Rivière-du-Loup

Today, we would be leaving Forillon National Park and return to Rivière-du-Loup, so at 9:00pm, after packing up, our long car ride began.

 

An authentic photo of a black bear

At 10:00pm, my dad had decided to visit a trail in Forillon on our way out. There was nothing special about this trail and I was complaining about it being a waste of time before I spotted a black bear a hundred metres away! I immediately bolted off the van with my camera and took a photo as fast as I could before the black bear disappeared into the forest. Because I was at least a hundred metres away (Black Bear country rules state that tourists must stay at least a hundred metres away), my photo seemed very vague and blurry. Without thinking, I ran forward with my dad hot on my heels and right to the spot in which the bear had disappeared into the forest. I searched the dense vegetation for the black bear, but to no avail. Then, my eyes locked onto two orange beads staring back at me about two metres in front of me. My brain froze for a split-second to take the whole situation in and in the next second, I realized that the black bear was standing less than an arm’s length from my face (no exaggeration at all)! I realized that I was staring the black bear down (something you are prohibited from doing) and my mind suddenly went blank. All of a sudden, realizing the danger, the black bear growled and appeared to leap forward. I backed away as fast as I could and avoided possible death (if the bear had lunged and attacked me, I would have been mauled). I thought that the bear was going to chase us, but thankfully, it wasn’t a mother. As I walked back to my van, I realized that I might have had the closest encounter with a black bear in the history of Forillon (face to face) and that I was extremely lucky that the bear did not attack me. According to the Black Bear Safety section of my Forillon National Park map, never look a black bear in the eye, never startle a black bear, always stay one hundred metres away from a black bear, and I had disobeyed ALL THREE RULES!!!

   My excitement slowly died down over the few hours after my black bear encounter. As we drove back to Rivière-du-Loup, I noticed that the landscape was similar to that of Cape Breton Highlands. Then, I realized that the Appalachian Mountain range covered both Cape Breton Highlands and Gaspe Peninsula, explaining the similarities in the scenery.

   At 5:00pm, we returned to our starting point; Rivière-du-Loup. This time, we settled into the campground that was adjacent to the motel that we stayed in on the first day. After unpacking, I took a long and well-needed shower in the clean washroom (this campground was also private, but the showers were free)! At 7:30pm, our campsite was attacked by the most vicious and horrible mosquitoes I had ever encountered. There were literally mosquitoes flying everywhere! Then, I remembered that there was a petting zoo in the campground, which explains the infestation of mosquitoes at our campsite. After a hard-fought battle against the mosquitoes, I entered the tent at 8:30 to attend to my wounds. My dad told me that I should go to sleep because tomorrow, we would be heading home. I was too tired to disobey his commands and thus at 9:00pm, I fell asleep for the last time on this trip...

   As I was drifting off into my dream, I recounted all the memories and fun I had over the past two weeks. From the fun at Hopewell Rocks and the bear and moose encounters, I thought that this was the best trip I had ever experienced in my entire life, but then I remembered what was in store for me next year; my parents would be taking me on a journey to Banff!!!

Forillon National Park, Quebec



The incredible fog

  This morning (8:30am), we drove into Forillon National Park and decided to take a hike on the Les Graves Trail. Les Graves is an eight kilometre long trail that winds its way to the very edge of the Gaspé Peninsula (Cape Gaspé).

Visible layers of Sedimentary Rock

At the beginning of the trail, I noticed visible layers of sedimentary rock found on the beach shore. Over a long period of time, sediments were deposited and slowly compressed until the bottom layer became solid rock.

We walked for the whole morning in silence, as fog dominated the sky (result of Labrador and Gulfstream ocean currents). Along the way, I spotted numerous remains of black bears and remembered that Forillon National Park is known for its large black bear population.

 At 11:00pm, we reached the end of the trail and the end of Gaspé Peninsula (end of the Appalachian Mountain range as well). I took some photos, but the fog ruined the scenery.

My brother looking up
 at the 400m ascent

We returned to the parking lot and without catching a break (except for a twenty minute lunch), we immediately started another trail! This trail (Mont Saint-Alban) is 3.2 kilometres long (round trip), but at the start of the trail, there is a vertical ascent of 400m while the trail only progresses 200m! After climbing to the top of this stretch of the trail, I was extremely exhausted and almost fainted. And to only think that we only completed 200m of the trail!



