I am in St. Louis, Quebec.

It has taken me a really long time to find the internet. I am in St. Louis on the Gulf of St. Laurent. I have about 5 days left until I reach the tip of Gaspé. The terrain has gotten VERY beautiful. The trail is so much nicer and prettier. I love it here. And the Ocean is magnificent. Since the last blog I have covered almost 550km, and I only have 200km left. That`s about 120miles.


MEEE!

They have really morbid signs here to tell you not to speed. The sign basically says "pay attention to kids or they will end up like Jacob".

My first day canoing on the Restigouch. This river was awesome. It had some EASY rapids. I would have said they were classified as a .5 rapid. But it was fun all the same. This is a world famous salmon river. The week before I got here Tom Cruise and George H Bush were fishing on this river. One of the guides that worked at the lodge that Tom was at gave me a ride to the river.

Another view of the river. The pics do not do it justice it was so pretty and rustic. People had built cabins along the shore and the only way to reach them was to canoe to them. This river is a popular weekend trip. Lots of people rent canoes and spend the weekend going down the river. There are very nice campsites all along the river that the river authority maintain. They even put out chopped fire wood for the guests, and it is ALL free. You only pay the canoe rental, which was only $60 for 3 days.

These are some kind of water fowl. They would freak out and quack when I got close and then run on the water to get away.

These people were awesome. They were weekenders out canoeing. I got to this camp and it was raining so we stayed under the cover and they gave me so much food and beer. I loved it. They said there is a store in Canada called "The Bulk Barn" and they have bulk bins of ANYTHING you could ever want. These people raided the store. They had trail mixes, candies, gummies, drink mixes, EVERYTHING. I love these people.

The next morning after the rain. The river was beautiful.

I was sleeping in my canoe letting the current take me when this eagle swooped down next to me and caught a fish. This is the eagle eating the fish on the shore. It was amazing.

Really bad picture but it is of a bald eagle. I saw at least 10 eagles (I saw the same one a few times I think) while I was on the river. This place is a haven for them.

I had to take a side trip to Campbellton. A nice old lady gave me a ride. She spoke NO English and I do not think she was even going to Campbellton but she gave me a ride 35km out of her way. She was very sweet. They really love salmon here. It is called the salmon capitol. The town is located at the mouth of the Restigouch where is pours into the Atlantic. So all the salmon swim past this town to spawn.

Good bye old boots. These old boys had 1450 plus miles on them. It was time for new shoes!

Hello new shoes. They feel so much better. I love it when I have sole to grip slick rocks and support on my feet.

This is the edge of town where the river starts to become salt. The ocean is only 10-15 more km away.

I got a ride back to Matapedia from a college student returning to University. He didn't speak any English either. He also drove about 80mph on a 50mph road and listened to French rap. I loved that kid, he was awesome. This is the start of the Quebec section of the trail. This is the first real trail I have been on. It was SO nice to be getting back into the woods and off of roads. The trail is rough and over grown due to lack of maintenance. But it was nice all the same.

A beautiful waterfall.

Apparently this beaver worked REALLY hard on this tree. He circled it several times.

The Matapedia valley. It was pretty, and the start of the Chic-Choc mountains. The terrain climbs from here.

This is a beautiful wheat field. I enjoyed walking through the swaying wheat. It was almost magical being under the bright blue sky and surrounded by golden wheat. This was outside of Causapacal. I walked over 60km that day and talked to Sara for over an hour and ate a 30min lunch. Dang I`m fast (really the terrain was easy).

This is a maple sap farm. The tubes all run down hill to a sugar shack where they boil the sap into maple syrup.

Scary moose skull.

The Valley at dusk.

I came across this porcupine about 7:30pm. He did not want to vacate the trail. On this night between 7:00pm and 8:00pm I saw 3 moose (2 were bulls), 2 bears, this guy and a bat tried to hit me in the face. This was all within the first 10km of the Réserve Faunique de Matane. It is a nature preserve. There were SO many animals here. It is because they are protected and NO one walks through the park they all drive and stick to the roads. This was the most rugged and difficult section of the trail. I found it nice. Sections of the AT were 100 times more difficult.

