Mkwesaqtuk / Cap Rouge to MacIntosh Brook   |   Campsite: MacIntosh Brook

Campgrounds, in my experience, are fairly horrible places. Loud. Full of families with crying kids. Car headlights suddenly flooding my tent at 2:00 in the morning while some idiot roots around in his hatchback on the hunt for some essential item culled from his life of organized hoarding into the “wilderness”. Campgrounds I generally stay far, far away from. However, on this morning at 4:00, the grounds are nicely quiet and serene. No crying babies. No floodlights blasting me out of sleep. Sure, I’m surrounded by people who most likely couldn’t survive in nature for more than two days on their own, but they seem to be on their best behaviour. This park for camping is excellent—everything here is new. The site is situated on an old homestead, the foundations of the original buildings visible in the ground. The office building is a tiny, simple log structure with logs containing two floors. Three washroom and shower buildings are available on-site, with garbage cans on most inter-camp trails. My stay here was very nice. My sleep was not so good—I am not sure why, I just couldn’t sleep through the night without waking every hour or so. But I am awake at 4:00, with everything packed by 5:30, and after enjoying a relaxing hot shower, I am out walking by 6:00. Within a half hour I am soaked in sweat as the ascent up French Mountain begins directly upon exiting the campsite. I will climb for over an hour—455 metres—until reaching the top. The road will continue onto MacKenzie Mountain where I take some time to explore the “slope fen” (mountain marshlands) along wooden walkways that allow passage over fern and moss-covered terrain home to incredible species of the region. The 29-kilometre walk to the hamlet of Pleasant Bay is reached along the top of the mountain ridge, plunging down to sea level just before the town at an 8-degree angle. Along this section, I had stopped to break and cook food at 10:00 when I walked to an impressive highway lookout area. I met another family from Toronto touring the east coast at this point. They were very surprised when I told them that I had begun this walk 65 days ago. They were on the return stage of their own east coast trip, returning to the city through the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Québec, and eastern Ontario. When I reach the hamlet of Pleasant Bay I stop at the Rusty Anchor restaurant for a meal of fish and chips. As I am entering, a cyclist I had met back at the grocery store in Chéticamp stocking up on supplies continues his journey, exiting the restaurant and rejoining the flow of traffic along the roadway. This is the third time I have encountered him on the road since. Either he is a poor cyclist, or he is purposely taking his time cycling this route. I am back out by 1:00, and by 2:00 I reach the MacIntosh Brook campground. One of the staff members working at the restaurant confirmed its distance of 5 kilometres. I contemplate pushing on to the Big Intervale campground 18 kilometres down the road, but as it requires even more steep climbing than I have already experienced today, I decide to leave this section for tomorrow’s walk. Today I have completed a hard-fought 32.70 km up and down French Mountain, and I am very happy with the day’s walking. As I settle in, I write the day down and transcribe notes in the main building common area where I charge the phone and battery bank. I complete a good amount of making, working up to 6:45 as the day begins to darken. Another thirty minutes and the tent is up, and I am inside. For some reason, today feels significant.

Today’s distance walked: 36.04 km    |    Total distance walked: 2,389.60 km