[at-l] Fall has fell….

[Jim and_or Ginny Owen]

 in the North country.  The temperature has dropped, the leaves are turning, and we’ve 
camped several nights on a carpet of fallen leaves. It must be time to go south.
 
But let’s back up a few days – our last update was from Baddeck, Nova Scotia where 
we had all of 15 minutes of Internet access.  Which is one of the reasons it was so short.  
That, in fact, has been the pattern for the last 3 months – we get Internet access once
every couple weeks – for long enough to read email, but not long enough to answer 
anyone.  That’s what happens when we camp all the time. It’s a good life, just  a little 
isolated.  
 
>From Baddeck, we headed north into New Brunswick to Koubichubuac National Park 
where the attraction was a long walk on the beach – with seals at the far end of the barrier 
island.  
 
Then it was on to the Gaspe – and Forillon National Park via the southern coastal road.  
The Gaspe Point lighthouse at Forillon is the northern terminus of the International 
Appalachian Trail (IAT).  That was the initial attraction for us, but there were also 
whales, dolphins and porcupines to make the l8 km walk interesting.  
 
Leaving Forillon, we drove the northern coastal road, with a left turn into the Parc 
National de la Gaspesie.  We spent one day climbing Pic de l’Aube with beautiful 
views of some wild and remote country, then spent the next climbing Mont Jacques
 Cartier.  That was literally a zoo – there must have been 200 people up there.  
Mont Jacques Cartier is only the second highest mountain in Quebec (the highest peak 
is in the Torngat Mts --- a long way north of the nearest road.)  But Mont Jacques 
Cartier is also on the International Appalachian Trail (IAT) route  - as well as being
 home to one of the three small caribou herds in the Gaspesie Park. We were lucky
 enough to spot several caribou on the rocky plateau. 
 
It’s interesting and somewhat amusing that Gaspesie is a Canadian National Park, but is 
billed as Parcs Quebec rather than Parcs Canada.  Anyone planning on going to Quebec 
should also note that ALL signs and 99.99% of conversation in Quebec is in French.  
It makes life a little uncertain even if you speak French (Quebecois is not your high 
school type Parisian French). 
 
In fact, the language thing has been interesting – in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, 
everything was in both French and English.  Except for Cape Breton where the signs 
were either in English/Gaelic or English/Mi’kmaw.  In Newfoundland, everything is 
English, while in Quebec, English is as common as Aramaic.  
 
Our next stop was back in New Brunswick at Mt Carleton Provincial Park, where 
contrary to the zoo atmosphere at Mt Jacques Cartier, we were the only ones climbing 
Mt Carleton.  Mt Carleton is also part of the International Appalachian Trail (IAT) route.  
 
The last stop on our IAT tour was Millinocket, Abol Bridge and Mt Katahdin in Maine – 
which we visited but did NOT climb.  But it brought back a lot of  memories.  Nuff said 
about that.  
 
Now we’re in Booth Bay Harbor, Maine visiting Ginny’s father and stepmother.  This is 
the first time since June that we’ve spent two nights in the same place.  It’s been a really 
good visit. 
 
Future Plans?    Acadia National Park, the Maine/NH coast, visit a cousin near Boston, 
Cape Cod?, chase some more petroglyphs, maybe visit Beau in New York, hike a little 
in different places, get to the Gathering in Oct, see the surgeon, see the grandchildren - 
and then, who knows?  We’ll let you know how it goes.  
 
 Walk softly,
Jim & Ginny
 
 
 

http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/

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