July 29
End: Gros-Morne
Miles: 26.4
Total: 4657.7
I got going early in the morning. I was finally going to get to a town after a long time away from civilization, and I was going to be on the Gaspe coast. I just had to walk there.
The trail from the refuge led down a long set of gravel and dirt mountain roads. Gradually I went up and down and around mountains until I came to a point where I could see the sea and the town of Mont Saint-Pierre. It was beautiful.
Of course it took a long time still to get down there. I had to descend a long way on the sometimes steep gravel roads, then I walked a trail along the river for awhile. This trail was not too bad, though it could have been better and I was tempted to just walk the road into town.
I finally arrived and went to the local store to get some food. Though it was a small store they had fresh fruit, and I had some good food while watching hang gliders and a powered hang glider fly about near Mont Saint-Pierre.
There were a lot of people walking along the beach and the town, and some tents set up with various crafts and displays. I took my time and hung out in town for awhile, then finally headed up the mountain.
When I reached the top I stopped and sat on a bench for awhile. The hang gliders were taking off from this spot and I got to watch them set up their gliders. One glider from Boston talked to me and we discussed hang gliding a bit. I was particularly fascinated with the glider powered by the small gas engine. It wasn’t a great day for flying, but I got a video of a couple guys taking off, then continued on.
I walked down to the next town, Mont Louis, then on through to the next town, L’Anse-Pleureuse. I was hoping to make a friend here and find a sheltered spot to sleep, but couldn’t make anything happen. I wasn’t too discouraged, as I could do a few more miles.
Climbing back up a hill, I encountered some ridiculously overgrown trail in the early evening and hurried through it in order to get to a better spot to sleep before dark. I made it to a little intersection of gravel roads and lay out my sleeping pad there. It was a decent spot considering it wasn’t going to rain. I had dinner and went to bed, now out of the real wilderness.
