We left Auberge Baker with an amazing box "petit dejeuner" in hand - 2 croissant, 2 chocolate croissant, 2 muffins, 2 boiled eggs, 4 slices of cheese, 6 slices of cold meat, 2 oranges and 2 bottles of apple juice - it served as lunch as well as we snacked all day on it.
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We drove back to Chute Montmerency
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but one of the staff, just coming in to work, told us that the access gate didn't open for another half hour
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but he also told us that we could drive to the top and walk on the bridge up there.
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So we drove out, past the other smaller falls dropping down the cliff face, and up into a residential area at the top and into a parking lot for Manoir Montmerency.
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Most parking lots here have electric charging stations. A Tesla at this one.
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We walked to the edge and down some stairs to get some side view photos. Loud roar of the water.
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Next, across the suspension bridge, trying not to think of the drop below us.
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If the site had been open we could have walked up those stairs on the other side.
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| We could see the little gazebo we had stood at to take the other photos. According to Wiki The waterfalls are 83 m (272') tall, a full 30 m (99') higher than Niagara Falls.[4] |
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View across the St Lawrence.
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We didn't go into the manor itself but walked around the gardens. Some of the plants looked tropical.
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Playing with the camera settings to get the dancing water.
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Still lots of colour
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and some beautiful pink hydrangeas with pink leaves too.
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Gassed up and then we were into the mountains with me taking pictures through the windows.
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This didn't work well when there were raindrops for the camera to choose to focus on. It rained periodically, usually when we were quite high, almost like driving through the clouds.
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So many moose signs but we didn't see any.
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Valleys with little town with silver churches.
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Coves with rocky headlands. We stopped at most lookouts that we saw, to stretch our legs and enjoy the scenery.
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The fall foliage was magnificent in the mountains, huge patches of orange and red contrasted against the dark pines. Further up the mountains it was predominately dark pines with pale greens and yellows of the trees up there.
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We stopped at this lookout to see the ferry we knew we would be taking at Tadoussac
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There is a deep fiord here and a ferry connects the road on both sides. While standing up there we saw what I though were white caps on the currents until we realized.....
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they were whales!
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Rick noticed a sign for a whale interpretive centre, which was closed, but had viewing platforms.
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We stood, chatting with another couple, while struggling to take pictures of at least 3 pods of Beluga whales.
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Looking from our position above them, we could see them just below the surface. At least 5 in this shot.
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The challenge was then to fire off a couple of shots before they again submerged.
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A mother and calf. We watched them for about half an hour as they moved out of the fiord and into the St Lawrence. In total about 10 or 12. The St Lawrence is the furthest south that they are found and are listed as endangered here.
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On to the ferry, still excited from the experience
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and we saw no signs of whales from the ferry, making us realize how lucky we had been to stop and see them when we did.
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Looking back at the road, up high, that had given us such great views.
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Huge navigation buoy out in the St Lawrence. My first lighthouse of the trip.
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We continued up the coast of the river to Baie Comeau, staying the night in a Comfort Inn and eating at a Greek restaurant.
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Day 2 drive from Pakenham to Chateau Richer
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Day 3 drive from Chateau Richer to
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Baie Comeau.
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