Autumn along the St Lawrence

[markbvt]

Back in July, I embarked on a 3000-mile ride through the Canadian Maritimes (if you want to read that ride report, it's linked in my sig at the bottom of this post). Due to the amount of countryside we were covering on that trip, we didn't get a chance to explore all the areas as much as I would have liked, so I decided to head back up along the St Lawrence River to the Gaspé peninsula. I figured that late September would be a great time for it, and I was right.


Tuesday, September 23, Burlington, Vermont, to Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec
My friend Justin and I met up on this brisk 45-degree morning just outside of Burlington, VT. It was chilly, but the sun was shining and the sky was deep blue. It would be a beautiful day for a ride.

We headed east on Rt 15, then turned north on Rt 100C and Rt 100. I snapped a few pics en route.



There's Justin...


...and yours truly.


We turned onto Rt 105 to Newport, then Rt 5 to Derby Line, where we crossed the border into Quebec. We proceeded north on Rt 143 and eventually stopped for lunch. Cheeseburger and poutine, yum!


Shortly after lunch, we turned onto Rt 116, but eventually gave up on it due to traffic and construction and decided to slab it past Quebec City, so we hopped on Trans-Canada Highway 20. We stopped for gas about 40 miles short of our destination and took a few pics while we were there.





We made it to Rivière-du-Loup shortly before sunset and set up camp in the municipal campground near the river. Ours were the only tents there.

Wednesday, September 24, Rivière-du-Loup to Percé, Quebec
We packed up camp Wednesday morning and set out east on Rt 132, which we would follow all day long. The morning was foggy, but it soon began to clear, with some interesting results.


Here's some of the scenery along Rt 132.














We were going to camp partway between the towns of Gaspé and Percé, but the campground I'd found online appeared to have already closed down for the season, so we pushed on to Percé. We were glad we did -- we camped in town, right above the beach.

After setting up camp, we walked to a nearby restaurant, which offered a three-course dinner at a very reasonable price. First we had soup...


...and then a sort of seafood shepherd's pie with rice and veggies.


Then we headed back to our campsite and enjoyed a campfire and an awesome view.


Thursday, September 25, Percé to Bic, Quebec
These were the views we were greeted with in the morning.



Our campsite, after we packed up:


We stopped for breakfast before heading out of town, and on the way out we stopped to get a last view of the Percé rock.


We continued on Rt 132 along the southern coast of the Gaspé peninsula, then shortly after the town of New Richmond we turned north on Rt 299 to ride through the interior of Gaspé to Ste-Anne-des-Monts on the St Lawrence. I was very glad we did this -- the interior of Gaspé is incredibly beautiful, and this road was great.








The mountainous landscape was crisscrossed by dirt roads; I'll need to head back up there with my Honda XR650L sometime and spend a few days exploring them.

In Ste-Anne-des-Monts, we turned west onto Rt 132 and retraced our route of the previous day. We planned to camp in the Rimouski area so we could catch the 8am ferry the following morning. We ended up riding to Bic and camping in the national park there, where we were treated to a spectacular sunset on the oddly-named Baie du Ha! Ha!.




We had dinner at a little restaurant on Rt 132, which served excellent fresh seafood. Unfortunately I forgot to take a pic.

Friday, September 26, Bic, Quebec, to Burlington, Vermont (by way of Chicoutimi, Quebec)
We got up at 5:30 on Friday morning to pack up camp and ride to Rimouski to catch the 8am ferry to Forestville, across the St Lawrence.


This ferry had some serious horsepower.



Justin clocked us at 26mph with his Zumo, but it felt faster.


A little over an hour after departing Rimouski, we were arriving in Forestville.


We rode west on Rt 138 to Tadoussac and stopped off at the dunes before having lunch.


Yes, I really was there.


We had lunch in downtown Tadoussac (tasty sausage panini).


Then we rode along the Saguenay fjord on Rt 172. Fantastic road -- gorgeous scenery and terrific sweeping curves. We were having so much fun that we didn't stop for many pics.



Rt 172 brought us to Chicoutimi, where we crossed the fjord and picked up Rt 381 back towards the St Lawrence. Rt 381 is simply epic. Incredible mountain scenery, and the road twists and turns and goes up and down like a roller coaster. Incredible. Again, we were having such a blast that we only stopped once for pics.






Eventually Rt 381 rejoined Rt 138 along the St Lawrence, and we headed toward Quebec City, looking for a campground along the way. As we approached Quebec City, though, Justin and I both began thinking that we may as well just head home. It was only another 260 miles or so, and the forecast for Saturday was very rainy. So we slabbed it from Quebec back home to Vermont. We stopped for dinner/coffee/Advil about 75 miles west of Quebec, then continued. In the Montreal area we started getting a little rain, so we pulled over and donned rain gear. Good thing, because it soon began raining much more heavily. We crossed the border back into the US, then headed south on I-89 (at less than the speed limit -- damn, it was a murky night). I got home at 11pm, only slightly damp.

Total trip mileage, according to my V-Strom's odometer, was 1697.8. Terrific trip -- the scenery and roads in Gaspé and the Saguenay fjord area are simply fantastic.

Justin put up a great ride report -- check it out here:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7991548

--mark

[BuckRider]

Very nice!

Thanks for sharing.

[Klay]

Lovely!

[olebiker]

Thanks the pics are great.

[Antontrax]

Great!
I had to cut Gaspe out of my recent Maritime trip due to bad weather, glad I could see it through your camera.

I'll have to give that 381 a try

[Gadget Boy]

Great ride! your certainly picked some of the nicest parts of Quebec to visit!

[Questor]

Nice Ride Report Mark.

As usual your pictures are of great quality.

I like seeing all the food pics, and seeing the tree and the ocean is a treat for me right now. I've been seeing nothing but sage brush and red rocks for the past week.

I might be getting homesick...

Q~

[markbvt]

Not to worry, Q, the trees will still be here when you get back! I wouldn't mind seeing some sage brush and red rocks right now...

Funny thing about motorcycle touring. Within a few days of getting back home, I start craving the next trip.

--mark