Hiking Parc National du Bic

Bic National Park is a national park of Quebec, Canada, located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, southwest of Rimouski. It was founded in 1984, and is home to large populations of harbor seals and gray seals.  The park is often said to have been sculpted by the sea, with traces of ancient seas, geological movements and glaciation ever present on the landscape. The Appalachian Mountains -- one of the world’s oldest mountain chains -- extend all the way into the park from their run up through eastern North America. The mountainous portion of the park was born during the first phase of the Appalachian formation and is representative of the oldest part of the mountain chain.

We visited the park about 20 years ago when we had a business trip to Quebec City and took a few days to drive out the Gaspe Peninsula.  It was so striking that we resolved to return and explore it more fully.

So now we are having the chance to get to know the park.  We decided to take the longest hike around the largest peninsula forming the majority of the park.  The hike is known as "Le Grand Tour," and is a deceptive 6 miles.  We say "deceptive" because 2-3 miles of the hike involve clambering over basalt and shale rock formations without any trail, working your way around the shoreline of the park.

Park materials warn the hiker to observe the tides and time your hike from 2 hours before low tide, to 2 hours after low tide, because so much of the hike is along beaches and clambering over rocks that are inaccessible other than at low tide.

We learned that low tide today was at 3:55 pm, so we arrived at the trailhead by 2pm.  Autumn was in the air, and it was sunny but not too warm.  A number of deciduous trees were already starting to show their fall colors.

We found the path for "Le Grand Tour," as Kathy points out in this photo:

The first mile or two of the hike is a gorgeous stroll along the coastline of Parc National du Bic:

The geology of this place is so striking an unique:

Along the hiking trail, the park administrators have placed exhibits addressing the cultural history of this shoreline, including the long history of fishing by Mi'Kmaw people and French Canadians:

We marvelled at the geology and scenery:

At low tide, some islands can be accessed by hiking, where at other times they would require a kayak or other boat:

On one of the bays, we spied rocks where harbor seals and seagulls were resting or frolicking.  We couldn't get close enough to snap photos of them, although David tried.  All he got was this photo of Kathy standing back on the beach while he picked his way over seaweed-covered rocks:

We could have spent the whole day gazing at and photographing the scenery.  The rocks and water were dramatic:

This was our first view of the top end of our hike, which would involve 2-3 miles of scrambling over sharp basalt and shale bedrock at the water's edge.  Hey, this doesn't look so bad.  But what is that sharp rock out at Cape Originale?

We soon learned that it was the beginning of one of the hardest stretches of hiking we've done recently.  We conquered the dramatic rock at the point and Kathy memorialized it with a selfy of us and the rock:

We clambered on for 2 miles, finding our way over and around huge boulders and jagged shale.  Eventually, we reached Anse a Mouille-Cul, a beautiful circular bay of dark sand and gravel, graced periodically by some gorgeous big boulders:

Here is a view of the bay from the western shore as we hiked around it:

Kathy led the way as we continued along the bay toward Fourche a Louison:

This red-layered rock was a major find.  However, David insisted that it was too large for Kathy to bring back and add to her rock collection:

This was our last point to conquer before regaining a hiking trail -- Fourche a Louison itself:

We finally found our hiking trail, Le Chemin Scoggan, which would lead us along the northern shore of Le Baie de Ha Ha (yes, seriously, that's its name) to our original trailhead.  We gazed out at the St. Lawrence River in the lowering sun and were glad we had finished the hardest part of the hike:

Now we only had a couple miles of forest hiking, over headlands, up and down, to various viewpoints of Le Baie de Ha Ha, including this one, looking toward the head of the bay near our trailhead:

Ultimately, after 5.5 miles, we returned to the stretch of seashore where we had begun our hike.  But now, the tide was out and the shore was littered with large boulders that had not been visible when we passed this way at the beginning of our hike:

This hike will go down in the record books as one of the more strenuous hikes we've taken -- not because of its 6-mile length, which wasn't remarkable, but because so much of it involved scrambling over and around boulders on the edge of the surging St. Lawrence River.  This was a perfect way to get to know Le Parc National du Bic -- by putting our boots on the ground.

We hope to rest our weary hiking muscles tomorrow by taking a bike ride along a gorgeous lake.  Stay tuned to see if that works out.