special report
Mont Albert seen from the valley of Rivière Saint-Anne
Nature report from trip to Gaspé peninsula in Québec, June 21-25, 2001
Maine Nature News
special report
Mont Albert seen from the valley of Rivière Saint-Anne
Nature report from trip to
Gaspé peninsula in Québec, June 21-25, 2001
by Frank Wihbey, Editor
E-mail : menature@maine.maine.edu
Quick jumps: | Introduction | Some highlights | Some special things seen or heard | Observation list | Reading resource list | This week's Maine Nature News current report | Return to Maine Nature News home page | 2000 Vermont AT trip | 1998 New Hampshire AT trip | 1997 New Hampshire AT trip |
Introduction
My friends and I hiked small sections of the International Appalachian
Trail / Sentier international des Appalaches (IAT/SIA) and visited adjacent areas of the
Réserve Faunique de Matane and of Parc de la Gaspésie. The Trail
meanders through rural Québec countryside with villages and towns in the
valleys and on the coastal plain, then reascends into the uplands, which commence quickly from the plain and the
valleys. Many of the mountains which the IAT/SIA crosses are rugged and
impressive. The elevation ranged from
sea level at the Saint Lawrence River to about 4000 feet at the highest peaks.
The
valley of Mont St-Pierre
The weather during the 5-day trip was generally mild (lowest
45º F.
, highest about 80º F.) and sky conditions varied (three days of sunshine or
light clouds, two days with overcast or light rain.) We had some bugs, but the black flies
were about gone, and winds kept the mosquitoes at bay most days. We met some other hikers,
but not in the large numbers typical of trails in the USA, except at Mont Ernest
LaForce, an accessible mountain with good graded trails. The people of Gaspésie (as the
great peninsula on the south bank of the St. Lawrence
River is locally known) were friendly and helpful, and greeted us warmly when we
met on trails or went into town.
Even a modest attempt to greet or thank our hosts in French was acknowledged and
appreciated.
Woodland caribou male on Mount Logan, summit elevation 3772
feet. Left: ambling; right: feeding.
Treeline is much lower in Québec mountains than in Maine, due to the higher latitude (49º N.), and the difference in weather patterns. So, we entered subalpine zones, then krummholz (dwarf tree zone) and finally true alpine vegetation. Also, the mountains here were massively scraped by the glaciers, so many have large tablelands at the summit ridge, similar to the one on Mount Katahdin in Maine. This extended alpine zone has allowed two isolated wild caribou herds to remain high in the mountains.
In Matane we visited the riverine interpretive center on the Matane River, the highlight of which was the series of observation windows at the fish ladders. We saw, close up, two female Atlantic salmon about 35" long and one 42" male, all impressive in their scaly resplendence as they swam up to their breeding grounds.
Wildflowers were an engaging and pleasant part of our daily scene and we saw many species in all stages of growth and blossoming, including entire meadows of them where farm fields were left fallow for hay or crop rotation. We saw many plants, birds and insects thriving there, including some that I normally associate with higher altitudes.
Also, the plants not in flower were a treat to see, such as the bristly club moss, cranberry, deer's hair sedge, highland rush, sweet fern and wiry horsetail. In many mountain areas and streamside ledges, the geology stole the show, for example the beauty of greenish serpentine with intrusions of quartz and charcoal gray basalt with many colors of limestone in the faults.
The forest floor was wet where shaded, but never muddy nor wet enough to encourage mushrooms on the ground or lichen on trees. But the forest floor vegetation was lush, and profuse. We noted big variations of plan types as we passed through different soil and mineral regions along the trails. Unlike in Maine chipmunks were not seen, and squirrels were few. Moose and deer tracks and scat appeared on a few mountain ridges and more commonly elsewhere. On some slopes it was very evident that moose had taken an environmental opportunity caused by man and were browsing the new growth fast enough to keep an old clear cut open, with favored food species such as black birch and red osier dogwood growing just fast enough in the mountain climate to make it a moose heaven.
Some special things seen or heard
Spruce grouse female and two of her fledglings
In mid-June the Chic-Choc mountains -- the part of the Appalachian Mountain range that runs along the Gaspé peninsula -- are mostly released from their burden of snow (see picture of Mont Albert at top of this page). Though it seems like a late start for the hiking season, this time of year is characterized by wildflower blooms, the emergence of amphibians, and the birth of mammalian young. Another feature of mid-June is that the snow's meltwater lasts late. Waterfalls were seen that descended from on high in steep series of cascades.
There is a big network of gravel roads in the Chic-Chocs. Because the traffic is light it was even possible to observe Nature at roadside. We saw egg masses of wood frogs and big gatherings of yellow swallowtail butterflies. Also, we surprised a spruce grouse hen and her young -- which scattered onto nearby branches and froze in plain view. (I had seen this poorly composed defense in spruce grouse fledglings before!) On one hike we unexpectedly saw two especially remarkable groves of old, venerable white cedars with dramatic forms due to wind and ice shaping, but apparently in good health. One measured approximately 52 inches in diameter, larger than I have ever seen for this much-harvested tree, useful for its durable and sweet-smelling wood, but preserved here, in the Park.
The mountains project a different aspect than in Maine because they were carved
by
the glaciers more steeply, and many are forested only partially to
the top. The overall effect is a sense
of animated forms with green clothing and gray skin.
On mountain ridges we noted no corvids (such as ravens) nor raptors, which would be more common in Maine. But we saw a hawk owl (a lifetime first for me) on the top of a dead tree in a forested zone of a mountain tableland. In another area a large nest of sticks was noted in a high place, though the inhabitants were not visible and the species could not be identified.
Amphibians and reptiles seen: American toad; wood frog tadpoles.
Birds identified by sight or sound: American robin; black and white warbler; black-capped chickadee; black guillemot; chestnut-sided warbler; downy woodpecker; Eastern wood peewee; hawk-owl; hermit thrush; mallard duck; mourning dove; red-breasted merganser; rufous-sided towhee; dark-eyed junco (slate-colored junco); spruce grouse; white-throated sparrow; winter wren.
Fish species seen: Atlantic salmon; lamprey; sucker.
Insects and arachnids seen: ants; black flies; bumblebees; butterflies
(including white admiral and yellow swallowtail); house flies; mosquitoes; moths
(including common wood nymph and cecropia); web-weaving spiders.
Mammals identified by sight or sign: Black bear; moose; mouse; red squirrel; varying (snowshoe) hare; vole; white-tailed deer; woodchuck; woodland caribou (mountain caribou)
Wildflowers seen: alpine marsh violet; blue bead lily; blue-eyed grass; blueberry; bunchberry (alpine leaf coloration); buttercup; Canada mayflower; creeping snowberry; dandelion; goldthread; jack-in-the-pulpit; Labrador tea; moss plant; mountain cranberry; mountain heath; painted trillium; pink lady's slipper; purple violet; red trillium; spring beauty; starflower; sweet white violet; wild strawberry; wood sorrel.
The following books
were helpful:
Sunset as seen from Mount Logan, looking Northwest towards the
St. Lawrence River
This and other photographs were taken with a Samsung 140S, lightweight 35 mm camera. Based on good comments for a prior report, I have formatted all images on this page in "jpg", instead of the usual "gif" format of other images in the Maine Nature News.
Happy trails! / Bonne randonnée!
Frank