Hopetown & Percé, QC

Driving from Hopetown to Forillon National Park, QC | Hiking to Hopetown Rock | Visiting Percé, QC | Camping in Forillon National Park | June 2024

We began our morning by attempting to go for the walk that Charlotte had started us on the night before. Naturally, she was much less interested in hiking this morning, but we managed to slowly make it all the way to Hopetown Rock — a large sea arch. We enjoyed watching the cormorants and shore birds dive into the sea after fish, then return to the rock to sun themselves with outspread wings. While sitting on a bench enjoying the view and the quiet morning, we caught a glimpse of our very first whale of this trip — just a fleeting moment, but very exciting nonetheless, and we hoped that this good luck would continue! After waiting a while for it to show itself again to no avail, we began our walk back to the van.

Our plan for the day was to continue following the coast to Percé, QC and spend the day there, and then make our way to Forillon National Park where we had reserved a campsite for the next 4 nights. Since today was a Friday, and Canada Day was the following Monday, we thought that having a reserved spot was a good idea so we wouldn’t have to deal with competing for campsites against the potential influx of holiday weekend vacationers. Having never spent a Canada Day weekend in Canada, we really didn’t know what to expect, so we basically tried to prepare as if it was a 4th of July weekend in the US. Given that mindset, we were surprised that there were a fair amount of available campsites to choose from in the national park when we booked a spot last minute.

While driving to Percé, we had starred a couple lighthouses on the way, but all of them turned out to be on private land or inaccessible. We ended up just making one stop on our way at an overlook so we could admire the iconic Rocher Percé (Pierced Rock) from the South side. It is considered one of the largest natural marine arches in the world and is designated as an UNESCO World Geopark. We wouldn’t be able to take a boat tour around the island or to Ile Bonaventure because we had Charlotte, so instead we just hoped to be able to see the rock from different angles. (If you are planning a trip to this area, we heard that the boat tours to Bonaventure Island are highly recommended because on the East end of the island is a very large nesting area for Northern Gannets! Of course, this means it’s a wildlife sanctuary, which is why no dogs are allowed.)

After that, we continued driving into Percé where we planned to park somewhere and go for a walk on the coast, and maybe a hike. Curtis had researched parking areas and found that most had either daily or hourly fees, and we weren’t sure which to go with since we knew we couldn’t walk far with Charlotte. The town of Percé ended up being way smaller (and busier) than we expected — one moment, we were passing one of the lots Curtis had heard about, the next we were suddenly driving up the highway and away from town. Curtis put it best, “this town is much shorter horizontally than I had expected, but much bigger vertically than I expected.” Meaning the town is small, but the hills behind it are huge!

We ended up turning into a rest area (Halte Municipale de Pic de l’Aurore) on the North side of town to regroup, and decided to have lunch there since it was much quieter and free to park. Charlotte napped in the grass, and after eating and napping we went for a short walk up to a lookout. It was a great view showcasing the cliffs right up against the sea, and we got our first glimpses of the mountains that make up Forillon National Park peninsula in the distance!

We wanted to give Percé another shot, so we drove back into town and up to where Curtis thought there would be a trailhead and a way to hike to a peak for free. There ended up being “no parking” signs all over that area, so instead we drove back to the main highway and found a free parking area for the beach on the North side of town. We got out to walk around, and were blown away by the gorgeous views we found! Bright blue water, huge cliffs in either direction, and a new perspective on Rocher Percé. The beach was pretty rocky so Charlotte didn’t want to walk too far, so Curtis let me go for a walk to see how far I could get.

I followed the coast, admiring both the cliffs on my right and the waves and tidepools on my left. I was wondering if I would find steps or a way up to the green area in the above picture, but there weren’t any, and most of the access points to the beach were private. Rocher Percé is a protected area for the birds and also fairly unstable, so you aren’t allowed to walk passed a certain point on the beach, but if it were open to the public you could just walk right to it during low tide. I returned the way I came, met up with Curtis and Charlotte, and we made our way back to the van.

Satisfied with our time in Percé, we said goodbye for now and got back on the road heading to Forillon National Park. There’s more that we probably could have done between Isle Bonaventure and the UNESCO Heritage Park areas, but not with Charlotte. The drive continued to be very scenic, and while the Pointe-Saint-Pierre peninsula was much flatter, we had some great views of Percé and Forillon peninsulas to the South and North. Our campsite for the weekend was in the Petit-Gaspe Campground on the South side of the peninsula. We checked in, then found our spot and got settled in. We were delighted to find that they had free hot showers AND a laundromat on site. Also, we were able to use the CA national parks pass that we had purchased last year since it was good until the end of the month which it was purchased in. And though we knew it was only the beginning of the weekend, it was still much quieter than we had expected. All in all, we were so happy to be here, and excited to spend a few days exploring this area!