hikehike
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Spent last week mostly in the Gaspesie Region of Quebec. Most of our time was spent in the Chic Choc Mountain area at the Auberge in the National Park also very close/bordering the Adjacent Matane Forest Reserve (Reserve faunique de Matane).
The Chic Choc Mountain Lodge is accessed by enclosed snowmobiles (ie you cannot drive to it - you park your car in Cap Chat (about 20 miles from Matane) and you board the vehicles and they transport you up to lodge (approx 2 hours ride in on the snowmobilws). This lodge has all the luxuries of a 1st class hotel, including excellent food. So the bottom line is they treat you real good....
Daily activities are either alpine ski touring and/or snowshoeing. We snowshoed for the 4 days which we were there and went out on tours of the park with the guides. We could have gone on our own, but chose the guided tours.
Beautiful area with great hikes and great scenery. We summited 780 (a 780 meter height of land) and also snowshoed over to views of the Snow Bowl between Mt Matawees and Mt Collins. During the course of our hikes, we walked a bit on the International Appalachian Trail, which is an extension of the AT and crosses New Brunswick and Quebec.
This Region’s weather is greatly influenced on the big body of water to the N (ST Lawrence River), which is at least 50 miles to 80 miles wide in this area and increasing in width the further to the NE. The River creates a mega lake effect snow, which dumps mega snow in the mountain area where we were. During our stay, there was 1.5 to 2 meters of snow base which I was told was low for this time of year. It typically is more like 3 meters. While we were there, the snow had consolidated and fixed up somewhat from a recent warm spell, so the snowshoeing was easy and off trail hiking was not a problem....
It was definitely a worthwhile trip, it is always fun discovering a new place.... I will definitely be planning on returning for more exploration. And now that I have set foot on the International Appalachian Trail, I guess I’ll have to start working on hiking that!!
Some Photos are here
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/576879803TFFduF
We also visited the Mont Albert Region of the Parc for a half day hike up Hog’s Back Mtn. Winds were strong (50mph sustained gusts)/open summit, so we made a smart choice and had to turn back at 50 meters from the summit (now I have to go back to finish this!).
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/576879807lTbOPb
Also, on the way up we stopped for a half day hike at Parc National du Bic, which is about 10 miles south of Rimouski. This park is situated on the shores of the Saint Lawrence River and has some great trails for hiking and x-skiing. We shoshoed a 4 hour loop with one highlight being the Le Chocolat Spur Trail which takes you down to the River where the big chunks of shore ice made for interesting scenery.
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/576883258IUrvvl
The Chic Choc Mountain Lodge is accessed by enclosed snowmobiles (ie you cannot drive to it - you park your car in Cap Chat (about 20 miles from Matane) and you board the vehicles and they transport you up to lodge (approx 2 hours ride in on the snowmobilws). This lodge has all the luxuries of a 1st class hotel, including excellent food. So the bottom line is they treat you real good....
Daily activities are either alpine ski touring and/or snowshoeing. We snowshoed for the 4 days which we were there and went out on tours of the park with the guides. We could have gone on our own, but chose the guided tours.
Beautiful area with great hikes and great scenery. We summited 780 (a 780 meter height of land) and also snowshoed over to views of the Snow Bowl between Mt Matawees and Mt Collins. During the course of our hikes, we walked a bit on the International Appalachian Trail, which is an extension of the AT and crosses New Brunswick and Quebec.
This Region’s weather is greatly influenced on the big body of water to the N (ST Lawrence River), which is at least 50 miles to 80 miles wide in this area and increasing in width the further to the NE. The River creates a mega lake effect snow, which dumps mega snow in the mountain area where we were. During our stay, there was 1.5 to 2 meters of snow base which I was told was low for this time of year. It typically is more like 3 meters. While we were there, the snow had consolidated and fixed up somewhat from a recent warm spell, so the snowshoeing was easy and off trail hiking was not a problem....
It was definitely a worthwhile trip, it is always fun discovering a new place.... I will definitely be planning on returning for more exploration. And now that I have set foot on the International Appalachian Trail, I guess I’ll have to start working on hiking that!!
Some Photos are here
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/576879803TFFduF
We also visited the Mont Albert Region of the Parc for a half day hike up Hog’s Back Mtn. Winds were strong (50mph sustained gusts)/open summit, so we made a smart choice and had to turn back at 50 meters from the summit (now I have to go back to finish this!).
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/576879807lTbOPb
Also, on the way up we stopped for a half day hike at Parc National du Bic, which is about 10 miles south of Rimouski. This park is situated on the shores of the Saint Lawrence River and has some great trails for hiking and x-skiing. We shoshoed a 4 hour loop with one highlight being the Le Chocolat Spur Trail which takes you down to the River where the big chunks of shore ice made for interesting scenery.
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/576883258IUrvvl
