September 8, 2009 – Travels by foot and by RV

Sometime yesterday after we had returned from our exploits in the south sector of the park, I commented to Carol that before we left in the morning, I would like to go down to Cap Bon Ami which is the end of the road in the north sector of the park. She suggested that since it was just 6:30, there was no reason we couldn’t go right then. And so we did.

Once there, we were very glad that we had ventured out again. There was a spectacular overlook which enable us to see “Shipshead” to the right and the lighthouse at Cap des Rosiers to the left. We were able to take the stairs down (almost vertical) to the beach. As we proceeded down the steps, we notice numerous flows of water on our right. It must be a veritable waterfall in spring and early summer; even still, the flow of water spread through the moss and lichen creating liquid strings connecting the layers of rock. Back in the parking lot, we decided we would climb to the observation tower located on Mont St. Alban before we left in the morning.

We were out of bed this morning at 7:15. We fed the dog, grabbed a quick bowl of cereal for ourselves, packed some water and the last of the banana bread, took Spice’s leash and were off again to Cap Bon Ami. When you are in the parking lot, you can look straight up the mountain and see the tower perched 917 feet above you. The trail is 1.8 kilometers or just over a mile. In the first third of the climb, you gain about 2/3 of the elevation. And no, there are no switchbacks, you just go up. When the going up gets really steep, they put in steps. It took us 40 minutes to reach the tower, but it was worth every step. From the top of the tower, you get a 360 degree panorama of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Gulf of Gaspe, Perce and the Perce rock to the south, New Foundland to the northeast and northern Quebec across the Gulf to the north. It took us 35 minutes to descend back to the parking lot. By 10:45 we had cleaned up camp, showered and were on the road again passing through the exit gate with 15 minutes to spare.

For the first thirty miles we covered the same road we have driven yesterday in the Dakota. Once we had passed Cap aux Os, we were again in new territory. We rolled through villages with French names and came to the actual town of Gaspe, located at the head of the Gulf of Gaspe. It is an actual town, larger then most of the villages we had passed through. Then it was on to Perce (there is a grave over the final e, but I don’t know how to do that. It is the same grave that is over the final e in Gaspe. The two towns share it on alternating days, excluding Sundays when it is laid to rest along with John Brown’s Body).

Perce is a tourist town home to Roche de Perce. Perce Rock is home to some 168,000 birds during the summer of which 64,000 are northern gannets. So tourists come to see a giant piece of rock fighting off the ocean’s eroding effects while slowly being buried in bird guano. It is some what similar to the rock at Monterey, except it runs horizontally out into the sea, where the rock in Monterey bay is more like a nude sunbathers silicone filled breast. We had hoped to stop here and walk around some. As we crept through the town looking for any place we might park 57 feet of rolling earthquake, it soon became evident there was none to be had. In hindsight, it was probably best as we don’t speak French, probably would not have wanted to buy anything and Carol got a good shot of the rock from the window.

As we travelled west along Gaspe’s southern shore, the ruggedness of the terrain began to soften. The steep elevation changes and sheer vertical cliffs dropping into the sea dwindled to rolling hills which eased their way towards the water. Instead of waterfalls cascading down facades of granite, there were salmon rivers meeting the sea at estuaries where they played a tidal tug of war. And so it is we bid “aurevoir” to Gaspe and all of its grandeur.