Last weekend, after two weeks in Quebec, it was time to go again on an adventure!
So we went to Mauricie National Park. I’m so happy to have bought the annual passes that allows you to enter as much as you want every National Park in Canada! For information, the price is $139,40 for a family of up to 7 people in a car (which is nothing and means that we can make some friends in our car!!!)
Where is Mauricie National Park located?
For information, there are two entrances, but you can drive through the whole Park, which is great and leads you to incredible viewpoints and some lakes.
La Mauricie National Park is located north of Trois-Rivières. Halfway between Montréal and Québec City, it is a two-hour drive from both cities.
Here are the two entrances:
Saint-Jean-des-Piles Entrance: (this is where we arrived)
leave highway 55 at exit 226
and follow the Chemin du Parc-National road sign.
Saint-Mathieu Entrance:
leave highway 55 at exit 217
and follow the road signs towards
Saint-Mathieu-du-Parc.
What can you do in the Park?
The list can be very long, but hiking, swimming, paddling (I need to invest in my paddleboard!), cycling, birdwatch, canoeing, mountainbiking, photography, kayaking, fishing, canoecamping (this one, I want to try!!!), stargazing, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, iceclimbing…
You have to choose which one do you prefer and enjoy!
What did we do?
As it was our first time in the Park and we arrived late (from where we were, it took us almost 3 hours to get there, so we started to hike around 10: 30 am and it was too hot and humid at this point!)
We decided to go for the Ruisseau Bouchard loop, which is rated as Difficult (8.3 km, 4 hours, and 658 meters elevation). Still, we ended up making Lac Solitaire loop shorter but rated it as a Difficult hike with 443 elevation meters. It took us approximately 3 hours to make the whole loop and make some stops for me to take many pictures and enjoy the views! This place must be wonderful in the Fall with all the colors.
Then we decided to make a stop in Bouchard Lake, and we found the perfect spot to swim and enjoy our picnic!
Then we decided to drive through the whole Park by car and make some stops to enjoy the viewpoints.
–Edouard Lake: as you all know, I love the water and especially in the summer, jumping in a lake is the best experience! But we just went to the beach and went back straight to the car. This beach was too packed, but we saw that you could start your canoe camping adventure from here (so if we are around here in the Falls, I want to try that!)
–Le Passage: an excellent viewpoint and a perfect spot for a photo, but be aware that the road can be right on your photo! Most of the photos are cropped when you research the place, so you don’t see the road!
–Wapizagonke: I went again there for a short swim, and the area is beautiful. A lot of paddle, kayak which can lead you to make some canoe camping too.
–Vide-Bouteille: we wanted to find the Red Chair, but we never found it! But the view is excellent!
–Île aux pins: great view too
–Shewengan: we did make a little hike (I think Jerome didn’t like it at this time…). The views are great; you can swim too.
Then it was time to get away from the Park and to come into our Airbnb home. Our Airbnb owner had a firepit in place outside when we came home, and it was a great moment with them. A perfect day to discover and enjoy life!
