Date: June 6 2000
Trail Day: 6
Miles Today: 19.2
Location: 2 miles west of Manche d'Epee
Section Mile: IAT 89.9
ECT Mile: 89.9
Today was a tough day. The hike started off with a 4-5 km steep climb and
there were no interesting features or breakpoints for the first 18 km.
The road was hard and my soles are hurting. I had breakfast and dinner
at mom and pop stores. The dinner was at a home where they put 4 tables.
Very quaint. Today's section was through a somewhat economically depressed
area. I wonder what makes it such. There are similar towns a little east
of here that are doing quite well. I was able to get internet access at
Madeleine Center and made a "from the trail" entry. Towards the end of the
hike (2 kms) the road is just a few feet above the sea and very level.
One of the journals I had read mentioned this, although I had come away with
the impression that it was like that all the way to Park Forillion - not
so. Anyway, tomorrow's hike should be fairly easy and should get me to
Mount Saint Pierre from where I enter the Parc de la Gaspesie by trail
till the foot of Mount Jacques Cartier. Then, I do a road walk around the
peak - as it is closed due to Caribou birth season and get to the resort
Le Gite. There I pick up the food I had mailed from Montreal and start
probably the most challenging section of my hike. There is about 3 feet of
snow there although I have been told the snow is compact.
I am now about to set up camp beside the road (a safe distance away but visible
from the road). I dont have a choice because there is just a narrow strip
of land leading to very steep mountains. I will be waiting for it to get
dark before I set up camp - just a precaution. It is very windy as it
is right next to the open sea - should be interesting.
Anyway, end of a very long and tough day. Today was significant because
I reached the northern most point of my hike and it is also the longest
I have gone without shaving. I wanted to take a photo of myself in
Manche de Epee as it is the northern most point. Its like a ghost town -
no one around. I saw an old lady working in her yard and asked/signalled
in French to her if she would take my photograph. She looked uncertainly
for two seconds and then shook her head vehemantly and said No ! I got
a photo at the store.
Date: June 7 2000
Trail Day: 7
Miles Today: 18.1
Location: Unnamed campground 2 km South of Mt. St. Pierre
Section Mile: IAT 108
ECT Mile: 108
Today was also tough on my feet and was a long day. The day started out
grey and ugly and stayed that way till about 7 pm. Now the skies are clear
and the sun is out. I think its going to be a cold night. Last night beside
the road was no problem. I completed the roadwalk today. The roadwalk was
along route 132 and was beside the sea. From here the trail heads south
for a while. Today is the last I see of the sea till I perhaps get to
Florida. The forest are a welcome change from the noise of the roads. It is
also much warmer.
Had dinner at a canteen in Mt. St. Pierre run by Vivian and Charlie. I told them
that I was trying to hike from Cap de Gaspe to Key West and they said that they had run
into another gentleman who had hiked from Key West to Cap Gaspe in 1985.
They showed me his hand written note. The note was a little blurred and
his name as far as I could tell was Houston Fereuch Lumsden. Looks like
he was a doctor and he was 50 plus when he hiked and he was dark like me !
I haven't seen any mention of this from what I have read. This deserves looking
into. Anyway, she asked me to write a note also. I gave her my web address
and asked her to sign the guestbook. They were a wonderful couple and were
very helpful.
I was walking along side the sea where there is a wall and the sea on the
other side. It has metal ladder like things every once in a while. I went down
one of them to the shore and looked at the pools of water trapped between
the rocks. I found numerous shrimps about 0.25 to 0.75 inches in size.
I wonder if they are brill. I also got a major bonus today - saw a whale
surface several times. It was awesome. I took two
photographs.
Well, Mt. St. Pierre has been kind of a Mecca for me. It is what I was
aiming for since I left Parc Forillion. It is a small town, so the road sign
indicating it came only 6 km before. I was glad when I saw the sign. Took
a photograph of it too.
I am now in a deserted campground ready to set up camp. Just before
entering the trail 3 young guys drinking beer stopped their car and
started talking to me in French. I told them I understood very little
French and they started howling and yelling. Decided to just walk away.
Asked directions from a local resident. The entire time I was talking to him he had his hands in his pants. I guess
you have to run into wackos after encountering the wonderful people
in the canteen to even out your probability score card.
Date: June 8 2000
Trail Day: 8
Miles Today: 17.4
Location: About 10 km from La Galene - foot of Mt. Jacques Cartier
Section Mile: IAT 125.4
ECT Mile: 125.4
Bright shiny day to make up for yesterday's doozie. I have no map of this
section to La Galene but I am following the SIA/IAT plaques nailed to
trees along the way. Many of the signs and arrows have been vandalised.
