In the lower St Laurent
First thing in the morning we line up for the ferry to St Simeon. We chose to go on the North shore of the St Laurent even though the crossing is expensive. The north bank is hilly and offers scenic drives. Once across we drive to Tadoussac where we hope to see whales without having to pay for a cruise. And we did, we saw a beluga while on the short ferry crossing to the town, then on a secluded beach we heard a breath: a fin whale was swimming close to the shore. We also saw a seal and a Guillemot.
Tadoussac is at the entrance of the Saguenay fjord. To get a good view on it we drive to a place recommend on a forum. It turned out to be a 40km detour on a gravel road and a 4km walk to power lines. The view didn’t make up for it. But on the drive back we saw our first mose! A young but impressive male. We end the day with a high: a free camping spot on top of a massive sand dune with the sunset on the river.
On the second day we drive to the Hautes-Gorges-de-la-rivière-Malbaie park. The place used to be a logging area, they were putting all the logs in the river to naturally ship them 100km further. The drive from the park to Quebec City is really hilly with a nice stop in Baie-St-Paul. The shoreline used to be one of Canada’s first resort area.
