July 28 – Hike to Cap Gaspe

Today started a bit gloomy in the morning. We got some sun in the afternoon but most importantly there was no rain.

We did the one trail you just have to do when you are here. The Les Grave trail goes out to the very tip of the peninsula at Cap Gaspe. It is 8 km out and back but there are two ways to go. There is a pure hiking trail that hugs every nook and cranny of the coast. Then there is a dirt road, still only for hiking, that takes the direct route higher up on the cliffs. The hiking trail is actually the end of the International Appalachian Trail which continues to here from the end of the US Appalachian Trail in Maine. We took the trail out and the easier road back.

First we went down to this beach. I told Jennie we would be back so she could explore it later.

Then up along side this cascading stream.

Once we were up on the headlands there were a few ups and downs but nothing major.

There were thistles everywhere.

The evidence of the rain from the last few days. It never looks it in the pictures but this was a steep little hill.

I guess they decided to abandon this old stairway down to a beach.

Lots of deep coves.

We are not sure what this tree was but it had some vicious spikes.

About a kilometer from the end, the trail leaves the coast and climbs straight up to the top of the hill and then you walk along the crown. Again it doesn’t look it but this was pretty steep.

Jennie says these are called Ghost Pipes.

We stopped at this viewpoint where you could see Perce Rock off in the distance.

I worried that after that steep climb we would have a steep downhill to the end. I forgot that lighthouses like to be high up so we just walked out of the trees to it.

We sat on a picnic table and had lunch.

You couldn’t see much of the actual cape from here so we took a 1/2 km trail DOWN to a lookout. Here is a picture of the lookout from the top, taken after we came back up. I had to stand on a fence to get this.

I wish we had know the location before we went down because there was no way Jennie was going out on that so the steep climb down and back was a waste for her.

The end of the Appalachian Mountains falling into the sea.

You can see the lighthouse peeking out in the top right.

A somewhat distorted panorama.

Heading back

It was a long gentle slope down the road.

Jennie is always checking the side of the trail for interesting things.

There was soon a “crowd”.

You wouldn’t know it from the pictures but this was a popular trail. I would guess we saw about 50 other people.

Back down to the beach.

This little guy was poking around.

I loved these huge plates of rock.

A fruit break.

It looked like there were some scuba divers in training.

Our path.

The short drive home. Things look so much nicer in the sunshine.

Some of the stops actually looked a bit busy.

Tomorrow we start our 1800 km dash back to our cottage for the August long weekend. We will probably just stop at a Walmart each night. Tomorrow will be the most challenging day as there are a lot of very steep ups and downs on this section of the highway.