I’m in beautiful Gaspésie, Québec, where I’m hitting the open waters near Percé Rock by sea kayak before heading inland and stand up paddling the Bonaventure River and hiking to see this incredible landscape from above.
Québec is one of my favorite places in the world, and not just because they have amazing bakeries, craft breweries and they invented poutine. What I love about Québec is how big and rugged the landscape is, which means there's endless opportunities for outdoor adventure. The French culture is also very unique to North America, and the people are extremely friendly and filled with a contagious joie de vivre.
To kick off our Paddle Tales adventure, we headed to Gaspésie on the eastern edge of Québec–a place where the mountains and rivers meet the sea. This forms a unique and exceptional setting for travellers to explore, and it definitely lived up to all the hype. One of my favorite things to do in a new place is to get a bird's eye view of the area so that I have a better understanding of what I'm seeing from water level. And so, I met up with Renaud Camirand from the Géoparc de Percé, which recently received the prestigious designation as the first UNESCO Global Geopark in Québec.
After seeing Percé Rock from above, I met up with Jeffrey Bond from Avolo Plein Air. I was excited to get back down to sea level and into my kayak to see the views from the water. Paddling Percé Rock is a special experience that I would highly recommend to anyone who plans on visiting Gaspésie. Not only is it a fun adventure that provides an unrivaled look at one of the coolest natural phenomena you'll ever see, but it really solidifies the importance of Canada's national parks. These parks protect the natural beauty of these places, and they also provide a safe home for the plants and animals that reside here. When one is confronted by such an unbelievably imposing geological feature, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that Percé Rock is also a refuge for a colony of gannets. It hosts more than 120,000 of these birds from April to October each year, making it one of the most important gannet habitats in the world.
The Bonaventure River is another very special place in Gaspésie and provided a very different look at what the region has to offer. It also gave me the opportunity to put my (limited) stand up paddling skills to the test, which was a fun challenge. The team from Cime Aventures were great and the Bonaventure was definitely the highlight of the Gaspésie experience for me. When you consider we only paddled a four mile length of the river, that's saying a lot.
Although I love the ocean, there's something about paddling downriver that has always captured my imagination. For one thing, even though countless people might have passed this way before you, every bend in the river feels like a new discovery. You just never know what you'll find on the other side.
Gaspésie really is a remarkable combination of mountains, rivers and ocean. It's definitely one of the coolest places that you'll ever visit. A big thanks to Stephanie and Judith for being such knowledgeable (and fun!) hosts during our time in Gaspésie and for treating us to some of the world’s best poutine!
Special Thanks To:
Aventure Écotourisme Québec| Sépaq| Tourisme Gaspésie