The grand view from the
summit of Mount Saint-Alban



You’d think the remaining 1.4 kilometres would be on flat land, but sadly, the trail continued to ascend (it never descended). I figured that Mount Saint-Alban must have been part of the Appalachian Mountain range. At 3:00pm, we reached the summit (what a relief!) and took lots of photos from here. We were approximately a kilometre above sea level, but the fog had failed to clear and the result was an obscured view of the land below us. After catching our breath, we descended back down (much easier) and returned to the parking lot. 

The tall coniferous trees
at Cape Gaspe

With nothing else to do for the rest of the day (not that anyone in my family had the strength for another trail), my dad decided to return to our campsite extra early since today was the most physically exhausting of the entire trip. I had a nice dinner and fell asleep in my sleeping bag at 9:00pm. 







Forillon National Park, Quebec

 As usual, I woke up at 8:00am, had breakfast, and packed our tents up (what’s new?). We left our campsite at 9:00am and headed towards Parc-ile Bonaventure, which means island of good adventure in English. I used our GPS to locate Parc-ile Bonaventure, and after thirty minutes of following its instructions, we found ourselves lost in the middle of nowhere. My dad started blaming me and the GPS and after forty more minutes of driving around, we finally reached Percé. 

   

My brother staring at
Percé rock

At 10:00am, as we approached the town of Percé, I noticed a huge rock formation in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. My dad quickly purchased six tickets (total of $150 dollars) for a boat tour around the rock formation and access to Bonaventure Island.


Approaching the Percé Rock  

We hopped aboard the Felix Leclerc at 11:00pm and began our tour of the Percé rock. The tour guide talked in both French and English (thankfully!) and I was able to understand and learn some important facts about the Percé rock. Translated into English, Rocher Percé means “pierced rock”. The rock earned its nickname because of a small arching hole found near the base of the rock. The small arching hole was a unique result of millions of years of erosion. Thousands of fossils of early marine life, such as trilobites, brachiopods, etc, can be found within the layers of limestone that make up the rock formation. 

The arch in the limestone



Seals basking in the sun

As we neared the natural wonder, I spotted numerous seals (possibly harbour seals) basking in the sun and thousands of birds perched in the wedges and on the cliffs of the rock. The guide explained that hundreds of thousands of birds make their homes on Percé rock and Bonaventure Island.   

After circling Percé rock, the boat arrived at Bonaventure Island at 12:00pm, where everyone disembarked. The island’s main feature was the breeding ground of hundreds of thousands of Northern Gannets, along with three different trails to reach the breeding grounds. Before we started, we had lunch in the café, where lobster sandwiches were sold for ten dollars each!  



Bonaventure Island's breeding ground for
thousands of Northern Gannets

After thirty minutes of hiking, we reached the Northern Gannet breeding ground (although I could have smelled and heard it kilometres away). There was a rancid stench that filled the air (possibly from the excess of bird poop and lack of hygiene). Flies buzzed everywhere, yet I was too distracted by the vast number of gannets occupying the area. The breeding ground was approximately two hundred metres long and fifty metres wide, with a gannet occupying every square metre. Everywhere I looked, I saw gannets; gannets fighting; gannets mating; gannets feeding; gannets flying; the list goes forever! I took a billion photos and caught two gannets mating. Another cute gannet was pulling grass from the ground and waddling with the grass in its beak to its nest. Then, I noticed the baby gannets; small, grey bundles of feathers. I saw lots of babies, but sadly, most of them were dead, so I didn’t bother taking photos of them.   

Soon, my family began to snap out of its awe and realize the rancid stench and countless black flies that flied around. After fifteen minutes at the breeding ground, we decided to leave and return to the dock. The boat came at 2:00pm and we hopped on and returned to Percé.

At 2:30pm, we left Percé and headed towards Forillon National Park, our next destination. By 7:00pm, we reached Forillon’s campground, but sadly, all the campsites were taken and there was no vacancy! We desperately turned around and headed back down Highway 132 until we came across a private campground. Here, we unpacked and set our tents up at 8:00pm. I wanted to take a shower, but since it was a private campground, one had to pay a buck per minute of hot water and thus I opted not to wash myself (a five dollar shower was pretty ridiculous).

After brushing my teeth, I headed back to our campsite. Since I was bored and tired, I decided to fall asleep earlier than usual so that I would be well-rested for tomorrow’s trails and thus I entered our tent at 9:00pm and fell asleep at 9:30pm.

