Monday, 1 November 2021

Gaspé Road trip - Forillon National Park

 After a stormy day we woke up to a beautiful sunrise and a spectacular golden hour immediately afterwards. 
 
 


The morning golden hour


 

 

We drove up to the top of the headland to take in a different aspect of the rock. 

It was a good start to the day - we had planned to explore Forillon National Park, an hour's drive from Percé.  One thing to note, and it was not immediately obvious on maps, is that one could not drive to the tip of the peninsula which is called "Le Bout du monde" (Land's End)  - it can only be reached on foot via a 4km trail.  We opted for the easy way to see the park and drove instead to Cap Bon Ami. It was a scenic hike from the parking lot down to the beach and was just right for our energy level.

View of Cap Bon Ami

Interesting rock formations on the cliffs and on the beach

 

Crouching tiger




The lighthouse at Cap des Rosiers
Sanderling

 Ruffed Grouse

There seemed to be lots of migrating birds along the coast.  A whole flock of Common eiders was gathered off the shore and we saw sanderlings and semi-palmated plovers on the beach near Cap des Rosiers. I'm sure if we had looked harder we would have seen more.  Somewhere along the road, we also saw a Ruffed Grouse, another lifer for me.  

We had checked the tide tables and found that low tide coincided with the golden hour on Percé Rock, making it a unique opportunity to get to the rock for photos. We were glad we made it back in time for the hike to the rock during low tide - it was an awesome sight to see that golden nugget up close.  The hike was quite treacherous and I wished I had brought along my walking stick.  The rocks were wet and even worse was the kelp on them which made them very slippery.  I almost slipped but was fortunately able to regain my balance. 

As you can see below, we got quite close to the rock and could have gone right to the foot if we had chosen to.  But there was a time constraint since low tide lasts only about an hour and we had already spent a part of that hour taking photos from the shore. The thought of being stranded on the other side was enough of a deterrent. 

The view from the beach 




 

Getting closer


 

There were some really awesome rocks on the cliffs facing the Rock and you can see them here extending right into the water.  Don't forget to turn around and look up the cliff face!


 
This is actually the tamer part of the trail


Catching the last rays













Next post:   The drive back to Riviere-du-Loup


4 comments:

  1. Hello Catherine: I really also appreciated the images you posted in this Blog #3 of your visit to the Gaspe, with Jean Liao. Good for you to get up really early for the sunrises, and hang around for the sunsets. Great rock formation details. You even 'threw in' some birds. Thank you also for describing your venture of that day in much detail. I am of course glad that you made it back safely before the rising tide washed you away (:-) ....
    Thanks, Andy Lamm.
    (P.S. I will reply as 'Anonymous', since my Google address approach seems to not work).

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  2. Hello Andy, Thank you for your continuing support of my blogs. You are so encouraging. Very much appreciated. And yes, even as I was going through my photos yesterday, I discovered more birds that I had forgotten about. Found a Palm Warbler yesterday - it will appear in the next post! I'm sure you can't wait to see it...;-)

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  3. Hello Catherine - I just looked at the many beautiful images of the BIC National Park in particular, and then the earlier Gaspe to St. Anne-des-Monts lap. Are all considered Post #4? Too many images to comment in detail, sorry. Did you pay someone to walk across the sunbeam reflection? I don't understand how a palm tree warbler ends up on a coniferous twig.....
    Thanks for entertaining me! Andy.

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  4. Hi Andy, Each post is separated by labels and icons for mail,Facebook, blogger, etc. Thanks again for your very helpful comments. HAHA it was a stroke of luck the guy walked across my sunbeam, and in such an active pose too. It took me a while to laugh at your witty comment about the palm tree warbler on the confierous twig...touché!

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