We had not been camping in two years. I really miss camping, and I started suggested we go away again. Our daughter was coming home for a very short visit on the long weekend, and we had wanted to take the drive to Thunder Bay again, but take our time. We thought maybe we could drive back following her, but it wouldn't have given us much time. And her boyfriend's parents were coming up midweek. So I decided we'd go to Quebec again. I reserved 5 nights at Mont Tremblant National Park (what Quebec calls their provincial parks), in the Pimbina-St Donat sector. We had been to the Diablo sector years ago.
I wanted to leave on Labour Day after Megan left, but Rob wanted to wait until she got home before we left and that would have made it too late in the day. So we left at 6:30am on Tuesday, Sept 2, which was the first day of school. Since I didn't get a long term placement, it was a nice distraction to be going away instead.
We didn't get very far as we needed gas. We actually left town shortly after 7am.
Somehow, we had kind of forgotten what it's like to drive east in the early hours LOL. We hadn't had to do it since the kids all came home from school over a year ago.
In Cornwall, we stopped in at Farmboy. It's quite a different layout than the two I've been in near me! We picked up a few dinner items, and then got gas--I had heard gas was quite a bit more in Quebec!
We thought this was the same rest stop as when we stopped on our way to New Brunswick, but it wasn't. It was still nice. What was cool? was that it used to have a Tim Horton's and a St Hubert and they were both gutted.
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This is what the site looked like empty, after we moved the table. It wasn't too private on the left side--there was an opening with some very tiny saplings (we think they had run power to the sites), and the road was right there. But the campground was not busy during the week.
Nothing like a rest stop picnic when travelling!
We have a dislike of driving through Montreal, so even though Google and Waze both recommended going Highway 40, on the island, next to the airport. From our experience, driving near major airports is chaotic and scary. I mean, look at this exchange:
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We would have had to take the exit after that one (or maybe the second? Just off the map).
Instead, I thought it would be fun to take the ferry from Hudson to Oka, at the mouth of the Ottawa River. It was $14, cash, and not any faster, but more enjoyable.
As we approached the ferry, I noticed a sign "Wait for ferry, 120min". It was a permanent sign. I noticed there were empty parking spots along the side of the road. And then a sign "Wait for ferry 90min". I had a sudden realization that sometimes you have to wait for this ferry! I hadn't even thought there could be a 2 hour wait! Thankfully, we drove right to the parking lot, and were able to get on the next ferry. They come about every 10 minutes.
The car ahead of us was from Texas! It's always weird to be on a ferry, in your quiet vehicle, and see the land go past.
It seems after that, Waze took us on a diagonal route from Oka, through the lovely farmland, to near the Mirabel airport. I wish we had stopped at one of the many fruit & veggie stands!
We stopped at the big tourist centre just a bit north of Saint-Jerome, right on the highway, then headed north some more, to Sainte-Agathe-du-Monts, where you get off onto Highway 329. It was smooth sailing all this way, until the southern most point of a large lake.
I had simply asked Google to take me to St Donat, because I had directions from there, and it was the last main point before going to the park, so I thought it would be a safe destination. Well, it came up with several options and I couldn't see the full length of the names, but I thought, surely, St Donat, the town, would be the top choice? You'd think right? Uh. No.
It took us up the left side of that lake. Windy, hilly, narrow cottage road. Beautiful scenery, beautiful cottages. It was a lovely drive, if we weren't eager to get to the campground! We finally made it to the campground around 4:30 and the welcome centre closes at 5pm. We got a simple one page photocopied map of the campground. The map took up about half the page. The symbols were hard to read and much of it was in French. We headed to our campsite.
To get a spot for all 5 nights and with electricity, I had two choices. This one, and the one behind it, which is about 15ft lower. I chose the upper one because I didn't like the idea of another family looking down onto our site. First thing we did was move the picnic table to the gravel area, and then put the tent up on the sandy section.
This sign was up at the dishwashing station (more on that later). Some great sounding activities in the summer!
The "Bloc Sanitaire" (Comfort Station, Sanitary Station, Bathrooms & Showers) had opened either the start of this year, or last year. It was nice and clean, well lit and at first glance, pretty great.
See this below the sink? That's a fold down step for kids or little people! Isn't that awesome?! It's held down by the weight on it, so people can't accidentally leave it down and someone else walk into it. There's also hooks beside the sinks. However, there's no shelf at the sink to put your toiletries bag on, and not much counter space. The tap had a design we hadn't seen before. Many taps have you push the end of the faucet to get the water to turn on for a short period. This had a little lever over the end that you pushed down. Much easier once your hand is wet and soapy.
This little fellow was in the sand where our tent door was. Made me grin all the time. I also found a birthday cake candle on the ground. Happy times for some family!
We made dinner, and then went to the Comfort Station to wash the dishes. It's a nice set up. Two BIG sinks, with stainless steel countertops, under a roof. My only complaint was that the counter should slope into the sink, or have a built in drain board on part of it. It did get really wet.
The showers however, were not as great. Yes, they were new, and clean, but not very functional. It's individual shower cubicles in each of the washrooms. There were hooks--but they were big and chunky and I couldn't hang my bag. There was a tiny shelf--for a small bag, not for clothes. In the shower itself was a tiny corner shelf. There was no bench to put your clothes on, or sit on while dressing. This is a huge mistake! In the shower, it's a "press the knob" situation, with no temperature adjustments. The water pressure and temperature was adequate, but the water stream was small, and the time for each press was small. This made it really hard to rinse my hair. And as the weather gets colder, well, the shower is not going to warm you up since it barely covers you. In fact, when the temperature dropped later in the week, I skipped the shower because I just didn't want to stand there naked with a small stream of water.
We did find the family shower, which unfortunately, doubles as the accessible bathroom. Another big mistake!! Imagine you are mobility challenged and need to just go pee, but there's a family in the shower with a couple kids. The door to the gendered bathrooms was a bit heavy and not automated. There was no handicapped stall in those bathrooms. Also, the lock on the family/accessible washroom is confusing, unless you've seen them before. The top button is green as the door shuts, and then stays green (and is lit up green on the outside). You need to press the bottom button to actually lock the door. Then that button, and the outside button, show red. I walked in on a man washing his hands because he hadn't locked it. The toilet is right in front of the door too, so that would have been really awkward.
There are many GREAT things about Quebec's national parks. This one focuses on protecting the night sky with some awesome star viewing spots and events, and maintaining quiet. However, they obviously think people with handicaps don't camp. All the cabins (solid, and tent covered), have steps. The washroom is not a great set up. And it gets worse as the weekend came. More on that later.