So things can get tricky. However, I did not get lost at all. Started off
with a gentle walk along the river de la Mt. Pierre. The trail sometimes ran
through people's backyards. Then it followed a dirt road for a while and started
climbing gently. Then all of a sudden a relatively new portion of the trail
started. It had an angle of 70-80 degrees - I kid you not. It was only for
about 25 feet but I had to crawl on all fours and grasp at trees and roots
to get myself up. Then the trail did a steep climb that had me beat. After
about 1 km of this it started following dirt roads and was more sensible.
But again near the end of the day it veered off and started doing a steep
climb. I have gained about 2000 feet since Mt. St. Pierre and there is snow
all over. Its not firm and it tends to collapse at spots - its a bitch.
It was getting late in the day so I decided to set up camp. I was able to
find a relatively flat piece of ground with no snow and am now in my tent.
I am hoping the climb ends soon tomorrow. I am quite frustrated. Dinner
has boosted my morale somewhat and my sleeping bag always feels good.
Photograph of a view
Date: June 9 2000
Trail Day: 9
Miles Today: 6.2
Location: La Galene - foot of Mt. Jacques Cartier
Section Mile: IAT 131.6
ECT Mile: 131.6
Well, the hike from Mt. St. Pierre to La Galene is the toughest hike I have
done in my life. The trail is steep in portions, the snow collapses and I have
no map. I also had to cross a stream by wading just before entering Parc de
la Gaspesie. The water was upto my crotch and there were two brief instances where I
thought I was going to be washed away. There was one instance on a hike near
Lake Umbagog (Maine) where I got washed away. Once you lose your stability
you are gone. I can still see the water gushing by on this one. The snow
continues to slip and collapse. There were several instances where I went in
knee deep and then I had to crawl out. In some of these I made about 1 km
in two hours. Progress was not marked by km but by 20 feet increments -
to the nearest tree, snow bank, level ground etc. Today was also a wet
shoe and sock day right of the bat. The snow was melting fast as summer
is approaching and the trail is covered with water in several places.
There are little streams flowing all over the place.
To continue where I left off yesterday, the climb lasted another 0.5 km
(about 1 hr) and then was fairly level. Then there was another climb that
lasted perhaps 1.5 hours. My morale is now in the toilet. I am wet, cold and
miserable. La Galene is situated in a valley and catches the wind
squarely. So I cannot even stay outside my tent as my feet get numb.
It had also rained last night, so everything was wet. I did manage to dry
everything out except for the shoes.
The plan today was to do another 19 km to get to a campground. But I have
decided to slow down and regroup. I will be taking the next two days easy
and doing low miles. That should lighten things a bit.
Date: June 10 2000
Trail Day: 10
Miles Today: 11.7
Location: Porte de l'Enfer
Section Mile: IAT 143.3
ECT Mile: 143.3
Fairly easy day of hiking. The day was partly cloudy but very windy.
It also has been a little colder as I am now in the mountains. I am now
hiking route 14 to bypass Mt. Jacques Cartier. It is a forest road.
I saw a moose or a caribou early in the day today. This area is known
for caribou though I do not know what they look like. The place I am in now is more of a
picnic spot where I have been permitted to camp overnight by Bermans
Drouin, the director of Reserve of Faunique Des Chic-Chocs - Thank you
very much. It is beside the river Saint Anne Nord Est. It is almost a
white water.
The park ranger stopped by a while ago and checked my permit. He says there
is lots of snow all the way to Mt. Logan and that the snow is firm in the
morning but weak late in the day. Very few people out here yet.
This peak is actually quite popular but as it is very early in the season
almost no one is here. I saw only three vehicles during the entire day.
Tomorrow to La Gite where I pick up my mail-drop of food. My pants have
started to tear near the inner thigh area. I will have to sew it up
at some point. Also forgot to mention - I weighed myself about three
days ago. Came in at 195 pounds. About 5 of it should be water loss.
So it could be 200 pounds. Still a loss of about 9 pounds over 6 days.
Amazing. Today also marked the longest I have been hiking both in number
of days and miles. Before this it was a ten day hike with Kumar over
the Christmas break on the Florida trail. It was for 130 miles and we
went from Port Mayaca to Desert Ranch.
Date: June 11 2000
Trail Day: 11
Miles Today: 2.5
Location: Le Faucon Refuge - foot of Mt. Albert
Section Mile: IAT 145.8
ECT Mile: 145.8
A light day of hiking. I was done by noon. Did about 4 km of non trail
walks to find the shelter, foods, laundry etc. I was expecting to find the
package I had mailed from Montreal but the front desk at La Gite said they
had not received anything. I was evaluating my alternatives and having a beer
at the bar when one of the other staff said that he knew of my package and
brought it out. I was extremely relieved. Also had an interesting conversation with the waitress. I had lunch there. I have heard
of the expression "Chicken that melts in your mouth", but this is the
first time I have experienced it. I had a shower, did my laundry, mended
my pants and mailed another set of journal entries to Suriyan. I had to sneak in and out of their bathrooms because I am not a registered guest. The people at the reception desk were however quite helpful. A very full day. Then I found my "refuge". Its a hut that I had booked in advance.
