Gaspé Things to Do Tips by Bwana_Brown

The layers of rock underlying the Gaspé peninsula were long ago tilted by geological forces, resulting in the north coast being uplifted to present the majestic cliffs one sees there today. The lay of the land tilts toward the south, resulting in the Chaleur Bay coast gently sloping into the water without the same degree of ruggedness. As a result, this coast is much more heavily settled, with an almost continuous stream of towns and small villages stretching from the New Brunswick border out to the tip of the peninsula. This flatter land also provides some good farming opportunities, such as this spread just west of our first stop in New Richmond.

The second photo shows the steel bridge spanning the mouth of the Matapedia River as we crossed over from Campbellton, NB to Pointe-a-la-Croix (Cross Point) and the gentle hills of the Quebec-side during the unsettled weather of our first day of driving. There are some very good long sandy beaches along the southern coast and we noticed excellent seawalls and fancy resorts in places like Carleton-sur-Mer and New Carlisle. Situated deep in the sheltered waters of the Chaleur Bay area (so-named the ‘Bay of warmth’ in 1534 by Jacques Cartier as he sailed in on a hot July day) this part of the Gaspé has its own micro-climate.

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Directions: Along the Bay of Chaleur coast between Campbellton, NB and New Richmond, Quebec

Although the weather was cool and a bit windy on our first ‘driving’ day as we crossed into the Gaspé, we were already close to the location of our first B&B so we decided to slow down a bit and make a slight detour out onto the Miguasha peninsula, just across Chaleur Bay from Dalhousie, NB. It was there, in the sedimentary rock cliffs of shale and sandstone, that an amazing fossil find was made in 1842 by Abraham Gesner. According to Wikipedia this “… is considered to be the world's greatest palaeontological record of fossils from the Devonian Period, known as the 'Age of Fishes'. Five of the six main fossil fish groups from this period (dating from 370 million years) can be found here. A great quantity of some of the best-preserved fossil specimens of lobe-finned fish, ancestors to the tetrapods (believed to be the first four-legged air-breathing terrestrial vertebrates), were found here.” In this photo, Sue is examining the coastal cliffs to see if we can spot any fossils ourselves – no luck! The 2nd photo is a view along the coast there, looking back toward the Matapedia River area at the head of Chaleur Bay from where we had driven.

Because of the significance of these fossils, Miguasha was made a Quebec provincial park in 1985 and was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. At the time of our visit in late-May, the tourist season had not yet started, so the Interpretive Centre was not open (June 2nd was posted on their door) as we trudged past it, bundled up from the weather as we returned to our car (3rd photo).

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Directions: The Miguasha peninsula about half-way between Campbellton, NB and Carleton, Que.

After checking into our first B&B on the outskirts of New Richmond, we took a short drive around to have a look at some of the historic attractions this small town of 4000 people has to offer. In keeping with the diverse cultural roots of most Gaspésian settlements, ‘Acadian’ French deported from Nova Scotia in 1756 were its first settlers, soon to be followed by British ‘Loyalists’ in 1784 as they fled the newly independent American colonies. The main attractions in New Richmond stem from the influx of British, Scots and Irish immigrants even though the population is now about 80% French-speaking.

The first sign we spotted of the old British influence was the picturesque St. Andrews United Church, built in 1839, along with its cemetery located on the coastline. Not far away is the full-blown tourist attraction of the Gaspésian British Heritage Village (2nd photo), a collection of twenty-four buildings located on forty acres of woodlands and fields just outside town. During the tourist season, staff dressed in period costumes recreate life as it was during the 1800s. The Village is open from late-June to early September with admission varying between C$7-10 but, once again, it was deserted for us!

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Directions: New Richmond, at the southern end of Highway 299 from the Chic Choc mountains

On the morning of our second day, we started our ‘serious’ exploration of the Gaspé by driving north up the 86-mile valley of the Grand Cascapedia River, which rises near the Chic Choc mountains in the central part of the peninsula. Highway 299 is a great road, with very little traffic, winding its way between the fast-flowing river and forest covered hills. This early in the year, the water was clear and running fast as we passed several rapids as well as a long Beaver dam across a small stream flowing into the Cascapedia (2nd photo). As the river twisted its way around numerous bends, I noticed great piles of uprooted trees crushed together on the far bank of each turn as a result of the force of the earlier snowmelt flows.