Percé, Quebec

  When I woke up this morning (8:00am), I was greeted by a rotting and pungent odour. I changed, washed myself, and had a breakfast of lobster tails (from the day before) and sardines. During breakfast, everyone in my family was complaining of the sharp smell and upon sniffing everyone, my brother determined the source of the odour; me. I smelled myself and discovered that the odour was coming from my jacket. I took my jacket off and immediately, the smell was gone. My mom went to clean my jacket, and discovered a couple of shells in them. Then I realized that the shells that I had picked up on the beach yesterday rotted in my pocket and released the nasty smell. After the confusion, we packed our tents and prepared to go canoeing!     

  
 

My brother and I happily canoeing

Prior to today, I had gone canoeing three times in my life. A year ago, I went on a three day canoe trip in the Laurentian forest with my dad and other adventurers. Today, however, my dad and I would be canoeing along with the rest of my family. We rented two canoes and began to paddle along the Kouchibouguac River. Along the shores, I spotted a cormorant and took a picture of it (below). We paddled for an hour, then turned our canoes around and paddled back to the dock. I saw a great blue heron, but it was wading too far away for me to take a photo. 

  

A cormorant

At 11:00am, we left Kouchibouguac and continued to drive north. We left New Brunswick and entered the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec (2:00pm Atlantic Time). I thought that we would head west and back to Toronto, but my dad turned the car east and headed towards Percé.



We drove for four hours, passing through small Quebec towns, before finally coming to a stop at a private campground near Percé. I used my French skills to communicate with the French owner and at 5:00pm (Eastern Time), we settled into our campsite.

Because we crossed back to the Eastern Time Zone, I had to set my watch back an hour, which meant one less hour of sunshine. After dinner (congee and various meat and vegetables), the sky quickly darkened so we decided to start a campfire. My brother and I played around with the fire for thirty minutes (lighting twigs up) before fatigue kicked in. By 9:30, I entered our tent and decided to go to sleep.

Kouchibouguac National Park, New Brunswick

   As usual, I woke up at 8:00am, helped pack our tents up, ate a breakfast consisting of sardines and bread, and hopped into the van for a long car ride to our next destination (I had grown accustomed to this routine). Today, we left Stanley Campground at 9:00am and headed towards the Confederation Bridge.  

     At 10:00am, we reached the Confederation Bridge. We paid the toll ($43.95) and began to drive over the world’s longest bridge crossing ice-covered waters (as stated on my PEI map). Ten minutes later, we reached New Brunswick and stopped at the Confederation Bridge tourist centre. Here, I took lots of photos and for once, I was in one of them! 

 
 

The Confederation Bridge

After the thirty minute break, we began to head north and stopped at Shediac, New Brunswick at 12:00pm. We visited Shediac’s main attraction; a giant lobster! While I took photos of my brother climbing on the lobster, my mom went and bought lunch; two giant lobsters for fifteen dollars! For the second day in a row, we had lobsters for lunch (we paid two hundred dollars less compared to yesterday at the Fisherman’s Wharf). 

    

My brother fooling around
on the giant lobster

  At 2:00pm, we left Shediac and drove towards our next destination; Kouchibouguac National Park. At first, I couldn’t even pronounce the park’s long name. After arriving at Kouchibouguac (3:00pm), we visited the visitor’s centre and my mom made me read all the information they provided. I learnt that the name Kouchibouguac, of Mi’kmaq origin, means “river of the long tides”, but apart from that, I didn’t gain any useful knowledge. We then proceeded to register for our campsites but were alerted by the campground officials that there were no more campsites available. My dad became enraged before the officials told my dad that they were joking around. 

 



A dead jellyfish found
on the shore

After settling into our campsites, we visited the beach. No one in my family felt like hitting the saltwater Kouchibouguac Bay so instead, we walked along the shores of the marsh beside the beach. At that time, the marsh was experiencing the low-tide, because scattered along the shores of the marsh were hundreds and hundreds of dead jellyfish! I had only encountered a single jellyfish in the wild before (in Cuba, a dead Man-o-war jellyfish) and today, I saw hundreds of pink and orange jellyfish lying on the shores. I figured that when the tide receded, the jellyfish were stranded and died from lack of moisture. Anyways, I found it interesting that jellyfish resided in New Brunswick! 

  

Another victim/s
(my brother and the starfish)
 of the low-tide

  My family then turned around and headed back towards the parking lot. Along the way, I found a couple of shells and slid them into my pocket.

At 6:00pm, my dad announced that for tonight, we would be having a barbeque. This brightened up my day, as a barbeque meant sausages, lamb chops, and wondrous chicken wings! After dinner, we played some card games and called it a day at 9:00pm. According to my dad, we will be leaving Kouchibouguac tomorrow and that we needed a lot of rest tonight, so naturally, I went to sleep at 9:30pm.