Road Tripping on the Côte-Nord
Driving from Les Escoumins to Colombier, QC | Hiking, Camping, and Kayaking along the Côte-Nord | July 2024
We had a slow start to our first morning on the Côte-Nord (which is the name of the region we were in — North coast of the St. Lawrence River). We slept in, ate breakfast in the sunshine, and got a little work done while at the campground in Les Escoumins. Since we hadn’t planned on having time to explore the Côte-Nord, we didn’t really have a plan for where we wanted to go or what we wanted to accomplish. Instead, we agreed to take it slow and enjoy all the wonderful things about this place: the temperate weather, the mountain + coastal views, and the abundance of free camping in scenic places.
We would’ve been fine with staying in this campground another night, but since it was a Friday we thought it would be a smart idea to stay in the same place over the weekend, and we didn’t want to stay here more than one more night. While it was nice, it was also the busiest campground we had seen so far, and there wasn’t much that we wanted to do in Les Escoumins. Since we would also be returning this way, we were pretty sure we would stay here again eventually. And so we packed up and started our drive North on 138 — also known as the route of the whales! Needless to say, our expectations for seeing whales were very high!
Since we didn’t have much of a plan, our main stops for our Côte-Nord road trip revolved around scenic coastal areas and short hikes up to roadside peaks with lookouts. Our first stop was in the town of Sault-au-Mouton, where we stopped at the visitor center, which was right on the river and had a short trail that took us down to some cascading waterfalls, tons of wildflowers, a suspension bridge, and a rocky coast. Finding this coastline reminded me of my favorite campground in Maine (which I have thought about at least once a week since we stayed there in 2016) and rock hopping quickly became the highlight of being on the Côte-Nord for me. While here, we also discovered that the visitor centers along the Côte-Nord all have free stickers! Even though we didn’t go the whole way or stop everywhere to get stickers, the Côte-Nord is easily the best represented region, with over half of our stickers coming from this area.
We could have stayed overnight right across the road from the visitor center, but we wanted to drive a little further and not be in an ‘urban’ setting over the weekend. Our first camping option came about 30 minutes up the road at a beach access point near Riviere-Eperlan, but it was far too sandy to feel comfortable (we couldn’t imagine trying to get a tow service in French), and it was surrounded by some sort of beach resort/vacation houses. Instead, we drove another half hour to a rest stop near Colombier. Here, there was the main parking lot that you can see from the highway, but there was also a dirt road to the left that went uphill, and another road behind that that went down behind the hill to another paved parking lot, which was right on the coast and felt more removed from the highway. It was a little busy when we first arrived with people picnicking and hanging out by the water, but we didn’t let that deter us since they all looked like they were just here for the day. We parked in the lower lot, set up the van, then had some lunch. Despite it being busy, we had a good feeling about this place and knew it was where we wanted to spend the weekend. According to Google Maps, there were trails here that went out to the point and to the neighboring cove, and we could also put the kayak in right here. Charlotte liked it because it had both sunny spots and shady spots in the grass which she could alternate between for her afternoon naps. And so we made this little rest stop our home for the next 2 nights!
On our first day here, it was on the warmer side so Charlotte didn’t want to do much, so Curtis and I took turns engaging in different activities while the other would hang out with Charlotte in the picnic area. Curtis metal detected, I went on a long rock hopping exploration around the point to the North, and Curtis went on a kayaking expedition around that same point. When we arrived, it was high tide, and we were shocked by how empty the bay was at low tide. After we put Charlotte to bed, we walked out into the empty cove to climb on rocks, explore the tide pools, and watch the sunset.
The next day was cooler and cloudy, which made this area much less busy than the day before. Besides hanging out at the picnic area and on the beach, we also went on a little family hike up the dirt road and to a trail which took us to the next cove to the North. There were plenty of wildflowers along our walk, and some nice views overlooking the area where we were parked. We hung out on the neighboring coast for a while until we were ready to return. On our way back, we made a loop, going down to our coast and walking along that beach back up to the parking area. That evening, Curtis went for another kayak ride, and while he was out a rainbow appeared across the sky! It made for some great views (and pictures), both from his perspective on the water and mine looking out towards him.
Overall, our time here was relaxing and peaceful, with not many others around besides the first afternoon. We were so thankful for the opportunity to take it slow and really enjoy this spot. But there was one thing that this spot hadn’t provided us, and we needed to keep traveling North in order to find it. What was it, you ask? Why, whale sightings, of course!
