My third day on the road was full of fun exploring. While the first two days had at least one anchoring plan, from this point on there was no plan…just working my way up the coast. That meant that I had no idea what kind of adventures would follow. I’ve come to really enjoy the surprises of the unknown on the road, especially when they turn out as good as this day. I’m not sure if this day was the highlight of the trip, as there were some amazing experiences coming, but it did have the most great experiences packed into one day.
If you recall from my last post, I was camped in the grassy “emergency camping” at Grandes-Bergeronnes. They had told me to return to the proper campground for a shower, so I started my day with a warm shower.
The fog from the previous days was still sticking around. I stopped by a few spots near Bon Desir, but the mist was too thick to see much…and there were a lot of people around, waiting for the interpretation centre to open, so I moved on. I stopped by a few more places as I moved up the coast, not really finding anything worth exploring. Some of the areas seemed rocky, and might have been nice…but the fog was hiding the good views.
After Tadoussac, the towns became less picturesque and touristy, and instead had a feeling of bare essentials…but still surrounded by the beautiful coast. It added to the growing feeling of remoteness as I made my way farther.
Generally, my style of unplanned exploration is a mix of google maps and turning down roads that look interesting…on the fly, as it happens. Eventually I found myself at Les Îlets-Jérémie, because google suggested there was a lookout spot. It was a small village of just houses, with an old Jesuit church. There were some info signs around the church and it looked like it used to be a tourist stop in the past, but it was very quiet. A French couple showed up as I was looking around…they were also looking for the viewpoint. Further down the road we did find a sign and a short trail to the rocky coastline. The fog was clearing, leaving just enough for some great misty photos. I did find a wooden viewing platform further down, with a very overgrown trail. It’s always interesting to find a place that once was or attempted to be a tourist attraction…but has faded into disuse.
My next stop was the quay at Ragueneau. It was a little more touristy, with large dinosaur sculptures, an obelisk and some hiking trails. It wasn’t super busy, but there were people on the water on standing paddle boards. The area was especially rugged and rocky, so I set out exploring along the coast.
As mentioned in my previous post, I intended to do more exploring on foot and was really enjoying the slower pace. The weather was perfect and the scenery was better than I had imagined. What more could you want?
Next, I made my way to Pointe-aux-Outardes, which is a beach park with lots of sand dunes and some trails. It also had a small camping area that was right by the water and trails. It is more of an RV campspot…as it was just a small gravel lot with spots to park overnight and washrooms and showers to the side. It wouldn’t have worked well for a tent, but was perfect for the Jeep camper. Somehow I didn’t get any photos of it..
After setting up camp I went for a walk down the beach. There weren’t many people around, and as I got further down the shoreline, I was alone with the seagulls and waves.
Throughout the day there were storm clouds to the south-west, and they started to catch up. It spit rain a bit, and otherwise became overcast. At this point I was back at camp having dinner. After eating, I made a coffee and went to sit by the water with my kindle.
As the time for sunset neared, the sky was still overcast, but I decided to walk one of the trails to a viewpoint anyway, just in case it cleared. The trail was nice, going by some marshland on the way to the dunes.
As I reached the viewing platform, the sky did clear a bit and there was a decent sunset. I took a few photos, but the bugs were really bad, so it wasn’t a nice spot to just sit and take in the view.
So I started the walk back, only to look back a few minutes later and realize that this was one of those sunsets that just get grander and grander. I hurried back to the platform and stood in awe, took some photos, and sacrificed more of my blood to the bugs.
This was the best sunset of the trip, and continued the trend this year of many awesome sunsets. It was also quite nice to have a terrific viewing spot just a short hike from the camp ground. The following morning I took it slow at the campground, had some bacon and eggs and spent a bit more time reading by the beach before moving on.
I feel like perfect days like this are less storied. When there are no trials, it’s hard to write a tale with a good arc. In a way, on a day like this the photos are the story. A day like this is a reminder of the good things and blessings God has given, and reason to remember and give thanks.
P.S. I am actually terrible at remembering or even knowing place names on these Quebec adventures. I did have to look up place names while writing this. Another reason to record these journeys.
The Narrow Twisty Road 