Gaspe Peninsula Options

[VtLee]

I am going to tour around the Gaspe peninsula this summer towing a 28ft fifth wheel. Are there any grades, turns or low clearances that would be a problem?

[wprigge]

Hi VtLee & Land Yacht,

Here you get the first installment for suggestions for the 'round the Gaspé trip. It's for the northern route from Québec City to Forillon, but including neither.

Take autoroute 20. Remember we measure our distances in km, so from exit 30 to exit 130 is 100 km or about 60 miles.

My first suggestion is at exit 364, the Grosse Île National Historic Park. Grosse Île used to be the quarantine station of Canada, There are several thousand Irish buried here that fled the potato famine only to die here. It's quite interesting, even if you have no Irish ancestors. The link is here:
http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/qc/grossei...sit/visit4.aspx

The only way to get there is by this boat: http://www.croisiereslachance.com/en/cruis...?no_croisiere=9

Close (exit 378) by is a a good municipal camping where you should have no problem finding a spot even without reservations. Camping Pointe aux Oies Montmagny http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Quebec/Montmagny.html

Next suggestion is the Québec Maritime Museum, (exit 400) of moderate interest unless you really love ships. One of the highlights is an experimental hydrofoil submarine hunter that could go at 63 knots under full load. Here is the link:
http://www.mmq.qc.ca/index_en.html
Very close by is an ok municipal campground with one interesting feature: the spots with the million dollar views are not taken by the seasonal campers but reserved for transients. It's the Camping Municipal du Rocher Panet at L'Islet, http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Quebec/L_Islet.html

Then, at exit 414, there is the world famous woodcarver village St-Jean-Port-Joli.
(I give the exit numbers, but once past Montmagny you can easily follow the riverside road highway 132.)


Next, at exit 507 in Rivière-du-Loup, there is something I highly recommend, a whale watching cruise. It will bring you to one of the 10 world-best whale watching areas near the mouth of the Sagunay Fjord.
http://www.croisieresaml.com/en/_destinati...4&idprod=17

Two campgrounds, Camping du Quai (half a mile) and Camping Municipal (¾ of a mile) are close by. I have not camped myself there but from what I hear they seem to be ok. http://www.guidecamping.ca/duquai/indexeng.shtml http://www.guidecamping.ca/riviereduloup/indexeng.shtml
You can see Camping du Quai quite well on Google Street View.

Then you get to the end of Autoroute. (Interstate for you)

The next place is certainly of interest for VtLee, a provincial park called "Parc National du Bic", lots of hiking, biking and kayaking, problem is the RV campground of this park is situated right next to the #132 highway with truck traffic 24/7. http://www.sepaq.com/pq/bic/index.dot?language_id=1

After the park you get a bypass road of Rimouski, take exit 621, to visit the Pointe-au-Père historic site with a lighthouse, a museum commemorating the Empress of Ireland tragedy and the possibility to go into a submarine.
http://www.shmp.qc.ca/index.php?lang=en

Only a few km further is Camping Capitaine Homard, where you will be squeezed in close to your neighbors, but the adjacent restaurant is the drawing card here. If you arrive early you should not need reservations. Check out the place, if you like it, stay, if not there are more campgrounds just a little further.
http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Quebe...nte-Flavie.html

This photo and the following 5 were taken at Capitaine Homard. The building with the red roof is the restaurant. Gives you an idea how tight the spots are. http://web.mac.com/wolfgang.prigge1/Site_3...runswick.html#0

The next place of interest is the Jardins Métis. Some unusual flowers, I remember a blue poppy that only grows here and in Nepal.
http://www.RefordGardens.com/english/

At Cap-Chat visit a windmill site with the remains of the largest vertical windmill ever built, 110 metres tall. It looks like a giant eggbeater.
http://www.eolecapchat.com/e_index.html

For VtLee, there are lots of hiking opportunities in the "Parc National de la Gaspésie". really a provincial park just south of Sainte-Anne-des-Monts. Only some electric hookups for the campgrounds, but out there in the deep woods there is a high class restaurant, I don't know today's prices, but when I was there many years ago prices were very low for such a quality dinner.
http://www.sepaq.com/pq/gas/index.dot?language_id=1

Mont-Saint-Pierre is Eastern Canada's hang gliding hot spot. The municipal campground was ok when I was there several years back. http://www.guidecamping.ca/cdcq/en/fiche_c...asp?no_cdcq=105

After Rivière-la-Madelaine the road gets a little hilly and curvy for around 18 km, but you should have no problems, after all tractor-trailers go through there with no problems. Just before going down into Grande-Vallée, on top of the the hill, you have a viewpoint with a big parking lot, well worth a photo stop. Just after the village centre you find a a nice stopover campground.
http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Quebe...nde-Vallee.html

That's it for today, the second installment soon.