Domaine-Notre-Dame to Québec City | Accommodation: 750 Rue Saint-Joseph E, Québec City
The time is 8:43 am. I am currently sitting at a picnic table at an IGA grocery store just inside the limits of Quebec City. I am enjoying newly-purchased fruit, cooking a pot of ramen, while enjoying a pint of “Boréale Pure Malt Pur Lager.” I have walked 19.11 km, advancing into the city primarily along Highway 358. The walk was beautiful, with colourful sunrise, incredible views of the city 20 km in the distance, relatively little traffic around the city, and beautiful temperature from 9–17 degrees under full sun and blue sky. I made really good use of the morning, beginning the walking day at 5:00. With just 3.7 km distance left to walk to MEC, I feel confident that I will arrive by 10:00, as I will leave here by 9:15. As I am eating a woman approaches me, asking what I am cooking, seeing the mini stove and pot heating on the picnic table. She is impressed at what I am making, and smiles warmly while exclaiming “Parfait!” She wishes me well, her warm smile never leaving her face. People in this province are happy! The feeling of being surrounded by such joy has been positively affecting my overall mood, as I am gaining ever more confidence and interest in approaching others and am more effortlessly engaging in conversation. From here the walk to MEC takes about 45 minutes. The store is well organized, and I find everything I need quickly as it has just opened and very few customers are within. I find bug repellent, and after-bite. I buy two more zipped cube sacks which will help me organize many of the small items that have been bouncing around while inside the pack. New shoes are also purchased. I met Guy in the footwear area of the store. I explain the walk and the types of terrain I am moving through. We talk for about five minutes, and as we agree on a shoe, he brings out the last pair they have in my size. I try them on, walk around, and don’t take them off until I arrive at my rented loft for the night, hours later. He made excellent recommendations on footwear, and I left with a pair of very comfortable Brooks CTS runners. We talked about hiking, which he enjoys, and the city with its close access to nature in the Laurentide Mountains. I leave by 10:45, arriving downtown by 1:00. I cook another ramen cup in a park, then get some sightseeing made. I walk Rue Ste-Joseph East which is quite interesting; climb a 700-metre staircase and hill to see Av Carter where I also buy groceries. I return to downtown via Rue St-Jean, walking back to the area known as Notre-Dame-des-Anges which is just two minutes walk from my rented loft. I am a half hour early for check-in. I find a shaded bench and put the day into the journal. I do some mapping of the area for food, and at 3:00 I enter my home for the evening. To be clear, living for entire weeks on the trail—without hyperbole—is probably the most personally meaningful set of experiences I’ve ever had. With that, the occasional time planned every week or so indoors for cleaning, organizing, recuperation, a full meal, a plush bed, and time to reacquaint myself with world events does feel magical. I think the trail magnifies the magic in the conveniences of life. When these conveniences are removed for extended periods of time, they become much more meaningful and special when reintroduced into life. Immediately upon checking in, I fill the tub in order to soak the clothing as I step out to a grocery store one block east for supplies and pick up food for dinner from a restaurant. Returning to the loft in order to rest, map, plan, clean, and dry out gear, I use the evening effectively to prepare for the upcoming stretch between Quebec City and Rivière-du-Loup. The tent is put together with all windows open to dry it out in the main area of the loft, at which point I settle into the evening.
Today’s distance walked: 38.31 km | Total distance walked: 952.00 km
Paré–Domaine-Notre-Dame | Campsite: 46.77109° N, 71.54316° W
The morning begins at 4:00, early enough to be comfortably walking by 5:15. I slept very well last night, and as a result, I feel good this morning venturing out onto the roadway. I walk through the still-sleeping village of Deschambault, and walk the 9 km to the town of Portneuf where a gas station attendant schooled in the traditional arts of monosyllabic communication answers my question for coffee with the slightest of shoulder gestures aimed to the right and a “Là” given for good measure in case I have follow-up questions. From here, I walk along the shore to the small village of Cap-Santé where a wonderfully ebullient bubbly woman directs me toward the town church—the Crypte de l’Église Ste-Famille—for a scenic spot in which to enjoy my 9:30 breakfast/lunch. I have walked 20.28 km. Soon, just before the town of Donnacona, I will turn inland, making my way toward the town of Pont-Rouge. Here I will locate the internet in order to post to the blog, plan the upcoming day, transfer files to the laptop / external hard drive, and organize files from today and previous days in which I had no access to the internet. The day is shaping into another beautiful one. The present temperature is 15 degrees with a fresh breeze that is quite comfortable. By 10:15 I am returning to the road, walking fully to Pont-Rouge. The walk is uneventful, and it is quick. I arrive around 1:00, after viewing an interesting river called Le Grand Remous which shows signs of wearing away the surrounding rock by entire metres in depth. Comfortable walking trails provide scenic views of rapids and rocky waterways. I continue to a restaurant for wifi where I organize, write, and back up files to 4:30 while the battery bank charges. I map out the upcoming road, through rural private properties that cover the landscape. Finding a suitable campsite might be difficult. I leave by 4:30 to get in the final desired ten kilometres of the day. The road I venture out from the restaurant onto (RTE de la Pinière) is busy, loud, and full of growling traffic. Thankfully, I turn onto a small single-lane road called Rang Petit-Capsa that I will walk through to the end of the day. It is quiet with far less traffic. By 7:00 I walk 12.75 km, the sun just beginning to sink below the tops of trees. I find a suitable location to camp in an area that is clear without signs of private property or fencing. The tent is up quickly as the water heats for cooking dinner. By 7:30 I will have eaten and journaled the day down. By 8:30 I am burrowing into a significant sleep under the liner and down quilt. A 47.75 km day is exactly the kind of distance I was hoping for! A few hours of organizing all the creative files has me feeling confident again about the making portion of this challenge.
