The Gaspe Peninsula

Today I checked out the park.  I had some rain, so I didn’t get many pictures, but it was beautiful.  I managed to wander around for about 8 hours, just lookin’ (mostly lookin’ for DEF).

My coach is low on DEF; I wanted to fill the tank before I crossed the border, but all they had at the Flying J were gallon bottles, so I thought I would do it later.  Wrong.

Forillon National Park of Canada (created in 1970) has seascapes, cliffs and mountains.  There is so much to do here … whale watch, snorkel, bike, fish (you can fish for mackerel, for free – all other fish there is a charge), kayak, etc. There are also numerous trails to hike and explore. It is really a great place to spend a vacation. 

According to National Geographic magazine, it ranks 4^th highest of the ten best places in the world for fall colors.

Gaspe, in the language of the Micmac, means “end of the land”.  The cross erected by Jacques Cartier in 1534 earned Gaspe the title of Cradle of Canada.  The town groups together 17 coastal villages.  The bay is beautiful.

 

I drove south 63 miles to Perce.  Now that is a tourist town.  You could hardly drive down the street for all the pedestrians; until the rain started, then the streets were pretty empty.  It has been an artisan center since the 1930s.  Although the town of Perce encompasses about 10 villages spread out over almost 60 km along the coast, only Perce “proper” has the tourist population.

Perce rock is immersed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in front of the village of Perce.  Once connected to the continent and historically possessing three arches, but only one today, this rock formations linked to the mainland only at low tide.

I took a “scenic drive” mentioned in my guide book; I’m on this old, unkempt, barely 2 lane back road, up and down these steep hills, to get a great view of the bay …. And just as I’m almost to the top for the view it starts pouring rain and fog moves in and I can’t see anything and I can’t get a picture …. And here I am going down this steep, twistly/turning road in the fog and rain without any of the scenic pleasure.  I do have fun.

The best laid plans … on the drive down to Perce I mentally marked all the places I wanted to stop and take pictures and now I can’t with the rain.  I tried to take a couple, but all you could see were the rain drops on the lens.

I didn’t realize that it is also the end of the Appalachian Trail/Mountain range.