When people think of their dream houses they might see a beach, ten
bedrooms, four garages, pool etc. I see a rustic comfortable cabin - like
this one. I need a place like this to live in. A bed in one corner to
sleep in, a computer desk in another, and a small kitchen in yet another
- a common bathroom should suffice.
I then got a ride from the guy who runs the place back to La Gite - very
friendly guy, another trail angel. The dinner was fancy, I was not. I was
in my shorts, T-shirt, hiking boots with no sox. Probably the best non-
spicy food I have had. The service was excellent. Used knives and spoons
would disappear and new ones would appear as if by magic. I had a glass
of water I drank deeply from that never got empty. I was about to see the
bottom of the bread basket and voila a new one. I am quite certain I
broke numerous etiquette rules with knives and what not. There were nine
of them on my table at one point. The place was expensive (lunch was
reasonable) and cost me 50 Canadian dollars all included.
I also saw a rabbit outside that would not run when approached. I took a
picture of it. In the evening I saw several of them around. Also the animal
I saw two days ago was a moose. Caribou look more deerish. I saw their stuffed heads (ugh !!) at the hotel.
Tomorrow starts an 8 to 10 day stretch where there will be no stores,
civilization, etc. It will be back in the snow. Let's see how it goes.
Signing off from this wonderful cabin.
Date: June 12 2000
Trail Day: 12
Miles Today: 0
Location: Between Le Pluvier and Mt. Albert
Section Mile: IAT 145.8
ECT Mile: 145.8
Got up early and started hiking. The snow is supposed to be firm early in
the morning. Stopped by La Gite for breakfast - they were not open. It was
6 am. (Its bright here at about 4:30). The first couple of hours were good.
It was uphill all the way but no snow. Came to the shelter - La Serpentine.
Saw a good looking woman cleaning the place. Her name is Ivy. She and
her husband David are here to perform research on the caribou. Caribou are
peaceful, curious creatures who will on occasion follow man. They spend most
of their time on ridge tops but were now down in the trees for calving.
Ivy said they were missing a lot of them because of this. She also told
me of trail conditions further up and to follow their footsteps in the
snow they had made the previous day. I now entered the closed segment
of the trail. Things were good for another half an hour. Then the trail
seemed to run into a cul-de-sac about a mile wide that had sharp mountains
on three of its side. The trail went straight up one of these sides and it was covered
with snow. I went up about 5 feet and came back sliding down. I could see
Ivy and David's footprints but it was dangerous for me with a heavy backpack.
They are certainly courageous folks.
I then bushwhacked along the northern face to try and find an alternate
route with little or no snow. I scouted without my backpack and found one
on the very eastern corner, went back and got my backpack and got back up.
I then bushwhacked about a mile back to the trail. The top of Mt. Albert is
flat with no trees and has no snow. Progress was fast. Then the trail
started decending into snow fills. I decided to hike along the top
and to find the trail a little further on. A little later I decended and
found snow all around me. I could not find the trail. I hiked back and
forth for about 1.5 hours very frustrated. The snow was starting to
collapse about every 10th step. I then decided to go back to the top to find
the trail. Suddenly I heard voices and found two young guys about 1/2
a mile away. They are Luc and Vince. They were on a weeks vacation and
were following my footsteps and were therefore also lost. If you have to
be lost under trying conditions it is better to be with company. I was
glad I found them. The three of us then decided to continue hiking along
the top of Mt. Albert in hopes of seeing the lake towards which we were
headed. We couldn't see it. We then decided to pass through a valley and
back on top of a hill along which the trail was supposed to run. This
turned out to be a miserable affair. It was now much later in the day
and the snow would collapse about every fourth step. It was much worse
than my hike from Mt. St. Pierre to La Galene but I wasn't so
demoralised as I had company. Our shoes and sox were thoroughly wet and ice
cold. A lot of ice had entered my shoes and my feet were getting numb.
It was now starting to get dark. We reached a stream and made a guess as
to where we were on the map. The trail was about a km north. We tried hiking
some more but gave up when it was almost dark. We found a little area
enough to set up one tent. I set up tent there. Luc and Vince put there's
up in the snow. They had thermal pads. Luc started a fire. It was
invigorating. We cooked supper, ate and crawled into the comfort of our
sleeping bags. My feet started to thaw and it was painful for about an
hour. My feet were ice cold. They warmed up as the night progressed and
I slept well. It was an end to a very hard day.
Lost in Mt. Albert
