July 23
End: Lac Matane Refuge
Miles: 25.2
Total: 4522.6
In the morning I awoke and some of my things were wet with dew, but not my sleeping bag. I got my stuff together and left before the other campers had even gotten up, though I wasn’t necessarily early.
It wasn’t too long before I came across the River Matane Refuge. If I had known it existed I never would have stayed at the campsite. The refuge was not on any map I had or which was posted along the trail. A little discouraged, I hiked on and soon left the river.
I hiked up and down some small hills through the woods and came to the next refuge, where I saw a couple of hikers messing with their packs. Other hikers! These were not day hikers, they had very large packs. They left before we could talk much, but I soon caught up to them and I officially met Marie and Mike. They spoke some English, and told me they were finishing near Mount Logan.
It was great to talk to other hikers. It was basically the first time I had met other hikers since the Appalachian Trail. Sadly they were not going too fast, so I had to leave them and continue on in order to make my food last for as long as possible.
The hike soon got a little rough. I found myself hiking up bigger hills on a little-used trail. The path was very overgrown and difficult to see at times. The markings were much better in Quebec, but bush whacking for mile upon mile got old quite fast.
There were signs along the way projecting the distance to each mountain and campsite, so I was able to stay interested as well as gauge my pace, which was none too fast. It started to become clear that I might not be able to make it to the refuge at Le Lac du Gros Ruisseau by dark.
As I bushwhacked downhill towards Lac Matane I realized that my bug spray was no longer in my pocket. It must have fallen through the hole in my pocket worn by my phone. I backtracked a short distance but could not find it. I continued on unhappily. Not having bug spray could easily prove to be fatal for my comfort and happiness.
Finally arriving at the lake, I saw some nice chalets for paying campers, and moved on to the refuge, which was off of the trail. When I arrived I saw a couple of hikers there. I met Patricia and her boyfriend, who were hiking the entire Quebec portion of the IAT! They had started in Matapedia a few days after I had restarted in New Brunswick, and were taking their time and carrying lots of food. They had twelve days worth to get through the Matane Reserve and Gaspesie National Park.
Patricia’s boyfriend had already hiked this trail eight years before, so I gained some insight from him concerning what to expect. I was told to try and endure the rough Matane Reserve, and enjoy the very nice National Park. After awhile we went to bed. I had not covered as much ground as I had hoped, but I was meeting other hikers and apparently was doing the hardest part of this long section in central Gaspesie.