The 3rd photo, taken near St.-Jules at the start of our drive, shows a quaint farm sitting beside the river. We later passed some impressive fishing lodges, a legacy of the Atlantic Salmon fishing craze that hit its peak here in the 1870s. The salmon that return from the ocean to their spawning grounds in the Cascapedia are the largest in Canada, weighing up to 40-lb. There is little sign of human habitation along the entire 143 km length of Highway 299, so we stopped to take a photo (4th one) of a strange farm/motel/teepee arrangement sitting alone beside the highway at Ranch du Mont Noble as we neared Gaspésie Provincial Park in the Chic Chocs. In that view you can also see that it is still too early in the year for the deciduous tree leaves to cover their bare branches as they stand among the many evergreen Spruce and Fir trees.

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Directions: Cuts through the centre of the Gaspe Peninsula, from New Richmond to the Chic Choc mountains

As we came over the highest point on Highway 299 (at an elevation of 530-m or 1750-ft) about 80-km into our drive, we had our first good look at the Chic Choc Mountains (pronounced ‘shick shock’ and meaning ‘impenetrable barrier’ in the native Mi'kmaq language) running along the north side of the peninsula – and they were still snow-capped in this late-May part of Spring! This continuation of the Appalachian Mountain range running up from southeastern USA has twenty-five peaks higher than 1-km (3300-ft) and is considered the ‘Rocky Mountains of the East’. Because of the extensive Ice Age glacial action in this part of North America these peaks have been ground down into rounded tops as shown in the 2nd photo of Mont Blanche-Lamontagne. The upper reaches are also generally treeless as depicted in the 3rd photo of bare and rocky Mont Olivine as we neared the main tourist facilities in Gaspésie Provincial Park.

A unique feature of these mountains is that they have their own wild Caribou herd wandering around on the high grounds, the most southerly of any Caribou herd in North America. This is also one of the few places in the world where arctic-alpine type conditions coexist so closely beside boreal forests. We were now getting close to the main hiking kick-off point in the Park, so we were anxious to continue onward to see what we could do to sample it for ourselves on this beautiful sunny morning.

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Directions: Close to the north coast of the peninsula, in Gaspésie Provincial Park

It was about 11:30 AM by the time we reached the Gite du Mont-Albert area of Gaspésie Provincial Park, the main starting point for tourist activities in this part of Quebec, renowned for its hiking and winter-skiing activities. Gaspésie features abundant wildlife and a number of trails, including a portion of the International Appalachian Trail system that can take 5-8 days to hike across the various peaks located within the park. Various cabins and huts are located at strategic intervals to make life a little easier!

After paying our C$3.50 per person day-use fee at the Interpretive Centre, Sue and I confirmed that the higher trails leading into the peaks were still closed due to snow depth, so we decided to at least try the relatively short ‘Belvedere (Lookout) de la Lucarne’ route. Here, Sue is starting up the trail through the forest shortly after noon and the 2nd photo shows me with some of the peaks in the background as we emerge in a clearing higher up the slope. The 3rd photo shows one of the trail signposts to help keep us sorted out on the interconnecting system (along with a small map that I had printed from the internet before leaving home). In less than a half-hour, we had reached the wooden ‘belvedere’ on a small rise, where we had great views of the mountains in all directions (4th and 5th photos). Because the trails are interconnected, we decided to continue onward down the slopes to the nearby Sainte-Anne River and circle back to the Gite area by a different route. We had noticed many piles of Moose droppings as we ascended and, sure enough, only a few minutes after leaving the belvedere we stumbled upon one of these large beasts browsing beside the trail. It was as surprised as we were and ambled off into the forest before I could draw my camera! We should not have been surprised, because the Gaspé contains the highest concentration of moose in Canada with up to 20 animals per 10 sq. km.

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Directions: Start from Gite du Mont-Albert

After descending from our Lucarne ‘lookout’ perch, we crossed Highway 299 and quickly encountered the narrow upstream reaches of the Sainte-Anne River as seen here. A very well-built pedestrian bridge (2nd photo) allowed for easy crossing and we were soon exploring along the banks of this fast-flowing and clear body of water. We had brought a cooler with us when we left on this Gaspé trip and used supplies from it to make ourselves some cheese and tomatoe sandwiches before setting of on the hike. There were not a lot of dry places to sit in the forest this early in the season, but we managed to find some boulders beside the river to use as seats while we enjoyed an early afternoon picnic and the sound of rushing water (3rd photo).

