Day 10: Miramichi NB - Rimouski QC

KM Driven: 644.7
Location: Le Navigateur Hôtel

I'm wiped. I just spent 12 hours on the road today. From what was supposed to be a leisurely 5 to 5 1/2 hour drive somehow turned into 12. Where to start.

I realized last night as I was flipping through my magical destinations book that I missed a pretty special one an hour back from where I landed. That kind of demonstrates my lack of preparedness these past few days. Anyhow, I decided it was a must see and this morning I booked it South to La Dune de Bouctouche, just a few minutes North of Bouctouche. It's funny I specifically remember passing that city the first time though because I giggled at the name, for no apparent reason. Backtracking was 150% the right way to go, the dune was absolutely breath taking. You had to park across the street and then walk across to the boardwalk. They had a small observation area where you could take a nice picture of the entire area. Then they had a boardwalk that stretches about 2km down the 12km dune. I took about a half click on the sand which proved to be maybe not the best choice. It was interesting watching the blowing sand start to fill in my foot prints just as soon as I had made them. The sun was out, the air was just the right level of cool, and it was a gorgeous walk up and back the boardwalk. At the tip of the boardwalk I spied a few people venturing down the beach. Who knows if they were going to trek to the tip of the Dune. That would be 10km in the sand, good luck to them.

So back and the road and up through Miramichi again, I took the extended route along the shoreline between Miramichi and Bathurst. This was not intentional. I did think it was taking much too long to get there, but once I realized it was far too late to gain any time back by cutting back across. It was a great view anyhow. There are a lot of beautiful shores on the Northern coast of NB. I made one unauthorized stop in Pokeshaw, NB at a tiny Provincial Park that was closed. It was just off the road, and as I drove past I saw this magnificent rock structure just off the shore. I u-ed back and pulled up to the closed gate and hopped the low fence into the park area. It's normally $2 a person, but I guess labour day is off season or something. I've gained free access to a lot of things because of the season. Not a ton, but enough to notice. Anyways, I snapped a few shots and was back in the car.

I almost blew my route at the border because I hadn't made note of a bridge as you cross from NB to QC. I crossed the bridge, got confused and went back, and then realized it had to be right and went back again. It was right, so I carried on. Just a few short moments down the road I saw a sign with a picture of a falls, and an arrow that said 15km. I figured I could spare 45 minutes and take a quick side trip. Turns out the first 10km is almost entirely uphill. My car ramped up to 6000rpm just to maintain the speed limit of 80km/h. I'm not sure I have ever, ever seen it go that high before. It was a mother of a hill. At one point you turned a sharp corner and turned into a continuing steep incline. It was French madness. I pulledup to a shoddy sign that said Chutes A Picot 4.5km so I turned in. It was a one lane dirt road that twisted and turned and went exactly back the way I had just come but on the inside. I finally pulled up to the end of the road where I found an outhouse (thank goodness), and a path with arrows indicating to follow to the falls. Now, the road in already scared me a little seeing that I'm a female travelling alone and if anything were to have happened I could have been in big trouble. I'm pretty sure at that point it was a no cell phone range (I actually couldn't find my cell phone at the time anyways). But to get out of my car and venture down an unknown path with potential unknown visitors was perhaps one of the dumbest things I've done on this trip. I second guessed myself but I thought I had already come too far to turn back. The path itself stretched about 1.5-2 clicks into the woods along a narrow path that sloped down a medium steep hill. And the path was covered in tree roots making it slightly difficult to navigate. I got about half way down the path and even considered returning to my car but once again I thought I had gone too far and needed to finish what I had started. I finally arrived at the falls, and it was really serene. There wasn't a soul in sight, just me and the beauty that is nature. I took a few pictures and then hoofed it back up the path, which by the way was entirely downhill towards the falls and uphill on the way back. Yeah. I really was worried the entire time that something bad was going to happen. I rarely if ever put myself into a situation I'm not comfortable with that I wouldn't consider safe, but I took a chance. In the back of my mind the entire time I kept thinking that maybe someone else would come, and see a lone car with the passenger seat filled with junk and know there was a solo hiker with a lot to lose. BUT, in the end everything turned out fine. And I finally put my own personal mark on this trip with an impromptu off the beaten path adventure. I tried googling Chutes a Picot for more information but apparently there is none. There are two flickr accounts with some photos but that's it.

I circled back the way I came and got back on the 132-O, destination Rimouski. In my direction notes I was to turn onto the 132-O, and then at the traffic circle take the 3rd exit towards Rimouski. I just didn't happen to make note that I had to stay on the 132 for almost 200km. So, as it started to get dark, and rain, and all the signs were for cities I had no recognition of I started to become really uncomfortable. I have always held the position that if I've driven in the wrong direction and it's too late to correct I just need to stop what I'm doing and fix it the next day. Finally I pulled into Mont Joli, and I decided to bring out the Acer and confirm my location. I was less than .5km away from the traffic circle. If I had driven on for 30 more seconds I would have seen it. C'est la vie.

The first hotel I stopped at was full, but luckily they directed me to the one I'm at now. It's pretty posh and not too unreasonable. If it was light out I'd find a dirt hole, but I was here and there was room so I took it. Tomorrow I'm back in Ontario, and then the following night I'll wrap this all up with a few after thoughts. Kind of like Jerry Springer but classier.

Bon nuit mes amis.