The Adventures of Platy and the Gang
2002 volume 11
Aug 23, 2002
On August 12 we moved to Sainte Anne des Monts, Quebec. Of course, along the way we must stop at a buanderie (laundramat). They are very rare and you must take advantage whenever you see one. We have had to drive 30 to 40 miles to find one, if you can find one at all. I guess they don't wash clothes up here.
We stayed at Camping du Rivage. It's right on the St Lawrence Seaway. Normand, the owner is very friendly even though he speaks very little English. His wife speaks even less. For everyone that stays there he goes out and directs you into your spot and hooks up your water and electricity. We stayed for 10 days. The cost was only about $11/day US.
Normand told us that we must tie the tents to the motorhome. We didn't understand why until that night at 1:00 AM when the winds kicked up. I had to go out and roll up the awnings. We didn't use them again because it would be calm one minute and blowing 30-40 mile gusts the next. Darcy thought she might get blown into the ocean sleeping in her tent.
We stayed in Ste Anne while they were hiking in Parc de la Gaspesie. This is a large provincial park that is very beautiful.
The first day I had to drive about 40 miles back a gravel road to drop them off for their 2 day trip over Mt Logan. We were stopped about 1 mile from the trail by a backhoe repairing the road. They had to walk.
Jerry got overheated the second day and the girls carried his pack for him. Judy took half and walked ahead to meet me. She then walked back in about 1-2 miles to carry the other half so that Darcy wouldn't have to carry her pack and Jerry's half full pack. I walked out with Jerry while they went ahead. Because it was late and they were hungry they ran the last mile down the road.
The next day the girls hiked while Jerry rode with me and rested.
We visited the Gite Albert, the hotel in the park and met them at the visitor's center.

Everyone wants to see the caribou that live here in the park but so far the only one we have seen has his head stuck thru the visitor center wall.
While the girls were hiking the next day, Jerry and I tried to find a trail access point for further along.
This is Jerry trying to get technical directions from a group who spoke only a few words of English. After a few minutes he gave up when they only could say "where have you come from?"
When the girls came out that day they hiked down the road to the parking lot.
All of the tourists and day hikers had ridden the bus.
The next area of the trail is along the coast. Sometimes they are hiking on the road along the ocean and sometimes on top of the cliffs.
Jerry hiked the section leading to the coast and along the road until they came to the Mont St Pierre.
Mont St Pierre is where they hang-glide off of the top. The trail starts at the bottom center and starts up a 4x4 road to the right. At the top you must scramble up loose shale. Jerry decided to go with me and to meet them on the other side.
While the girls paid their $1.00 each toll and climbed over the mountain, we went to the next town and Jerry had ice cream while we waited.
This is the town of Mont Louis. We will be moving here later and staying at the campground on the far side of the harbor.
The trail drops down into town from where I took this picture, along the harbor and then up the hill on the small road on the other side.
When the girls arrived we had lunch in the canteen on the beach. Jerry had poutine. It is served everywhere up here. It's french fries covered with cheese and gravy. Some restaurants have several varieties, Italian, steak, Mexican and others.
On the way back to the campground we stopped at the Internet Cafe so that everyone could get their e-mail. Usually we visited the libraries, so this was something different.
The next day they started hiking at Mont Louis and went up the road seen in the previous picture. I scouted ahead in the car. After about 5 miles there was a washout. They could walk across but I had to backtrack 5 miles and go around. When the hikers got there Jerry decided to take the shortcut down the main road and the girls followed the trail over the hill. Jerry lucked out again. Someone had torn down the trail signs in at the intersections of several gravel roads and the girls got lost. They called on the radio and ended up backtracking to the washout where we picked them up.
On 8/20 I dropped the girls off back in Parc de la Gaspesie to do a 2 day section. They had been unable to get reservations for one of the refuges where they had to stay overnight until now. I then drove to Mont Joli and dropped Jerry off at the airport.
I then went and visited with Raymond who owns the Motel Sainte Pierre. This is him standing next to a picture of Nimblewill, Dick Anderson and himself. We discussed trail conditions and I told him about the signs being torn down.
The next day the girls, Darcy (AKA "Mud Puppy") and Judy (AKA "Pig Pen"), arrived at the Visitor Center. I had noted how all the other hikers were all so clean looking and they were always dirty. I guess they just fall down a lot.
There have been other observations we have made about the area. One is that they have a thing for piling rocks. You see these piles everywhere. They also have these signs that are something about not running over children. Look closely and you will see someone has knocked the socks off this kid.
Well that's all for this issue. The next will probably contain the end of the trail since they only have about 10 days left.

P. S. : They did see caribou on Mont Albert but the pictures haven't been developed yet.
 
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