Page 2 - Sanguine on the Water in Saguenay

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Page 2 - Sanguine on the Water in Saguenay
Story and photos by Tim Leffel


Beach in Saguenay

I stop the bike dead at one point though to watch someone else eat. Ahead of me is a large female moose, chewing leaves on a sapling. After a half minute of watching her, I unzip my camera case to get a photo. She starts to amble off as the shutter clicks and all I get is a brown blob of a butt heading into the woods. I might as well claim that I saw Bigfoot based on that shot.

My days of exertion are catching up with me and my legs are starting to burn the last third of the 45-kilometer ride. It's beautiful though, with the sun shining on white birch trees linking the path and the only sounds being their leaves rustling in the breeze. As I return to the bike rental shop and shuffle toward the water, it's a beach scene straight out of a resort in the tropics. Golden sand and lounge chairs, waves lapping the shore. The smell of sunscreen hits me as I take in the scene of bikinis on beach towels and lifeguards watching the frolicking swimmers. This is a lake?

That night as we sleep in a permanent tent camp where you put coins in to run the showers, we toast the sunset over the water. As we listen to waves foaming up on the beach, we're feeling like we've settled down for a night on the ocean.

Pining for the Fjord

Most of our frolicking has been on lakes and rivers, but our final adventure is sea-kayaking on one of the strangest waterways in North America: the Saguenay Fjord. Formed in the Ice Age at least 22,000 years ago, it's an inland waterway that is nevertheless 93 percent saltwater. Sea water flows in via the St. Laurence River, while fresh water from Lac Saint Jean covers the top like icing on a cake. The average depth is 210 metres (690 feet), so deep that the elusive Greenland shark is swimming around the bottom and huge blue whales come up to the surface. It's the only navigable fjord on this continent, extending 62 miles. With dramatic cliffs rising up another 150 meters, it's a beautiful area even if you don't think about what's going on underneath.

Saguenay Fjord park

Kayaking out on the water, we're moving much faster and more efficiently than on the canoes, nobody spinning in circles. The majesty of nature is overpowering though and imagining this fjord filled with ice, it's easy to feel insignificant. After a couple of hours exploring the shoreline witih a guide from OrganisAction, we head back to the bank and start thinking sad thoughts of leaving this playground of natural wonders and outdoor fun.

I joke that I am going to have a buff body like a swimmer's after all these uppper body workouts, but sadly my muscles don't seem to be listening. In the following days back home, the muscles don't miraculously override the flab stored up for low-food times that never come. Perhaps if I went on a blueberry diet?

blueberry field in Saguenay

In travel magazine stories a trip like this is supposed to lead to some kind of epiphany. There's a new understanding, a major change in attitude, or some universal truth revealed.

Really though, I just feel happy and content on the water with nature all around. I just rediscovered that I love splashing around for days like a kid. So the only question I keep pondering is, why am I not doing this more often?



If You Go:
Surprisingly few people speak English in this part of Quebec and many of the websites are French-only. Bring a phrasebook or app and consult the bilingual Saguanay-Lac Saint-Jean website while making plans. This is a spread-out area, but two of the best hotel bases are Hotel Chicoutimi and Auberge des Battures. To book lodging by the beach and bike trail on Lac Saint-Jean, visit the Parc national de la Pointe-Taillon website (in French only).




Editor Tim Leffel splits his time between Guanajuato, Mexico and Tampa, Florida. He is the author of five travel books, including The World's Cheapest Destinations, and has run the Cheapest Destinations Blog since 2003.






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Related Features:
Celestial Quebec by Michael Buckley
Friend Requests in the Canadian Outback by Chris Epting
Feasting on Seal in Montreal by Darrin DuFord
Long Range Traverse in Newfoundland by Tony Robinson-Smith

See other Canada travel stories from the archives


Read this article online at: http://www.perceptivetravel.com/issues/0317/canada.html

Copyright (C) Perceptive Travel 2017. All rights reserved.


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Buy A Better Life for Half the Price at your local bookstore, or get it online here:
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Buy The World's Cheapest Destinations: 26 Countries Where Your Travel Money is Worth a Fortune at your local bookstore, or get it online here:
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Buy Make Your Travel Dollars Worth a Fortune: The Contrarian Traveler's Guide to Getting More for Less at your local bookstore, or get it online here:
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