This was the day I learned a new word in French.
I left the motel after enjoying breakfast at their
restaurant, where the waitress had a great command of English (no doubt
thinking how barbaric I am, having no French).
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| The highway west from St. Pascal follows the Vallée
du Fleuve Saint-Laurent |
From St. Pascal, I went west on the Route
Transcanadienne QC to Montmagny, then inland past a number of small Parish villages,
to the Poste d’Accueil (Visitors’ Center) of the Parc.
Again, to the cheery greeting of “Bonjour” from the
personnel du parc , I could only reply “Bonjour! Good Morning!” and watch the
person go to find someone who speaks some English.
But, the staff were great, and very helpful. I was given a
map and directions to the trails, as I wished to climb the near ridge to Mont
Chocolat.
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| Mont Chocolat |
The map, of course, was in French. But I figured that I could parse out what I
needed, as I’ve followed maps since I was a kid.
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| As are the trail signs |
The trail followed up the Ruisseau Beaudoin, crossing the
stream in a number of places on some pretty substantial pedestrian bridges.
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| This is a pretty little stream |
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| Crossing the Ruisseau Beaudoin |
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| Not made for bicycles . . . |
And, there were a few steeper sections of the trail.
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| Not a trail built to Pacific Northwest standards |
The trail, however, is mostly well-maintained here, is well-marked, and has quite a few
interpretive signs.
These displays described the
use of splash dams to move timber out of the forest back in the early days of
heavy logging. These splash dams, of
course were pretty destructive of the stream habitat.
Other signs provided explanations of the watershed,
of the native Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis,
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| L'omble de fontaine is French for the Brook Trout |
and some of the bird life.
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| I believe this indicates that snags are important for wildlife |
Once I got to the 717-meter elevation at the summit of
Mont Chocolat, the views became pretty nice.
And, there is apparently a hawk-watch conducted up here,
as the interpretive signs indicate.
When I got to the crest of Mont Chocolat, I could see the
summit of Mont du Midi, which is another 200 meters higher, so decided to walk
up to the top and come back down the trail to the stream.
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| Looking back at Mont Chocolat from the Sommet du Mont du Midi |
From the summit among the ski area facilities, I found
the trail back down, and wondered what the word “Ferme” meant, as it was posted
beneath the name of the trail.
After enjoying seeing the birds, flowers and quite a few toads,
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| American Redstart |
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|
Bunchberry Dogwood Cornus canadensis
|
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| American Toad Anaxyrus americanus |
I came
down a steep section and found myself in an area of blown-down spruce
trees. I looked back up the hill and
decided to cross the wind-throw as I was running a bit low on water. It took a bit of time to cross the deadfalls,
in the heat, humidity, and mosquitoes.
When I got to the bottom, I found another sign stating “Ferme”, and this
one was accompanied with the International sign for “Don’t Go Here”… I later found out that “Ferme” means
“Closed”!
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| "Sentier Ferme" means "Trail Closed" . . . |
I didn’t find my target species, but had a great walk,
and had good views of the Winter Wrens that I’d only heard back in Maine. In retrospect, I think that to have had a
chance at seeing the Bicknell’s Thrush, I should rather have taken the Crest of the
Grives Trail, a 9.7 kilometer loop on the other side of the valley from Mont du
Midi. But, that opportunity will have to
wait for another time.
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| This was a pretty Carex atop Mont du Midi |
I checked into the Motel Invitation Inn in Sainte-Marie,
where the nice ladies at the check-in tried to sell me some home-made Chinese soothing
oil. After cleaning up, I walked across
the parking lot to eat supper at La Barbaque.
Not having eaten since breakfast, I ordered an appetizer, the Feuilleté
d’escargots et champignons. For supper I
had the Coquille aux fruits de mer. This
place is not ‘licensed’ so I brought my own last can of Rhapsody Mead, which I’d
carried all across the East. The
waitress seemed amused to be able to use me for practicing her English, and a couple of the
other customers came over to chat with me.
This is a very friendly place, they are proud of their community, and I highly recommend the restaurant.
I considered myself fortunate to not have had to listen
to the booming of fireworks this year.
I’d been in Maine for Canada Day, and am here in rural Quebec for the Fourth
of July.
Trail to top of Mont du Midi eBird Checklist is Here
Trail down from Mont du Midi eBird Checklist is Here
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| Basswood sapling Tilia americana |
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