7/15/25
Still under a heat advisory. High today is 82 - again, I'll manage. Bush Pig today.
I decided to try two of the northern secteurs of the National Parc - I saw these on the GPS Saturday as I was following Ross, and it looked inviting. I'm hoping these gravel and dirt roads on the map are accessible to the public.
I ran the 50 km to the Sawkawarski entrance mostly on pavement at 80 kph - not in a big hurry. Now - this is more like it!
The first of MANY lakes appears near the entrance to the parc.
The summer rainbow of flowers is alive and well here.
And then, when I least expected it, it happens.
The road turns to 2-track and I'm putt putting along around a right hand curve, and a MOOSE is right there in the middle of the road!
I stopped about 15 yards from it and left the Bush Pig idling. I didn't know if it was going to charge me or what. Thankfully, it just started trotting down the road away from me. I followed it slowly for a good while (few hundred meters). It was a male - horns, but not "Bullwinkle" big. Still - what a MASSIVE animal. It's head stood more than 6 feet tall. Hoofs the size of dinner plates! At one point, it stood there long enough for me to grab my phone, and by the time I got things unfumbled, I was only able to get the shot you see above of him trotting away. Eventually, the big fella found a clearing in the dense forest big enough to trot off the road and be on his way.
What an incredible experience! I was so stoked. I ran slowly along the 2-track until I got to this bridge and stopped to calm down.
This place is beautiful.
I continue on the 2-track. This is really good stuff - perfect for the Bush Pig and its rider's ability.
I get 3 minutes down the road and another animal appears - a porcupine!!
I wouldn't want to mess with that critter too much.
There are sections with rocks, but it's just enough to be challenging - a little bit of wash out here, a few rocks there - this is great!!
Some of it is on my GPS map, some is not. I got my track set to drop breadcrumbs and get me back if needed.
About 15 KM later, the 2-track kind of dwindles to a goat trail in the woods and I get to the end of my comfort zone. So I turn around and back track to a larger dirt road.
At some point, I stop at a Lac Vachon (there was a sign), put on my walking shoes, and walked 200 meters down to the lake. This is nice.
Now - I haven't seen another person since I got off the highway. I'm pretty sure it's against "rules" to just take the shore boat, even though there was no signage in that regard.
I figured I'd ask for forgiveness...
I've never rowed a boat with oars before. As someone who is admittedly uncoordinated, that is gonna take some practice.
I got out of the boat without swimming or being arrested. I jump back on the Pig and move on to more adventure.
So my best guess is that this is generally a fishing area for the national parc. Every road or trail leads you to one or more lakes.
I double back toward the highway and stopped on this side road that wasn't on my GPS. There was a sign in french, and I was surprised that I had enough signal to translate it. Basically, it said they were giving thanks to some company for providing this access road to the secteur of the park.
Good enough for me - let's go!
This road is absolutely perfect!
I ran this road at least 50 KM. It just keep going and going!
Now about 1:30 in the afternoon, I decided to turn around and head back to the highway. I found a lot of side roads in this area - I'll come back and explore this some more.
I get back to the highway, take a left, and run about 8 km to another parc entrance. This one looks just as good as the other one.
I found the dirt in my neck of the woods, ya'll!!
Along the way, at a couple of the lakes, I met a few fisherman and saw a few brook trout caught.
This 2-track was actually on the map, and it was heading back to the highway for a "loop", sort-o-speak.
Shortly after that picture, the road goes through a low area and there was some standing water. I got off the bike and walked it a little to see what it looked like. It would have been about 50 meters of mushy/muddy/low water. I wasn't sinking in my boots much, but my spidey-sense told me not to try it on my own. I'm MANY kilometers away from anything. So I turned around and back tracked to an easier road.
About 5 pm, I was doubled back to the highway. I pointed the Piggie south and rode the 60 km back to the ABB. All told, it was about 275 Km, and about half of that was off pavement. This entire region is wonderful riding - I will definitely be back. I don't care much for the "big" pavement ride to the gravel, but at least it's close enough that I don't have to trailer the Bush Pig to it.
My 83 year old parents are in route flying here all day. They left home about 5:00 am this morning, and their plane landed in Quebec City at 10:40 pm. By the time we got them to the ABB, it was almost midnight. They will be here a week - looking very forward to that.
Stay thirsty, my friends....
