Today we left Quebec and continued North/East on Route 132 that paralleled the Saint-Lawrence – the father we went, the wider it grew. The drive was only 5 hours, but there was a glitch as we reached our “Parc Nat du Bic” at Saint-Fabien. The providence of Quebec does not allow dogs in the Provincial parks –- or some National Parks within their boundary! So much for those reservations made 6 months ago – next time we’ll read the fine print. Accommodatingly close-by was a private park, The Rimouski. Being Sunday it had emptied out from the weekend, and we easily got a pull-thru with full hook-ups. At the rate of $55 a night, you still had to chuck quarters in the money-maker in the shower; 1 quarter = 2 minutes! Leaving Charlie in the Silvermine (no dogs allowed) we drove back to the entry point of the Bic National Park. The purpose of the park seemed to be to preserve the coastline along the St. Lawrence where the tide make its presence known every 12 hours. Our first views were during low tide. Our first stop was at the Kayak rental kiosk where there was a good view of the river where the tide was completely out. Hiking, biking and kayaking seem to be the approved way of exploring the neighborhood, and by car there is just one narrow dirt road to the trail drop-off points. Some of the trails are high above the high-tide point, and some of them lead you down on the mud flats at low-tide. We walked down o the mud flats and Tom scooped up a water sample for his water-around-the-america's water collections. Half-way through there was a discovery center (visitor center) Ferme Rioux. There were signs alluding to seal-watching, but we did not see any seals. The seals do their basking business at a particular point in the tide cycle, and it must not be at low tide! We took a rest break at the camper where I was able to work on this blog – I am usually about two days behind. Keeping up now depends on wifi access and strength of signal, as I blew through all of my wifi hotspot on the phone 4 days ago! After supper, we estimated that the tide would be back up from our previous viewing, and we headed back to the park. We saw a little fox trotting along the highway!Our first stop was the first stop of our low-tide visit. Sure enough, the red boat that had been sitting halfheartedly on the mud earlier, was floating contentedly in the water now. So it was for the rest of the drive – the same road with a completely different view. Where we had previously walked out around the mud flats, there was now just water. That’s what the Park du Bic is all about.I was especially tired when we got back to the camper, and was in bed immediately sleeping soundly all night.
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October 2021
We don’t go camping any more . . . we go ‘streamin’ ! The “SIlvermine and His” is our 2018 25' Airstream Serenity with Salsa interior and front twin beds., and ‘streamin’ is the name we use to describe our adventures. Stream along as we document everything from weekend trips to longer summer excursions and full-blown vacations. You know what they say: if you’re not in an Airstream – you’re just camping!
Tom & Ella Brown |