July 30 – To Vaudeuil, Quebec

View Larger Map

It is a short post but it was a long day of driving. We did almost 600 km. The weather started out rainy and very foggy but by late morning it was bright and sunny. There wasn’t much to see so we just kept going.

We were on two lane route 132 for a short while.

Some fog wrapped islands shot quickly as we went by.

Then we got on the 4 lane divided AutoRoute 20 to see lots of trees.

We occasionally saw the shoreline.

We even got some peeks at the north shore of the gulf of St. Lawrence.

We had lunch at this rest stop on the highway, along with a lot of others.

We saw the bus factory with all its inventory parked outside.

We went through Quebec City at about 11:30 and it wasn’t too bad. Just more traffic but no slow downs.

We got to Montreal about 2:30. If there is one place that always makes me nervous when I am driving it is Montreal. The narrow lanes, high speed and aggressive drivers. Today was just the normal amount of scary and we made it through OK.

Speaking of aggressive drivers, I saw something I had never seen before. There were two cars just ahead of us in the slow lane and someone in the fast lane gradually overtaking them. A taxi comes blazing up behind him and starts tailgating. The front guy taps his brakes to get him to back off. Bad idea. The taxi veered over to the outside shoulder accelerates to pass the first slow car (on the shoulder) and then cuts between the two slow cars back into the fast lane, cutting off the car there and then slams on his brakes. I am not sure how we all didn’t end up in a massive pile.

We are now parked at a Walmart in Vaudeuil which is just east of Montreal. We got here around 4. I thought about going farther but there is really nothing between here and Ottawa and I didn’t feel like driving that far, especially when we would get there in rush hour.

Whereas last night it seemed like we were in a busy campground, so far tonight we are the only ones here. I went in to customer service to make sure it is allowed.

July 29 – To Rimouski, Quebec

View Larger Map

It was a lousy day weather wise. It rained on and off all day and also started off very foggy so we wondered if we would see any of the Gaspe coast. It cleared a bit later but a sunny day would have been so much better.

We left just before 9 and hit the expected steep hills right away.

In between each hill would be a town so I would have to slow right down and could never use the downhill speed for the next up hill. The road was not in great shape either so it felt like we were shaking apart if we got any speed up.

We went through a lot of foggy little villages.

As I said the fog did clear up occasionally but the rain was always there.

There was always that hill at the end of town to contend with. Since there wasn’t a lot of traffic I didn’t delay many people as we lumbered up at most of them about 25 kph. They were usually in the 12 – 14% grade range.

We stopped for a break (us and the RV) at this viewpoint.

And then suddenly we were right down on the coast and the hills on the highway were no more.

I think the hills were just too high and steep for a road so they had to go around on the coast. It certainly made the driving easier.

We stopped for lunch along the beach in the village in this cove.

We saw signs along the highway to be careful about high waves washing over cars. I guess it was a real problem in this one area as they were putting up a seriously large breakwater.

Here is the elevation profile of the drive.

We are now at the Walmart in Rimouski. When I went up on the roof and took this panorama there were 29 other RVs and they are still coming in.

Everybody seems to make themselves right at home.

There is also a cow carrier on a farther down the lot. I hope he doesn’t stay or at least the cows go to sleep because their mooing is very loud.

We saw a St. Hubert Chicken in the lot. We hadn’t had any since they abandoned Ontario years ago. It was actually very good.

It was a much easier driving day than I thought but it sure would have been nice to see that gorgeous coast in the sun.

Late update: The cows are gone.

July 28 – Hike to Cap Gaspe

Today started a bit gloomy in the morning. We got some sun in the afternoon but most importantly there was no rain.

We did the one trail you just have to do when you are here. The Les Grave trail goes out to the very tip of the peninsula at Cap Gaspe. It is 8 km out and back but there are two ways to go. There is a pure hiking trail that hugs every nook and cranny of the coast. Then there is a dirt road, still only for hiking, that takes the direct route higher up on the cliffs. The hiking trail is actually the end of the International Appalachian Trail which continues to here from the end of the US Appalachian Trail in Maine. We took the trail out and the easier road back.

First we went down to this beach. I told Jennie we would be back so she could explore it later.

Then up along side this cascading stream.

Once we were up on the headlands there were a few ups and downs but nothing major.

There were thistles everywhere.

The evidence of the rain from the last few days. It never looks it in the pictures but this was a steep little hill.

I guess they decided to abandon this old stairway down to a beach.

Lots of deep coves.

We are not sure what this tree was but it had some vicious spikes.

About a kilometer from the end, the trail leaves the coast and climbs straight up to the top of the hill and then you walk along the crown. Again it doesn’t look it but this was pretty steep.

Jennie says these are called Ghost Pipes.

We stopped at this viewpoint where you could see Perce Rock off in the distance.

I worried that after that steep climb we would have a steep downhill to the end. I forgot that lighthouses like to be high up so we just walked out of the trees to it.

We sat on a picnic table and had lunch.

You couldn’t see much of the actual cape from here so we took a 1/2 km trail DOWN to a lookout. Here is a picture of the lookout from the top, taken after we came back up. I had to stand on a fence to get this.

I wish we had know the location before we went down because there was no way Jennie was going out on that so the steep climb down and back was a waste for her.

The end of the Appalachian Mountains falling into the sea.

You can see the lighthouse peeking out in the top right.

A somewhat distorted panorama.

Heading back

It was a long gentle slope down the road.

Jennie is always checking the side of the trail for interesting things.

There was soon a “crowd”.

You wouldn’t know it from the pictures but this was a popular trail. I would guess we saw about 50 other people.

Back down to the beach.

This little guy was poking around.

I loved these huge plates of rock.

A fruit break.

It looked like there were some scuba divers in training.

Our path.

The short drive home. Things look so much nicer in the sunshine.

Some of the stops actually looked a bit busy.

Tomorrow we start our 1800 km dash back to our cottage for the August long weekend. We will probably just stop at a Walmart each night. Tomorrow will be the most challenging day as there are a lot of very steep ups and downs on this section of the highway.