Les Eboulements / Ile d’Orleans
Driving from Baie-des-Rochers to Ile d’Orleans, QC | La Malbaie, QC | Hiking the Marine Forest in Les Eboulements | Camping on the Ile d’Orleans | July 2024
On Saturday morning, it was time to leave our spot in Baie-de-Rochers and drive to Quebec City. We’ve wanted to visit the city ever since we went to Montreal back in 2016. We planned on going in April of 2023, but that’s when Charlotte’s health issues happened, and it didn’t seem smart to leave the country. Now we finally had the opportunity and were so happy to be able to go with a happy and healthy puppy who still loves to travel! We had considered getting a hotel using points and staying multiple nights, but the cost of pet and parking fees plus the hassle of bringing our van and having to find parking with high enough clearance just felt too stressful since all we really wanted to do was see the Plains of Abraham, the citadel, and walk around the Old Town. So instead, our plan for today was to drive as close to the city as we could, park overnight somewhere, then go explore the city first thing in the morning on Sunday to beat the traffic.
We began our drive, heading South on QC-138. The closer we got to the city, the more people and towns there were along the way, with less of the nature-touristy vibe we had been around and more of the people-from-the-city-come-here-regularly vibe. We made a stop at a roadside park in La Malbaie to walk around and let Charlotte do a little sunbathing, and also stopped in a visitor center to get a map of this area and an idea of what we could do along our drive that was free and dog friendly. We got a helpful booklet with all sorts of trails listed, which was honestly more than we had expected, and more than we knew Charlotte would be up for. Still, we picked out a valley/waterfall hike that was along the road, and made our way there.
Our chosen hike was near Les Eboulements, and seeing that there were multiple trailheads, we planned to drive straight to the one that was closest to the falls since that seemed like the only way we could do the hike together. But being a Saturday afternoon, the trailhead turned out to be full, so we gave up and returned to the park closer to the highway that would be more of a hike. As soon as we stepped out of the van, I knew it was too warm and too much direct sun for Charlotte to want to hike at all. We ate lunch in the pavillion there and debated our options. In the end, I told Curtis to go ahead, I didn’t mind staying back and hanging out with Charlie. And so he set off on the hike, and I let Char wander around to wherever her little heart desired. It was her last day of being 9 years old, after all!
Curtis: This hike started at the top of a plateau and followed a ravine down towards the sea. The trail actually goes all the way down to the St. Lawrence, but I opted to just follow it to the main lookouts of some of the larger waterfalls. Under the trees, it was notably cooler than in the sun, though that might have been the rain coming in more than anything. The trail had several small waterfalls and then one larger one that I stayed a while to watch from an observation point on the opposite side of the ravine. With the rain imminent, I returned back the way I came. Overall a pretty easy and free hike.
Jess: After Curtis returned, it started to rain, so we hung out under the shade of the pavillion for a while longer. We actually could have parked here overnight for about $20CAD, but decided to continue with our plan and push a little further towards Quebec City. The drive continued through the hills, still following the St. Lawrence, and was quite scenic, but some big storms were passing through which kept us going without stopping.
The one place that we considered stopping was at Montmorency Falls. This park is right off 138 and boasts the tall, magnificent Montmorency waterfall. It would have been about $30CAD for the two of us to visit and see the waterfall, it was supposedly Charlie friendly, and we had been wondering if we were being too stingy by not visiting any of these parks just because they cost a fee. But as we drove by on 138, we realized that you could see the entire waterfall right there from the road, and the fee was literally just to be able to park and walk up closer to it on their trails, and that made us change our minds. Another thing that irked us about this park (and many others) is that it’s never just about the hiking and the natural features, instead they have to build up so much more around it like ziplines, lookout towers, concessions, and more. All this just made us feel ready to return to the states where we could hang out in national forests and enjoy the simplicity of hiking in nature for free!
And so, we made our way to our chosen sleep spot for the night: a historic church on the Ile d’Orleans. We hadn’t ever camped at a church before and weren’t sure what to expect here, or if it was a bad idea to camp here on a Saturday night, but it turned out to be a neat location on the island and a popular spot for boondocking. The church — Church of St. Petronille — doesn’t have regular services anymore, and is located on the South end of the island next to a cemetery and a park with a walking trail. It’s also walking distance to the small town and a couple restaurants. They only ask for a small donation for spending the night, which we happily paid, then got out to take Charlotte for a walk. We met some of the other people camping here and had a pleasant time chatting with them while we made and ate dinner.
After Charlotte went to bed, Curtis and I went for a walk down to the point of the island to watch the sunset. It was a beautiful spot, where we could see Quebec City from a distance, then the mountains in the background and Montmorency Falls. The sunset was also lovely, and it all felt like the perfect way to wrap up our time on the St. Lawrence.
All that to say, our night sleeping at the church wasn’t as quiet and peaceful as we would have imagined…but that’s because there was a big music festival going on across the way in Quebec City. Whoops, guess our timing for this visit wasn’t ideal! The sound of the bass echoed throughout the night, making it a less than restful night of sleep.