On our way back to our parked car, we continued along this side of the river before crossing a second foot-bridge to return to our starting point. Along the way we came across many places where winter snow was still hanging on in the shadows of the forest (4th photo) and also a few diversions off the trail because of winter blow-down trees (5th photo). Shortly after skirting that large specimen snapped off at ground level, we met two Park maintenance workers heading toward it with a chainsaw as they carried out their clean-up duties prior to the real start of the tourist season. By 2:30 PM, we were in our car and headed for the north coast, planning to stay in Ste.-Anne-des-Monts where our little stream finally reaches the St. Lawrence River. We were happy with our small excursion, knowing that the park was not really ready for serious exploring yet, because our main goals on this trip were to see the north coast and Forillon National Park at its tip. However, if you really want to see how beautiful the serious hiking can be in the Chic Chocs, check out the amazing views and tips by VT-member 'snaab' on his 'Gaspé' page!

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Directions: Just across the Ste.-Anne River from Gite du Mont-Albert

Because of my work at New Brunswick Power, one of the things I wanted to have a look at while on the north coast was the 57-megawatt (MW) Cap Chat electric power wind farm just west of Ste.-Anne-des-Monts. With its 76 turbines (each rated 0.75 MW), this was one of the early sites for this fast-developing ‘green power’ technology. This view of several conventional ‘horizontal axis’ wind turbines greeted us as we drove up the short road to the Cap Chat farm, where a large parking lot and visitor centre (closed) cater to curious tourists.

More interesting for me was the world’s largest wind turbine (2nd photo), a 4.3 MW Darrieus type machine (invented in 1931 by a Frenchman of the same name) that stands 110-m high, almost 20-m taller than the Peace Tower of Canada’s Parliament Buildings! This ‘egg-beater’ design has not worked out well due to the full weight of the tower resting on a ground-level bearing that has to allow the entire structure to rotate. This machine has been retired for several years because it is too expensive to repair a bearing failure it experienced. The 3rd photo shows another view of the more conventional type of smaller windmills at Cap Chat as well as a distant snow-covered field!

Interestingly enough, although this is supposed to be a very windy spot, only one or two turbines were rotating. It is this lack of control over wind-power availability that causes power system operators so much trouble, unlike with conventional hydro, coal, oil or nuclear plants where you just ‘step on the accelerator’ whenever you need more output! In fact, the November 4, 2006 European ‘blackout’ was the result of a sudden unplanned surge in wind power output from Denmark that took grid operators by surprise after they had removed two high voltage transmission lines from service in Germany (to allow a newly built cruise ship to safely pass beneath them). In this weakened state, the surge of wind power overloaded the remaining lines and uncontrolled tripping of the European grid began.

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Directions: A few miles west of Ste.-Anne-des-Monts on the north coast

After spending the night in a B&B at Ste.-Anne-des-Monts, we began our drive toward the eastern tip of the peninsula. As we were leaving town, we had our first inkling that this was going to be a scenic route when we saw an impressive turret-shaped rock perched below the 100-ft cliffs at the little community of Tourelle. I wanted a closer look at the rock, but it seemed to be a difficult spot to reach, with this photo being taken by zoom lens. We drove along the highway to see if we could find another way to reach it but the best we could come up with was a path through the trees along the edge of the cliff. From there, we were able to look down (2nd and 3rd photos) on this one remaining ‘tourelle’, the smaller of the two that were standing here when the area was first settled. The 4th photo shows the view from the fishing boat harbour in Tourelle where I took my zoom shot of the turret way off on the distant headland. Our first view of Ste.-Anne-des-Monts and the St. Lawrence River is shown in the 5th photo as we emerged the previous day from the central Chic Choc mountains area.

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Directions: On the eastern outskirts of Ste.-Anne-des-Monts

After leaving Tourelle, this is the scenic view of Highway 132 that greeted us near the seaport of Ruisseau-Castor (Beaver Brook), as we headed east toward Forillon National Park at the far tip of the Gaspé Peninsula. The first half of this 180-km segment of our trip wound along at sea level below the sharply rising cliffs of the north coast. The weather was warm and sunny, the sea was calm, traffic was very light and about every 15-20 km we would wind our way through another small and scenic fishing port!

Just before entering the next village of La Martre, we spotted the impressive waterfall of Chute le Vale de la Marieé shown in the 2nd and 3rd photos (the upcoming La Martre lighthouse is also just visible in the 2nd photo). Another great thing about the highway was its wide shoulders, providing plenty of space to pull off for a closer look at anything we wanted to explore more closely.

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Directions: Heading east toward La Martre on Highway 132