This is Dominic and Jérémy. I met them in the reserve. They gave me whiskey and brandy. It was FREEZING that night. I got so cold I woke up at 3am and made a fire and sat by it till 4:30 to stay warm. These guys are school teachers in Gaspé. They were awesome and so hospitable.

Ruffled Grouse.

Big bull moose. When I saw this guy he was hanging out with 5 other bull moose. He was the only one that didn`t run. I guess during summer they all hang out together. But here in a few more weeks when rutting season starts then the fighting will be on.

This is Lac Matane. One of the beautiful lakes in the area.

My first good picture of the gulf of St. Laurent. I actually saw it earlier in the day but the picture was not as good. It is hard to see but way off in the distance about 40km is the gulf.

I had to cross this rickety slick bridge in the "hardest section" of the IAT. This bridge is over a waterfall and is about 40 ft above sharp rocks. Some one tied ropes to use as a railing but they were so loose they were useless. Also you can't really tell but the bridge is listing to one side. Bad situation. But apparently I made it.

This is one of the most beautiful waterfalls I have seen. It had about a 250ft drop. It was at the end of the Reserve. Now I was headed into the Parc National de Gaspé.

This is me by the waterfall. I have too much hair now. I need a shave and a hair cut.

In the National parc they have built all these REALLY nice cabins. They all have wood and a stove. They have bunks and a cooking area and tables and chairs. They cost $25 per night but they are SO nice.

Looking whistfully at the sunrise. I am contemplating life.

The mountians in the Parc remind me of Perù. They are steep and jagged. They make for a wonderful landscape. Very rugged. They were shaped this way due to glaciers that receeded 250,000 years ago. They carved out this entire area leaving this wonderful landscape.

This is Mt. Albert. It is all barren rock. It reminded me of Utah or the high desert.

The view from the top of some Mountain.

This is Mario Gagne on the left and Jean-François Bouchard on the right. I met them in one of the cabins. Jean-François Bouchard's son hiked the AT in 1997 so he was sympathetic to thru-hikers. They gave me SO much food. It was a good thing too. I had been doing big miles in pretty big mountains so I was starving. They gave me roast duck, fish bisque, spaghetti in meat sauce, rice, Swiss chocolate, single malt scotch, fine cheese, and a bunch of granola bars. I was on a food high. These guys are AWESOME! I love them.

This is the top of Mt. Albert. It looks like a desert. The entire area was magnificent. This whole day I was in wonder at the beauty of the parc.

The VERY FIRST tree changing color. I bet this area is beautiful when they all change. This one is a little early but in 2-3 weeks the rest will catch up. There is already a chill in the air, fall is coming fast here.

This is Mt Jacques-Cartier The tallest mountain in Québec and the tallest in the region. It is all bald and rocky on top. Also there is a herd of about 200 caribou that frequent the summit. It was an amazing mountain. The views that day were spectacular. With the sun coming through the clouds.

This was the only caribou I saw on the mountain. I guess the rest of the herd was in the low lands. It was cold and windy that day though so I don`t blame them.

This is the view from the top of the mountain. I have about 10 pictures similar to this one. I thought they were all so spectacular, I wanted to post them all, but I did not want to bore you.

This is Phillip. He was a carpenter in Québec then he started building movie sets. He got to work with Johnny Depp. But apparently The Governator changed California law and made it cheaper to film in Hollywood again so not as many movies are being made in Canada now. So Phillip is going back to the University to study philosophy. He just bought a 1997 BMW 7 series from his friend for $3000 Canadian and he is on a giant road trip before he goes back to school next week. This guy was great. He shared a 6 pack of Heineken with me. I was glad too because I was beat after climbing over Mt Albert and Mt Jacques in the same day. Plus I was starting to get a shin splint. So the beer really helped me recover.

Evidence of the glacial activity. You can see the pattern the ice carved into the rock.

This is the Fleuve de St. Laurent from on top of Mt. St. Pierre. Now that I made it to the coast I will be along the water the last 200km. It is so pretty along the ocean. I have been pushing it pretty hard walking 12-14 hours per day, averaging 25 or more miles per day. Today I didn`t wake up until 7am and now I have spent 2 hours on the internet doing this blog. I guess I will only get about 15 miles done today. Oh well that is the way it goes when you're having fun. I can`t wait to see what is next along the coast. But I am also excited to be almost done and heading home.