Le Tour De La Gaspesie

Like everyone else, our travels this year were curtailed by COVID. With the Canada-U.S. border closed indefinitely, the four Atlantic provinces still in a very effective lock-out bubble, and anything north and west of Lake Superior a non-starter at this time year, we set our sights on Quebec and the Gaspe peninsula. It was the most exotic destination possible for us out of Southern Ontario. The Gaspe is nearly all French-speaking (fluent English is rare, so be prepared) and it is sparsely populated; 140, 000 people in an area slightly larger than Massachusetts. Most of the population lives on the rugged coast, with a rich farming, logging and fishing heritage, though tourism (whale watching, arts and crafts, cuisine and microbrews) is a large part of the current economy. The interior is an extension of the Appalachian range, with few roads, and is a challenge for hauling a trailer. Where Maine ends, the Gaspe sort of begins.

We travelled prior to the onset of the current "Second Wave" and greatly limited our exposure to the locals, save for groceries, gas, and our accommodations, which were mostly municipal, provincial and federal parks. It was easy to give space and socially distance on the trails and at lookouts. Fall colours were at their peak during the last week of September (as is the norm), and none had fallen from the trees. But by this time, many tourist venues had begun to shut down. The Provincial and Federal parks had been operating only at half capacity throughout the summer and into October. We still needed camping reservations at several locations even this late in this travel season and would have been stuck without them, or would have had to set up camp many miles from where we wanted to. Many of the private campgrounds on the peninsula hold over 400 campsites, though a lot of those sites are locked up as seasonal.

Road surface quality is hit and miss, and a bouncy challenge for the CampInn suspension at higher speeds, but the locals are always travelling upwards of 55 mph, including the logging trucks, so be prepared to slide over and let people pass you at any opportunity: usually the next sleepy coastal town, which you want to soak in anyway. Temps ranged from 34F in the a.m. in one place to 85F one afternoon in Forillon National Park. Because of its latitude, elevation and sometimes harsh climate it surprisingly can support an alpine tundra environment both on the bare mountaintops and in some coastal areas. I wouldn't encourage any travel after sunset as the moose are plentiful. We had two cows grazing peacefully outside our trailer in Forillon in the early morning.

Our route also took us north of Quebec City to the Saguenay Fjord (which is just as spectacular, geologically speaking), and eventually on a 2 1/2 hour ferry ride across the Gulf of St Lawrence (where the Campinn got a nice salt spray bath) to the Gaspe at Matane. Our visit in Saguenay was cut short, and I got very few decent pics, as our ferry ride had been bumped up a day. Be flexible if you are working a ferry crossing into your itinerary (reservations required) as bad weather frequently cancels, delays or reschedules crossings.

3000 miles and 12 days, out of Niagara, in total.

Here's a few pics to give you an idea, including some of the 560 posing in some interesting spots, which I think I'll start doing more often:

 

Stunning photos! Thanks for sharing these. We are Massachusetts campers who have always loved our Canadian adventures and were sad to not be able to travel north of the border this year. We had hoped to explore Alberta this summer, to check out what appears to be gorgeous scenes in the Heartland series.....but instead re-discovered many hidden gems in Massachusetts .

 

Great pics!

 

Wonderful pics. Thanks for sharing.