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