July 26
End: La Paruline Refuge
Miles: 31.7
Total: 4593.0
In the morning I packed up and left before the two others were up. They had graciously given me some nectarines, dates, and a large bag of trail mix. I was in much better shape to push through the national park.
At first I was mostly on gravel roads, but then I gradually moved into the woods again. The trail followed the Grande Traverse Trail, which I assumed covered the whole park from West to East. The trail was muddy in a few places, but was better than the travesty I has encountered in the Matane Reserve. I had a sneaking suspicion that the national park was maintaining this trail rather than trail volunteers.
I had a few mountains to climb but they came and went with time. At one point I saw that the IAT was going to take a longer route to my destination than a different trail, but I opted to stick with the International Appalachian Tragedy. I wanted the full horror of following the cursed trail through Quebec.
I was actually rewarded with a decent view for my few extra kilometers. Afterwards I descended and went off to climb more mountains. There were only a few memorable summits in the national park, and these were not them. I descended finally to the road to the refuge, and saw a moose. I got some water and arrived at the refuge just before dark.
There were already six hikers there but they understood that I had bought the passport so I could stay as well. One hiker gave me three expensive hiker dinners since he was almost done with his trip! I was doing well on food; really, I had a little too much. I cooked dinner by the light of my headlamp and got to bed in one of the top bunks. It had been a long day.
