Day 27, Tuesday, August, 21, 2018. Sainte-Anne-Des-Monts, QC
A 30 minute drive in the car to the Gaspesie National Park where we spend the day.  Located in the center of the Gaspe Peninsula, the park is huge with 802 square kilometers and includes 25 mountains of a height over 1000 meters plus many more the are under that figure. We hiked the La Saillie Trail, a 3.4 kilometer hike with 190 meter in elevation gain. After 2 days of no hiking, we thought our legs would have recovered from the hiking we did in Forillon NP but we discovered our legs were still tired. We persevered and reached the viewpoint 10 minutes ahead of the parks estimated time. The downhill return was a piece of cake. A second hike was a shorter one to the Chute (waterfall) Sainte-Anne, a 1.7 kilometer hike of ups and downs along the Sainte-Anne River. We ate our packed lunch inside the Visitor Center which had an inside room with a view. We then drove abut 20 minutes on a dirt road to the Le Mont Ernest-Laforce trail head.  This was a 4.5 kilometer hike with 155 meter elevation gain. It sure seemed a lot more than that. The trail to the summit was all uphill and was very taxing but we made it to the top with a fantastic 360 degree view of the Gaspesie Appalachian Mountains not to mention a very cool breeze. There was a crowd at the top initially but then we found ourselves alone which was wonderful. I did not want to leave due to the beauty of the moment and maybe due some to avoidance of more hiking. Fortunately, the rest of the hike was all downhill. We returned to the coach about 5:30 and chose not to walk the campground and beach that evening.

Day 26, Monday, August, 20, 2018. Grande Valle, QC to Sainte-Anne-Des-Monts, QC
We departed Grand Vallee about 10:00 and drove an hour to Mont-St-Pierre which is a hang gliding haven.  A few weeks earlier the town hosted a festival with hang gliders and paragliders coming from all over Canada. I was number 3 in line at Vue Du Ciel which meant I had a couple hours until flight time. We walked the entire length of the town and back again and ate lunch in the coach until it was my turn. The town being a one road town, we parked the coach in the pull off lane right in front of Vue Du Ciel and right along the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We drove in a 4 wheel drive vehicle up the mountain in first and sometimes second gear, steep and bumpy.  At least I would not have to endure the drive back down the mountain. At the top there was a crowd watching idiots like me run and jump off a cliff 1,380 feet high. After putting on the necessary gear, getting instructions and taking a few practice take off runs from the instructor Sebastian, whose primary language was French with a little bit of English, we approached the take off spot only to have a few aborted runs due to shifts in the wind. The wind shift caused us to use an alternative launching point. I consider myself pretty fearless but I have to admit once on top of the mountain looking over the cliff the thought did occur to me what in the heck am I doing. The most dangerous part of any flight is the takeoff so 1, 2, 3, go, we start running to the edge of the cliff and very suddenly we are airborne with no ground below us for 1,380 feet. Once the takeoff was complete, it was calming. What was surprising was how fast we were traveling.  Watching a hang glider from the ground it seems they are moving so slow, just floating. That was not the case.  The weather was cool so no updrafts from ground heating so we came down fairly quickly. The scenery was beautiful, but heck, you can view the beautiful scenery without jumping off a cliff. The landing was pretty hard which resulted in strawberries on both arms and grass stains on my long pants at both knees. I guess the weight of 2 people makes landing more difficult. I probably could do better if I soloed. Hang gliding was something I always wanted to do so I am glad I did it.  Would I ever solo? I am not that big of an idiot!  Back on the road another hour to Camping Ancre Jaune (fhu 30 amp) in Sainte-Anne-Des-Monts, a town of fairly large size (population 7,000) compared to the other places we have been in since entering Canada. We take the car to see the town and get a chocolate croissant at the local bakery, Marie 4 Poches, buy some dark chocolate at Couleur Chocolat and do some grocery shopping at Metro.

Day 25, Sunday, August, 19, 2018. Grande Valle, QC
Departed Cap-Aux-Os and traveled 1 ½ hours to Grande Vallee, QC, on the northern coast of the Gaspe Peninsula along the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  Checked into Camping Soleil Couchant (Sunset Camping) for 50 amp full hookup. Campground is right on the beach with a beachfront view out the front of our coach. The beach was unusual in that instead of horizontal layers they were vertical, with various jagged rock layers protruding. It made us alert to where we stepped during our walk along the beach. Although a few others were on the beach, no one was in the water. The town of 1,062 does not have much to do but it does have 2 very nice groceries which we visited. We bought a package of Schwartz’s Deli Smoked Meat, a Montreal favorite we have had in the past, together with some poutine cheese and some frozen french fries.  Smoked meat (similar to pastrami) and poutine dinner was great.  Rosemary had a cheese omelet (not with poutine cheese). After dinner we walked the beach to watch the sunset, me in long pants for the first time on this trip and Rosemary with two jackets. Nice but a bit hazy so we did not get the beautiful colors that sunsets can produce. We did see a brief glimpse of a whale, but after two surfaces it disappeared. Then a drive into “downtown” to view the lighted cove cliff that is the town’s claim to fame. Funny, but not much to see and I take it not too famous.

Day 24, Saturday, August, 18, 2018. Gaspe, QC
Today we did the North Entrance to Forillon National Park on another beautiful mostly sunny day with the high 68 degrees again.  Our goal was to climb to the tower on top of Mont Saint-Alban even though our legs were a bit tired from the day before. We drove to the parking lot which is adjacent to the beach meaning sea level and above the parking lot is the tower, 928 feet high on the edge of a cliff. You can barely see it in the photos taken from the parking lot level. It was plenty intimidating but we began the hike. Rated a moderate trail, it was rocky and steep.  Very few spots were level and nowhere was there any downhill section. After a few stops along the way, we reached the tower in just under an hour. And I thought yesterday’s hike to Land’s End was the highlight of the trip.  Well we have a new highlight. The 360 degree view was indescribably gorgeous. We could see north to the lighthouse in Cap-des-Rosiers and south to Perce Rock, a 60 mile drive away. We could see west to the town of Gaspe. And best of all, Rosemary did not let her fear of heights stop her and climbed the 4 stories of the tower and looked over the railing to the beach 928 feet straight down. The hike down was considerably easier and faster. Then we could not resist walking the beach even though it was down several flights of stairs which would require us to climb back up them. Total hike 3 hours. Back to the coach for rest and relaxation the rest of the day.  We actually opened the coach windows and turned the a/c off and the coach remained a comfortable temperature.