IAT Gaspésie National Park: Part 3 (Ect 235 Day)

• Walking today: 26.3 miles

  • International in: Quebec (223.8 – 241.3 and 245.3 – 250.2)
  • R1110 Everything. (3.9 miles)

• Total walking: 4,556.9 miles
• Total rowing: 191.2 miles

Climate: 55 – 70 ° F, mix and clouds

Lifting range: 735 – 4,183 feet

Mont-Albert Discovery Center for the Cabourons shelter

I was awake at 5:18 am. The alarm on my elegant Casio Illuminator clock shot two minutes later. Instead of enjoying a good breakfast with the team, I told them that I was going to start early since I had a big day planned. Once again, our camp was very close to the path, so I could pack and walk to the point where I stopped yesterday, outside the discovery Mont-Albert center.

Having dropped into the elevation ending yesterday, the morning walk was about getting up again. And the objective would be to have an elevation of more than 4,000 feet! Fortunately, it was quite gradual. The National Park Path has been refreshingly soft compared to the unpleasant and discordant path in Matane Wildlife Reserve.

Forty minutes after the walk, they stopped me dry. I listened to a noise to my left and I saw a great cow lift looking at me. Then I heard another noise from the right and ahead. This was a giant bull! Only massive. I was too close, but none of them seemed worried about my presence. Instead, they kept eating their leaves and occasionally looked at my way.

I backed away and made sure that there was a nice resistant tree nearby that I could leave behind in the last load stage in the last second in the worst case. And then, I looked at him. The great guy opened right to the other side of the path in front of me. And then, a young bull appeared. I thought that Surely Big Breta Ben would be upset with this Whipper Pargo that was approaching between him and his lady, but no, everyone kept eating. I think eating has to be 96.8% of the life of an Alce. It’s not a bad life, huh?

This was a great experience. Moose is my favorite animal and seeing these giants hanging from doing their thing was memorable.

After that experience full of fun, I continued and got to Lac Aux Americains.

Still in the forest, but near the western coast of the lake, there was a shelter and a side path towards the water. Just along the shore there was a sea walk with sitting banks and a spring that stood out. Everything was very beautiful and too good to let a second breakfast stop, I thought.

In the past, and I am talking about geological time scales here, a repeated glacier advanced and retired again and again and these mountains were carved. The management of steep walls that was called Cirque. In addition, Lac Aux Americains that remained after melting, which filled the loan -shaped depression, is considered a TAN. At least that is my memory of the information signal that I read there.

While hung there, some New Brunswick boys appeared. I am learning that the new Brunswick’ians speak English, it seems.

Continuing, the ascending continued and did not spend much time before it began to obtain some views. It was quite spectacular!

This looks back towards Mont-Albert. The expansive forest between me and the distant mountains is what I spent this morning so far.

After this first point of view, the rest of the road to Mont Xalabu was quite open all the directions. Another experience in these chic-chocs that left me astonished.

Mont Xalabu Summit. It was quite flat and super rocky, mostly irregular stones of the size of a cobblestone.

Since he joined the International Path of the Apalaches, this ECT section has felt as a final test, a kind of combination of the hardness of the whole south, and also as a last one, wow!, An epic conclusion of the adventure. Matane had more of the challenging aspects with her super -empinated path and resistant ups and downs, while Gaspésie has just been a true pleasant jewel.

Just north of the Xalabu Summit, there was a side path to a watershed. He had a great perspective looking back where he would come from today at Lac Aux Americains. However, looking even more, he showed yesterday’s impressive mountains around Mont Albert.

Around this time, despite the general genius that I was experiencing, unfortunately I began not feeling the greatest. I have not had it in a long time, but he felt like that day at the AT when I met the lady of the cookies. I felt that this came, so I took one of my pills and stopped eating, I hoped he would leave and continue Trekking. Fortunately, it was a fairly relaxed terrain through high slope plains for a while.

These spongy buggers are everywhere! They are usually in pairs of two or three or four, it seems.

Finally, I started to climb gradually, this time towards Mont Comte. However, instead of uploading the summit of Boulder Plenna, the fortunately injured path.

He took and then went down to a small pond with view of the beautiful Mont Jacques-Cartier beyond. I began to see a good number of hikers of a day from this moment.

Apparently, this whole area is habitat for Caribou, so I was attentive! Talking to a couple in southern direction with binoculars (I thought they were quite professional caribu observers), they said they had seen one near the shore of a lake. I wondered if I was far from seeing the banks, but I could never ask when we see when we both began to move on.

4,183 feet Mont Jacques-Cartier

Apparently, this is the highest point in the Chic-Chocs and there was a large observation tower on the flat summit. Many people were going around.

It was around 1:30 pm when I left the top. The way ahead was completely exposed and had been for most of the morning/noon. Although he was sneak in the sunscreen, he was cooking. It was not so much the temperature, but the combo with my stomach feeling and not eating, I felt exhausted with energy. If it weren’t flat and then a long downhill, it would have been a real problem. However, I kept moving forward.

Once below, I arrived at a dead end of Road de Grava, where there was a bus stop so the hikers were collected and left. The IAT continued along the way, which was a very welcome respite from the unequal Rocky Trail.

At one time, one of the SEPAQ (which I thought was the Canadian equivalent of the United States National Parks Service, but in reality it is a specific agency only for Quebec trucks) and the driver came out. He approached me and began to chat. In fact, we had met two days ago on the road when I was on his day off. Understanding that today he left the park, he explained that he would enter another wildlife reserve and that it was apparently an active hunting season.

This was news for me. May I know, after having left the Matane Wildlife Reserve in time, I was clear. It turns out, no. She told me to stop at a small ranger station just at the end of the road and gave me a little bright signage to tie my backpack. And I did so. I also took my Blaze orange hat when the time came.

When I left the Razed Station, I took a small alternative road that occurred to me. Several comments in the application mentioned that Overgrown Trail and Satellite also warned me about Mucky Trail. His goal was to avoid all that.

Jumping to the road, I had to gather all my remaining energy to climb the last 1,000 feet of the day. On the climb, which was a track of two tracks, I saw something running my address, directly to me. At first I thought it was a big black dog, but I quickly understood that it was really a bear! Still very separate, I shouted: «Hello bear.» He stopped, saw me, turned around in a slow continuous movement and escaped in the opposite direction.

I finally arrived at the Cabourons refuge and it was incredible!

Although he was very tired. During the last half hour of the day I felt better and my appetite returned, so it was an advantage. Also, once again I had it for me. There really does not seem to many other backpackers at this time, which makes me wonder why all the shelters in Gaspésie were «reserved.» However, regardless of that enigma and my failure when detecting any caribu, today it was another spectacular walk!

Thanks for joining the trip! It means a lot that you took the time to read these adventures. I love spending time and connecting to the natural world and I am very grateful for these experiences. However, not everyone has the resources to do so.

So, if you want to help all children to get outdoors, a cause that means a lot to me, please help me support Empowerment with outdoors! The «Council author» button is a direct link to my fund collection page. You are really incredible. Thank you.

Day album:

«The rescue» (2005) – Explosions in heaven