July 25
End: La Nyctale Refuge
Miles: 23.5
Total: 4561.3
My alarm went off early, and I was up. I knew that I wanted an early start in order to ensure that I get out of the Matane Reserve and get to the first refuge in the Gaspesie National Park. The other hikers stayed in their sleeping bags as I packed up and left.
As I walked out I noticed someone snoring in a tent out on the nearest camping platform. I was thankful not to have had to pepper spray anyone to save my spot in the refuge.
Though there were not any major mountain summits coming up I had been told that the descent to Petit-Sault would be the steepest in Quebec. It was. I climbed up and down various hills before arriving at the top of a gigantic series of waterfalls. Finally the Matane Reserve was showing me something beautiful; it is impossible to choose just one photo for today’s entry.
The descent from there was slow and a little hairy at times. I basically rappelled down a series of ropes and made it after a long time down to the bottom, where I passed by the Petit-Sault refuge before starting down a few old roads.
I was making decent time, and passed by the next shelter before long. At this point I was committed to pushing all the way past Mont Logan. I climbed upwards and could see the coast off in the distance. It was an incredible view. I had not seen salt water since the Keys.
I came to a turn and went left, walking across a large flat dip and up to the top of a mountain. This path was blazed with SIA/IAT markings. I was a little confused that the coast was on my right, and I was more confused when I reached the summit of Mont Collins, which I supposedly was not going to summit.
My compass seemed to indicate the correct way to walk was the way from which I came, but I wasn’t so sure. After awhile I decided to keep going the way I was going rather than backtrack. I went down a very steep hill which was also overgrown, unsurprisingly. I was nervous at first but then saw more blazes. I felt sure I was on the right path.
When I arrived at the brook at the bottom I met a hiker there. Asking which way I should go for Mont Logan, he pointed back in the direction from which I came. I was devastated. I couldn’t understand how this was possible, but the hiker pulled out a map and explained that the IAT had blazed a loop through Mont Collins.
I was furious. This was not the International Appalachian Trail, it was the International Appalachian Tragedy. I hoped the French word for ‘tragedy’ started with a ‘t’ so that the trail could just be the TIA/IAT. I contemplated getting to a road and hitching to Mont Albert, but decided to just hike back up the way I came. This was killing my food supply.
I backtracked all the way to the intersection with no real directions, and went the other way this time. This way was also blazed, and was the way I should have gone the first time. I had wasted at least two hours, and it was not time spent resting, either.
I had some more tough hiking ahead of me. I went down and up Mont Fortin, then down again and up towards Mont Logan. I lost the trail near the top of Mont Logan and bushwhacked a good distance. The trail was apparently an unmarked gravel service road.
From Mont Logan I could see the two refuges I was now gunning for. They didn’t seem too far off, and the trail now seemed to be dirt and gravel roads. Happy to be off of the pathetic Matane Reserve trails and into the national park, I walked on and arrived at the first refuge before long.
There I met Tony and P.O., whose name was actually something French and quite hard to pronounce. They were nice, and offered to share food with me after they went on a Mount Logan sunset expedition. I happily laid down and rested, falling asleep and being woken up by P.O. for dinner. We had cheese pasta, which was good.
Afterwards we went out on a dish washing expedition. It was cold, and a silly thing to do, but it felt kind of fun to be doing it. It was as if I was a new hiker all over again. I helped them wash their dishes, which involved finding a stream and boiling water to wash the dishes. This took awhile, but we got it done and finally I got back to my warm sleeping bag. I rested well after a long day.