Today’s distance walked: 47.75 km | Total distance walked: 913.69 km
Champlain to Paré | Campsite: 46.63452° N, 71.96658° W
Last night, after setting the tent up, I began to feel an ever-worsening thirst. I walked over to the park in search of a public fountain. One was found but out of order. I did manage to find a drinking fountain on the shore of the river, filling up all bottles for the evening and for tomorrow morning’s breakfast. After packing up this morning, I return to the fountain, stocking up for today’s walk. For the opening 2.5 hours of the day, the walk is brilliant: quiet, birds singing, sunshine and blue sky, little traffic, and personally, I am feeling good. Many photos are taken as each turn in the upcoming sections of roadway reveals more and more beautiful vistas of farmland, river, forests, or still-sleeping villages. I walk through the riverside village of Batiscan to arrive at the Dépanneur Relais Batiscan” that I had located while mapping the route last night. I enjoy a large coffee while finishing off the final piece of pizza. Hiker hunger onset? I walk 13.8 km by 8:00, which is a good distance for the morning. I should be able to finish most of the 22 km to another very tiny riverside village called “Grondines” by noon. I will then only require two hours of walking at the most to achieve 40 km on the day before the heavy heat begins. I finish eating by 8:30 and return to walking through the morning. I continue to 9:50, reaching the eastern outskirts of the village called “L’Île-des-Pins”, which is the eastern half of the larger town called “L’Île-Verte”, the two sides divided by the “Rivière Sainte-Anne”, a tributary flowing into the St. Lawrence River. Here, I converse with a young man as I purchase a wonderfully-frigid Labatt Bleu pint and explain what I am doing. He tells me that Quebec City is an interesting city—beautiful, fun, and very historic. He confirms everything that I have since heard of the city, and coming from a local, that carries weight. I am content with the distance made so I take a break at the presently-closed “Microbrasserie le Garage”, enjoying one of my own pints on the outdoor patio. The day is heating up, and it will be hot soon, which is why I am so glad to have started early, earning just over 20 km by 10:00. I quickly stretch and return to the road by a quarter after. By 12:00, 28.27 km have been walked, and I find a farmer’s market with picnic tables where I am able to cook some lunch. This is where I met Gilles, a man in his sixties, retired, focused on gardening and cycling. He had stopped at the market as well, and we struck up a conversation. He was on his way to buy some vegetable seeds for his garden, and as a cyclist, was on his way into the town of “Grondines”. He was interested in how I traveled with food, and I explained my use of dried foods to cook in hot water helped to keep the weight of the pack down. We both talked about having the time now to do things that were important to each of us, and we agreed that the demands placed upon regular people were ridiculously excessive. “In the end,” said Gilles, “time is the only thing we have.” I eat, enjoy a pint, and again return to the road. A breeze has blown persistently all day, and I hope continues as it takes the sharp edge of the heat off. I eat a cup of rice, and by 1:00 I am out gaining distance. I feel strong, walking into the heat of the day. The endless streams of motorbikers don’t bother me today. Régent was a farmer who was working in a field close to the edge of the roadway. When he saw me he waved me over. He very much agreed with my concept of walking to St. John’s, and he mentioned that the road I was walking—Highway 138—was a very scenic route the entire distance to Quebec City. A man with a permanent smile, he wishes me luck as we shake hands. “Bonne journée!” I continue on, this section of highway more twisting than previous stretches, offering no shade or relent from the sun. A man driving eastbound slows to ask how far I am walking. I say, “Toronto à St. John’s.” A thumbs-up appears as he speeds up and drives off. I walk to 4:00, the Fitbit odometer reading 44 Kim on the day. Satisfied, I walk off of the road into a green patch about ten metres from the shoulder perched on a high cliff offering views of the St. Lawrence River. By 4:30 the tent is up, my dinner is cooking, and the ThermaRest is filled. I journal out the day. Then… breathe. A 43 km day is now in the books. Another one of these types of days tomorrow will put me at the doorstep of Québec City. I will be walking into the city toward the MEC for a few upgrades. As the room I’ve rented is downtown and closer to the river, my plan is to have no more than 15 km to walk to MEC on Tuesday morning in order to limit the amount of distance required to arrive. This means that tomorrow—Monday—will be another 40 km day. If all goes well, Tuesday’s walk into the city for gear replacement and food restocking will be no more than a more manageable 30–35 km walk fully to the rental. I wake at 8:44. I’ve snoozed for about three hours. Tired, sleep has come easily this evening. I change into sleepwear, and by 9:00 I am totally dug in. An incredibly full day!
Today’s distance walked: 43.98 km | Total distance walked: 865.94 km
