Burning Silo

Day Two: Rimouski to Miramichi

I left my heart in Gaspesie — or perhaps I should say that I found it there in the high tide drift on a beach overlooking the St. Lawrence River at Ste-Flavie. At this point, the river is widening quickly as it flows into the Gulf and onwards to the Atlantic Ocean. I checked the map and it looks as though the river is about 35 miles wide at this point. On this morning, we couldn’t really make out the far side due to haze. Signs of being at the edge of the Maritimes are evident everywhere now.

Today, we will be following the Matapedia Valley as it crosses through the mountain range at the neck of the Gaspé Peninsula. We leave Ste-Flavie and pass through farmland on the high rolling foothills of the Notre Dame Mountains. Each large village - and none being too large - has its own silver-spired cathedral.

From Amqui, we enter the valley of the Matapedia River which is steeply sloped and heavily clothed in conifers. Along the river, there are numerous turn-outs with numbered signs marked with a small icon of an Atlantic Salmon. These are for the fishermen who flock to this area. We caught glimpses of several fly fishermen wading in the shallow, rocky waters of this river. At a promising spot, we pulled into one of the turn-outs and walked down through the forest to the river. Looking upstream, we could see one of several covered bridges found along the valley. We also found Bunchberry in flower on the forest floor. While we usually just see the odd Bunchberry at home, here in the Maritimes, it is often a dominant plant in the understory. Lumber is a large part of the industry of this area, as evidenced by this solid wall of sawlogs at a mill alongside the highway.

At a second stop at another turn-out, we wandered around looking at the composition of the rocks high above the river. All through the valley, there are “falling rock” signs , and steep rock cuts at almost every turn. We found stones that seemed to be a kind of gray slate, as well as others that seemed a bit like oily brown shale. Among the stones, I found a couple of what I call “bird grasshoppers” moving about through the stone. They were young and wingless — and one was missing a hind leg — but most interesting was that one was a very cryptic gray that was a dead-ringer for the gray slate-like rock, while the other was brown like some of the other rock which we found in the area.

We continued down the Matapedia Valley until we reached the Restigouche River. At another turn-out, we stopped while I shot a few photos of the river from a great look-off. We noticed several of the typical Restigouche guide boats coming around a bend in the river down below. We found it interesting to see that things seem to have changed over the last while. I think that, until recently, the only people who were using these boats were fishermen who hired the guides to ferry them around the rivers. However, now this seems as though it must be more of a tourist thing as we saw about ten boats in just a few minutes, and it didn’t look like any of the passengers were out for a day of fishing. The boats are very long, square-backed, canoe-type craft with small motors.

Crossing the Restigouche into New Brunswick, we arrived in Campbellton in early afternoon. We stopped at the tourist center to pick up some info on hiking trails and I wandered over to the fountain that overlooks the Bay of Chaleur. I’m not usually a fan of “big stuff” but the sculpture of the Atlantic Salmon in the fountain is definitely an exception (see below - click for larger image). It’s a wonderful piece and very much captures the essence of the salmon. The setting is done well — with a waterfall in the hillside behind, and from the other, the bay stretches out just beyond.

From Campbellton, we completed the last leg of our day’s travels as we reached the town of Miramichi on the banks of the river that goes by that name. Before dinner, we went for an evening walk on the trail that loops around a small lake at French Fort Cove park. Such a peaceful park to find within a town’s limits. These are just a couple of photos of the lake and boardwalk. The stack in the background is known as the Buckley Burner.

Well, that’s about it for Day Two. From this point on, we will be doing very little driving and a lot of hiking - which is quite a relief as I’m not much for vehicle travel and normally do very little of it. I hope all of the above links work properly. We’re heading off now and I haven’t got time to test them, but will do so next time we stop.
(Note to those back home: Hello! Hope you’re getting some vicarious enjoyment out of the trip. If we could transmit the fresh salt air, we would do so!).

Tags: Rimouski, Ste-Flavie, Matapedia River, Restigouche River, Campbellton, Atlantic Salmon fountain, French Fort Cove