season.

We had higher hopes for Hyman and Sons General Store, but it was only open from noon until four. We were there in the morning as it was supposed to rain in the afternoon, so we only got to peek in the windows. It did rain in the afternoon and I spent the time in the little laundromat doing our wash.

Today was supposed to be cloudy but dry so we planned a hike. Most of the day ended up being sunny. This is Cap-Bon-Ami where we hiked.

We were headed up to the tower on that cliff. Don’t see it?

There it is, I zoomed in. It was only 1.4 miles to it, but 935 feet up!

There were several places to stop and enjoy the view. Our truck is parked in that lot.

After the first big uphill, that ran along the old ox cart trail the folks who lived here used, there was a set of the Canadian National Parks red Adirondack chairs. You might think this was the summit, but it was far from it.

We got higher…

and higher,

until we arrived at the base of the tower. Matey rested there while Bud and I took turns taking in the view from the top.

You could look right down on where we came from.

To the southeast was Cap-Gaspe’, where the Appalachian mountains plunge beneath the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. (They come up again as the Long Range Mountains in western Newfoundland.)

I took this panoramic shot facing west and you can see the whole peninsula, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the right to Gaspe’ Bay on the left.

The way back down was easier on the lungs and harder on the joints. This is some of the steepest part of the old ox-cart trail. The rope helped.

We were rewarded when we got down by rocks full of seals.

They were calling so I tried to catch it on video. You can’t really hear them, though, so I’m including this clip that has more movement but only one little bit of a call right at the end. There was also a small whale, but he didn’t stay on the surface long enough for me to get a picture.

In the afternoon we drove to the town of Gaspe’ to a seafood store. We decided to cross the peninsula there to come back along the northern side. We came out at Rivière-au-Renard where they have a decent little harbor. We happened to drive out on the wharf just as this Canadian Coast Guard boat was coming in.

There were some big fishing boats there…

as well as an operating seafood plant.

There were probably as many boats on the hard as there were in the water; a reminder that we’re moving closer to winter. Tomorrow we move on, hopefully staying ahead of any really cold weather.