Monday, August 15, 2016

GTT Days 13-14

August 13 - Reserve faunique La Verendrye, QC, Lac Rapide campground.
 
Now we're in Quebec, Province Number 6! We had great fun going grocery shopping in a Super C in Val d'Or. At least I can read the labels! My last French class was nearly 50 years ago so not too great on speaking it especially with the Quebec accents. We faked it all fine so far though. The campground attendants at Lac Rapide had enough English to get us settled but the weather has taken a turn for the worse and is dumping rain on us. Another problem is that we're running low on potable water since none of the last three campgrounds have had anything that we'd want to drink. Either "boil water advisory", "not tested or approved potable", and here it's distinctly marked as non-potable. Sheesh! At least our tank water isn't too bad. Hopefully there will be somewhere we can fill up our bottle stash soon.
 
The wildlife preserve La Verendrye is really huge and very beautiful, full of lakes and thickly covered in mixed forest. There are quite a large number of campgrounds, mostly primitive, and the popular recreations are boating, canoeing, hunting and fishing. No hiking trails! And I only managed to get this photo from our campsite quickly between the raindrops.
 
 
 
August 14 - Mont-Tremblant, QC.
Today we packed up in the rain and travelled south to Quebec's Parc national du Mont-Tremblant. The weather cleared up somewhat but it was still drizzly and foggy all day. The area is really pretty though we missed some of the scenery in the fog. Mont-Tremblant is kind of Montreal's playground park. We went through the main village which reminded us of a ski town like BC's Whistler. Except they were having a marathon race that we had to drive beside while watching the faces of all the poor tired runners! Then down a narrow winding road with a bunch of serious cyclists speeding beside us. Then finally into the Diable region where we got a campsite for the night - and finally some fresh water and a much-needed shower too. It's a really nice part of the park with a great bicycle/hiking trail which we used to get to the visitors centre. At least it finally stopped raining! There's lots of action on the lakes with paddle boards, canoes, small boats and picnickers - it being Sunday and all.
 
All the lakes are looking the same now, aren't they? Heh. Too bad I couldn't photograph the many fish we saw in the shallows. I had a slightly better shot but it filled up with people before I could take it. Hope they don't mind being on my blog! (Told you it was busy!)
 
We've managed very well with our minimal French. There's always been someone with enough English to help when we needed it. So far! One more day in Quebec and then we head to the Maritimes. We're still having a good time though! Wildlife spotted: blue jays. We don't have them on the west coast. Ours are Steller's jays, bigger and shading from midnight to indigo. These guys are more of a blue-grey and much less noisy!
OK, apparently I've used my allotted bandwidth for the day and the park's wifi won't let me post this. Boo. Next chance I get. 

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